What does it mean to live in Ukraine for over a decade, report on Ukraine's revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and both episodes of Russia's war against Ukraine? What does it mean to be a foreign reporter in Ukraine, and yet have a deep personal connection with the country?
Guest: Christopher Miller, the lead correspondent in Ukraine for the Financial Times. Miller was previously a world and national security reporter for POLITICO and the Ukraine correspondent for BuzzFeed News. Before that, he spent five years as a correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Kyiv. He has lived and worked in Ukraine for many years, and just published the book "The War Came to Us. Life and Death in Ukraine" with Bloomsbury Publishing.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org.
- This war is certainly more black and white, good versus evil.
- I think being impartial and not objective is the way to be right. We can call a spade - a spade. We can say exactly what is happening and I do say in my reporting that this is what the Kremlin says. The Kremlin is filled with known liars. Everything they have said has proven to be the opposite.
- When I see missiles strike in places where I have friends, the first thing I do is pick up the phone and write or call them to ask if they're okay. This war is deeply personal to me. Ukraine is a place that is deeply personal to me.
- I think future support from the West is likely to hinge on Ukraine's success on the battlefield during its counter offensive. I don't think that the US or other Western allies in Europe are going to pull back all of their aid and say "OK, now you're on your own because you didn't succeed and didn't take back all of the occupied territories." The United States in particular is betting on a winner. They want Ukraine to win. We all want Ukraine to win.
- I think Russia wants to eradicate Ukraine and Ukrainians and its culture.
- I'll tell you the story of an old friend of mine, who I have known now for 12 years. He is highly intelligent, speaks multiple languages, and a great translator. Just a really kind, polite person who you would never in a million years look at and think this man could be a soldier. Fast forward to February 24th and Russia invades full scale. He's one of the first to get down to the Territorial Defense Forces recruitment office and, you know, slaps down his passport and says "I'd like to join." Later he takes up a gun and becomes a soldier and serves in several different places along the frontline. Eventually he and his company were sent into Bakhmut and within a 24 hour 18 of them got wounded and needed to be taken out. He was dragging his brothers-in-arms from trenches as their limbs were bleeding. He was incredibly brave. One time I said to him "I am really sorry that you're experiencing this" and he said "No, I'm glad that I'm here. I'm actually now living a very vivid life." Like suddenly everything around him was bright and every moment meant something and every sound was elevated and it gave him a meaning and a purpose. There are lots of stories like that.
Thinking in Dark Times is a podcast series by UkraineWorld. This series seeks to make Ukraine and the current Russian war against Ukraine a focal point of our joint reflection on the world's present, past, and future. We try to see the light through and despite the current darkness.
UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.
Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld
