Report From Ukraine (September 2024)

The Price of Freedom – An Insider's View
By Olexander (Sasha) Malov
Ukraine Missions Director

I spent the past month in close contact with hundreds of men who, like me, who came to the Ukrainian Army mobilization center to fulfill the requirements of the mobilization law and determine our status in the matter of military service in this brutal war, the full-scale phase of which Russia viciously and cruelly launched against Ukraine in February 2022.

The men I spent this time with are ordinary people, mostly aged 45-59. Ordinary men – farmers, workers, office workers, not healthy, but who voluntarily came and who are ready to protect our homeland – Ukraine.

We talked a lot – all these men want to live, all are afraid of death, but each of those I met and talked to understand that the choice that faces us is freedom or death.
To be under Russia for me and these men means death, either physical or death of our dignity, and for the sake of freedom of Ukraine, for the sake of the lives of our wives, children, grandchildren, we are ready to go and protect our Motherland, despite our desire to live.

I remember life in the Soviet Union too well and all the grief and repression that the Soviet/Russian regime represented, in my case it was the repression of my family for believing in God as part of the evangelical community. Faith in God under the rule of the communist empire was illegal and cruelly punished by the KGB.

This war is a question of the inner values of every Ukrainian. Freedom for us has ceased to be an abstract and guaranteed concept, we have understood that freedom is a matter of personal choice for every Ukrainian. Freedom has a price that everyone is ready or not ready to pay.

Freedom is not free; you must pay a price for freedom - either yourself personally or someone else is now paying or has already paid their price. As a Christian, I understand that a huge price was paid for my eternal freedom. The price of my personal freedom from the curse of sin, death, eternal punishment, was the voluntary sacrifice of God, the price of the painful death of His Son. It was the highest price paid for freedom in the history of humanity.

Any nation consists of many people, so it is difficult for me to talk about Ukrainians as a nation united in its values.

Inside Ukraine we have different people - someone says, I do not care what flag to live under and let the war end soon and it does not matter who wins.There are traitors who work for Russia inside Ukraine.

Some of the men fled Ukraine illegally because they were afraid of being drafted into the Ukrainian army. Someone ended up in the territory occupied by Russia and is now happy about low prices for motor fuel, good social benefits and the citizenship of Russia received.

There are different people with different values, and this is the sad reality of life. We are not a perfect society at all, with our own internal problems, but this is our internal life and our problems that we are solving and that we must still solve in the future.
At the same time, based on my personal experience of communicating with people and simply observing what is happening, I see a huge thirst for freedom and independence within Ukraine, among those who remained in Ukraine and did not betray their internal values.

A real nation consists of people with inner divine and moral values and who are ready to pay their price for these values.

Yes, we are tired of war - morally and physically. In my village, nearly every week, we bury men who gave their lives for the freedom of Ukraine. Our Christian friends bury their sons, husbands, and fathers.

Almost every day and night we do not sleep because of Russian air attacks. Combat drones, missiles and bombs fly over our houses in the literal sense of the word. Two nights ago, fragments of a combat drone landed very close to my house. There was a big fire.

At this moment, as I am writing this article, near to my house there were twelve loud explosions. A few days ago, an enemy missile killed a mother and three beautiful daughters in Lviv, leaving her husband and father in their inconsolable grief, and this happens every day and night in dozens and hundreds of cases through the destruction of churches, cities, the lives of adults and children.

The Russians are destroying our energy systems, which is why we are without electricity most of the day, and a cold winter awaits us ahead.

My friends buried their father and grandfather a few days ago in Kyiv, because during his operation, a missile attack damaged the power lines and due to the lack of electricity in the operating room, he died.

Millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee the country to save their lives. The country is catastrophically short of labor power. These examples are not an attempt to evoke pity or emotion, but simply a description of the daily realities of our lives.

This is our price that we pay for our freedom!

The evil that the devilish regime of Russia brings cannot be justified by anything. Any attempt to justify Russia's evil (the attack on Ukraine) by political necessity, geopolitics, or anything else is an attempt to justify Satanic evil.

The Russians are carrying Satanic evil, which has nothing to do with Christian or with simply moral values, although the Russians hide behind traditional conservative Christian values.

I deliberately use such words as "Satanic" and "devilish" regime of Russia. In the Bible Satan is called - a murderer, the father of lies, a thief and this is exactly what the Russian regime does - lies, kills, steals.

I agree with the great President Reagan, who at one time defined Soviet Russia as an empire of evil. Since the time of President Reagan, nothing has changed.

This evil must be punished, otherwise there is nothing fair and honest in this world!
The imperial evil of Putin's regime has taken the lives of many thousands of Ukrainians, civilians, and soldiers, and as a Christian and a citizen of Ukraine I curse Russia and the citizens of Russia for this evil.

It is a mistake to consider the war against Ukraine as Putin's war against Ukraine. No, it is a war of Russian citizens against Ukraine.

The majority of Russian citizens support Putin in his aggressive war against Ukraine, including my relatives and former friends who live in Russia.

