Digest #20: Does Ukraine feel betrayed by the West?
Welcome to my bi-weekly digest
♻️ Betrayal of Ukraine
A while ago, someone here on Substack asked me: Do Ukrainians feel betrayed by the West? This question became all the more relevant with the recent Trump administration's flash attempt to meet with Putin and “achieve peace” in Ukraine.
I couldn’t answer the question then, so vast and complicated; but it has to be addressed now, more than ever. The history of the Western betrayal of Ukraine is longer than you think.
Pre-2014
The US President, George Bush, delivered his infamous Chicken Kyiv speech in 1991. A few weeks before, Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union, with 92% of Ukrainians voting for it. It felt like a real victory; Ukraine could finally be its own country. Americans were supposed to be happy celebrating their victory in the Cold War, but not as expected.
When Bush delivered his speech to the Ukrainian parliament, he praised Gorbachev and cautioned us against “promoting a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.” A lot of Ukrainian political leaders met such patronizing speech with skepticism, as Bush seemed to act as Gorbachev’s messenger, whitewashing the occupation (that the Soviet Union was) with words like “cooperation” and “interaction,” promoting it for the future.
The Budapest Memorandum was an agreement between the UK, the US, Russia, and Ukraine signed in 1994. The West wanted to control the nuclear weapons, which, after the fall of the Soviet Union, belonged to 4 countries: Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. The goal was to reduce it to “russia only.” Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for “security guarantees.”
As you can already guess, only one country fulfilled its part of the agreements — Ukraine, by giving up its nuclear arsenal. When russia invaded us in 2014, none of the signatory countries intervened with any substantial support except for words of condolences and concerns.
Many Ukrainian people remember this treaty as one of our country’s fatal mistakes:
1) Giving up nuclear weapons while allowing russia to maintain theirs;
2) Trusting russia;
3) Trusting that the West will protect us.
Now, not many people are aware of this, but US was a major player in … disarming Ukraine for years. Barack Obama, back when he was a Senator, led the initiative to help Ukraine destroy thousands of tons of guns and ammunition. He won $48 million in federal funding for that brilliant idea and made that dream come true. So, many could argue the US has a debt to pay back for such gross interference in our weapon arsenal.
Since 2014
I could write another article about how Ukraine felt betrayed by the West since the start of the war in 2014; there’s so much to say. Minsk agreements are one. Ukrainians are dreading Trump is trying to do the Minsk Agreements 2nd Edition: freeze the conflict with no tangible security guarantees until russian gathers manpower and attacks again. Every politician wants to look good; wants to look as though they were the ones who “ended the war.” Conveniently forgetting how the Munich agreement of giving Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938 was just an appetizer.
Let’s also remember that Angela Merkel was a dear friend of Putin after the invasion of both Georgia and Ukraine, who continued to build a gas pipeline and supported economic relationships with russia till the end of when it was considered “acceptable.” And that acceptable was a full-scale invasion of a country in the middle of Europe.
Since 2022
Ukrainians hoped things would change with the full-scale invasion. And they did, no doubt. We gained much more tangible support than in all the 8 previous years of war combined. Our war finally became visible, but at what price? The hope was up.
Since February 2022, I have seen more and more Ukrainians become disillusioned again. There were many stages to it: hoping the EU or US would interfere tangibly; hoping NATO would at least close the sky above Ukraine by helping us shoot down russian missiles (like it does with Israel, even though the country is not a NATO member); hoping the West would be fast and efficient with deliveries of weapons it promised. And many times in the last 3 years, that hope was undermined. Weapons not delivered on time; empty promises of cooperation; dreadful promises of “supporting us till the end” (or, how some Ukrainians say in a dark-humour way, “till the last Ukrainian”).
With time, talks of “self-sufficiency” became increasingly popular in Ukraine. You see, they don’t care about us. We should rely on nobody but ourselves. Let’s not get our hopes up again. Hubris of the hurt, the disillusioned.
But that discourse is not helpful either: anyone even minimally politically literate sees that Ukraine cannot do without the help of Western partners. Even without the (insufficient) support we have now, we would simply crumble.
And so our politicians have to keep round and round, repeating the same messages all over again, “like woodpeckers” (that’s a Ukrainian expression). Asking to respect our sovereignty. Asking not to negotiate or talk to russia without inclusion of Ukraine into the dialogue. Asking not to treat us as a younger sibling incapable of using the resources we’re given. Asking for support again and again. Not the breadcrumbs we’re given, but enough support to change the course of this war.
I’ll tell you what centuries of oppression do to a nation: it becomes cynical.
We watch politics as a show, always with suspicion of fakery. We look at the actions, not words. Ukrainians don’t even trust our own politicians — what can we say about Trump?
We hold our breath back, we observe, we hope. But we don’t trust. Not anymore.
📖 That Time Weapons Turned into Art
It’s evening of January 13, 2025, and I’m about to board my train Lviv-Odesa on my way to Mykolaiv. A long time since I was in Lviv, almost 5 years. I remembered bits and pieces of the city — the main square, the countless cathedrals, and its grand railway station.
Right at the central hall, I see an organ piano. The pipes look somewhat unusual from a distance, with their tops visually deformed, yet I can’t figure out what’s exactly the idea here. I come closer to read the plate: “Instrument”, an art installation by Zhanna Kadyrova. I vaguely remember her name, last seeing it at the Ukrainian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2022.
The plate further reveals: organ pipes are russian missile fragments, which Zhanna collected with her soldier friends in the Kyiv region.
I glance up at the organ again, my perception of it changed by this added dimension of war. I read further: another working title for the installation was "Contemporary Russian Baroque." Zhanna explained: the metal casing, torn apart from the explosion, twists into forms reminiscent of baroque volutes. On the “russian” side, Zhanna alluded to how russia covers up its crimes through the export of classical music and art to the West, all while exporting a completely different side of its “culture” to Ukraine with its missiles. During wartime, Russian culture and aggression cannot be separated—just as Zhanna’s art object is connected to deadly weaponry.
“Instrument” was installed in the main hall of Lviv railway station from November 2024 until the end of January. At this time, an organ player, Olesya Borsuk, gave 10 performances (you can watch a bit of her playing live here).
The instrument before me was silent, yet I could feel its power without sound.
This is what art is all about: transforming horror into beauty, or at least attempting to.
Some Ukrainians would find this artwork problematic, believing such weapons should be disposed of rather than displayed. And what do you think?
Anastasia, as a half-American and longtime resident of Ukraine (it became my home), all I can say is I'm so sorry. I can hardly explain what has happened to the US. The news this week is painful and it's enough to make me want to burn my American passport and never go back (I haven't lived there in 23 years but my parents are there and so it's kind of hard to avoid).
I just hope at least Europe gets its act together.
The question itself is terrifying , and your answer is as clear as it is the sadness and anguish may feel Europeans who know the history of Europe of XXth century . The peace of art you share makes me remember the last pages of Joseph Roth novel, The Capucins Crypt. All the time in the recent years I keep remembering it. Where to go now? With whom?