Just watched it at the Siskel Center – the theater was packed, and a significant part of the audience was not Russian-speaking. The English subtitles were OK – some nuances were definitely missing, but still quite accurate. They should have run the subtitles in the end, when they play a recording of “Broad and vast is our mighty country” – it’s not like every English speaker knows this song, and I think it’s important that during the time of a tightening oppressive regime they play “where man is gloriously free.”
The documentary is unimaginably depressing. Not only because of what exactly it shows, not only because the audience physically feels the pressure of the Russian propaganda machine, but also because of how Pasha chooses to be blind even after he left Russia: everything was fine before February 2022, and then all of a sudden…
As always, I didn’t read any reviews before watching, and now I see some interviews with Pasha, and I am oging to try to watch at least some of them (I have no idea when I find time, but…)
I just think that people in the US can’t really understand the concerns of the European nations regarding potential Russian aggression. Yes, there was a Cold War. Yes, there was “duck and cover,” building bomb shelters, and such. But the US never experienced an actual Russian aggression, so all these scares were and still are very abstract.
I thought about that when Boris showed me his recent purchase last week. It was more like a joke for him, but the backstory is worth mentioning.
This is a Philips radio, which also has a large flashlight and a built-in siren. It can be charged from a wall outlet or a USB port, but it also has a built-in solar battery and, as a last resort, a rotating handle that you can turn to generate some electricity by hand. And in addition, it can be used to charge other devices via USB.
Overall, it can be viewed as a perfect “rescue me if I am lost in the woods while hiking” device, except for one small thing. The first time this radio appeared in a store was when the Finnish government was seriously preparing for potential Russian aggression and asked all citizens to have a three-day food and water supply, and to note the location of their nearest bomb shelter.
Half of Europe experienced direct Russian aggression over the last hundred years. Many cities were shelled and partially or almost completely ruined. Many countries lost big chunks of their territory. It’s very real and very close. It’s in people’s memories. And I don’t know how to get it into my countrymen’s heads that it’s not OK.
This weekend, my best friend Lena from Ann Arbor came for her annual “Orchid Show visit.” Now, this visit has another, somber meaning. Although the show runs from the beginning of February to the end of March, we try to plan Lena’s visit so we can attend the rally in support of Ukraine, marking the dark anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
Igor was there before us, in a better position and with a better camera, so the pictures are mostly his. Also, I will come back to this post to fill in the names of the speakers, because I am not 100% sure of most of them.
One thing I noticed is that over these four years, everyone learned to say “Slava Ukraine!” without an accent. And the Lithuanian Consul General gave the entire introductory part in Ukrainian, which caused uproar from the crowd. As always, I was happy to see Dick Durbin, a great supporter of Ukraine (and I learned that his ancestors were from Lithuania!)
Pre-rally: Senator Durbin talking to the Iranian activistsPre-rally
The rally started with the USA and Ukrainian Anthems.
Senator Durbin took the stage and told the crowd that there is support for Ukraine on both sides of the aisle, and that he will keep fighting.
Mariya Dmytriv-KapeniakDick Durbin
‘The only fight we can’t win is the one we do not fight!”Consul General of Lithuania Reginmantas Jablonskas
It was cold, but we stayed there for an hour and a half, and the whole time I was thinking about our visit to Vilnius in March 2022 and how there were Ukrainian refugees everywhere. We could not imagine back then how long the full-scale war would last, and we hoped for a quick victory for Ukraine. I know that we need to focus on our fight at home, because our victory at home will benefit the rest of the world, but I still feel that I am not doing enough to support Ukraine. Not talking enough about the war, and letting people to forget.
Last week, Boris asked me whether people around me know how often Kyiv is shelled. I told him: oh, I know! And he asked, “What about the others around you?” Again, I understand that out atmost focus is here and now, but still…
As Igor commented: Ukrainians know how to get people together on a very short notice: the Sunday rally , though last-minute announced, got a decent crowd and press coverage.
It was the first time when I understood the timeline of the October 6 events, and saw the footage filmed by the hostages and those who managed to escape. Although the exhibit is put together exceptionally well, and leave a deep emotional impression, I left it with mixed feelings.
I didn’t post anything about this visit for several days, hoping to figure out what didn’t feel right, but still can’t pinpoint it. I hate to sound critical of the exhibit organizers, because they’ve done tremendous work, but I also can’t brush off the unease I felt afterward. Most likely, it was related to the testimonies at the end. It was actually a one testimony of a survivor, and I honestly think it was too much both for him and people listening. Or maybe not.
Here is the article, and I agree with every word here!
