They Steal Our Future
They had been stealing our history. And they still are. Russian authorities pillaged Ukrainian land for centuries: many antiquities from our archaeological sites and various collections were transferred to Russian museums and archives. The same happened in occupied territories during the full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian authorities estimate that Russians stole about 15,000 museum pieces from Kherson province alone, mainly from Kherson Art Museum. Nobody knows how much was stolen from other territories still under occupation.
Moreover, they steal our history even in the West. Antonina Mallei, a Ukrainian who lives in the UK, was shocked when trying to find a history book for her daughter. She found out that the authors simply ignore Ukrainian history while writing about our lands:
In just a few hours I was feeling dizzy, but also full of rage and fury: all these books were like mirrors reflecting centuries-old Russian propaganda onto unsuspecting young readers. They would feature this perpetual artificial connection between Rus’ through the Russian Empire to modern Russia with the legends being presented as facts. Everything that doesn’t fit the narrative, like Ukraine and all of its true and real historical heritage, is redacted, blended in or just ignored.
You can see one of the examples below. It is a map of the medieval Mongol Empire. There was no Russia at that time, only Rus that included modern Ukraine, Belarus, and part of Russia. But the authors don’t care. For them, it doesn’t matter. And they are not alone. You can find more examples in Antonina’s article.
They had been stealing our resources. And they still are. In the 1930s, many Ukrainian peasants were starving to death because Soviet authorities decided to take their grain and cattle. USSR needed industrialization as quickly as possible and Ukrainians paid for it with their lives. Today Russia is stealing our grain as well. You can read more about that here. Moreover, Russians broke the so-called grain deal and now the food safety of the global South is in danger.
Had they been stealing our children? Yes, in a sense. They tried to assimilate Ukrainians for decades. But now it’s not enough for them. Russian authorities started to take Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia. Whether those children had parents or not, it didn’t matter for occupiers. Fortunately, some of the kids were returned to Ukraine but others are still in Russia. Journalists from the Kyiv Independent created the documentary about the Ukrainian children who were taken away from Mariupol. Some of them who managed to come back to Ukraine participated in the interviews. You can see the documentary Uprooted on YouTube. It has an English voiceover and subtitles. I hope it will help to draw attention to this problem and return other children to their parents.
They have been stealing our past. Now they try to steal our future.
If you want to learn more about Ukraine and the Russian invasion:
Kakhovka Dam: A Short Story of Double Crime
3 Reasons Why Many Ukrainian Citizens Speak Russian
Occupied: How the Kherson Residents Survived the Russian Occupation
Monologues of the War. How Ukrainians Share Their Wartime Experience across the World
