Putin picked the wrong nation to mess with

For months, Ukraine worried and agonised about a potential attack. But in just over one week of hellish war, Ukrainians revealed themselves to be some of the bravest people in the world.

Against Russia’s full-scale assault, civilians across the country have been courageously, even terrifyingly, defiant.

There’s the man who stood in front of a Russian tank, pushing against it to stop it from advancing. And the man who picked up an unexploded mine from the road with his bare hands and carried it deep into a forest, with a cigarette in his mouth.

There’s the woman who walked up to a Russian soldier and told him to put sunflower seeds in his pockets. That way when he dies on Ukrainian land, she explained, flowers will grow.

And then there’s the already legendary story of the 13 Snake Island defenders who, when asked to capitulate, refused in gloriously colourful terms.

Yet these heroic displays barely scratch the surface of Ukrainian resistance.

From sharing food to taking up arms, Ukrainians across the country are united in repelling the invaders — and protecting our homeland. President Vladimir Putin was apparently confident that Russia would defeat Ukraine in two or three days. But he picked the wrong nation to mess with.

The Ukrainian Army, destroying enemy tanks and intercepting missiles, has been remarkable. And behind it stand legions of Ukrainians who have made camouflage netting, dispatched humanitarian aid and raised funds. The sums, for a country under attack, are astounding: In one day, Ukraine’s most-trusted military aid nonprofit, Come Back Alive, raised over $680,000 — a donation larger than the amount raised in all of 2021. The National Bank of Ukraine, which opened a special account to raise funds for Ukraine’s military, received nearly $10 million in just the first day of the war.

Some stories, like that of 8-year-old Alisa Zhuk from Kyiv, are especially touching. The little girl is selling her drawings for $20 and up, donating all proceeds to the army — to make sure that Ukrainian soldiers have enough food and clothes, she said. “Our children’’, her mother told me, “will grow up proud of Ukraine.”

Many citizens have gone a step further in their support and joined territorial defence units.

As of February 26, two days into Russia’s attack, 37,000 Ukrainians were signed up. Now journalists, artists, musicians, TV hosts, comedians and thousands of others are patrolling the streets. Using conventional arms and Molotov cocktails — which have become something of a revered national weapon — they have apprehended saboteurs, shot down drones and stopped enemy tanks. In the defense of our country, they have been indispensable.

Ivan and Danylo Stolyarevskyi, brothers from Kyiv, wanted to join them. But because resources could not keep pace with the overwhelming number of volunteers, they were turned down. So the brothers joined Ukraine’s resistance online instead.

Ivan, 27, now spends his time writing Google reviews for Russian cafes and restaurants. But they are no ordinary reviews.

“Russian troops have been bombing Kyiv and its peaceful residents for 4 days’’, one reads. “Go out in the streets — stop the deaths of children.” By flooding places where Russians are congregating online, Ivan and the hundreds of others writing similar messages hope to spread the truth of the Kremlin’s atrocities.

Danylo, 30, plays a different role. He’s part of the “IT Army of Ukraine’’, a group chat with over 285,000 participants on the messaging app Telegram. There, web developers from all over the country coordinate cyberattacks on Russian and Belarusian websites. The method is quite simple.

Regular websites in Russia and Belarus aren’t equipped to handle large numbers of visitors, so to destabilise them, a group of people reload the web page many times.

Dozens of strategically important websites have been struck down, including that of the National Bank of Belarus.

“It is a drop in the ocean, but you feel your small contribution to the common cause’’, Danylo told me.

That’s something every Ukrainian is doing, in ways big and small. Even under bombardment, people have lined up to donate blood, providing vital assistance to the country’s hospitals.

—The New York Times