WORLD NEWS & PROPHECY
The Human Side of the Ukraine Tragedy Ukraine’s current tragedy is one more sad chapter in a long history of invasion and oppression.
M
ore than 5 million Ukrainians—mostly women, children and the elderly—have been displaced from their homes in Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces have even attacked defenseless civilian areas, striking apartment buildings, schools and hospitals. Outsiders considering joining the fight against the aggressors face Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons, which would escalate the crisis to World War III and bring apocalypse to our doorstep. Already, advanced hypersonic missiles have been fired, and fears grow about the use of chemical weapons. So we all watch helplessly in disbelief as carnage not seen for generations—since Stalin and Hitler’s time—continues. We can only hope it somehow abates. Masses of refugees have been taken in by neighboring Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, as well as points further west. Men in Ukraine under age 60 are not allowed to leave, but are expected to defend their country. The United Kingdom, Canada and others have initiated programs to shelter the growing number of exiles. My beginnings with Ukrainian refugees I am an American of Ukrainian origin and speak the language fluently. My parents and I were part of a refugee wave of millions of people in post–World War II Europe. Providentially, my parents ended up in a United Nations refugee camp in Germany where I was born. They 16 Beyond Today
•
bided their time there for four years before being permanently resettled in the United States. Now, more than 70 years later, I’m involved in a new Ukrainian refugee crisis, providing relief to people who’ve left Ukraine and also to those remaining. Growing up I was tutored in Ukrainian language, history, religion and culture, and I’ve absorbed the pathos of its people. Over the years I saw an oppressed Ukraine languishing under the boot of godless and domineering Soviet communism. And I also saw when, to the astonishment of the Ukrainian diaspora around the world and everyone else, Ukraine suddenly became a free nation in 1991. The bloodless revolution opened a renaissance to 30 years of freedom and interaction with these people. But that door of opportunity may be closing.
B Tm a g a z i n e . o r g
You don’t really know Ukrainians until you understand the pathos of a people traumatized in a long 1,000year history of subjugation at the hands of the Moskali, or Russians, as well as Mongols, Turks, Poles and Hungarians. Many are interested in what’s happening “over there in Ukraine” in light of geopolitics, economics and prophecy. My Ukrainian roots have been awakened by the humanitarian crisis. Millions of people are suffering, their lives upended or, in some cases, suddenly and tragically ended. Over decades I have traveled to Ukraine many times—as a translator, photojournalist, minister and humanitarian. I have worked with government leaders, foundations, media, youth, churches, and medical and educational institutions throughout the country. Through a non-profit that I founded 22 years ago, we have
Photos, from left:: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, all others depositphotos.com
by Victor Kubik
