Igor

Hi, My name is Igor and I spent 25 years living in Ukraine. It is the country where I grew up, studied and married. I have studied in Kyiv (Capital of Ukraine) and I have connections from all parts of Ukraine. I am native in both Ukrainian and Russian languages. I moved to the U.S. in 2013 but my family and relatives are still there. Most of my friends here are from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Please ask me anything. I promise to answer honestly or do not answer at all. Just a note: I understand this forum is highly moderated so my posts can be banned, edited or deleted. Glory to Ukraine!

I moved out from Ukraine before he became president but I used to watch a lot of comedy shows with him as I grew up. He is very-very smart guy, he knows psychology of people, what to say and trigger any emotions. He has a natural talent for that, no questions. Is he authentic? I do not think so. Is he sincere? I hope so. I think he is definitely reflects current mood and leads people somewhere. As a person who watched both Putin and Zelenskyy speeches recently I would say Putin is definitely more angry, hopeless and scared. It was a hard decision for Putin to make, probably with no inner circle support.

Ah... that is a hard one to answer. I think it is pretty much the same everywhere - you care about things that matter for your survival, beyond that it is mostly about luck, amount of free time you have, and your curiosity. You need to understand that a lot of people in Russia, Ukraine or even here are on the poverty level somewhere between purple/red. When I just moved in to the U.S., I remember one woman asked me: "Ukraine? What state is that?" but I cannot blame her. I was very bad with geography in school but I've learned countries thru visas in my passport.

Nobody asked but I will still say something. My childhood was 90s: post soviet countries have been recovering after fall of USSR. My family and friends were poor, we had no money and I saw a lot of violence and criminal things. Everyone would do anything to solve their basic needs. Gangs were popular, movies about criminals were hits and everyone wanted to be a part of that luxury but short life. During my middle school years I had a lot of situation when I needed to fight, was robbed or had a knife near my throat. We were raised like that and it was normal. I think everything changed around 2000 or maybe I was just smarter and stronger. My best years were around 2008-2013 when I moved to Kyiv. It is very cultural, diverse city and united city with a lot of smart people. It gave me chance to work in respected field and move to the U.S.

There is some percentage but I do not know how much, you can probably google stats. To be honest I have never payed attention to that particular aspect. I know some of my friends are Jewish but we did not speak much about that, because nobody cared. I know Ukrainian president is Jewish, my wife's brother is married to a jewish woman. The last fact I only know because Jewish community always helps his family.

It is true, historically Ukraine has been divided based on language. I am from the central part of Ukraine and it was a nightmare to always find a common ground between Ukrainian and Russian speaking people. It is like you just switch your language each minute depending on the situation and person you speak with. I think most of the issues were language related. But it was never violent (at least for me as I speak both). Before I left it was like... you watch TV in Ukrainian, switch channel and have a movie in Russian, switch again and there is TV show with two hosts: one speaks Russian and other one speak Ukrainian and it was fine because everyone understands both. In the last 8 years Ukraine changed a lot... people started to appreciate Ukrainian language more, most of my friends switched to Ukrainian language only to support our independence. I think that is where Putin made a mistake in his calculations (that is my opinion). In 2014 he would definitely had a blitzkrieg operation but now he is detached from reality and Truth.

I was frightened first 48 hours (two nights). I am subscribed to a lot of telegram channels that post information and videos about the current situation (a lot of dead burned bodies). I went thru different stages: rejection (first 5 mins), fear, helplessness, anger, patriotism + acceptance. I think my family and friends pretty much on the same page. My family is on the move all the time, back and forth between their shelter and underground cover (it is too cold and dark to stay in it for a long time).