“Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and future” a meeting with Latin American colleagues at NUJU

“When the occupiers couldn’t hear, we sang Ukrainian songs together. We took turns telling the contents of the books we had read in the past. We told recipes of dishes…,” said Maksym Kolesnykov, a military man and a former restaurateur. This memory about the time of his captivity touched all the journalists present at the meeting that took place at the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) on Saturday.

“We were beaten every day, twice a day. They did not want to get to know anything from us; they only did it for the sake of beating. There was so little food that I lost 30 kilograms in ten months of captivity. The civilian “prisoners” sitting in the same cell with me were not provided with any medical care despite having chronic diseases. When asked what we were being held for, they answered: “If you are arrested, it’s not for nothing, and you have to tell about your crimes yourselves,” Maksym said. “So, our war is to prevent this from happening!”

Maksym Kolesnykov emphasized that Ukraine does not just want to return some “land” but also wants people living in the occupied territories to stop being tortured. He emphasized that for him, this is a war not so much for independence as for the survival of Ukraine.

“In our office on Khreshchatyk, we were glad to welcome media representatives from Latin America, who are on a press tour (or visit) in Ukraine,” NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko said about Saturday’s meeting. “A human rights session” was held especially for colleagues from far away Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay and envisioned communication with Maksym Kolesnykov, Oleksandra Matviichuk (the head of the Center for Civil Liberties, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate) and me.”

As Oleksandra Matviichuk pointed out, Russia uses war crimes to wage war against Ukraine: it deliberately inflicts pain on the civilian population to break the resistance and occupy the country. Russians are convinced that they can do whatever they want with people. This, in particular, is evidenced by the testimonies of hundreds of people who went through the hell of Russian captivity, interviewed by Oleksandra. And the Tribunal for Putin initiative, co-founded by the Center for Civil Liberties, collected data on more than 46,000 war crimes committed by the Russian military in Ukraine after February 24, 2022. But, according to Oleksandra Matviichuk, this is only the tip of the iceberg: in reality, there are much more crimes.

“Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and its future. But the current war is a competition between dictatorship and democracy, the outcome of which may depend on future peace (or bloody conflicts) in many countries… Do not be surprised that I am asking to give weapons to Ukraine. After all, otherwise, we cannot protect the civilian population,” said Oleksandra. “If the attacked country lays down its arms, there will be occupation, not peace. And the occupation is not just changing the national flag from one to another; it is forced disappearances, it is infiltration camps, it is torture and rape, it is the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, it is mass deportations, it is the destruction of Ukrainian identity, it is mass graves. We need peace, not occupation.”

During a conversation with Latin American journalists, Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized that the occupiers are the main threat to freedom of speech and the rights of journalists.

“We have the strength to fight for our rights against Ukrainian officials or attackers. After all, Ukraine has strong traditions of freedom of speech,” Sergiy Tomilenko noted.” Ukrainian journalists dream of their free future in a peaceful Ukraine.”

The Union‘s President told the foreign guests about the great work of our colleagues from local newspapers. The stories about journalists from Bakhmut, Lyman, Kherson, Orikhiv, and Snihurivka were especially touching.

The visit by Latin American mass media representatives was an initiative of the Transatlantic Dialogue Center. And the great driving force behind the introduction of Ukraine on the distant continent is a Ukrainian woman living in Argentina, Zhanna Chuchman.

NUJU Information Service