In addition, Putin threw an enormous number of his citizens into the furnace of death, whom he sent to an unjust war against Ukraine. Putin's regime kills not only Ukrainians, but also Russians.

This is my view from inside Ukraine. My wife and I made a firm decision for ourselves in February 2022 - we will stay in Ukraine, no matter how hard it may be for us. Our decision to stay in Ukraine and serve the people around us was and is based on our inner values - the values of freedom.

We have never regretted the decision we made then, although it can be difficult, especially for my beloved wife. You must pay a price for freedom, and this price comes at a high price.

What has changed in minds of Ukrainians over these 2.5 years?

In conversations with men awaiting mobilization, we talked a lot about what we feel.
Many of us have changed our attitude towards some Western institutions and some Western governments.

We see the uselessness of the UN. We see the impotence of the International Red Cross in protecting the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and many other examples can be given regarding other international institutions.

We see the weakness and dependence of some Western and other governments on Russia's resources.

Many of us believe that some Western political forces allowed Putin to attack Ukraine and that there was a secret conspiracy, the price of which was the existence of Ukraine. We do not know for sure; these are thoughts at the level of feelings without any facts.

We see the sacred fear of some Western institutions and governments before the power of Russia and the primacy of economic interests over the values of freedom.
People of values in Ukraine feel that the Western world, represented by weak institutions and governments, is losing to Russia and to the countries that support him, which could become a fatal catastrophe for the entire Western world.

We see that power in this world is more important than values and justice.

The power of Russia in terms of population, territory, resources and nuclear weapons is more important than the very existence of small Ukraine, which gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 under security guarantees from Russia, the USA, Great Britain, guarantees which in the end turned out to be no guarantees at all.

We are grateful that Ukraine's Western partners are helping us, but we understand that the size and limitations of this aid only give Ukraine the opportunity not to die immediately, but do not give us an opportunity to defeat the satanic evil of Russia.
Within Ukraine, we realize that if Western aid with weapons stops, all of Ukraine will be captured by Russia.

The fact that Ukraine is still alive is a miracle. We are still alive, and this is truly a great miracle.

Look at the size of Ukraine and Russia and compare these sizes on a world map. This is a David and Goliath situation.

We do not demand pity; we do not think that we are due anything. We find the strength to laugh and enjoy simple things. To enjoy each new day, to especially appreciate our family and friends, understanding that each day may be our last day and therefore we must appreciate every moment of life spent with our loved ones.

So, what or how does this relate to the United States?

Someone may tell me - "yes, what is happening in Ukraine is a great tragedy, but what does this have to do with me, a US citizen?"

Over the past year, I have heard this question from many American friends. I am told that people in the United States are tired of the war in Ukraine.

I am told that the United States has enough internal problems, both economic and political, in connection with the upcoming presidential elections in your great country, and Americans should not care about Ukraine at all.

A certain number of Americans directly or indirectly support Putin's aggression against Ukraine.

This is also a fact.

How can I respond to these arguments?

Firstly, for US citizens, the interests of America should come first, just as for me, the fate of Ukraine comes first for me. This is not even up for discussion.

But the issue is much deeper than it seems at first glance. Russian state media constantly emphasize the theme that the main enemy for Russia is not Ukraine, but the United States.

According to them, the United States is fighting Russia with the hands of Ukrainians. In their view, Ukraine is the prodigal son, and the main source of problems and threats for Russia is the United States.

Therefore, US citizens must accept as a fact that for today's Russia, the enemy number one is the United States, and in my opinion, if Ukraine loses this war, it will be not only a defeat for Ukraine, but also for the United States as a global leader. In my opinion, if Ukraine loses, Russia will go further and where it will stop is a big question.
Secondly, my article is not so much about Ukraine as it is a call to look inside yourself and honestly evaluate your personal values. Is freedom my personal value and am I ready to pay the price for it, no matter how high this price may be?

I will tell you honestly, I am sick of the well-fed, smug faces of some American politicians, talking heads from among media stars and other leaders of public opinion, with multi-million fortunes, who do not even come close to knowing the life of ordinary people and suffering and who cynically argue that Ukraine must capitulate to Russia and agree to the loss of its territories and with huge human deaths.

These are people who bow to the power of Putin, people who call the devilish monster Putin a "good guy". These people do not know and do not practice the value of freedom. These are people for whom their wealth and comfort are their gods and who have no moral right to give advice to a bleeding Ukraine.

For me, the USA is not the government or politicians, not talking heads, but ordinary people who share the same values of freedom.

I am grateful to God for hundreds and thousands of my friends in the USA, the most ordinary and the most incredible in their strength of spirit people.

These are people who pray, understand, sympathize, do not give unnecessary and inappropriate advice, who know how to love and empathize.
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People who live by values and declare them not in words, but by the example of their lives. This is the real America, strong and great, and for me as for a Ukrainian it is a great honor to know you and to be a bearer of the same values. God bless America! God save Ukraine!