OP here, ready to answer questions
You are in my thoughts, and not only: I have also been donating, flagging trolls, countering misinformation, encouraged politicians and done what I can but I still owe your people.
I feel I can admit this here without feeling I am bragging since this account is anonymous and will stay so. My goal by saying it is to say you are bit alone and also hopefully to encourage others to take small steps to help, like asking a politician, supporting civilians (or frontline heroes) by donating, flagging misinformation etc.
Be sure, that despite having a destroyed house and maintaining Wasm3 I'm still resourceful enough to:
- donate money
- donate skills
- coordinate multiple mil-tech research groups
- run own business
- raise 2 kids
- ...
Cheers!
I was conscripted. I see it as my duty, a part of my social contract, a way to pay back to generations before who put their lives on the line in the fights for freedom.
I was lucky it was peacetime, but I am fully convinced I would have gone anyway as a young person without responsibility for children and citizen of a country worth fighting for.
For me (again as someone who served in peacetime in a peaceful country) it has been both educational and a career booster at points, it seems around here there are (civilian) jobs were military experience, even just conscription, is seen as a a major advantage or even a requirement.
I understand this is emotional for you but I am certainly not saying that both sides are equal. However, the fact is that both sides are using forced conscription and I find that to be deplorable in strongest terms. Patriotic Ukrainians have every right to fight for their homeland. But if you need to force people to fight for their country then it is a bunch of false patriots sending their own people into death.
Let me share with you my experience. A lot of people are comparing Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Serbia's aggression on Croatia and Bosnian and Herzegovina. In some sense it is a very valid comparison. You can read up on the war yourself, however I want to draw your attention to cities that had mixed ethnic makeups. Just like there are Russians who don't want anything to do with the invasion there were Serbs who didn't want to do anything with Greater Serbia. Moreover, there were Serbs from this latter camp that stayed behind in either Bosniak or Croat controlled towns thinking they were safe because they did nothing wrong. However, during the war the bravest and most motivated fighters were those with heavy criminal backgrounds or ultra-nationalistic leanings. Due to their prowess this group of people were promoted and often had a say who will get called up for conscription. Eventually Serbs that stayed behind became a target for exploitation, especially property rights - "sign over your house or we send your kids to battle". I don't want to go further but I guess you can imagine how such scenarios can play out.