We must be ready: What can Ukrainians expect in 2023
In 2022, Ukraine showed an example of unprecedented courage and incredible synergy across all layers of the population, civil society, and the military and political leadership of the country. There was a consolidation of Ukrainian society around the force that proved to be the destroyer of the myth of the invincible or second army in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have become our everything. The Armed Forces became our support, our hope, our gods. From the old to the small, everyone united in a single impulse to do everything that depended upon us in order to save their lives and help our defenders destroy the enemies.
We've seen thousands of examples of this happening during the foundation's tenure since the full-scale invasion. From small children to old people, big businesses to small businesses - everyone is working towards our victory. Donating to the Ukrainian Armed Forces is now the norm every day or every month, depending on what a person's income is.
Read also: Lessons of the Russian-Ukrainian war for Ukraine and the world on the threshold of 2023
We destroyed what Russia had been working on for a very long time. The Kremlin invested billions of dollars in using its propaganda to convey to the world that Ukraine is a failed state, that Ukraine is a historical misunderstanding, that Ukraine is a sub-state, and that it is some kind of sub-nation. But we proved that it is not the case that a people are incapable, if these people unite and support their country so firmly that it is recognized at the highest level. When a representative of the Ministry of Defense comes out and says that in March-April, the provision of, for example, body armor for Ukrainian defenders was coming equally from the state and from volunteers, then I believe that we were succeeding in everything - the Ukrainian state rose thanks to the fact that Ukrainian political nation appeared. It was formed in 2022. And on that we can be congratulated.
In 2023, all our challenges will not disappear. And we will all have to continue to work a lot and work hard. Businesses have to figure out how to deal with power outages and pay taxes to the budget. Volunteers will continue to ask people to donate, and will continue to buy and bring to the army what, for example, the Ministry of Defense cannot purchase, or what we can deliver faster.
It will not happen soon, but it is important for us to understand that evil will be inevitably punished.
Our politicians and diplomats have to try very hard, but continue to ask the world for the newest types of weapons and as much as possible. And most importantly, our Western partners, the civilized world, will still need to give Ukrainians an answer to their request for justice. And for all those war crimes that have been committed, are being committed, and will continue to be committed against our country and against our people, we must receive the message that evil will be punished. It doesn't matter where this evil is located, whether in the offices of power in the Kremlin, or behind bastions with weapons in their hands. Ukrainians deserve this. And the fact that the European Parliament voted to create a special tribunal for the criminal regimes of Putin and Lukashenko is already a big step forward. It will not happen soon, but it is important for us to understand that evil will be inevitably punished.
After our victory, everything we do in the future must be under one very simple umbrella that reads: "We must be ready."
It so happened that we were terribly unlucky with our neighbor. At the same moment, when some people in the world continue to believe that Russia is Russian ballet, vodka, and tap dancing, we unfortunately understand that we are destined to border a group of murderers, rapists, and thieves, and they will not disappear. We cannot cut them off with scissors on the map and send them to the Pacific Ocean, no matter how much we want to. Therefore, in everything we do next, we have to build our state and society accounting for the fact that the future Ukrainian victory is just a respite before another future Russian invasion. As long as this substance exists on the political map of the world, neither we nor our children will ever be safe. Therefore, we must be trained so that they do not have the desire to attack us.
Read also: To keep people coming back. When and how to rebuild Ukrainian cities
If you ask the world now who Ukrainians are, they perceive us as a nation of warriors. They admire us very much, and they are very proud of us. This is normal for a Ukrainian. We have always been like this. From Kyivan Rus, we fought at Orsha, and during the Second World War we fought in nine armies of the world. We know how to fight. But we don't do it because we want to. Ukrainians fight because we have no choice. We are free people. We don't need a ruler over our head. We don't need anything extra, and we fight for our own. And all those people with whom we communicate at the front - former teachers, managers, IT specialists, drivers, plumbers, all they dream about is for the war to end, so they can put down their rifles and go back to their affairs. A Ukrainian likes to raise wheat and children, not to fight. However, when trouble comes, we put down the plow and pick up our rifles.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
