Amid war, Ukraine鈥檚 millennials feel special responsibility for nation
-
Noah Robertson Staff writer
| Kyiv, Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Oles Yakymchuk was in Ohio, studying for a master鈥檚 degree in fine arts. He did not have to come back to his homeland. The war was an ocean away.
But Mr. Yakymchuk, who鈥檚 spent the last four months raising money and delivering first-aid supplies, couldn鈥檛 tolerate the distance. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how I could live a normal life in the U.S. during all this crazy stuff happening here,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would have to come back.鈥�
So he did 鈥� in part to support his family, in part because he couldn鈥檛 ignore his feelings for his country. Mr. Yakymchuk is 29, almost the same age as modern Ukraine, which was founded in August 1991. He and the country have grown up together, through independence, economic depression, democratic revolution, and now war. Those events have both profoundly influenced his life and made him want to influence the life of his country.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onRussia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine has spurred a generation, whose sense of responsibility developed as it grew up during the Orange and Maidan revolutions, to protect Ukraine鈥檚 nascent nationhood.
In Ukraine, Mr. Yakymchuk鈥檚 generation is known for its activism, its European ideals, and its patriotism. Young people protested for democracy during the 2013-14 Maidan revolution and the Orange Revolution 10 years before it.
Now, young people are among the most involved in Ukraine鈥檚 war effort 鈥� gathering aid or fighting on the front lines.
Their work shows a powerful sense of agency. When faced with threats to their country, Ukraine鈥檚 post-independence generation often feels like it can, and must, do something. It鈥檚 a foil to the political pessimism elsewhere, particularly in the United States, where young people often feel the least enabled to act.
During wartime, though, there鈥檚 a cost to being a generation that tries. Last month in Kyiv, hundreds of people attended , a young activist who had volunteered to fight on the first day of the war. Elsewhere in the country, many have begun to worry that this generation will also face some of the war鈥檚 worst consequences.
鈥淭his war is our war, and this is our responsibility,鈥� says Mr. Yakymchuk.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the bravest鈥�
Mr. Yakymchuk has been an activist before, including during the Maidan revolution. So when he returned to Kyiv this March, he reconnected with several friends with a similar background. They wanted to do something to help the war effort, and decided to collect first-aid supplies. Within a few weeks, Mr. Yakymchuk had opened a bank account and posted a donation page online. Within a month, while walking to get coffee one morning, he checked the account. He had a $30,000 balance.
He and his friends have bought and delivered, sometimes near actual fighting, thousands of first-aid kits and tourniquets. In the process, Mr. Yakymchuk鈥檚 number was passed on the front lines from person to person, who would then call and request equipment. Eventually his group registered as an official nongovernmental organization, UA First Aid, but only after months of work without weekends and relying on savings to pay rent and other essentials.
鈥淢y way of fighting stress is to act,鈥� says Mr. Yakymchuk, speaking to the Monitor at a Kyiv pizza joint.
Still, it sometimes nags him that he didn鈥檛 enlist. It鈥檚 been difficult to try to meet the needs of his country when those needs are so great. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to do this job, actually,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing it just because they need this.鈥�
Inga Levy, an artist聽in her mid-30s from Kyiv who is now living in Lithuania, says people their age feel like Ukraine鈥檚 needs have to be met.
Ms. Levy was born into the USSR, but she wasn鈥檛 raised in it. 鈥淭he world became more open; we saw different countries; we could travel; we got more information,鈥� she says of her generation.
Growing up in such an environment, and watching the country mature after the Maidan revolution, gave her a sense of optimism about the country that her parents don鈥檛 share. Because of that hope, she got involved before the war in cultural preservation around her city 鈥� helping save murals and other works of art from development. 鈥淚f not me,鈥� she says, 鈥渢hen no one [will do it].鈥�
She senses now a similar kind of motivation from other people her age or younger. At once, it鈥檚 encouraging and defeating. She鈥檚 already lost multiple friends.
鈥淭hese young people who volunteer, going to the front line 鈥� they鈥檙e the bravest,鈥� says Ms. Levy, who accepted a residency in Lithuania during the war. 鈥淚 know that not only they are dying, but these are the most painful losses.鈥�
鈥淲e can do something鈥�
During Soviet rule, such losses might not have been acceptable, says Ivan Nikolenko, a 27-year-old anti-corruption activist who鈥檚 become a full-time first-aid instructor during the war.
Mr. Nikolenko was born in the eastern city of Dnipro, home to an enormous rocket plant first built by the Soviet Union. There, he grew up believing that Ukraine was almost a lost cause and that European integration was an error. Even now, he says, his parents are somewhat pro-Russian.
He understands why: They grew up in the Soviet Union surrounded by Soviet propaganda. Ukrainians at that time weren鈥檛 permitted the freedom or amount of information that younger generations enjoy today. They have this 鈥嬧�嬧�漝isbelief in the country, in the people 鈥� the disbelief in general that someone could wish better for them,鈥� says Mr. Nikolenko.
鈥淭he major difference between us, like 20- or 30-, and 50- or 60-year-old people is the thing that we believe: that we can do something,鈥� he says.
The same belief leads Kyril Bezkorovainy, 27, to write.
In 2014, after fighting began in the Donbas region, Mr. Bezkorovainy and his friends noticed that major print publications were leaving Ukraine. So he and his friends started one of their own. They focused on science writing, and made some mistakes, but have since grown into multiple magazines, podcasts, and websites.
Since the war, they鈥檝e begun publishing about first aid, evasive maneuvers, water purification, and other survival skills. Their work has become a how-to guide for civilians surviving a war. That鈥檚 what he wants for his country: survival.
鈥淎ll important stages of my life are somehow tied with these ... crucial stages for sovereignty, for democracy for our country,鈥� says Mr. Bezkorovainy. 鈥淲e are going through those challenges together with Ukraine.鈥�
And they all will make it through, says Mr. Yakymchuk, sitting in the pizza kitchen in Kyiv next to a map of the country. Sometimes he finds old daily schedules from his time in Ohio, and still feels shocked at how different life was, just going to classes and playing music. But he doesn鈥檛 just want an easy life elsewhere.
鈥淚 want to make my own paradise,鈥� he says, and he wants it to be in Ukraine.
Olya Bystritskaya supported reporting for this story.
