“I was reading phone notifications, watching the Geran drone change its trajectory. It had drawn close to our town, then abruptly veered into a nearby village, crossed into another region, turned back, and headed north. It felt so surreal. As I read, I kept thinking it was some kind of computer game. Yet I was watching something fly there specifically to kill me...”
That was yesterday’s conversation with my mother, who currently lives in Ukraine.
And I don’t know how to explain to her that Ukraine is forced to ration scarce missiles because deliveries have dropped critically over recent months. According to The Washington Post, the US administration has even held up authorization for NATO allies to transfer pre-paid Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine. On top of that, since January 2025, the United States hasn’t spent a single cent on aid for Ukraine.
How do I explain to her that the US has chosen an isolationist course - and instead of forcing the aggressor to make peace, they are pressuring the victim, stripping away its ability to defend itself? Meanwhile, sanctions are being lifted from the aggressor, and diesel is still being bought from them, effectively funding the ongoing war against Ukraine.
How do I explain to her that the country which gave safety assurances under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for giving up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal is now effectively blocking our ability to protect civilian homes from daily terror? A terror that has lasted through over 12 years of Russian aggression and 4.5 years of full-scale hell.
How do I explain to her that Donald Trump’s loud promises to stop this war in 24 hours turned out to be empty words? Following those statements, Russian attacks have only grown more brutal, relentlessly targeting the home front: peaceful cities, schools, hospitals, museums, and libraries. By systematically destroying energy infrastructure, the enemy plunges towns and villages into darkness and cold.
How do I explain to her that President Trump expresses concern for human life on camera, theatrically stating: “All I want to do... I don’t care. I want to get the war stopped. I don’t want to see 32,000 soldiers dead”? Yet while he makes these statements, his own decisions block Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, leaving Russians free to target civilians deep behind the front lines.
His “concern” didn’t stop the war - it only unchained the terrorists.
Trump doesn’t even blush when cynically asserting that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much.” These words are spoken while the news feed is flooded with photos from Nova Vodolaha. Search for them yourself. I don’t have the strength to look at the small body of that child again. One-year-old Anhelina will never get up from her stroller or run to her mother, who was also killed. The little girl will forever remain a shadow on that playground where women once walked with their babies. Remember her. The deaths of innocent children must not become just a statistic.
Children are suffering all across Ukraine, even far from the front line. According to the latest UN civilian casualty report, long-range attacks are the primary cause of death and injury.
”No child in Ukraine is safe,” noted the UNICEF Representative to Ukraine Anne-Claire Dufay. “Children continue to live under the constant threat of attacks, no matter where they are.”
At least 3,452 children in Ukraine have been killed or injured since February 2022. Since these are only UN-verified cases, the real number is significantly higher. More than 2,300 children are considered missing, and over 20,000 have been forcibly deported to Russia.
I look at my phone, still not knowing what to tell my mom.
How can I explain to her that her life is being used as a pawn in political games?
Tonight, all I can do is tell her to stay away from the windows and pray that the world wakes up before the next drone changes its course.
Who longs more than Ukrainians for an end to this exhausting, bloody war?
Yet it cannot be capitulation, nor can Ukrainian land be handed over to a Russian tyrant.
Ukrainians demand justice.
The world has no right to say it is “tired of this war”.
It must do everything possible to ensure the aggressor loses its strength and faces inevitable punishment.
Thank you, Lidiia, for this powerful clarion call for U.S. action to stop the slaughter in Ukraine. Trump's support of Putin is shameful and traitorous, and is now obvious for the world to see. I hope Republicans in Congress speak out against his abandonment of Ukraine and embrace of a war criminal, all so Trump can do some business deals. Or perhaps it's because Putin has leverage over Trump with some damaging evidence. Whatever the reasons, Trump is now exposed and the would-be emperor is an ugly sight naked.