In the modern world, the level of democratic society is measured, among other things, through state policy aimed at ensuring equal rights for all citizens. Every citizen is an inseparable part of civil society, he is entitled to all the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine. All people are free and equal in their dignity and rights. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in response to a petition calling for the legalization of gay marriage.

At the heart of the Russian attack – attacks, is more accurate – on Ukraine is that Ukraine considers itself European and wants to be integrated into the European Union and Russia considers The Ukraine an integral part of Russia. It is an argument that goes back a long time much of which Ukraine was part of Russia or Poland or, even Lithuania but, recently, mostly Russia. Still, I think that countries, like individual people, should have the right to be who they want to be, and most Ukrainians, who do speak a different language and have a different culture than Russia, want to be part of the European Union. Looking at the differences in the quality of life between Russia and the European Union nations, it seems like a good choice.

Last Night, Michele and I watched Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom by  Evgeny Afineevsky which is about one of the battles in that ongoing conflict. It is a hard movie to watch and, to be accurate, I watched the movie and Michele gave up after watching the first two-thirds. The movie follows the eighty-nine days of the buildup, from a feeble start of a relatively few protestors in November 2013 to the five-day Revolution of Dignity in February 2014. The Revolution of Dignity was a big hunk of the Ukrainian people against pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his refusal to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. For lack of a better way to put it, the movie is shot from inside the protests and while that robs the movie of some context, what it does well is showing us the feeling and tenor of the conflict.

It also put us, the movie-goers, on the side of the protestors while we follow the evolution of the protest from a small group of protestors to hundreds of thousands of protestors. As the protests elevated in size and ferocity, the encampment, in Independence Square – its name in English, in Anglicized Ukrainian, it is Maidan Nezalezhnosti and the revolution, itself is often called The Maidan Revolution – took on the aspects of its own city within Kyivn with kitchens, first aid posts, and a stage. I thought the movie was fascinating but I’ve become very interested in all things Ukrainian and it isn’t for everybody.

While Winter On Fire is intimate and graphic, Ukraine: The Latest a daily podcast by the staff of the English newspaper The Telegraph is equally fascinating but much more cerebral and heavy on context. They talk about everything from explaining the HIMARS system to analyzing the insurance problems with shipping grain in a war zone. I highly recommend Ukraine: The Latest, again, if you are interested.