Only 45 km (28 miles) from the border with Russia, Kharkiv has been the scene of heavy fighting (link) since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 (Thursday). My girlfriend Nataliya and I have watched with anguish from afar as her homeland and hometown have been subjected to naked Russian aggression.

Nataliya has lived in the United States nearly 20 years, but all her family still lives in or near Kharkiv, including her brother (married with a young son with special needs) and her parents (both retired). Her brother lives on the east side of Kharkiv and says there has been fighting in nearby streets. Her mother and father live in a rural suburb on the west side of Kharkiv and say they can’t sleep at night because of all the explosions. Her mother, Iryna, says they don’t turn on the lights at night because they’re afraid to make themselves a target. Her ex-husband Vlad also returned to Ukraine only days before the fighting started to care for his mother and father who are both in poor health. His mother had surgery shortly before the invasion and was sent home prematurely to make room for anticipated casualties. Vlad has remarried and his wife and stepdaughter are very worried too since it looks like he won’t be returning to northern Kentucky anytime soon.

News reports indicate the Russians bombarded Kharkiv with missiles and artillery before sending in ground forces. A gas pipeline and the local airport were damaged. Fighting erupted throughout the city, but the Ukrainians claimed to have completely repulsed the attack by Feb. 27 (Sunday). But on Monday, Russian artillery has started to pound residential areas in Kharkiv (as seen in the video) killing dozens which flatly contradicts naked Russian lies that they target “only military objects.”

Kharkiv is a major cultural and economic hub and is the 2^nd largest city in Ukraine. Founded in 1654, Kharkiv was the capital city before Kyiv rose to prominence in 1934.

Known for its beautiful churches and magnificent museums, Kharkiv is also a sister city of Cincinnati. Mayor Aftab Purval has offered assistance (link) to any Ukrainian refugees who may eventually arrive in Cincinnati. St. John’s Unitarian Universalist Church has already begun to raise funds to help as well. A rally is planned on Fountain Square at 3 p.m. Monday (Feb. 28) with Mayor Purval speaking at 4 p.m. More than 500,000 people have already fled the fighting in Ukraine. Please make a donation to any relevant humanitarian group if you are in a position to do so!

Kharkiv is 5,300 miles away and is separated from Cincinnati by 7 time zones, so the flow of information has been very slow. I had started to sleep much better in recent months after suffering from COVID-somnia but have had very little sleep the last few nights.

Nataliya and I had been planning a visit to Ukraine to spend time with her family in Kharkiv. I only met Nataliya’s mother briefly when she visited Cincinnati in 2019, but I say a few words whenever Nataliya chats with her over Facetime. I’ve been taking some rudimentary Russian language classes through the Babel app. Being so close to the border with Russia, Kharkiv is one of the regions in Ukraine where Russian is more common. Ukrainian and Russian are very similar (link), and both use the Cyrillic alphabet; as a result, many Ukrainians are bi-lingual. About 68% of the population primarily speaks Ukrainian while 30% speak Russian and the remainder speak other languages.

Nataliya’s son Alex speaks Russian at home and usually visits both sets of his grandparents every summer. Alex doesn’t understand the scope of the war and, in his youthful naivete, expects to return this year as soon as the shooting stops! Nataliya’s parents live on the more rural edge of Kharkiv, so they have a little garden, some chickens, and rabbits whom Alex loves! He was heartbroken when the furry matriarch recently died.

I have been awed by the dogged Ukrainian resistance in the face of nearly 200,000 Russian troops. But, there are suspicions that Belarus (a close ally of Russia) might send troops to fight alongside Russia (link) in Ukraine. So far, Belarus has only facilitated the invasion by allowing Russian troops to cross through Belarus in order to attack Ukraine.

My first interest in history arose was based in military history and especially World War II. That background makes me painfully aware of the suffering this war is causing. Therefore, I am an advocate for peace, which is one of the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism (link). So, I feel guilty when I take smug satisfaction after seeing videos of burned-out Russian tanks and armored vehicles on the streets of Ukraine. However, I realize this is Putin’s war and not a war the Russian people wanted.

As shown by recent massive peace protests in 48 Russian cities (link), many Russian people abhor war. Especially when thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of young Russians will die as result of an illegal and unjust war that Putin unleashed.

No major Ukrainian city has been captured yet and the tyrant Putin agreed to negotiate with Ukraine. I doubt that the diplomatic talks will lead to much progress, especially while Russian troops are still killing innocent civilians in Ukraine. It seems unlikely that domestic protests or international sanctions will topple Putin either, since he has weathered both before. Perhaps this situation is different?