Kyiv Realities

From Yahoo:
"Divided but not defeated, Ukrainians seek to heal war wounds"

Kiev resident Anna Okhrimenko stopped speaking Russian after Moscow annexed Crimea last year, and does not think much of her pro-Russian compatriots caught up in the year-long war raging in Ukraine's east. "I don't like them," said the 42-year-old, referring to people from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. "They are poorly educated, they are stuck in the USSR and instil this mindset in their children. "They love Russia, but most of them have never been there," she told AFP. For decades historic, cultural and linguistic faultlines divided the country into the pro-Russian east and the pro-European, Ukrainian-speaking west. Now the tensions that simmered below the surface have split the ex-Soviet nation of 45 million, with fighting in the east undoing bonds between family and friends, pitting colleagues against each other, and stigmatising Ukrainians from the rebel-held east. Displaced civilians from the separatist east have been hard hit, many unable to secure jobs in the capital, some even having a hard time finding apartments. Okhrimenko is one of many Ukrainians helping those worst affected by the conflict in the east, despite her misgivings about their loyalties.  The employee of a small business sends warm clothing to Ukrainian soldiers, but also to those seeking refuge from the fighting which has already claimed over 6,000 lives since April 2014. She rents her spare Kiev apartment to tenants from the separatist region of Donetsk.  "One day we will reconcile," said Okhrimenko. Okhrimenko was one of hundreds of thousands of people who took over Kiev's Independence Square to protest against Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych's decision in November 2013 to scrap a key political and trade pact with the European Union. The three-month protests eventually brought down Yanukovych, but not before a bloody crackdown resulted in scores of deaths. Angered by Yanukovych's ouster, pro-Russian separatists in the east declared their own "republics". Ukraine and the West have repeatedly accused Moscow of sending arms and troops to support the rebels, a claim Russia denies.    Fellow Kiev resident Oksana Sukhorukova shared that sentiment, saying Russia's actions and the crucible of war could help "consolidate the Ukrainian people". "I cried after the annexation of Crimea, and was shocked by the secession of Donbass", Sukhorukova, financial director at a construction firm, told AFP.  Having cut ties with relatives in Russia and Crimea, she now seeks solace helping those fleeing from the violence. She is one of a dozen volunteers spending her weekends at an aid centre in central Kiev, sifting through the huge piles of donations. The mother of two also helps register the refugees and manages the centre's accounts. Sukhorukova admitted to feeling "offence, pain and misunderstanding" after hearing that loved and respected acquaintances had backed the rebels.

 

^ These are examples of the true Ukrainians I have seen (when I was in the Ukraine and since the war.) They have to deal with the stark realities of the Russian annexation of the Crimea and the Russian-backed terrorists in the eastern part of the Ukraine. The majority of Ukrainians have ties to Russia, including the Russian language, due to being part of the Czarist and Soviet Empires. Even with the similarities you can clearly see a sharp difference in how both sides deal with each other. The Russians in Russia and ethnic Russians in the eastern Ukraine tend to use terms like "Fascist" and call for violence to "protect" them from the imaginary Ukrainian threat. The majority of the Russians also don't speak Ukrainian or any foreign language - it is a throwback from decades of being told you were a Super Power and not living in the 21st Century. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, tend to speak Russian along with Ukrainian and believe it is the Russian Government and not the Russian people who want the war and annexation. If my country was attacked and parts of it annexed I don't know if I would be so polite and forgiving to the side creating the violence as the Ukrainians are. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/divided-not-defeated-ukrainians-seek-heal-war-wounds-094412584.html