You won’t believe the interaction I had yesterday about my russian ex-classmate. Tells you everything you need to know about lack of accountability & criminal indifference.

My classmate & I had a conversation and he asked me: “why don’t you like X (our russian classmate)? 1/5 Me: you know, it’s complicated, some people are not meant to be friends. I don’t do anything bad to her but our worlds are too opposite for me to like her. I’m sure she doesn’t like me either
Him: well, she’s just more curious WHY you don’t like her 2/5

“What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

I would completely demilitarize & decolonize russia and then additionally build a supermagnet that would make any weapons produced or stored on former russian territory turn into scrap metal - to not even give them ideas. I don’t care if it’s “impossible”. The precondition says I can’t fail, so why not go big if I am destined for success?

In case if someone looks for inspiration on what to read. My personal top 5 out of the books I read in a last year (in no particular order). I am no book expert, this is just my opinion and only meant to give you some ideas if you need them. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Even though we’re from very different regions and in different backgrounds I found his childhood to be strangely relatable in so many little details. The book is touching and thought-provoking & the ending made me cry and reflect on a lot of things.

Apparently, I am LITERALLY calling for GENOCIDE against the russian people FOR NO REASON!

If the word reaching was a person - this would be it I really DO wonder which of my tweets are calling for genocide of russians. Bring it on, please. (But, no cheating, bring it on AFTER reading the definition of genocide - I have no time for y’all’s antics here)

This Ukrainian is a strong LGBTQ+ ally 🏳️‍🌈! And have been right since the moment my brain was actually able to produce my own opinions. & this Ukrainian ally is upset to see some western members of the community defending USSR & depicting it as some safe haven for queer people 1/8 When the revolution happened in 1917, Bolsheviks canceled the royal laws, including the one that criminalized homosexual relationships. & that seems to be why some people in the community tend to favor the USSR. Although it was more a by-product, not a conscious intent. 2/

Ok, guys, I am feeling musical today. Below are SOME of my favorite Ukrainian songs that pretty much any Ukrainian knows. Today we're mostly going for melodic and slow. A 🧵 1. 'Hutsulka Ksenia'. This song was first created in 1932 & has been sung by many people since then. Absolute love anthem about young hutsuls (ethnic group of🇺🇦, living in Carpathians) professing their love for each other as if no one else exists

I am just so tired of russia existing. Sincerely. This is not even a call to action or whatever. Just, as a Ukrainian, I'm simply exhausted that we have to deal with that shit for freaking centuries. I just feel so sorry for us. All the lives that could have gone otherwise, all the opportunities we could have had, all things that can't be recovered.And yet, it's not some past trauma we must work through - they keep pushing it. Keep wanting to kill, exterminate, and silence us

Update on my monocular fundraiser for 101 TDF AFU brigade. Today, I finally paid for it all (monocular + the other 'fancy stuff', as per my friend). We used the guy that my friend called a trusted person who's delivered stuff to them before. So, hopefully it will be shipped ASAP Turned out to be more expensive than I hoped for, unfortunately (because when my friend sent me an image, I thought he was pointing at the different monocular), so in total, we paid 230k UAH (6273$), ouch. I first paid 20k to book the item & then paid the rest today.

So, something weird happened to me: someone messaged me on Friday (my graduation day) asking for some help with resources for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland.I said I was offline but will reply&asked to remind me if I don't reply by Monday. I forgot about it (Twitter DMs stress me) Now, he messaged me again & I said: yes, thank you for the reminder. & while I was looking for the resources, he said: 'I don't usually ask 3 times' & immediately blocked me. If you wanted to help a refugee, what did you gain by blocking me for not replying for 4 days?

Ok, now I will convince you that 'everything is Ukraine'; buckle in for a nerd thread-exploration-joke.
1. So, there's this Lana Del Rey song that was absolutely my vibe last year:
2. That song is a cover of the song with the same name by Sublime (which also absolutely slams, I just heard the Lana's version earlier):

#ukrainian_language
Ok, this one will be straightforward because I'm still recovering from my master's graduation celebration. Names & etymology of the Ukrainian days of the week.
1. The week starts with Понеділок [ponedilok] - Monday, literally meaning: 'day after Sunday' 1/4 2. Вівторок [vivtorok] - Tuesday, comes from old Slavic [vtorok] or [vtoroy], which is 'second', just indicating that it's the second day of the week;
3. Середа [sereda] - Wednesday, comes from the word 'cередній' [seredniy] (in the middle), indicating that Wednesday is mid-week;

