Ukraine will defeat Russia, but victory may not fit into the imagination of some civilians/Korrespondent
The biggest scarcity in the military is privacy. You have almost no chance of being alone. Sleep, food, toilet – the usual peaceful rituals here are completely devoid of intimacy. The war will show which of you is a real introvert, and which one was just fooling around.
Fatum of war
War is not limited to the front line. Rocket missiles allow Moscow to reach the rear. True, in Lviv the air raid is different than in the same Kyiv.
When you hear a siren in the capital, there is a great temptation to think that the rocket is in transit. That Kyiv is only part of the route, and the goal itself lies in the west. And in Lviv, you immediately understand that she has already arrived and this is the final one. And therefore, either she is us, or we are her.
However, in the last month we have been accumulating impressions in the south and east. First of all, it seemed to me that the main fatalists were those who had to serve on the territory of military facilities. Probably, it is not easy to guard the same General Staff, knowing that the place of your service is marked with a bold tick in the list of missile targets.
And then I came across a column with a captured “Tiger”. The only armored vehicle whose silhouette unmistakably betrays its origin. The only silhouette, unlike anything that is in service with the Ukrainian army. Only those who have a very phlegmatic relationship with fate can ride it on the front end. Because at night the tridents on the sides may not see.
Parallel realities of those with and without weapons
Before the war, prejudice irritated me. Now there is no. At some point, I myself began to say “extreme” instead of “last”. I know for sure that I will stop doing this when I return. Office life threatens us only with a broken cooler, and therefore in civilian life the word “extreme” in terms of relevance is equal to wearing camouflage clothes for no reason.
Social networks are annoying with arguments about the final contour of our victory. Those who follow the war from the sofa, little by little, begin to resemble football fans. The only possible victory scenario for them is the capitulation of Russia. You think at this moment that they are programming themselves for defeat – any other format of victory will not be enough for them.
The phrase “we believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine” begins to smack of infantility. This formula is not enough. Either you yourself are in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or you help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In this war, we are still an underdog, and therefore we play defensively. We are still David, not Goliath, so our war is, first of all, for the preservation of statehood and sovereignty, and not for a parade-lightning exit to the borders of 2013. The closer you are to the army, the less you begin to resemble a pique vest that plays soldiers. The deeper one is immersed in reality, the less temptation to declare aloud one's “tiredness”. Because everyone gets tired, but there are always those who find it harder. The memory of this makes one keep one's mouth shut.
Crematorium for the ghost of the “scoop”
And I also think that the remnants of Soviet weapons in Eastern Europe will burn in the furnace of our war. The entire region will finally switch to NATO standards – simply because of the lack of alternatives.
After all, we are still fighting with what was created to destroy the West. Moreover, for the first 24 years of independence, we did not spend money on replenishing arsenals and warehouses. They did not buy ammunition and did not think about their cost. The paranoia of the Soviet system allows us to hold on for the ninth year already – and we are spending budget money to replenish only what is coming to an end.
Recently, the United States announced that by 2026 they plan to purchase up to 1.5 thousand ” Stingers” – to compensate for those delivered to our country.
You catch yourself thinking that the arsenals of the main army of the world are also not bottomless. That the availability of money and production does not make up for the lost moment. However, this also means that Russian petrodollars are not able to instantly turn into new missiles and armored vehicles.
And you should also come to terms with the fact that everything that happens is not a deviation. That reality is the new normal. None of us knows when we can take off the uniform. And the sooner you get used to this fact, the easier it will be for you. You can also get used to the lack of privacy.
