The internet is flooded with pitiful videos from dear Russians about the unbearable life in Tuapse, environmental consequences, ruined children’s holidays, etc. Previously, there were glimpses, and surely there will be many sympathetic comments and “humanitarian” sighs, including from the Ukrainian side.
This is understandable, as a normal person who does not wish harm to others is pained to see black smoke over emerald mountains and azure sea. We feel this better than others. We have all seen the apocalyptic photos of the Serebryansky forest…
Meanwhile, Russians have already started and will intensify pressure on compassion in Europe, where there are many indiscriminate faces.
To help them (and sometimes ourselves) understand feelings, there is a very simple logic.
First, it is necessary to determine how those you want to sympathize with perceive the cause-and-effect relationship?
If the Russian recording the video ends their tirade with a wish for Putin to die, curses his Kremlin cronies, demands an end to the war and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, they deserve understanding and sympathy. Because there is a glimpse.
But if they are simply moaning about a hard fate, it means consciousness has not yet started working.
And those who blame Ukraine for the consequences – just burn in hell.
Second, eliminate abstractions like “loving all nature” and wiping away every “child’s tear.”
“Nature is not to blame,” “children are not to blame,” – of course, this is true. But every such abstraction and generalization lands in practice.
Since 2022, Russians have officially killed 700 children in Ukraine. Yesterday they killed a teenager in Chernihiv. And they have been killing Ukrainian children all week. I emphasize, these are deaths that are officially recorded. Without Mariupol, without other victims in the occupied territories.
Before 2022, dozens of children died and suffered due to Russian mines and various explosives in temporarily occupied territories. We do not forget them; they are also victims of Russian aggression.
In Kharkiv, 100,000 children today live under air raid alerts. Not for 4 days, like in Tuapse – 4 years! The reason – Putin and dear Russians.
We cannot fully comprehend what the consequences will be over the years due to stress, disruption of sleep patterns, deprivation of a lion’s share of the manifestations of childhood as such. I’m not even mentioning those who were not born.
Therefore, when someone talks about the suffering/experiences of Russian children and does not directly place blame on Russia and Putin, – they are either an inadequate person or an enemy. Because it is all terribly obvious. Putin and Russia started it and can stop it. Yesterday.
As for nature, I will only give two old images, widely published in both Russian and international media.
The first image is a field with traces of Russian shelling southeast of Izyum (Kharkiv region) after 3 months of active fighting (May 2022). Very few places can compare to this land’s fertility. But now it is poisoned. Forever or for generations.
The second image is the city of Vovchansk (Kharkiv region, 5 km from the Russian border) six months after the Russian attack that began in May 2024. After two years of fighting, practically everything has been turned to rubble. The city is destroyed, it cannot be restored. People have lost their home.
No threat came to the Russians from Vovchansk. But Putin and dear Russians destroyed it. Just like dozens of other Ukrainian cities and hundreds of villages. I chose this example because it is closer. But on the internet, there are far more horrifying photos and videos of cities from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, from Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
For example, what threat did the Russians face from Oleshky? Yet, the Russians captured and sentenced the city to death.
Without establishing connections and identifying specific culprits, abstract empathy only benefits the enemy.
Until the Russians themselves wish to stop Putin, while they try to “bring the truth to the tsar” and show support for his course (even though it is decreasing) instead of supporting the integration of the concept of the snuffbox into his skull, why suddenly empathize with them abstractly?
Understanding and empathy should be specific – to those who are on our side. And cherish what is ours. This is normal, humane.
The ability to establish the correct connection between images 1-2 and the view of the burning refinery in Tuapse (the image on the front page), and then formulate the right call, is a testament to mental health and a necessary condition for humane relations.
