Rough Draft Unit 1

I’m proud to say, that I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Most people in Ukraine speak Ukrainian, which belongs with Belarusian, Russian and East Slavic family. Ukrainian is written with Cyrillic alphabet form and has close relationship with Russia but has recognizable similarities to polish language.  Most of Ukrainians are bilingual and code switching between Russian and Ukrainian is a common event evident in meetings, court hearings, broadcast media, and even in the country’s parliamentary debates. It is common to find two Ukrainians in a conversation, and one talks in Ukrainian and the other replies or answer in Russian.

Today it is no surprise to hear the phrase “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine) in the streets. However, the reaction to it may be different. Someone will cheerfully respond, “Heroyam slava!” (Glory to the Heroes); yet other will pass by, muttering something with displeasure. Some even consider it fascist, which is used only in “banderivska”, “nationalist” Western Ukraine.  Events of the end of 2013-2014 in Ukraine, known worldwide as “Ukrainian crisis”, are multidimensional and multifaceted. Their internal content is most accurately described by the
term “Revolution of dignity”, based on a painful Ukrainian breakup with post-Soviet past and the struggle between different social and political powers to choose the direction of its further development. An aggressive intervention of Russia put question about Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state in the cornerstone of the revolution and led to Ukrainian crisis, which became one of the most serious challenges for the post-bipolar international system. Furthermore, events of 2013 – 2014 clearly showed the desire of Ukraine to play a full-fledged role in international relations.

Russia could be blamed for igniting the bloody conflicts on the territory of Ukraine, however there is no doubt that Putin had more relevant reasons to go hard, then just his own aspirations to create a new empire. Western world, who tried to incorporate Ukraine into its institutions and take it out of Russian sphere of influence literally provoked Moscow. According to national security policy of Russia, buffer zones are essential to became a super power and avoid NATO’s influence. It is not acceptable for Russia to lose their strategically important neighbor to the EU. That is why, Putin opted to take over Crimea as he feared it could host a NATO naval base. As well, destabilizing of Ukraine was designed to force Kiev abandon its efforts to join EU. Ukrainian crisis highlighted all the most important differences between decision-making processes in the EU and Russia.

All these day I can’t stop worrying about my parents, family, friends, who live there. And every time when I look at photos and videos, showing shootings and blood in my home town, I can’t believe that it might happening in the 21st century. But I’m so proud for our people, who keep fighting for Ukraine, for people who they loved. And believe me, it’s terrible when your mother call you at 6 am in the morning to say, that war has begin, there is nothing to say. “Slava Ukraini!” means a lot for me today. It means a nation, who not afraid of anything and I’m glad to be a part of it.

In Ukrainian, when we miss someone or if we are waiting for something, we say “я чекаю на тебе”, which translate to “I’m waiting for you”. I’m (чекаю) waiting for my country to become a safe place, I’m (чекаю)  waiting for my friends who must stay alive for their families, wife and kids, I’m (чекаю) waiting for the end of all conflicts and I’m (чекаю) waiting for peaceful sky underheard all Ukrainians, I’m ( чекаю) waiting for my family to call me with the words “everything is fine”.  I’m (чекаю)  waiting…