Help Sooo...I'm Ukrainian

[Smart No More]

@Nessie Would you be comfortable for someone to send you something? It would involve ordering something online and having it shipped directly to you but would need a real name which maybe you would prefer not to divulge, understandably. It would be needed though as you'd need to present ID if collecting mail from a checkpoint or whatever. PM me if you like.


Totally understand if you prefer to avoid risking your anonymity though!

 

[GrumpyFrog]

It would involve ordering something online and having it shipped directly to you but would need a real name which maybe you would prefer not to divulge, understandably.

Eh, scratch that, it seems that mail only works within the country...Thank you for the offer to help, anyway.

 

[Smart No More]

Eh, scratch that, it seems that mail only works within the country...Thank you for the offer to help, anyway.

We can try from within the country if you prefer. I don't know what will be available but happy to look into it. Obviously can't promise anything.

 

[Istanbulite]

Has Putin Lost It? – Riddle Russia

Brian Taylor on the deep-seated mentality behind Putin’s war

ridl.io

 

[CowsAreCool]

Such a snappy comeback... Did you come up with that all by yourself or did a 3-year-old help you?

A 3 year year old helped me. Lol.

But sorry for being a jerk. We need to spread more love and respect. Especially on this platform. I made my recent post and send that message in a particularly bad mood. I hope you'll forgive me.

 

[Istanbulite]

The Belarusian convoy in the North left this morning back to Belarus, they refused to engage, hopefully they go back and overthrow Lukashenko now.



Russia's aircraft losses yesterday.







Thanks to generous donations from the Russian army the Ukrainian army now has more military vehicles than at anytime in its nations history.

 

[Sherri]

Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for your ungoing support! I really appreciate it!


Yeah, that's a nice thought. I think this is pretty much the only thing that could improve the situation at this stage. Maybe the theory that his erratic aggressive behaviour lately is due to some griveous neurological condition is true...

Yeah. I recon us talking about some french politician being hyped for war because his ass isn't going to be here. And now, here we are...

Now moostly pregabalin to deal with seizures and any painkiller stronger than paracetamol, although nitroglicerin and an asthma inhaler also wouldn't hurt...
I was surprised that it is possible to send mail to most cities. Not to mine, but to one reasonably close and there are volunteers delivering mail to a checkpoint here. I thought it woudn't work.

There wouldn't be any NATO troops here, and that's reasonable. People in the west are very kind, I believe they help enough. No one wants to be a refugee, but it's better than a horrible death.

My heart is with you and your people and country. There were talks between both parties yesterday, did anything good came out of those talks, like cease fire? Btw thank you for answering.

 

[Istanbulite]

 

[GrumpyFrog]

There were talks between both parties yesterday, did anything good came out of those talks, like cease fire?

This is a really sad story. The last talks resulted in a promise of establishing humanitarian corridors to evacuate people, there were two attempts to do that and both times the buses with civilians trying to evacuate were shelled...
Thank you for your kindness and support!

 

[Smart No More]

There's been footage of them from the ground shelling the evacuation corridors. It's like the world is in a state of shell shock as Putin blatantly commits atrocities that are completely out of keeping with the rules of engagement. I guess he's never signed up to any such rules but his inability to tolerate accurate accounts of what he's doing is very telling and I fear this is really just the start and it's happening so fast for the watching world that too much damage may be done before they react. He must have a bigger goal in mind and honestly I'm finding myself thinking more and more that it's time to step in. The implications of doing so are unimaginably high though.


On a slightly more whimsical note.... Did any Killing Eve fans notice a girl that looked uncannily like Jodie Comer at the table with Putin yesterday. Bit silly of me to mention given the seriousness of what's going on but as she plays an assassin in that I thought it might add a little light relief for some.
This isn't the best pic to show her likness but it's the girl on the far left......surely a meme waiting to happen right? If you can find the footage she really looks like her. This is just first pic/still I found when I searched it.....

https://i1.wp.com/file.mk.co.kr/meet/neds/2022/03/image_readbot_2022_209337_16465409434966155.jpg

I just hope somebody close enough to Putin will take an opportunity to finish this insanity before it goes further. There have been open requests and financial incentives offered to do so. Hw will no doubt be very cautious as a result and I can see him going the way Hitler did. Lets be honest, many of his actions are comparable!

 

[not-2-b-the-answer]

Hi Nessie
I'm happy to see you today.
Still praying for you and everyone there. My heart aches.

 

[My_name_is_Luka]

stay strong @Nessie !
I hope that your situation is not as bad as in other cities.
Do you still have water, food, heating?

