APU Online Learning Original

Ukraine: A Front Continuing to Loom Closer to Lviv and UCU

By Dr. Jaclyn Maria Fowler
Department Chair, English and Literature

I flew for the very first time as a 20-year-old, but it wasn’t a vacation. As a kid from the coal-mining counties of northeastern Pennsylvania, my family didn’t have the money for such luxuries, although we did take the odd trip to the Jersey shore during the less-expensive winter season. But in 1987, after studying Russian from the safety of a college classroom, I took off to study abroad in the Soviet Union.

“There’s no better way to learn to speak,” my Russian professor told me. “Take this once-in-a-lifetime chance,” she advised.

Landing in a Place Stuck in the Past

When I touched down in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), I had not only traveled through eight time zones but it also seemed like I had time-warped back in history to World War II. The Russians were stuck in the past, living out their memories of the great war.

At least that was how it felt to a young woman like me, who had the bulk of her life stretched gloriously out ahead of her. The 40+ years back to the war were as foreign to me as the 35 years ahead to today.

All around Leningrad, grandfathers stood proud with war medals over their hearts, while grandmothers swept everyday debris from the many war monuments around the city. Everything and everyone – even students my age – told stories of the horrors of a time lodged deep in their collective psyche.

“It will never happen again,” the old-timers said, tears in their eyes. I believed them.

Getting to See the Past Firsthand in Leningrad

On a chilly May morning, I stood in a forest of hundreds and hundreds of perfectly straight-trunked, white birch trees. Like soldiers in formation, they stood equidistant from each other, their canopies of green-grey leaves beginning at exactly the same height.

Each tree wore a deep red scarf just under its first branches. It was a feat of forestry for as far as the eye could see.

“Each tree represents civilians who died in the 900-day siege of Leningrad. Each scarf recognizes their blood sacrifice to our country,” our guide announced.

Looking back over the 35 years since my 20-year-old self stood at that birch tree memorial, I can still feel the chills of understanding that rippled through me. Not until that moment did I appreciate the immensity of the loss that war causes.

Because visiting that memorial was such a visceral experience, I finally understood why Russians carried the war with them. Those who survived – and far too many did not – lived through the horrors, extreme hunger and death. Time could not blunt the war’s effect.

History Is Repeating Itself in Ukraine

Now, 35 years later in Ukraine, history is repeating itself. This time, the Russians are the aggressors. They bomb civilian areas indiscriminately and target families attempting to escape the brutal shelling.

In just a few weeks, whole towns have been wiped off the map. Millions of refugees ­­– half of them children – have fled across the borders away from their homes and families.

In Mariupol, bombing has crushed whatever infrastructure that civilians need to survive. There is no gas, water or food. It is intentional; Putin’s army targets civilians, hoping to break Ukrainians’ will to defend their country.

Because of this destruction, the Ukrainians regularly starve to death. One early casualty was a young girl who died of dehydration.

Almost two-thirds of the housing units in the port city of Mariupol have been destroyed, and the Russians have targeted food storage warehouses. They want to starve out Ukraine’s defenders.

In a country where Russian-Ukrainian bloodlines are shared and where soldiers fought shoulder-to-shoulder to defeat the Nazis, the siege of Leningrad now haunts Ukrainian soil.

Related link: The Destruction of ‘Normal’ and How Ukrainians Cope in Lviv

Attacks Near Lviv

After a night where a military outpost near Lviv was shelled, my former Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) student Anastasiia S. wrote in her war journal, “We forgot about air raid sirens too early. For the last three days, they returned. And now [they come] with real bombarding of [the] western Ukraine region.

“At night, missile[s] strike the place where my husband is with other men. He is alive. People said the sounds of bombarding were heard in Lviv.”

In her journal, what others read in the newspaper becomes personal. Anastasiia’s husband survived a near miss.

“We are constantly reminded not to share any particular information of the locations and situations in the hotspots because this is also a way to share information with the enemy,” she noted. “Now russians attack strategical places of western Ukraine. Lviv [was] obviously left for a snack. It will be destroyed with special inspiration – painfully and slowly.”

Related link: The Cost of War in Ukraine Affects Everyone, Even Students

An Agonizing Choice for Lviv Residents: Stay or Flee?

In Lviv, a city in the far west of Ukraine, the residents have felt relatively safe. The capital city of Kyiv is an eight-and-a-half-hour drive from Lviv and makes the front seem far away.

However, the Russian propaganda machine has recently shifted its focus to Lviv. Anastasiia observed that “Russian propaganda believes that Lviv is the capital of Bandera’s fascists. Do you know who is it? Because we don’t.”

Like people all over Ukraine, the residents of Lviv are now faced with an unimaginable choice: stay in their homes or leave them behind for the unknown. Anastasiia noted, “My husband pushes me to leave the country as soon as possible. I don’t know the right answer.

“Still, many of my friends, students and other people with whom I stand in the line of support are still here. I suppose they are also agonizing between the choice to stay or to leave.”

Finding Joy in Life’s Ordinary Moments

The will to survive has taken precedence in the minds of all Ukrainians. However, there are still profound moments of the war. Even in times of war (maybe especially in times of war), people learn to find joy in everyday occurrences, in the almost normal.

Anastasiia wrote about such a moment in her last war journal entry: “Yesterday was Saturday, and we were walking on the playground in the park. There were a lot of children. Most of them are from eastern Ukraine and came here with their adults from their shelters for refugees. 

Children playing in a Lviv playground. Image courtesy of Anastasiia S.

“The children had a good time together. Everything was like in peacetime. We bought three little popcorns on the way back. Everyone got their own cup of popcorn and was delighted.”

However, in a war where civilians are targets, these moments are rare. During the siege of Leningrad, the Nazis cut off access to food, and too many people starved to death. Others froze to death in alleyways, foraging for something to eat. Today, the food situation in Ukraine worsens.

At the end of her war journal entry, Anastasiia described the fear-caused fatigue that war in Ukraine creates. She observed, “Let’s see how the future will frighten us. The last days have shown that the future has inexhaustible opportunities to frighten.”  

If you can spare a few dollars to aid Ukraine, donate to Chef Andrés’ World Central Kitchen. If you believe in karma, as I do, those dollars will find their way back to you – perhaps in your greatest time of need.

Jaclyn Maria Fowler is an adventurer, a lover of culture and language, a traveler, and a writer. To pay for her obsessions, she works as Chair of the English Department and is a full professor at the University. Dr. Fowler earned a Doctorate in Education from Penn State and an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. She is the author of the novel "It is Myself that I Remake" and of the creative nonfiction book "No One Radiates Love Alone."

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