Do not forget and forgive

In cafes, shops and just on the streets of Kyiv, people ask the same thing: will there be war. It is amazing that no one wonders if there will be a war with Russia. And how can it be - the war of Ukraine with Russia. To this simple fact they are already used to how you reconcile with the loss of a loved one - you cry, torment, and then you get used to it and only in inevitable longing appears in your heart.

So with Russia. It is no longer for us - even those who have close relatives in this country begin to perceive them as strangers, distant people - of course, when these close relatives support the war and justify aggression.

Of course, it hurts, unpleasant, annoying. But there is no more Russia for us. There is an invader, insidious and crazy at the same time. And it does not matter to us what it is called and is there Chevron in its shape . It is important for us that today he is mocking our military in the Crimea, scares the attack on other regions of our country, launches provocateurs into our cities to tear off our flag from the flagpole and put the flag of aggression and revenge in its place . And it doesn’t matter to us what the name of this enemy is - it is important for us that he does not kill us. That's all the people on the streets ask: will he kill, bomb whether he will break through the tanks from the occupied Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland. And Putin and Russians, who have chosen such a president, are no longer interested in us. It's like the dead in the cemetery.

In Jewish families, it was once customary to read a memorial prayer for relatives who went into someone else's faith. So we have already read for you - you have passed into the faith of hatred for those who were called brothers yesterday. You can be photographed arbitrarily on the streets with the descendants of those whom you brought to the Crimea several decades ago in order to hardly smear the traces of another crime of your homeland - eviction of the indigenous peoples of the peninsula. But their imaginary love, their belief in your handouts, which you will have nothing to pay from, will not replace you with our former affection. You acquired Crimea, and lost Ukraine. Lost forever. Farewell and do not kill us.

We, who have lost you, but who have acquired an entire world of caring people who supported us in our struggle for freedom - not only ours, but also your freedom, because you also need freedom, you do not know about it yet, but you will soon guess. We, convinced of who all this time was real brothers and friends to us, and who only pretended to be in the hope of sooner or later again to throw Yarmo with a two -headed eagle on our neck.

Sometimes we will be bored for you and for the time when you seemed to us the same. Sometimes we will remember that many of us speak the same language as you. Sometimes we will read your writers and now - like the rest of the world - to be surprised: what is it, their writers have such humanists, and they fell off the chain. But this will happen infrequently. Sorry - we now have a lot of work. We need to build a new country - in return the former, destroyed not without your help. We need to follow our power - so that it does not become a refuge of crooks who have recently ruled us and continue to command you. We need to find opportunities in order to create a strong army that will protect us from possible aggressors: now we know that not only friends are surrounded and that we need the army. In a word, a lot of work. Not to Russia.

When you recover and get rid of the nightmare in which you live, we will sincerely rejoice for you - and for the fact that now we should not be afraid. But the fear in which our women live, and the hatred in which our youth is growing now, we will not forget you for a long time - and you will have to work hard and hard to win our trust and prove that you have become normal people and no longer think that the only useful thing that can be proud of in this world is Kalashnikova’s automatic. But we will be glad if you succeed, because it is better to be free than a slave, and living in peace with neighbors is better than being in fear and hatred. But all this will be later and, probably, soon.

And now just don't shoot.