In all these days I'm trying to do some activism infiltrating the russian communication channels and showing them the videos from the war: citizens blocking the tanks, people killed in the streets, buildings bombed.
Well, it's hard to convince them. Many live in a surreal world. They have been fed with lies since when they were children. And now they think that ukrainian nazists are killing civilians while they escape and they are bombing their houses. They are totally convinced that the russian army "came to rescue them". They think this since the fights of 2014 in Donbas. It is disgusting. The russian propaganda machine is absolutely demonic. Such people should be rotting in jail.

My opinion is that our countries are stupid. They don't understand the power of propaganda. They have never analyzed the communications on social networks with sociologists to understand what is going on in the new generations in Russia. They could have tried to counteract this, with proper communications through their same channels.

I'm spreading some seeds of disagreement. I hope that they will bloom.

 

[GrumpyFrog]

Thank you for your support, everyone. I really appreciate it

I hope that your situation is not as bad as in other cities.
Do you still have water, food, heating?

No, it's not that bad. All amenities function, there isn't a lot of food in the shops but they aren't completely empty. So far thankfully there is only a couple of towns where all amenities were cut off, the ones Russians want to take over really really badly for strategic reasons. Mine is not under siege and not even completely surrounded anymore.
I am really trying to help. I donated all I could to humanitarian organisations that deliver food and medication to those cities in the south. I tried to come to the train station to directly give some care packages to people passing us on a train from cities where situation is really severe, but the situation on the railway station is completely insane. I barely managed to pass the packages via train station employees and barely kept myself from being trampled. I don't think I'll be trying to do anything like that again. I really try. But I am just so so tired. I just want to go to sleep and never have to wake up. The world is broken. This cannot be fixed. I'm sorry for the pessimism.
So so tired.

 

[My_name_is_Luka]

The world is broken. This cannot be fixed.

it is as you say. But Russia is an extreme case with its fuckin bloody president. I can't even understand how such a person can exist; he is a psychopath that has managed to become unstoppable.
I do really wish that we can manage to let the new russian generations know in which absurd reality they are living. Listening to them is like when you listen to a kid that keeps lying in front of an adult and he doesn't realize how stupid he is.

 

[not-2-b-the-answer]

Thank you for your support, everyone. I really appreciate it

No, it's not that bad. All amenities function, there isn't a lot of food in the shops but they aren't completely empty. So far thankfully there is only a couple of towns where all amenities were cut off, the ones Russians want to take over really really badly for strategic reasons. Mine is not under siege and not even completely surrounded anymore.
I am really trying to help. I donated all I could to humanitarian organisations that deliver food and medication to those cities in the south. I tried to come to the train station to directly give some care packages to people passing us on a train from cities where situation is really severe, but the situation on the railway station is completely insane. I barely managed to pass the packages via train station employees and barely kept myself from being trampled. I don't think I'll be trying to do anything like that again. I really try. But I am just so so tired. I just want to go to sleep and never have to wake up. The world is broken. This cannot be fixed. I'm sorry for the pessimism.
So so tired.

You are an angel. I don't know if I could do what you did. All this because of a psycho needs more power.
I really have a hard time believing that most of the Russian people want this. Even if they are constantly being lied to.
Even service men and women must think this is wrong. Some of them anyway.
Please stay safe.

 

[deleted]

On the bright side, now you can go anywhere in the world as a refugee, even Japan

 

[PreussenBlueJay]

Thank you for your support, everyone. I really appreciate it

No, it's not that bad. All amenities function, there isn't a lot of food in the shops but they aren't completely empty. So far thankfully there is only a couple of towns where all amenities were cut off, the ones Russians want to take over really really badly for strategic reasons. Mine is not under siege and not even completely surrounded anymore.
I am really trying to help. I donated all I could to humanitarian organisations that deliver food and medication to those cities in the south. I tried to come to the train station to directly give some care packages to people passing us on a train from cities where situation is really severe, but the situation on the railway station is completely insane. I barely managed to pass the packages via train station employees and barely kept myself from being trampled. I don't think I'll be trying to do anything like that again. I really try. But I am just so so tired. I just want to go to sleep and never have to wake up. The world is broken. This cannot be fixed. I'm sorry for the pessimism.
So so tired.

I hope you're doing okay. What's going on over there is all I think about lately. Even if we can't do much, the whole world just wants to help and for this violence to be over. It's just frustrating that we do so little and that we get to get away from it all simply by turning off the screen. Please stay safe.

