Many young people in Ukraine grew up near borders with Russia and spoke the language. But they have turned their backs on that identity in favour of a more Western one. They fear a war will pull them back.
Many young people in Ukraine — including Anastasia Pomasan, left, Roman Vydro, centre, and Katerina Pereverzeva — grew up near its border with Russia and spoke the language. But some have turned their backs on that identity in favour of a more Western one. They fear a war will pull them back.
When Kharchuk was growing up, Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In a letter to the Ukrainian armed forces on Tuesday, Ukraine's defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Putin's actions constituted another step toward the Kremlin's goal of reviving the Soviet Union.Despite her belief that war is now inevitable, it doesn't scare Kharchuk.But the prospect of a full-scale war in Ukraine, beyond the one that has simmered in its east for eight long years, is harder for younger people to grapple with.
When pro-Russian rebels first declared their self-styled 'people's republics' in Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014, many people thought Kharkiv was destined to follow. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk. If psychological warfare is part of Moscow's calculation in its military buildup around Ukraine, there's plenty of evidence that it's working, although partly assisted, say some, by Washington's repeated warnings of an imminent Russian invasion.
Her family fled the fighting when she was 11. The current situation can act as a trigger, summoning memories of the uncertainty they lived with before then.Like Pomasan, she's refusing to speak Russian, saying conflict forces you to choose an identity.
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