Kate tells of Ukraine horrors as Europe neighbours stare into the jaws of the bloodied bear of Russia
When we first became involved in the world of Central and Eastern Europe so many years ago, we knew we had found a new home.
At least for a while.
We moved to Poprad in the Spis region of Slovakia and in so many ways it was like a fantasy – a good one.
There was music in the cafes at night and stoic memories of revolution permeating the air.
1989 is so long ago and far away, almost 40 years. But to the people from this part of the world, it still seems like only yesterday.
Russian invasion, the Warsaw Pact, is as indelible in their minds as is the destruction of the Ukraine. It is happening again 300 miles down the pot-holed road.
When we first arrived in Poprad in 2006 – and we came back every few weeks for the next 15 years – it was a bootlace pondering nation…
Looking at your bootlaces stops you meeting the eyes of your enemy.
If Eastern and Central Europeans of a certain age don’t know who you are, they will still ignore you.
It is passive now. But it was survival then and there is a possibility it may be again soon.
However, once you get to know these handsome and confident people, you quickly learn, yes, they like a laugh, they like a drink, they like going to ‘nature’ – forests and falls and mountains and lakes, castles and ancient villages.
They are intelligent, knowledgable, generous, caring and loyal.
And, unlike the ex-pat contingency in their part of the world, they are trying to get rid of corruption, unlike so many foreigners who arrive there to take their chance with it.
There is money to be made here, if you talk big, invent friends in high places and don’t care about the indigenous population.
But Europeans round here have a way of dealing with this too, they talk about you plenty when you are gone from the room or even this world. They saw through you long ago.
They will lampoon you, expose you. They will refuse to keep your dirty little secrets and they will broadcast them to the world.
The Russians have left scars in Poprad, they painted a Russian tank over a hole in the wall at Dobre Casy. The bar used to belong to Alfons, a big bluff beery barman who lived through it all and stayed despite everything.
Then of course there is the shrine to Joe Bonk, a young engineer who died alone in the basement of a local hospital after being gutted like a fish by Russian shells.
There is a distinct fear now of Putin expanding his assault on Europe and Slovaks talk about it often.
It should never ever be allowed to happen.
But it might.
On a journalism site this video had been passed by. Perhaps my fellow journalists were pondering their bootlaces.
The Society decided to use it, to show the world. We have tried to verify the video.
It was made by Kate Ganochkina, a former business manager in Kyiv, who originates from Lutsk on the Styr River, who now helps refugees.
Kate, in her twenties, said: “I am a refugee from Ukraine🇺🇦. I want to share the truth about the war in Ukraine. This video was filmed to show the reality of today’s events in Ukraine. I tried to show that Putin is a terrorist killing Ukrainian innocent people, destroying the country. Please donate to Ukrainian army, click on the link below. I shared all the truth about war in Ukraine and my story as a refugee.”
https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ https://www.standwithukraine.how/
So, while the great ragged Russian bear stumbles, the Ukraines stand AND ROAR at the entrance to the petrified forests, villages and cities of their homeland.
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