 

[Smart No More]

it is as you say. But Russia is an extreme case with its fuckin bloody president. I can't even understand how such a person can exist; he is a psychopath that has managed to become unstoppable.
I do really wish that we can manage to let the new russian generations know in which absurd reality they are living. Listening to them is like when you listen to a kid that keeps lying in front of an adult and he doesn't realize how stupid he is.

The fact that he identifies with China confirms this as he can see they have a similar propagana machine which in itself indicates he knows what he's doing. He's not so much delusional as evil. There are rumours he may be fighting cancer or have another terminal disease of some kind. It might explain his sudden no fucks given approach to all this. That and the move from lockdowns and restrictions on covid. There are some saying his time in isolation has fed into his eagerness too. He calls the US a land of lies (which I don't completely disagree with) but he's a hypocrite of the highest order.

 

[GrumpyFrog]

Thank you so much for your support, everyone! I really appreciate it!

I really have a hard time believing that most of the Russian people want this. Even if they are constantly being lied to.

That's the part that I don't get either. How can average people see massive civilian casualties and suffering, ruined and burining residential buildings, dead children and somehow justify it with "but NATO bad" or some other equally weak excuse. What the hell is wrong with them?

On the bright side, now you can go anywhere in the world as a refugee, even Japan

Yeah, in theory yes. It feels nice to be supported by the world.
In practice, I can go absolutely nowhere because I don't have a passport or a biometrical ID, unfortunately...

He calls the US a land of lies (which I don't completely disagree with) but he's a hypocrite of the highest order.

Yeah. I'm not saying that other countries are saints, even mine. All media lie. But when you compare two countries and see that one of them shut down all independent media outlets, shut down all social media, implemented a law that can send you to prison for up to 15 years for spreading any information about the war that differs from the official governmental position (including calliing this war a war) and is about to shut down all Internet...you can guess which country has something to hide.

 

[My_name_is_Luka]

That's the part that I don't get either. How can average people see massive civilian casualties and suffering, ruined and burining residential buildings, dead children and somehow justify it with "but NATO bad" or some other equally weak excuse. What the hell is wrong with them?

their propaganda machine has justifications for everything. They must have an academy for lies in Russia.
They have been justifying all the deaths as caused by ukrainians nazists. They say that ukrainians want Russia to liberate them, but the nazi are using people as targets and as shields to stop russia. They say that they bomb their houses and not care about their safety.
I've shown them people walking in front of tanks; in Russia they have a lie for everything.
When they don't have it, they close the talk with "where were you when ukraine killed a thousand of people in Donbas?". These lies have been prepared since more than 10 years!

 

[Depressed Cat]

That's the part that I don't get either. How can average people see massive civilian casualties and suffering, ruined and burining residential buildings, dead children and somehow justify it with "but NATO bad" or some other equally weak excuse. What the hell is wrong with them?

Extreme brainwashing by constant lies is not the only answer.

It's a basic lack of ethical intelligence. Ethical intelligence is the highest form of intelligence that cannot be measured by IQ tests or anything of that kind. It's not tied to any other form of intelligence either. A person who scores low on an IQ test, can still have high ethical intelligence or vice versa. IQ tests measure only two or three forms of intelligence at most (mathematical, analytical & logical) out of the many. It's real life situations like these that display a person's ethical intelligence, or lack thereof.

There is no shortage of people who lack ethical intelligence that can be brainwashed to do all kinds of evil things. Tyrants and regimes throughout the world, and throughout human history, have known this very well. It's not just the ones who are doing evil things, but the ones that justify such evil, and the ones that support it as well.

 

[My_name_is_Luka]

It's a basic lack of ethical intelligence.

we live in different countries and we cannot understand the mentality of those people. They have been fed with hate for other nations since when they were born. They have been shown false reportage on the conflicts with Ukraine for years. Those people have grown hate toward the ukrainian government, at minimum; and in some people this has escalated and fed a extremist ideology of hate toward their neighboring country.
They are unable even to understand that when the government has total control of the information, it can use this power in a sick way to remain in control of its country, so that it is never overthrown.

 

[Smart No More]

Exactly. They have been kept in destitution while the oligarchs lived in opulence and state tells them it's the fault of the west. A life of struggling through destitution will breed a lot of contempt towards their perceived oppressors.

 

[GrumpyFrog]

Yeah, guys, you're right. When people have a poor quality of life, they need someone to blame. In Russia, everything that ever went wrong is the Wests fault, and they are kind of lumping us together with the West even though we're frankly decades away from fitting into EU or NATO, even in a best case scenario.

When they don't have it, they close the talk with "where were you when ukraine killed a thousand of people in Donbas?"

