A few days ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. Not just Ukraine, but Kyiv, its capital and seat of government. I have been hearing about it from my husband for the past few weeks, but I was never really concerned about it.
Then I saw in social media videos of families getting separated because the father had to stay and fight for his country, while the mother and children fled. I couldn’t help but be affected. I can’t imagine that happening to my family. It must be so heartbreaking. Everytime I see a video like this, it brings a tear to my eye. I know, I’m a sucker for these things, but I can’t believe this is happening.
I didn’t even know invasion was still a norm. Who does that? The last time this happened was… during the Second World War? I feel like this is different, because in other countries like Syria, they are Syrians fighting against each other for the seat in government. Here, it is another country, invading another country.
But you know what? I want Putin to see that he might be able to take out some land from Ukrainians, but he will never be able to take out the Ukrainians from the Ukranians. What we are seeing here now is a sense of nationalism from Ukrainians. People who are already safe and away from Ukraine are going back to Ukraine to fight for their country.
I remember the Vikings series in Netflix. The Vikings invaded England and they were able to take over London. The English retreated, fought in the outskirts, but King Alfred came back and took back London. Obviously, this story is longer, but what we can see from history is a sense of nationalism from people that arise when their land is taken from them. The struggle is real. The armed struggle is long and there are people who are willing to die, fighting for their country.
Conquering is not an easy path. Look at the United States and Afghanistan. The moment the US left, Taliban took control. Although invading may be easy, Putin will have to expend a lot of his resources to maintain control. And hopefully, with the financial sanctions, he will soon feel the pinch.
