Ukrainians in France torn between concern and national pride

Svetlana has lived in France for three years. She is from western Ukraine and, with her companion Olivier, she follows events closely. “VSWhat is happening now hurts, like a shock. JI’m proud to see what my friends and family are doing there…“

>> Crisis in Ukraine: follow the latest developments in our live

Svetlana savors the dishes of her country in the small Parisian restaurant opened by Alina, only 30 years old: “Jam at the age of independence of Ukraine”, she smiled. Settled in France since very young, she claims this own identity and intends “to show that there is indeed a kitchen, a Ukrainian culture, which is other than Russian. It is not a single people, nor a ‘big brother’ or a little sister!”

“Putin is trying to erase Ukrainian history. And it helps to understand why the Ukrainian people are fighting for their freedom.”

Raïssa, the cook, is proud that her boys, who remained there, do not want to join her in France: “They say ‘no mom’, we have to defend the country” and remain to fight in Ukraine. But she adds, “No one wants war. DSo Europe must act, otherwise it will be real war”. Alina adds: “Personally I think Putin is not going to stop in Donbass. If he takes eastern Ukraine, he’s going to want to take the middle then the west, then go to Poland.”

On the other side of the Seine, in the Catholic Cathedral of St. Volodymyr the Great, Oleksandr Bilyk, the seminarian, prepares the mass: “On pray for peace and against the risk of a new world war.”

On the wall, the faces of those who died in Maidan Square, in Kiev, just eight years ago, are spread out. “VShe people gave their lives for their country, which they wanted to see independent. Their sacrifice does not allow us to be discouraged”, concludes Oleksandr Bilyk.