Khristina Zhuk, 28, used to post photos of travels she’s taken around the world on her Instagram profile. Since last week, however, the Ukrainian’s posts have shifted focus and become a mirror of the actions of volunteers who help provide supplies to her country’s army.
A resident of Lviv, a city close to the Polish border, she joined thousands of people organizing the delivery of medicine and food to Kiev, where the military and civilians are trying to resist the Russian invasion.
One of the soldiers in the Ukrainian capital is special to Zhuk: his father, who has been in the military for some 30 years, is at the front. In an interview with sheetshe recounted the new routine since the beginning of the Russian invasion and told how Ukrainians try to organize themselves amid the chaos generated by the attacks ordered by Vladimir Putin.
“It’s impossible to sleep because you hear the warning siren up to seven times a day. And then you have to go to a bunker. With all this going on, you don’t want to sleep or eat,” she says.
Zhuk also called for Brazil’s support and criticized President Jair Bolsonaro’s decision to avoid sanctions against Moscow. On Sunday (27), he defended that the country adopt a position of neutrality and affirmed that “the issue of fertilizers is sacred”. Russia is one of the biggest producers of the input in the world.
“I know your president doesn’t want to apply sanctions against Russia because you don’t want to lose money, but we are losing our lives, our fathers and our mothers every day.”
What is the situation in Lviv? How are people reacting to the war? People are very scared and many have left their homes, but some have decided to stay in the city, like my husband and I. Right now, we are collecting medicine and other supplies for our soldiers and volunteers. There is real chaos right now, because so many people want to help, but there is no organization. The government is very good, but it doesn’t have time to organize everything.
How is your routine since the invasion? Before the war, I worked as a marketing manager at a pizzeria, but we stopped the business and moved it to provide food for soldiers. My Instagram profile was about travel, but now it’s become about war. Followers text me what they need, like medicine and food, and I collect and send them. Some people also donate money. Many Ukrainians are helping each other. Every day I wake up and I get a lot of calls from different people who want to help us.
Have you been able to sleep? Impossible, because you hear the warning siren five to seven times a day and then you have to go to a bunker. With all this going on, you don’t want to sleep or eat. We did not expect war. We were sleeping and at 5 am [da última quinta-feira, 24/2], my husband woke me up and said “the war has begun”. It was a very difficult time, but today I am not afraid.
Now I just hate the Russians, I hate the [presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin and I’m ready to fight them. I’m not afraid. When Putin Said He Could Use Nukes [o lÃder do Kremlin determinou que as forças nucleares do paÃs ficassem em regime de alerta de combate], I said “ok, I don’t care, because it’s my land and I’m going to stay here until the end”. I don’t have another house and I don’t want to move to another country; I will only do this under one circumstance: if the Russians take my city.
Many Russians are against the war. How do you see this position? We don’t need their pity, we need them to go out and protest the war, but the Russians are afraid to do that because in their country there is totalitarianism. Ukrainians are not afraid to fight, but Russians are afraid to take to the streets. If you want to live in a free and democratic country, you have to fight for it. So I don’t respect Russians. They are silent and if you silence you agree with this situation [ao menos 6.400 pessoas já foram detidas na Rússia por participarem de protestos contra a guerra, de acordo com a ONG de monitoramento de violência estatal OVD-Info].
Your father is in Kiev, fighting for the Ukrainian army. I only have one feeling: pride. He is very brave, it was his decision to fight in Kiev. He loves Ukraine, he wants his children to live in an independent country. Eight years ago, when he fought in Donetsk, we didn’t hear from him for a week and we didn’t know if he was alive. At that time, I was trying to meet with Russian consulate officials in my city [para encontrar informações dele]. She was sure he was dead.
And your mother, how does she deal with it? Every day my mom calls my dad to see if he’s still alive. She is currently not in Kiev, not least because my house in Kiev was bombed two days ago. My house is next to a children’s hospital, which was also bombed by the Russians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had low popularity ratings before the war. How has the Ukrainian population seen his management in the midst of the conflict? I didn’t vote for Zelensky for president because I didn’t like him, but now he’s very good, very powerful, a hero. He’s really inspiring people. We are very proud to have Zelensky as president.
Last week, he criticized the West and said Ukraine was left alone. Is that also your vision? This was to be expected, because eight years ago Russia took part of our land [referência à anexação da Crimeia], and the US and Europe said we were deeply troubled. We did not expect any country to send troops. We need help. In your country, your president [Jair Bolsonaro] refused to help Ukraine, but we don’t understand that, because what Russia is doing is a crime, not only against Ukraine, but also against humanity and against democracy.
Please take to the streets, talk to your president, don’t be silent. We are a democratic country that wants to live independently, without Russia. I know your president doesn’t want to sanction Russia because you don’t want to lose money, but every day we are losing our lives, our fathers and our mothers. Life is worth more than money. Just imagine that this could happen to your country. It’s terrible.
Eight years ago, Putin took a small part of Ukraine, and before that he had already done so in Georgia and Moldova. He’s not going to stop in Ukraine, he’s going to Finland, Poland, Lithuania and maybe even Germany, I don’t know. Putin wants an empire, he’s crazy, he won’t stop. But we will stay here until the end, the Ukrainians are a brave people. It will be a long war, because we will not give up. Russian soldiers don’t have a motivation to fight here, but we do: it’s our land.
