This zine is here to help you understand the basics of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
1. Because Russia is an empire, seeking to expand. They have been that way for hundreds of years. Today the Russian Federation consists of many republics that could be independent countries. For most of the past 300 years, Ukraine was colonized by Russia, so modern Russian imperialists think they have a right to have Ukraine. They also think they should eventually re-conquer any other countries, that they colonized at any point in history.
2. Because Ukraine doesn’t want to be a part of Russia, and Russia doesn’t like that. Also, Russia doesn’t like seeing Ukraine prospering despite all of Russia’s efforts to make it harder for Ukraine to thrive. Now they are trying to force us to be with them, and hate us even more for resisting.
3. Because modern Russia is a totalitarian state, led by an evil dictator named Vladimir Putin for 22 years, and the majority of Russians trust and support him. They consider him to be a magnificent leader. Those few, who oppose the government, are either silent or repressed.
4. Because the government of Russia sees the freedom-loving people of Ukraine as a bad example to their own people, an example that could pose danger to the regime.In Ukraine, there is actual freedom of speech, and there was a successful people’s effort to overthrow the corrupt Russian-imposed government. Rus sia brutally suppresses all protests, but they couldn’t handle the people of Ukraine.
5. Because in Russia there is a cult of war and an obsession with the victory over nazism in WW2, which they attribute solely to themselves. Now they want another victory.
6. Because Ukraine is located in a great spot, it has many resources that Russia just wants to have.
7. Because Russia feels no responsibility for its crimes. They have invaded and annexed parts of other countries many times with no tangible reaction from the rest of the world, so they think they can do it again without consequences.
If the fact that Russia keeps invading Ukraine, demolishing our cities, killing our people, and annexing our lands is not a good enough reason for you, here’s some more:
1. Ukraine was colonized by Russia for most of the past 300 years. It was tragic. They gave us genocides, they did everything to eliminate our language and culture, to make the world think Ukraine never existed.
2. Russia repressed people who dared to express their Ukrainian national identity, especially those, who could influ ence others (teachers, writers, artists, and otherwise politically active Ukrainians).
3. They forcefully russianized the population of Ukraine, making it illegal to write in Ukrainian and embarrassing to speak Ukrainian. This is why today you hear many Ukrainians speak Russian - it’s not really due to a personal choice, it’s the result of multiple generations of forceful russianization. Ukrainians resisted this process, thus were able to preserve the Ukrainian lan guage. Russia was much more successful in russianizing Belarus, resulting in the Belarusian language now being almost completely replaced by Russian and enlisted as an endangered language.
4. They enslaved Ukrainians. Seriously. Empress of Russia Catherine II passed a law that enslaved hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians for several generations.
5. They terrorized us with artificial famines throughout history, they stole and destroyed our food. They are using this tactic again.
6. Russia has a culture of humiliating other nations, and they are especially brutal in their humiliation of Ukrainians. In most of Russian literature and cinema, Ukrainians are depicted as dumb and cowardly, and up until 2014, it was broadcasted all over Ukrainian TV, forcing us to feel inferior and embarrassed to be Ukrainian.
We are sick and tired of centuries of this kind of abuse. We want nothing to do with Russia, but they keep coming back.
erate attacks on shelters, hospitals, evacuation routes, rape and torture, sieges, mass deportations, and hunger terrorism, are all carried out by Russia in Ukraine to wipe out as many Ukrainians as possible.
Russia’s war crimes, uncovered after the de-occupation of the Kyiv region, indicate that Russian soldiers tortured and killed civilians based on national identity. They could kill a person for speaking Ukrainian, owning books in Ukrainian, or refusing to affirm that Ukraine doesn’t exist.
These actions violate the UN Genocide Convention, and many countries already officially recognize it as genocide.
As of July 2022, approximately 20% of Ukrainian land is occupied by Russia, and on all those territories the Russian army is committing genocide in real-time.
They are notorious for torturing and killing Ukrainian writers, artists, teachers, historians, and journalists. We are proof that Ukraine has existed for many centuries and we rightfully inhabit our land.
This is not the first time Russia is committing genocide against Ukrainians throughout history. They want to eradicate us and erase our language and culture. We remember the past, but we never imagined the world could let this happen again.
These are dead Russian soldiers.
Such pictures evoke pride and joy because subconsciously we know that these enemies can no longer kill us or some one we care about.
