With the Russian invasion of Ukraine comes the faces of war. You’ve seen them, I’m sure. They are women. They are children. They are fathers devastated by the loss of their families. They are even Russian soldiers who are too human to want to follow a homicidal maniac’s orders to kill innocents.
War always brings its innocents. Eighteen-year-old boys who are ripped from home by conscription and handed a gun after six weeks of training are sent to kill other eighteen-year-old boys who are pretty much just like them, separated only by language, culture, and nationality. We’ve seen the slaughter of women, children, and the elderly. We have seen remote attacks on hospitals and apartment communities. Russians have fired upon caravans of Ukrainians heading out of the country in search of refuge in neighboring countries. Remarkable is that I’ve yet to hear the term “collateral damage.” These innocents aren’t unfortunate victims of repercussions after a missile attack. They themselves are the targets.
This war is showing the strength of women. Yes, we’ve seen the heartbreaking images of suitcases, the only remains of a man’s family. We’ve seen the pictures of a pregnant woman, a survivor, however briefly, of a missile attack on a maternity hospital. (Her baby and she died the following day.)
Then there’s Olena Kurilo, a 52-year-old kindergarten teacher. Early in the war, the apartment complex where she lived with her husband was struck by a missile. She was inside their apartment, and the windows were all blown out, glass shrapnel flying everywhere. She survived with a damaged eye but otherwise superficial wounds. Her husband was saved by a fortuitous flat tire. They now live outside of the city; their adult daughter is still living in a shelter.
Olena is half Russian on her mother’s side and is a proud Ukrainian citizen. She boldly speaks out against the atrocities happening in her country. She envisions peace, a reunion of her family, and has hope to teach and love grandchildren one day.
Another woman who became “internet famous” in the early days of the war is anonymous to us. This article contains both the video and the transcript from her encounter with a patrol of Russian soldiers. She was furious with them, with their occupation of her country, and she didn’t hold back. She cursed at them and straight-up cursed them (“And from this moment, you are cursed.”). She offered handfuls of sunflower seeds to these Russian soldiers and asked them to put them in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow.
This was the first indication to me that there is a vast difference in ideology between the boots-on-the-ground Russian soldiers and that coming out of the Kremlin. While this woman was on her brave vitriolic tirade against these occupying forces, the man tried over and over to get her to move on, even using “please.” He told her to move on in several attempts to de-escalate the situation. What he didn’t do was more remarkable to me. He didn’t draw out his side arm and shoot her where she stood.
While media shows Russian police dragging away peaceful protesters to prison–even holding a blank piece of poster board can get you the maximum of fifteen years in prison–this woman who was “protesting” with the voice of her fear and anger walked away from this encounter on her own occupied home soil (probably with pockets still full of sunflower seeds). The soldier didn’t want to kill her and chose not to. I hope she lives to see the end of this war.
Amidst the Russian trolls parroting Putin’s lies and news of Putin’s saber rattling, these glimpses of humanity and strength give me hope. More hope comes as I see all the ways that the Ukrainians are “waging peace” by giving food and hot tea to their Russian prisoners of war. They’re “waging peace” by letting the POWs call home and allowing their mothers to come get them. Though likely inundated by Putin’s incessant anti-Ukraine propaganda, these soldiers are experiencing the compassion and peace-waging of every day Ukrainian citizens.
What’s most remarkable to me is, there is no international law or code of war that makes the Ukrainians behave this way. Without a formal declaration of war, the rules of the Geneva Convention don’t apply. We saw the same thing in Vietnam. Since that was a “police action” and a “conflict,” the Vietnamese were under no obligation to treat our soldiers with kindness or compassion, and, in fact, our POWs were tortured and held in abysmally inhumane conditions (especially in the south). The Ukrainians are choosing better. They are choosing compassion. They are acting according to the Way of Jesus, as much as it’s possible during times of war and occupation.
