"Brotherly" peoples?
During the 8 years of war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called Ukrainians and Russians "brotherly” or “fraternal” peoples. However, statistics show that relations between the two nations are far from fraternal. According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology for 2020, only 42% of Ukrainians had a good attitude towards Russians, 42% - bad or very bad, the remaining 16% found it difficult to tell. In Russia, 48% of residents thought good of Ukrainians, 43% - bad, 9% were undecided.
According to a survey for February 2022 (before the full-scale invasion), the percentage of Ukrainians positively disposed towards Russia fell to 34%. We can only guess how these numbers have changed over the course of the invasion.
In contrast, people in Lithuania have a different attitude towards Ukraine.
What assistance is provided by Lithuania
From the first days of the war, Lithuanians, including Christian churches in Lithuania, united to help Ukraine. Volunteers have come five times to Mukachevo, where the AMBCU’s coordination center is located. Each time, minibuses arrive filled to the brim with food, medicine, diapers and hygiene items. All humanitarian aid is further transported by our volunteers to those places where it is most needed: Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk region. A lot of food and hygiene products are distributed to people who find themselves in a poor financial situation due to the war. On the way back to Lithuania, our friends pick up women, children and the elderly, whom the AMBCU ministers managed to evacuate from the front line area.
People who left for Lithuania were provided with everything they needed: housing, food, social assistance, and able-bodied people found work without any problems. The association helped organize the evacuation to Lithuania of more than 100 people.
Lithuanian solidarity
Liz Truss, British Foreign Secretary, told the “Mail on Sunday” that if Putin is not stopped, he will not be limited to Ukraine: The Baltic countries are also in danger.
Lithuanian volunteers said that this opinion is also shared by people in Lithuania. Many people remember well how, under the Soviet regime, people from Lithuania were deported in whole settlements to Siberia. Total deported for 1940-1941 and 1945-1952. there were 131,600 Lithuanians.
In fact, support for Ukraine in Lithuania is so great that houses are lined with Ukrainian flags, and they try to replace any post-Soviet symbols with pro-Ukrainian ones. Laughing, the volunteers say: “There are even Lithuanians who say they are afraid to return to Lithuania, because it is not clear anymore whether this is Lithuania or Ukraine…”
Acknowledgement
The Association is infinitely grateful to the people of Lithuania, who provide all possible kinds of assistance to Ukraine during the war. Ukrainians feel the support provided by the true fraternal nation. Thanks to ministers from Lithuania, 5 microbus convoys of humanitarian aid arrived to Ukraine. This is a significant contribution to helping Ukrainians who find themselves in harsh conditions.
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