Once in one of his addresses Volodymyr Zelenskyy quoted Georgia Meloni, who said the following:
"I don't want disappointed people in Ukraine to burn portraits of European and American leaders."
Well, I think that no one in Ukraine is going to burn portraits. People in Ukraine, though being disillusioned and disfigured by war, have the dignity and clarity to understand who is their true enemy and who wants to wipe them off from the earth.
Disillusioned people in Ukraine won't burn their portraits. Instead they'll simply chew them, swallow them and digest them. Or spit them out.
And their portraits, instead of being place in the pantheon of Ukraine's allies in a worthy place alongside Ukrainian heroes, will be buried in the ground as compost or simply lost in history.
As those who talked too much and did too little.
As those who turned a blind eye and pretended this was not their war.
As those who sought justification in the mere fact that Ukraine is not ideal and everything is not that obvious.
As those who invented that there exists any possibility to stop Putin with appeasement.
There's none. It's a fiction. A whim.
It's simply a non-existant reality which weak people, unable to face the truth, invent for themselves to chicken out and avoid responsibility.
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Putin doesn't need a pretext. Ukraine didn't attack the parade or launch any strikes during the truce, and Putin himself admitted it.
Did it in any way change his decision to launch 1428 drones and 56 missiles?
He's not doing this in response to anything. He's doing it out of a sick obsession to wipe out an entire people, even though he doesn't even consider them a people.
And then he will either obliterate Ukraine with bombs and missiles. Or, if Ukraine capitulates, he will subject the people to filtration and assimilation, and there will be no Ukrainians – everything will be like in the occupied territories – no language, no passport, no identity. If he is not stopped.
Ukraine is strong. Ukraine is stronger than Putin believed and believes. Ukraine is stronger than the West believed before the invasion in February 2022. Ukraine is stronger than Trump believed in the Oval Office in February 2025. Ukraine is stronger than perhaps even Ukrainians themselves believe.
But it's not just about strength - it's also about the individual tragedy of everyone killed in their sleep by a Russian missile. About the endless grief over the murder of a 12-years-old girl, pulled from under the rubble.
Too much pain to bear alone. And Ukraine bears it all alone, no matter what anyone says. For more then four years now.
This just should not happen - not because of the world order, not because of international law and not because of all those rules humanity invented after World War II to maintain this fragile peace. All of these are good, but in fact secondary constructs, too complex for many. This is not the main thing Ukraine is fighting for.
It's because of a simple principle that no scum should be allowed to kill others on a whim.
This is what Ukraine is really fighting for. This is why it can't just give up Donbas and hope for Putin's mercy. And this is why all these children are dying. Not fucking because of Donbas.
And if Ukraine lays down its arms, it will mean only one thing: killing is allowed. And the next victim could then be anyone.
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As of now, it is known about 7 people killed, but these are only those who were pulled from the rubble. There may be up to 20 more people still buried there.
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