For several weeks now, Vitalii Kyzym (18) has been regularly going to Plein 1992 to play the guitar in traditional Ukrainian dress. The first-year student in the Maastricht Science Programme is raising money for the armed forces of Ukraine. People can pay cash or scan the QR code on the poster on the drying rack next to him. He has also been attending “every single protest” and talking to anyone who wants to talk to him about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In Ukrainian, Russian or English. “It’s the least I can do.” Well, apart from travelling to Ukraine to join the fight himself, but that’s not an option he considered. “Me? With a gun? No, I’m more useful here.”
Kyzym, his parents and his brother lived in Belarus for the past four years; before that, they lived in Kiev. His family is safe there, he says. “Relatively safe, that is, as Belarus is a police state. There’s a KGB agent on every street corner. The Belarusian secret service will arrest you at the drop of a hat. The situation is essentially the same as in Russia, but the Western world is less aware of it.”
Fridge
His grandparents still live in Kiev. They have stocked up on enough food to last them three months and are staying inside as much as possible. Kyzym is very worried about them. “The Russians are also bombing civilian targets.” His grandmother isn’t afraid, though. “They’re hearing sirens and explosions all day long, but she is confident that the Ukrainian armed forces can defend the city.” Kyzym calls her often, but they don’t actually talk about his grandparents as much as you might expect. “She’s still your typical grandma. She wants to know if I have enough food in my fridge.”
Many Russians, especially people who no longer live there, are speaking out against the war. This is Putin’s war, not Russia’s war, the media says. But Kyzym disagrees with that statement. “Putin has a lot of support in Russia. I know people who support the war. The propaganda machine is running at full throttle. The Russian government is twisting the facts.”
Kyzym seems well informed about his national history. He mentions several historical figures, such as Ivan Mazepa (a Cossack leader in the 17th century) and Stepan Bandera (the leader of the Ukrainian nationalists around World War II). “Every Ukrainian in history who fought for independence is automatically a Nazi in the eyes of the Russian regime. They refuse to accept that the Ukrainian people want a better life than in Soviet times. The more Putin forces us to join him, the further he’s pushing us away.”
Can of pickled tomatoes
Kyzym is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. “Putin often addresses us, because he thinks we’re being oppressed, but I don’t want his ‘help’ at all. He can invade the country, but he will never get the people to buy into his Soviet mentality.” The resistance is so great, even elderly ladies are joining in. “They walk up to Russian soldiers to tell them that they need to put sunflower seeds in their pockets so that their bodies will become fertile soil when they die. Also, there was an old Ukranian lady who took down a drone with a jar of pickled tomatoes.”
What is the solution to the war? The West needs to intervene hard, says Kyzym. “If they truly care about democracy, human rights and freedom, they must introduce the hardest sanctions ever. Putin doesn’t fear the current sanctions. He has been playing this ‘game’ since 2014.” It hurts Kyzym to see that some countries find their own economies more important than the suffering of the Ukrainian people. “People are dying every day.”
Do you want to read more stories of Ukrainian students at UM? Here's an interview with master's student Volodymyr Lotushko and here you can find master’s student of Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge ManagementMykola Antoniuk's story.