The final statement
‘They fail to see that Ukrainians don’t need any ‘big brother’. They don’t need, much less, any so-called triune Russian people.’
Laugh, then, ferocious foe,
But not too loudly, for our fame
Will never be laid low.
It will not perish, but proclaim
The annals of our age…
Judge: The court proceedings are conducted in Russian, can you speak in Russian? I take it this is some kind of poem? Yes. Well, you can recite it in Russian, because the court proceedings are conducted in Russian after all.
What is our justice, what our wrong,
And what our parentage.
Our epic and our ancient song
For ever shall remain,
And that is where our glory lies,
The glory of Ukraine!
If Taras Hryhorovych were somehow transported into our time… at this point I suppose I’m expected to say he’d be deeply stunned. No, he wouldn’t be, not at all. He would see an all too familiar picture: Moscow is at it again. Of course, the war didn’t start in 2022, and, even in the narrowest sense, a fragmentary starting point is, we should think, 2014.
In 2014, it was started by the same Russians, responsible for every drop of spilled blood. In a broader view, though, the war didn’t start in 2014 either—it has been going on for centuries. That’s a striking feature of Russian history: no matter which regime holds power here, it’s almost as though some kind of religion forbids them from simply leaving Ukraine alone. Tsars and communists were no different from each other. No matter which clothes they attempted to wear, the same Muscovite muck was peeking from under them.
You’d think that after so many centuries they might have understood: just bugger off. Yes, Moscow has won battles, many battles. But it has never seen a final victory. And it never will. The Ukrainian people won’t allow it anymore. They’ve had enough. But occupation lovers haven’t understood that. They’re not the smartest, no matter how much they wish to be. No one gave them the right to define Ukraine’s past or future. They fail to see that Ukrainians don’t need any ‘big brother’. They don’t need, much less, any so-called triune Russian people. Ukraine is a free country, a free nation, and it will decide its own future. If someone broadcasts the occupier’s narratives, they will be hated.
And there’s no place for talks about Ukrainian nationalists here. It’s the Russians’ own fault. If anyone tries to meddle with Ukraine, they will be fought. It may hurt. I sincerely wish for Russians to come to memorise these basic truths. Ukraine, once again, is a free nation. It will choose its own path. It will choose who to count as a friend or brother, and who as a ferocious foe. It will itself determine how to treat its history. And, most certainly, it will itself choose which language to speak.
These sound like obvious things, but they’re not. It’s clear that Putin can’t wrap his head around the fact that Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Then again, there’s a lot he can’t wrap his head around, like human rights or democratic principles. But even those who oppose Putin’s regime don’t always realise this. They don’t always realise that Ukraine, having paid for its sovereignty in blood, will determine its own future.
I want to believe, of course, that when democracy comes, sooner or later, this attitude will change. I want to believe in a beautiful future where Russia lets go of all imperial ambition, whether predatory and bloodthirsty or occult, hidden in the human minds. God bless, truly God bless.
Some Pechenegs and Polovtsians, how could we do without them. In no way do I claim that what I will say is a historical excursion. It will rather be an emotional commentary on the events of history. Well, the format does not allow me to make a report—the present company would die of boredom.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky was, of course, a great hero. But, unfortunately, even the greats make mistakes. He hardly supposed which sad consequences the Pereyaslav Agreement would lead to. The mistake turned out to be tragic. Bohdan counted on a mere military alliance against Poland. He could not imagine that, in this alliance, Ukraine would gradually lose all its freedom.
Judge: The presiding judges are asking you to stick to our case. I have the right to stop you when you stray very far away from our case. I have the right to stop you and ask you to stick to our case and not to the events of hundreds and hundreds years ago. Is that clear?
Yes, I am now just about to quote Taras Shevchenko. Alas, I can no longer do it in verse. Unfortunately, I do not remember the translation by heart. But precisely during this process the question was raised as to whether Taras was a nationalist. Therefore, in my opinion, I’m sticking to the case:
Ruled. Oh, Bogdan, foolish son! Look at your mother now, at your Ukraine. Who, lulling you to sleep, sang about her unhappy fate. Who, lulling you, wailed, looking out for freedom. Oh, Bogdan, Bogdanochek, had I known, I’d have choked you in the cradle, put you to sleep under my heart.
God, how awful. Well, it’s a court order, it can’t be helped. If Taras wasn’t a nationalist, why would he hate Bohdan so much?