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Aug. 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images
Seven days ago, Ukraine’s supporters were watching on optimistically, as all signs pointed toward Donald Trump allowing Ukraine to acquire long-range Tomahawk missiles at a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Giving the green light for Ukraine to buy and use such powerful weapons would have dramatically increased the country’s firepower and ability to strike military infrastructure inside Russia.
But Trump, whose tone towards Russia had hardened since his Alaska Summit with Putin in August failed to produce any meaningful results, made a U-turn that few saw coming.
Zelensky’s most recent trip to Washington had a lot more in common with the notorious shouting match that took place in the Oval Office in February. On top of Trump’s withholding of weapons Ukraine needs, he returned to some of his old talking points. Most alarmingly, he insisted that any halt to fighting would mean Ukraine give up the Donbas region to Putin—an area Russia has failed to take total control of, despite 11 years of fighting.
According to a report in the FT, Trump told the Ukrainian leader that if he did not bow to Putin’s will, Ukraine would be “destroyed.” The meeting reportedly descended into a bad-tempered shouting match, with Trump throwing away maps of the frontline, repeatedly swearing, and echoing a Kremlin talking point that the invasion is a “special operation, not even a war.”
Trump held a surprise two-and-a-half-hour phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Putin while Zelensky was on his way to America.
During that call, Trump reportedly agreed to a second face-to-face summit with Putin, this time in Budapest. Hungary is one of Putin’s few allies in the West, and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has repeatedly dug his heels in on Western efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. To say it will be an embarrassment not just for Ukraine but many of its European allies is an understatement.
The meeting will allow Putin onto E.U. and NATO soil, where in theory he should be arrested given an ICC arrest warrant. The sight of Putin standing alongside the most powerful man in the world in a NATO country will instead likely be used as Kremlin propaganda—and another sign that Trump has once again been played for a fool by Putin.
For all the positive noises that have come each time Trump has made commitments to Ukraine, or encouraged NATO allies to spend more on defense, or apparently started to see Putin for who he really is, the facts speak for themselves. A BBC Verify report in August found that the number of Russian attacks on Ukraine has doubled since Trump’s inauguration. In recent weeks, mounting drone incursions have even brazenly entered NATO skies.
Trump’s desire for the war to end seems sincere. He has also made no secret of his wish to win a Nobel Peace Prize. But if the war in Ukraine ends with the nation’s future largely in the hands of its invader, the very idea that Trump is deserving of the prize would be a dishonor.
The Russian President is a man who lives by the axiom: give an inch, take a mile. When the Obama Administration let down Syria, Putin was more than happy to intervene there to prop up his ally Bashar al-Assad. The West’s decision to turn the other cheek after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 may have also emboldened him to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin scoring another summit with Trump is a diplomatic coup. So is Trump’s decision to renege on Tomahawks for Ukraine and swing back to Putin’s way of thinking.
A version of Occam’s razor—that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is probably correct—applies here. If Trump continues to reward Putin and punish Kyiv, Putin will most likely further escalate in Ukraine and test the West.
There is still hope that Trump may swing back to Ukraine, and heeding Zelensky’s call for an additional 25 U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries is a good start.
Those closest to the U.S. President should urge Trump to do more for Ukraine, and stress that his current strategy is making Putin look smarter and stronger than Trump’s America.
For a man who cares about optics, that may be Ukraine’s best hope.
My mom’s caregiver and her husband are Ukrainian refugees. They ended up in Chicago because their son and his family had been living here for a long time before. They just never thought they would move here themselves, and probably wouldn’t for many years if it hadn’t been a war.
However, before they moved to the US, they spent several months (almost a year) in Tampere. I recall how I felt when I first came to Finland after the war had started. The war was in the air; the posters calling to donate to the Ukrainian refugees-supporting funds were all over the place, and half of the conversations I overheard on the public transportation were about refugees.
Remembering all that, I can understand why my mom’s caregiver is so thankful to the family that hosted them in Finland. Since the first time they learned that my husband lives in Finland and I go there often, they have wanted me to meet their former host family, and this time it finally worked, since I was going to Tampere!
When the husband visited me before my departure to drop off the gifts, he asked me whether I could do him a favor and ask these people whether they are scared about possible Russian attacks (in light of recent events). I told him that I believed Finland had been “always ready” since 1918, but promised to ask.
So when we met, I asked. They told me that many people in Finland were very much afraid, to the point that some people they knew couldn’t fall asleep without sedatives, but they were fine because they were sure everything was in God’s hands. They told me that they even started building a new house, which should have proved that they indeed believed they would be fine. And yes, they confirmed, it was always like this since 1918, “we just do not talk about it.”
I have nothing to add to this conversation. I believe in Finland, in her people and her Armed Forces, but why in the world does it have to be “always ready”?
Hettie's Reflections 