“Resilience. Ukraine still stands, against all odds. It’s a miracle. There is no rational explanation.” — Yaroslav Hrytsak, Ukrainian historian
3 years of fighting. 500,000+ wounded, 100,000+ dead as of January.
And yet, Ukraine still stands. Those are statistics, but here are a few of the men behind them.
First, Myhailo Yavorskyi, a man who moved to the United States from Ukraine. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, he graduated high school in Chicago, joined the U.S. Army to pay for college, loved to read. He married his wife Oksana in 2012, had a little daughter named Solomia, and parents and siblings who loved him.
Two days after Russia invaded in February 2022, he boarded a plane east. He went to defend a country he hadn’t lived in since childhood, because he could not watch the atrocities from afar.
“He wouldn’t respect himself if he stayed out of this,” his wife Oksana Bila told the Sun-Times. “He believed in leading by example and wanted everyone to see it’s not just a war for Ukraine, but everyone’s war.”
“For peace and democracy,” she said, “he thought no sacrifice was too big.”
His fellow soldiers called him “Chicago.” He was killed in 2023, at 43, dragging wounded comrades away from the front line under artillery fire. Ukraine is considering him for its highest honor.
There was another man, Arsan, the 33-year-old godson of the Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak, the man quoted above.
“He saved three cats from the war zone. He managed to send them to Lviv and on to Germany. The cats survived; he did not.”
Myhailo’s sister formed a nonprofit, Brave Like Ukraine, to provide supplies, medical aid, and comfort to others who are suffering.
I just donated. You should too.
And then be brave like them, and ask everyone who wants your vote what they intend to do to stop this war, and all wars.
Sources:
- Ukrainian-born Chicagoan died fighting Russian invasion, remembered on war’s anniversary — Chicago Sun-Times
- Ukraine’s greatest hope? To be able to have a boring life — Irish Times
- Yaroslav Hrytsak, historian: ‘Ukraine is still standing against all odds, it is a miracle’ Le Monde
- Brave Like Ukraine