Unfortunately, this actually tells you a lot about the structure of structure of the russian society: the “weaker” must show respect to the “stronger”. If they don’t - violence comes and society just perceives it normal & blames the weaker for not submitting to rules 1/4

https://twitter.com/ArtyomLukin/status/1598641308217679873

This is very much displayed in Dedovshchina - the russian army process, where the older soldiers relentlessly torture the younger soldiers (historically, causing many suicides, in fact), including humiliation, sexual violence, beatings etc 2/

You know what, I've ACTUALLY met people who were directly affected by wars. Notably, Iranian who's experienced Iran/Iraq war (and is now following protests); Palestinian whose parents' generation in her family was severely affected by the ongoing conflict 1/7 During my protests next to russian embassy in Dublin, I've met a Georgian, affected by 2008 war, and Syrians who came to protest russian aggression. You know what none of these people told to me? "What about my country? Why is attention on you now?" /2

"Yellow Prince" by Vasyl Barka. The Holodomor-themed novel first published in 1962. A 🧵.

Vasyl Barka was a Ukrainian writer born in Poltava region in 1908 who emigrated from Ukraine after WWII and lived the remainder of his life abroad which allowed him to be published 1/25 He was one of the first authors who brought up the topic of Holodomor in his works. His books were obviously banned in the USSR. 'Yellow Prince' is a Holodomor-themed novel based on the author's own memories, numerous stories he's collected from Ukrainian families & research. 2/

I had a conversation with my coworkers about the languages & the names of the months came up. In English (and some other languages, incl. russian), the names are adapted from Latin. In Ukrainian, we use Slavic names that are connected to nature & fit into the language easily. 1/9 Because the words are actually from the language we speak, the etymology of each name is easy to understand for any Ukrainian speaker. My coworkers found the names to be poetic & very authentic (so do I), so I will share them with you also. So, come and learn some 🇺🇦 with me 2/9

People often say about what a long way Ukraine still has to go to resolve all of our issues (we do). But sometimes I stop to think about what a crazy amount of progress we have made in a short 31 years since the fall of the USSR. Below are some stories from my life 🧵 1/14 I was born to young parents who were still at the uni & lived in the dorm. Just 1 room for 3 of us, not even a private kitchen or a fridge. I don't remember anything from that time, cause I was there only first year of my life, but I will let you imagine what that was like. 2/

Adventures of a regular 🇺🇦 in the safest Ukrainian city: start working at home-> electricity at home cuts off because of russians -> work on mobile internet for a while -> go for lunch & stay there to work on their wifi for a bit->electricity shuts down here->complain on Twitter. Cont'd: come back home thinking you'll work more using mobile internet->light up the fireplace, cause it's cold&your normal heating is controlled by electricity (thank god you have a fireplace)->realize that there is no mobile connection at all-> wait for fire to die->

I have a crazy concept for you: what IF you - a western reader - know russian literature more than Ukrainian literature, because the russian state invested billions in promoting and TRANSLATING 🇷🇺 literature abroad, while simultaneously halting 🇺🇦 literature from publishing?🤯🤯 For centuries, having total control of Ukrainian (and other indigenous peoples) art. Deciding who will live/die /write. Downplaying the importance of one book and inflating the importance of others.

How are you supposed to read 'Yellow Prince' when it's not been translated?

You know how sometimes you hear loads of shit & you can handle it, but that 1 thing happens that's not even that big, but sticks with you forever?
Well, for me THIS is one of those things. A radio contest where the prize is - a hot Ukrainian wife. Did 2nd place get a toaster? 1/ This happened in 2011 & when I started traveling in 2012 I was hyperaware that THIS is what we were seen as. So, what's normal for other young people when they live abroad - meet, flirt, have sex - for me as a Ukrainian was me confirming the reputation of visa-seeking chick 2/

Rank your 'favorite' russians to help raise funds for a night vision monocular.

The winner of round 1 is... Vladimir Solovyov!
Round 2: Maria Zakharova vs Sergey Lavrov. Who do you hate more? Bote by sending 1< USD to Paypal
Details: quicknote.io/ee040270-5c2c-…

Tell your friends! Credit for Pokemon Card idea goes to @Toddy_xgp

Ok, you know I'm running a fundraiser. How about we turn this into a little game & rank our 'favorite' russians?

Round 1: who do you find more detestable, Margarita Symonyan vs Vladimir Solovyov? To vote send 5 USD to my Paypal (quicknote.io/fd8234f0-5ab6-…)w/ their name as a comment Meantime, up to 588 USD raised in total. (4612 USD remaining)

Our girl Margarita would approve