“Fear that we won’t get out of the spiral of violence”
How do you comfort people who have lost everything?
The refugees get support from us, if only because the language barrier is gone. You feel understood. We try to keep them busy, for example with German courses or painting lessons for the children.
How do you experience the children who arrive here?
Many of the children had to leave their homes under the bombs and are very upset. A child from central Ukraine now lives with his mother in a nice apartment with a nice family. However, close to the airport. Every time the child hears an airplane, he hides, afraid that bombs are about to fall.
Do the refugees have hope that they will eventually be able to return to Ukraine?
I keep hearing that people want to go home. But it’s not as if peace will return to Ukraine in the foreseeable future. I just hope that most of their families will see each other again.
Did you expect this war to happen?
Basically, Ukraine has been in this war since 2014, only now it has turned into a war of annihilation. You could count on it. Everyone just hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.
Do you think German politicians share responsibility?
At an event last week someone said that in a way we are all responsible. We all underestimated Russia’s imperialist tendencies. The sad thing is that the people of Ukraine are suffering from Putin’s return to these Soviet ideologies.
It was repeatedly discussed whether it was Putin’s or Russia’s war. How do you see it?
It’s not just Putin. Putin has a government behind him, he controls a powerful military. It is shocking that the majority of Russians support his policies. Of course, one has to ask oneself how independent the polls are in Russia when there is a risk of imprisonment if the answer is wrong.
Pro-Russian demonstrations took place in Munich and throughout Germany on Monday – on Liberation Day. How’s that for you?
I find that unbearable. Everyone now knows what atrocities the Russians started and are still committing in Ukraine. To see “Z” signs in Munich or other cities, which are also on the bombs that the Russians are dropping on Ukraine, that’s staggering.
The police have reported more attacks on Ukrainians in recent months, including in Munich. Can you confirm?
I’ve heard about it a few times. It is also sad to see that Russian propaganda reaches as far as Germany. In Russia I can understand it to a certain extent if you haven’t heard anything else for 14 years. But it’s sad that the people who live in the West and have the opportunity to find out elsewhere identify so strongly with the current leadership. Meanwhile, people are dying every day in Ukraine. This is awful.