Ukrainian man living in Longford wonders what 'Peace' may cost

Nikolaos Tsevukh, 35, is a Ukrainian man from Berdiansk in Ukraine. In 2022, on February 24, he was woken up at 5am to the door of his flat, on the ninth floor, blown open from an explosion caused by ballistic missiles falling 2km away. This was the first day of Russian occupation.

He now lives in Granard and is a popular character around the town. It is not surprising if anyone has heard his name before as he is heavily involved in multiple community initiatives such as Tidy Towns and consistently helps out in Lus na Gréine Family Resource Centre.

Before the beginning of the interview, he quickly runs out to help someone carry a box and sits back down in the café of Lus na Gréine.

“I like to be useful,” he says when discussing his community involvement. Since moving here in August 2022, Nikolaos has become a vital and valued member of the Granard community. By the time he left Ukraine, he had watched his neighbours carried off to prisons for standing up to their occupiers.

According to Nikolaos, the Russian military rode in in their droves, however, without proper weapons, they could do almost nothing against the hundreds of tanks that were driving into Berdiansk. Instead, they showed up with flags and protested at their arrival.

He notes that the war truly started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and part of Ukraine's Eastern regions, since then Nikolaos has been an active volunteer.

The situation in Ukraine is becoming far more dire.

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Following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the White House on February 28, which resulted in massive uproar across the world after he was rebuked by the US President and Vice President, the US has ceased both military and intelligence aid to the country.

“Of course we need help from the USA,” Nikolaos said of the meeting, “I don’t understand how it’s working, one year ago we have a good relationship with the USA, we felt support.”

“It looks very strange, we’re feeling thankful for Europe.”

Nikolaos understands that peace is important, everyone wants it, but there is one question he has regarding this peace, on whose terms will it be brokered?

“Of course we need peace, but who will pay for it.

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“If we make peace like Trump wants, at this moment the USA benefits, Russia benefits, Ukraine has no benefits.

“USA wants our resources, Russia says yeah we give the resources to USA but from occupied Ukraine.

“Who attacked Ukraine, who invaded?”

Nikolaos is among thousands of people who have had to flee Ukraine for safety. When he left, his wife was expecting their second child, who was then born in Ireland, they are now expecting their third.

Nikolaos believes that Ukraine is but a stepping stone for Putin, he believes that once this “peace” is achieved, Putin will attack again.

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He likens the situation to Hitler’s invasion of Poland that went ignored and resulted in the invasion of many other lands.

“Who started this and who wanted to continue this? Just Russia, he wants to use all the Ukrainian resources and attack another European country.

“Next it’s the Baltic countries, Poland, I am sure,” he emphasises, “Maybe Georgia.”

“I think that Europe must be ready for everything, Russia doesn’t care about your independence or your laws or democracy or freedom.

“When I look at everything that’s going on in the world I think if you have power you don’t care for anything, you can just come and take what you want.”

Nikolaos recalls the first day of the invasion and the weeks that followed. He lived in occupied Berdiansk for two months.

“The morning of the invasion, we met up with a few hundred men and waited for them, but then we see it was thousands, with tanks coming to my hometown.

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They resorted to protesting, the people of the city showed up day after day to condemn the invading forces. In a video of one of the protests, those in attendance can be heard shouting ‘Ukraine’ and ‘Go Home’ at Russian forces, which continued until the army began arresting them.

Since the beginning of the war, Nikolaos has lost friends who were fighting over there, some are still there and spent Christmas in a tent, armed for battle.

Two of them agreed to provide statements regarding the recent events, which were sent on to the ‘Leader’ by Nikolaos.

Taras Bakay is 33 years old and is currently located in Zaporizhzhia, 20 to 30 kilometres from the front line.
“As a resident of a frontline city in Ukraine, I feel deep anxiety and disappointment over the latest actions of the US and their negotiations with Russia without Ukraine's participation,” said Taras.

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“What’s especially concerning is that the U.S. and Russia are holding negotiations about ending the war without Ukraine at the table. This gives the feeling of betrayal and abandonment because the fate of our country is being decided without our voice.

“And yet, we’re told these talks are “for peace.” But their so-called “peace” means daily Russian missile strikes on residential buildings, stores, post offices, car washes, and other civilian infrastructure.

"As someone living in a frontline city, I don’t just hear about this on the news—I experience it firsthand through the sounds of explosions and the sight of destroyed buildings around me.”

Sergey Nobelev, 38, is located in Kyiv.

He says that the US had every right to cease aid.

“The US now wants to focus its own interests and for some reason has stopped viewing its allies as likeminded partners,” he said.

“The US is indifferent to Ukraine's fate, having ceased to care about it, perhaps they never truly did. This is evident in how they repeatedly delayed weapons deliveries when Ukrainian forces were making progress, especially in the first two years.

“Based on the above, one could surmise this was their scenario all along, starting from the Bucharest meeting and through subsequent years. No one actually wanted to see Ukraine in NATO; they were merely provoking Russia with this possibility, and

Ukraine took the bait, resulting in tremendous suffering.”

During the interview Nikolaos discusses his fears that if Russia takes Ukraine, it will encourage other superpowers to continue with their plans to occupy other nations, such as China with Taiwan, Israel with Palestine and North Korea with its southern counterpart.

He smiles, “Do you know the movie Spider-Man?” he asks, “With great power comes great responsibility, I think that it is important for the USA (to recognise that) because they really influence all the world.”

At the end of the chat Nikolaos expressed his gratitude to Ireland for taking him and his family in.

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He then highlights the importance of recognising the horror of war.

“I’m afraid at this moment because I have small babies and I understand what’s happening, I saw war, I saw it with my eyes.

“When I was young, we spoke with our grandfathers and grandmothers who saw the Second World War, when they remembered this, they would always say, “Never war again, never war again.

“When I was young, I didn’t understand what it meant, I understood war is bad, but when I saw it with my eyes, it’s the worst thing in the world, war, I’m sure.

“I would like no one to ever know or feel what war is,” he concluded.