Tag: ukraine

I’m certain most of us have seen the disturbing video of Zelenskiy meeting Trump at the White House last week, and have formed our own judgments of it. While opinion pieces abound in national media, we don’t dabble in national politics here at Devizine nor jump on a bandwagon. However, as the affair has left me unusually speechless yet moved with concern and compassion for those directly affected by this terrible war, I figured the only way to address this with a local angle is to ask a Ukrainian currently residing in Wiltshire for their personal reflection…..

Ольга Силаева (Olga Silaeva) came to Royal Wootton Bassett with her son under the Homes for Ukraine programme. She agreed to express her feelings about the incident. All I ask is you leave any political opinion at the door if you wish to read on. For while Olga begins by outlining the politics of the incident, this isn’t about affairs of the state, rather what it flows into, which is heartfelt and personal.  

For translational purposes Olga has used Chat GPT for the political parts, but here is what she had to say:

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Of course, watching President Trump’s statements and actions (his pressure on Zelenskiy to influence the presidential election, public accusations of dictatorship, false debt figures, imposing a disadvantageous rare earths contract, voting against the Ukrainian resolution at the UN to whitewash Putin’s policies), we all expected the continuation of harsh pressure and attempts to force Zelenskiy to surrender Ukraine’s interests.

It is clear that Trump has no real plan to end the war, despite repeatedly promising this to his voters. Since he cannot agree on a ceasefire with Putin and does not want to confront him, he decided to force President Zelenskiy, who is in a weak position, to make significant concessions. In addition, Trump is keen to distance Russia from China in order to weaken China, and he seems willing to sacrifice Ukraine to achieve this goal.

I believe that Zelenskiy, when he went to Washington, hoped to convince Trump and improve relations. However, he could not ignore the insults from J.D. Vance, who said many offensive things, including that Zelenskiy organised ‘tourist trips’ to Bucha. (Bucha is a city that was occupied by Russian troops, where many civilians, including children and adults, were subjected to violence, torture, looting and brutal killings. It was the first big shock for all Ukrainians and the world).

President Zelenskiy was certainly not a perfect diplomat and openly disagreed with the White House leadership. However, he has told the truth and called a spade a spade without humiliating anyone. That is why the vast majority of Ukrainians support him. He has demonstrated that he will not betray us or our national interests.

‘Agreements with Putin on a ceasefire are meaningless without security guarantees from the West.’

‘Putin has repeatedly deceived European and American leaders.’

‘If Ukraine loses, there is a high probability that Putin will send troops to other European countries. Then America, as a member of NATO, will be forced to send its soldiers to war with Russia.’

This is the truth that offended President Trump.  The nuclear weapons that Ukraine voluntarily gave up in exchange for the support of the Budapest Memorandum signatories give Ukraine the right to demand a legal document as a guarantee in response to America’s demands.

But today, the US president is not acting as an ally and partner of Ukraine, but as a party lobbying for the interests of the aggressor Russia.

Thus, it is deeply regrettable that the leader of the United States does not put justice and international law first and does not appear to be a reliable partner or ally for Europe either.

It seems that the US is no longer a leader in global security and compliance with international laws and agreements. Europe must therefore take on this vacant leadership role. Europe should form a new military alliance – this would be the best guarantee of peace and stability in the future. We very much hope that European leaders will act quickly and decisively in this direction. In the meantime, we, Ukrainians, will continue to fight the evil of our crazy neighbour and continue to tell the world the truth.

A little bit about me. I came to Royal Wootton Bassett with my son under the Homes for Ukraine programme. We have a strong community of active Ukrainians and an amazing support network. We organise festivals, celebrations and performances to introduce the British to our history and culture, explain the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, support each other and raise funds to help Ukrainians.

I fell in love with Britain. The British are very open, kind and always ready to help. I am extremely grateful to everyone I have met here – they are wonderful people. Despite our differences in culture, traditions and habits, I also see that we share a similar spirit.

But my heart remains at home. I follow every air raid alert in Kyiv and am regularly donating money to support our soldiers in various ways. My nephew was recently wounded in action. Some of my friends and their children were killed in the war. My parents’ house was completely destroyed. What our nation is going through now is terrible and tragic because we are losing our best people. Many of our fallen heroes were never able to start families and have children. Civilians are dying and becoming disabled. Thousands have lost their homes and jobs. Thousands more remain in the occupied territories, suffering from oppression and violence. Millions have fled to other countries with their children – will they ever return home?

We have difficult times ahead of us. But we must save our nation, our country and our independence.

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I would like to thank Olga for her insightful and moving words. We stand with Ukraine.

Olga and many other Ukrainians living in the Swindon borough network, campaign, and get assistance from Swindon Welcomes Ukraine, a not-for-profit committee created to help the people of Ukraine. And there is a Facebook support group in Wiltshire for Ukrainian people both in Ukraine and those fleeing the fighting.

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