Yeah, the "where were you 8 years ago?" thing. I absolutely do not deny that what our army did in Donbass was very wrong, especially in the first year when this conflict was the worst. But there are several reasons why this is a moot point:
1) Portraying us as these baby-eating mosters in Donbass conflict is super hypocritical for Russia when they also participated in this conflict and their heavy weapons also killed civilians.
2) If what we did in Donbass reached the magnitude of what they do now, say, in Kharkiv, it wouldn't take 8 years. It would probably take less than a year for us to level every single building there and for all the population to either flee or die. This is a massive escalation.
3) While I admit all the wrong moves we made on our side in this conflict, things were actually de-escalating there lately. Things in Donbass were looking hopeful before Russia attacked. There wasn't any fighting in residential areas, no massive casualties, I personally know an internaly displaced family that went back to their home because things were looking up. Why attack now?
4) When you shell residential areas or leave entire cities with no electricity, water, heating or food, the attack is indiscriminate. Hate the military, hate the government all you want, but this violence doesn't differentiate between people that were all for war in Donbass, people that weren't, people that were against it and actually helped the internally displaced, little children, pets...everyone goes into the grinder. Donbass is not an excuse for this.
But I digress...I'm pretty sure now people already fall into one of the two categories - those who already understand why this is wrong, and those who cannot be convinced

I am growing numb to this whole thing. On the first day when the air raid started, I ran for cover thinking "Oh shit! Sirens! Am I about to die?". It's day 12 and now I'm like "Oh shit. Sirens. Goddamn it. I was just about to go out. Hope it's over fast enough for me to go buy some TP and take out the trash before the curfew". Human brain does have an amazing ability to adjust...

 

[GrumpyFrog]

I am so exhausted. My supervisor gave us a massive task, the one we do every month, and is now asking "guys, can you reply when you're going to be done". And I don't know how to reply and to explain that out of all the "guys" I am the only one left - one lives near Kyiv and isn't working since this whole thing started, one is in the process of fleeing the country, one just stopped coming online on Friday heaven knows why and another one joined the army, and I have already passed out 3 times today and am stuffing my face with a bloody bedsheet due to a nosebleed that wouldn't stop for hours, trying to manage the bare minimum while pretty much waiting to get a stroke with no medical help available.
I can't watch the news anymore. There is basically no new information and I can't watch the devastation and the crying people and listen to shitty prognosis anymore, I'm going to lose my fucking mind. Any suggestions on how to manage to work until I kick the bucket? Would you also watch the news 24/7 like I do, or would you turn on something more harmless, like music on the radio?

 

[not-2-b-the-answer]

So sorry you have to go through this. I would suggest taking a break from the news. Watch a movie or TV show you like. You don't have to stop watching the news completely but all the time is not good.
I do like to listen to music as well. Sometimes when I'm on here I listen to music.
Please stay safe.

 

[Smart No More]

Sounds like you're having a really bad time. Unsurprisingly. The offer for attempting to get meds sent to you is still open. I'll pay for them if I can find them so no risk of loss for you. What's causing you to pass out? Have you told your employer about these health issues? Not sure what the health and safety laws are there but generally an employer aught to accommodate you for your health problems. I guess these are unprecedented times so things aren't quite business as usual so to speak.

As far as your media consumption I'd suggest looking for a news stream that will update you as and when anything relevant or important to you personally happens. I guess its a bit draining to follow things that are so serious and real to you right now so doing so 24/7 is going to take its toll. I've been following it pretty religiously myself. I guess you need to strike a balance. Sounds like you already kind of know that. Not sure if you checked the link I posted previously. Someone shared it with me and I found it amazingly useful. I'll stick it here again just incase. Think it's where a lot of youtube news channels are getting their info from as it's updated in real time and you can click on your location from the map to get local specifics. https://ukrstream.tv/en/liveuamap

If you have some uplifting media you can get lost in or listen too whilst you're at work maybe it will help go into autopilot and keep you ticking over. Podcasts maybe? Music? Not sure what you're into. Stevie Wonder has some great uplifting tunes even though they're based in some pretty dark issues/subject matter. It's a good balance between real and uplifting. It's a bit dated for some peoples tastes but I think it's pretty timeless personally. When you're home I would say look for movies or shows you can relate to in your current situation. I find that really cathartic myself.