These are dead Ukrainian civilians. Looking at them is extremely painful, but we look because we must know and remember what the Russians are doing to us.
Such pictures evoke deep sorrow, horror, and wrath.
Propaganda is Russia’s most potent weapon. Not only are they shelling us with explosives every day, but they are constantly lying about everything. By now it is clear to everyone who follows the news that Russia is never to be trusted because they manipulate facts and break all rules and agreements.
The basis for this war is deeply rooted in Kremlin propaganda. They’ve been preparing the informational ground for the re-colonization of Ukraine ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and they perfected their propagandistic techniques for keeping countries colonized for centuries before that.
Today they know they are losing this war, so they are throwing in ever more controversies to tire the public with doubt, spark con flicts, and split responsibility for their own war crimes.
Their main tactic is to make people think that everything is too nuanced for a simple person to understand and that everything is ambiguous. Another common tactic is manipulating the dis course with so-called ‘whataboutisms’. Russia started an invasive genocidal war, but what about America’s wars/neo-nazis/that one time/Syrian refugees/the environment, so on and so on.
In reality, it’s not ambiguous at all. It’s a simple good guy vs. bad guy situation — Russia invaded a sovereign foreign country be cause they want to colonize it and use its resources; they are brutally terrorizing Ukraine and threatening the rest of the world.
Be careful with Russian propaganda, it is often much more subtle than you might think.
You may have heard people referring to Ukraine as ‘the breadbasket of Europe’. That is because agriculture is historically Ukraine’s main industry, and Ukraine is one of the world’s leading exporters of wheat and sunflower oil.
Right now, Russia is blocking Ukraine’s grain exports, burning crops, and stealing harvests and agricultural equipment. They are creating an artificial famine in real-time. In this way, Russia hopes to destroy Ukraine’s economy, create a new refugee crisis in the world by starving African and Asian countries that are dependent on Ukrainian grain, and spread propaganda blaming Ukraine for all of this. Their goal is to force the world to lift sanctions off of Russia and terrorize us into submission.
This idea isn’t new. Russia had used famine as a weapon against Ukraine before. The most prominent example of this is the Holodomor genocide of 1932-1933, which killed millions of Ukrainians by starvation.
Today Russia is terrorizing not only Ukraine but the entire world with global hunger.
Ukraine will not accept ‘peace’ on Russia’s terms. Peace is only possible when Russia withdraws all their troops, returns our territories which they occupied or annexed since 2014, compensates for the damage they caused, and stops agonizing us. We need justice.
If Russia gains anything in this war, they will recover and come back for more. We’ve already seen this when the world failed to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. Negotiations with terrorists do not work. At this point, it is only possible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.
Ukrainians are super motivated to win this war, because for Ukraine, it is an existential war - it’s a choice between winning and ceasing to exist. It is also an existential war for the rest of the world because if Russia feels unpunished, they will keep pushing the frontline further, invading and terrorizing more countries. If Russia wins, it will mean that there is no justice and safety in the world.
Putin is a crazy dictator and he is responsible for much of this. But there is no reason to think that Russia will stop behaving this way after Putin dies, as there are hundreds of years of history to prove the opposite. The totalitarian regime in Russia is designed to pro duce another crazy dictator, whom the Russian society is conditioned to support.
Russian imperialism needs to be stopped now, and we are ready to do the fighting. We are truly resilient and know our enemy better than anyone else. We can and will defeat them, but it’ll take some time and ceaseless support from the rest of the world.
Do you want to live in a world, where human rights are completely ignored, where terrorism, war, and genocide are normalized, and where freedom and justice don’t exist? If not, take action.
If the world, including YOU, starts ignoring this war and stops resisting, Russia’s evil will continue spreading. Your actions matter!
In Ukraine, we are holding back the global spread of evil at the cost of everything we have. Please, support us in this battle and help us have justice.
2. Always check your sources
3. Learn to recognize Russian propaganda
4. Think about your values and stick to them
5. Don’t stop talking and posting about this war!
6. Keep an eye on your government’s decisions
7. Push your government to help arm Ukraine
8. Boycott all Russian businesses
9. Don’t collaborate with Russians during this war
10. Donate to trusted organizations. Any tiny amount will do. It’s pleasant, it’ll make you feel better than having a coffee ;)
11. Share this zine with your friends (QR code on the back)
