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Ukrainian activist and writer, Olena Halushka, sat down exclusively with El American to talk with our contributor Julio M. Shiling about her experience since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Halushka, who was an advisor to the Ukrainian Parliament and a member of the Kyiv City Council, believes that what is happening in her country is “a genocide of the Ukrainian nation” and that, according to her Western intelligence sources, Vladimir Putin’s intention was to “conquer Ukraine” and replace elected officials with a “puppet regime” in a matter of days.
“In fact, Vladimir Putin aims to restore the Russian Empire and return Ukraine to Moscow’s orbit,” Halushka said. “But it failed. It failed completely because Putin miscalculated the resistance of the Ukrainian people, starting with the Army and President Zelenskyy, as well as local mayors who have become the wartime leaders in their communities.”
According to the activist, civilians from all Ukrainian cities joined the territorial defense units voluntarily, making use of improvised weapons such as Molotov cocktails, because of that farmers and farm-workers “stopped the Russian forces with their own hands.”
“We are also witnessing low morale in the Russian Army,” Halushka continued saying. “Despite having more troops and more military equipment, their desire and motivation to fight Ukraine is much lower.” According to the writer’s testimony, Putin’s forces have even destroyed and abandoned tanks and weapons on Ukrainian streets.
“Militarily speaking, we cannot see the Russian Army advancing in Ukraine, so they change their tactics,” he said. “Right now, to a large extent, they avoid direct confrontation and switch to genocide of cities: they shell, organize air strikes on residential areas where peaceful populations live, firing missiles at kindergartens and orphanages.”
The activist highlights that the “the most striking and horrifying” attack was the one on the maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol on March 8, an “atrocity” in the words of President Zelensky, where children and women were killed and left under the rubble.
“[The Russians] are basically deliberately killing peaceful Ukrainian civilians whose only fault is that they want to live in a democratic, sovereign and independent country, and were trying to build it,” Halushka said.
Halushka: A no-fly zone or more sophisticated weapons?
Her position on the implementation of a no-fly zone over Ukrainian skies by some allies, as called for by other activists and even President Zelensky, is that it is an “instrumental” measure, given that the Army is already “performing miracles” on the ground, but the Russians are taking advantage of their capabilities in the air to massacre innocents.
However, Halushka understands that NATO members or allies in the international community are not able to close Ukraine’s skies, so she calls on them to provide “the necessary equipment,” such as anti-missile systems and air defense devices, more advanced than they have already received.
Halushka considers it “a great mystery” why the West has not decided to provide the Ukrainian Army with more sophisticated technological weapons.
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