 

[Fakereality]

I am so exhausted. My supervisor gave us a massive task, the one we do every month, and is now asking "guys, can you reply when you're going to be done". And I don't know how to reply and to explain that out of all the "guys" I am the only one left - one lives near Kyiv and isn't working since this whole thing started, one is in the process of fleeing the country, one just stopped coming online on Friday heaven knows why and another one joined the army, and I have already passed out 3 times today and am stuffing my face with a bloody bedsheet due to a nosebleed that wouldn't stop for hours, trying to manage the bare minimum while pretty much waiting to get a stroke with no medical help available.
I can't watch the news anymore. There is basically no new information and I can't watch the devastation and the crying people and listen to shitty prognosis anymore, I'm going to lose my fucking mind. Any suggestions on how to manage to work until I kick the bucket? Would you also watch the news 24/7 like I do, or would you turn on something more harmless, like music on the radio?

Working during war time isn't really something which a human mind can handle with ease you can only focus on so much stuff before it can start getting overwhelming maybe if it's possible take a break from it and watch the situation unfold for a bit, beside it isn't guaranteed that the russians aren't gonna target communication related infrastructure like internet the more time this invasion takes the bloodier their tactics may become. Usually wiki is good source for getting info atleast when i just want some small updates on an ongoing topic without getting too overwhelmed with info though not sure if it would work for you,music is always calming thing to soothe yourself with though when you just wanna forget about everything else for some moments perhaps give it some try.

 

[GrumpyFrog]

Thank you for being supportive, everyone!

I would suggest taking a break from the news. Watch a movie or TV show you like. You don't have to stop watching the news completely but all the time is not good.

I'm trying to strike a balance between being uninformed and watching the news obsessively. I think I should stop and take the break whenever the news return to the topic I heard about before.
I also suddenly don't know what TV show or movie I could watch. I don't think I can find comedy funny at the moment, but I don't think I would ever be able to just watch any movie or show that contains violence for entertainment again.

The offer for attempting to get meds sent to you is still open.

Would you please let me know what country you're from? So I can see if I can order the meds I need online from where you are. I don't mind paying for my own meds but they might not be sold without a prescription - pregabalin certainly isn't where I live...

What's causing you to pass out?

I have super high blood pressure for the last couple of days, around 200, I guess that is the reason.

Have you told your employer about these health issues? Not sure what the health and safety laws are there but generally an employer aught to accommodate you for your health problems. I guess these are unprecedented times so things aren't quite business as usual so to speak.

Generally yeah, I should be able to take a sick leave, but I've described the situation with my team - I am the last one standing out of 5 people, everyone else will not be able to work for an undefined amount of time, maybe never again. I'd say at least half of employees in the company are unable to work because of war, maybe more, and someone has to do their work instead of them or we will all lose our jobs.

Not sure if you checked the link I posted previously. Someone shared with me and I found it amazingly useful. I'll stick it here again just incase. Think it's where a lot of youtube news channels are getting their info from as it's updated in real time and you can click on your location from the map to get local specifics. https://ukrstream.tv/en/liveuamap

Oh, yeah, I had this one open in my browser since day 1! Sorry for not mentioning it, great suggestion. It's not perfectly accurate because those red and blue circles only show stuff that was in the news in selected sources and only "stay put" for a short time (not sure if there's a time limit or a limit to the number of circles, but they do disappear within hours after the event). But it is still nice to get a general picture of the latest events.
Feel bad even looking at Kharkiv at that map though, it looks like it is just pounded 24/7 for days...Ironically, it's the city with the most Russian-speaking and most pro-Russian (vs. pro-West) population, according to the polls, discounting the "republics"...Or so it was...

Stevie Wonder has some great uplifting tunes even though they're based in some pretty dark issues. It's a good balance between real and uplifting. It's a bit dated for some peoples tastes but I think it's pretty timeless personally.

Thank you, what a lovely suggestion!

beside it isn't guaranteed that the russians aren't gonna target communication related infrastructure like internet

Yeah. This is why I am afraid to turn off the news, because I may end up out of the loop when the Internet goes bye-bye. The electicity is already off-and-on all day. I am worried that communications wouldn't last much longer. Once they're gone there wouldn't be any more dilemmas, though. I wouldn't be able to work, or watch the news, I can go sleep and read Harry Potter all day =) If I last much longer that is, I might have less time left that the Internet here...

the more time this invasion takes the bloodier their tactics may become

I am just trying not to think about it...I was raking my mind trying to understand why I am not immediately suicidal now, but I was before the war started and hoped to CTB before it does start, and I came to a realization that I really don't want to die now and for this war to be the last thing I ever see and experience. I want to see some resolution before I go. That is why I still am not actively attempting suicide.
Well, this and the fact that if I fail I will be dying slowly and painfully and absolutely no one will notice or give a shit, of course...

Love you all, thank you for dropping by

 

[Smart No More]

Sent you a pm @Nessie