Ukrainian grit: A true story

The colours of Ukraine. Photo by Marjan Blan @marjanblan on Unsplash

It’s not just the US-led order that does not want to blink first and advise Ukraine to sue for peace with its malign neighbour. Ukrainian grit will not allow it.

That indefatigable spirit astonishingly, joyously, still remains, 10 months after Russia’s invasion. Despite the hardship. Despite the grief. The pain. The lives turned upside down. The fragmented families. The broken landscapes. Despite everything.

Just this week, on the hideous tenth anniversary of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska told the BBC that Ukraine will keep fighting because “without victory there can be no peace”.

And consider the situation recently described to me by a Ukrainian friend in London. Her mother, who had to return to her school job in Ukraine in September, had to patch up part of the roof of her house and the windows in the front room because they were blown out. My friend said that the Ukrainian government helps …