Answering them inspired me to share my experiences with the people in Crimea during the war. This topic is very personal for me as a Finnish/Ukrainian double national who only lived in Crimea for a few years until the Russians took our house in 2014. My team has participated in intelligence-gathering missions there few times, and we often had encounters with the local people.
People were always happy to see us and often offered us food, housing, and other help when they saw our Ukrainian uniforms or other symbols. We told them not to stay in contact with us for their safety. Almost every time, they wanted to risk it if they could somehow help us some way.
Numerous men asked us if we could offer training for them and wanted to know how to enlist for military service when ZSU is near Crimea and “the time comes”.
The most touching contact was when a young girl ran to us with this painting in hand when we were about to leave that location. She also told me why she made this painting. Because she didn’t want the others to forget her family. She wanted me to bring her message to the other Ukrainians.
I promised her to do this and that we would return one day. Her wish expressed in the painting would be fullfilled. She started crying and hugged us, then running back to her house. My team returned to our homes in Ukraine, Germany and Finland. But she still stays trapped in hers. She wishes to be free from the orcish occupation.
Ukrainians in Crimea are willing to risk a lot to earn their freedom. I never heard them asking what is the risk or the price. They were always asking what they can do to help make it happen. We should do all we can to support Ukraine to achieve the liberation of Crimea.
Crimea is Ukraine. Not only because of what some map or another shows but because its people choose to be Ukrainian.
This breaks my heart!! Beautiful painting. 🇺🇦
A picture that speaks ten thousand words.
>She also told me why she made this painting. Because she didn’t want the others to forget her family. She wanted me to bring her message to the other Ukrainians.
So young, and yet she has a painful awareness of reality that far fewer western children have. May all the Ukrainians in Crimea stay safe until liberation.
The good people of the world won’t forget your family.
4 comments
I received many questions about this painting I got as a gift from a young girl on my visit to Crimea after posting the [video](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/166jvex/a_quick_update_from_the_dead_finnish_volunteer/) commenting the false rumours about my death.
Answering them inspired me to share my experiences with the people in Crimea during the war. This topic is very personal for me as a Finnish/Ukrainian double national who only lived in Crimea for a few years until the Russians took our house in 2014. My team has participated in intelligence-gathering missions there few times, and we often had encounters with the local people.
People were always happy to see us and often offered us food, housing, and other help when they saw our Ukrainian uniforms or other symbols. We told them not to stay in contact with us for their safety. Almost every time, they wanted to risk it if they could somehow help us some way.
Numerous men asked us if we could offer training for them and wanted to know how to enlist for military service when ZSU is near Crimea and “the time comes”.
The most touching contact was when a young girl ran to us with this painting in hand when we were about to leave that location. She also told me why she made this painting. Because she didn’t want the others to forget her family. She wanted me to bring her message to the other Ukrainians.
I promised her to do this and that we would return one day. Her wish expressed in the painting would be fullfilled. She started crying and hugged us, then running back to her house. My team returned to our homes in Ukraine, Germany and Finland. But she still stays trapped in hers. She wishes to be free from the orcish occupation.
Ukrainians in Crimea are willing to risk a lot to earn their freedom. I never heard them asking what is the risk or the price. They were always asking what they can do to help make it happen. We should do all we can to support Ukraine to achieve the liberation of Crimea.
Crimea is Ukraine. Not only because of what some map or another shows but because its people choose to be Ukrainian.
This breaks my heart!! Beautiful painting. 🇺🇦
A picture that speaks ten thousand words.
>She also told me why she made this painting. Because she didn’t want the others to forget her family. She wanted me to bring her message to the other Ukrainians.
So young, and yet she has a painful awareness of reality that far fewer western children have. May all the Ukrainians in Crimea stay safe until liberation.
The good people of the world won’t forget your family.