There have been even more derogatory expressions in his work. But I just very much like this poem, ‘The Plundered Grave’. The next hetman, Ivan Vyhovsky, attempted to correct Bohdan’s mistake. His brilliant victory near Konotop, where he beat the Moscow army to the ground, is very famous in Ukraine. Unfortunately, he was eventually defeated. So was his successor Petro Doroshenko. Ivan Mazepa’s work left a huge trace. In Russia, everyone harps on about what a traitor he was. Well, it may be so for the supporters of Peter’s Empire. But for Ukrainians he was a true patriot, who, having entered an alliance with the Swedes, fought for the independence of his country.
And, for the faith, even if you die,
Defend the liberties and the rights,
Let’s sing the timeless glory, in accord,
As we have the rights through the sword.
[‘Duma’ (‘Contemplation’), Ivan Mazepa]
‘We have the rights through the sword’, so wrote Mazepa himself. The history of the war with the rebellious hetman, of course, was not without the favourite pastime of all colonisers—massacres. Having captured Baturyn, the hetman’s capital, they looted and burned the city. All those who did not manage to flee the city were simply slaughtered. Neither women nor children were spared. These events are known in history under the name ‘Baturyn tragedy’. Taras Shevchenko, by the way, gives a poignant description of these events in the poem ‘The Great Mound’.
Mazepa’s endeavours were not destined for success. Unfortunately. Precisely unfortunately. And if we take into account that afterwards Peter simply stripped the Hetmanate of autonomy, then twice so. However, credit where credit is due, he didn’t destroy it entirely. Catherine II did it for him later. During mooting, I have already said it would be ludicrous to mention shackles in the context of Ukraine’s current situation. Ukrainians won’t allow themselves to be shackled anymore. And they didn’t allow it now. Alas, in Taras’s time, shackles were a cruel reality. That’s why, in his work, you won’t find any rallying cries to beat the Muscovites. Well, it was not the same time, not the same hopes.
His patriotic poetry is a lament. A lament for Ukraine’s bitter fate, a lament for the forgotten glory of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, a lament for the mistakes and defeats that cost Ukraine its freedom. But he believed, of course, that one day Ukraine’s former glory would return; that the ghosts of its great hetmans would rise again from centuries ago; that Ukraine would finally cast off the enemy’s chains. He couldn’t know when exactly that would happen. He couldn’t know that, within half a century, the Ukrainian People’s Republic would emerge on the map; that the same Ukrainian peasants, once enserfed, powerless, voiceless, would finally raise the national flag; that they would take up arms and, led by Batko Petliura, would go fight the Bolsheviks and volunteers. Sadly, the Bolsheviks won. Sadly not only for Ukrainians, but for many nations. Ukraine was left in the hands of a brutal beast for another 70 years.
Judge: I have to interrupt you again. Stick to the case and not to a history class. We are considering a case about a particular offence, so stick closer to our case, not to a tour, a brief history of the interaction.
Let’s speak of the present. Today, the shackles are long cast off. No one will put them on Ukraine again. For centuries, people have been shedding blood for their freedom. They will not surrender this freedom anymore. Ukrainians remember, vividly remember how their ancestors fought. The only question is: does their neighbour to the east remember it too?
The communists are gone, thankfully, let alone the tsars, but the imperial habits seem to linger. Yes, as I’ve said, Putin cannot wrap his head around Ukrainian sovereignty. He would do perfectly with a submissive, voiceless Malorossiya, or ‘Little Russia’. Ideally, a Malorossiyan province with no will of its own that obeys his every word, speaks a foreign tongue and slowly forgets its own.
Somewhere along the way, he certainly miscalculated. He simply couldn’t believe his Malorossiya dream was gone forever. Ukrainians simply won’t let their country be turned into that. But Putin has tried, tried relentlessly. He annexed Crimea in 2014, he fuelled war in Donbas with the same aim. In 2022, he must’ve decided it was time to finish what he started. It was a neat plan. A blitzkrieg, Kyiv in three days. It’s unsurprising that even three years haven’t been enough. Three decades wouldn’t be, either.
The enemy was quickly kicked out of Kyiv’s outskirts, then forced to flee from Kharkiv, pushed over Dnieper from Kherson. The occupiers didn’t just fail to reach the capital—they still don’t fully control the territories they claim in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Yes, part of Ukrainian soil remains occupied. It may stay occupied for a long time. It’s sad to admit, but alas. Still, Moscow hasn’t conquered Ukraine. The heroic Ukrainian people rose up to defend their homeland. And at the cost of countless sacrifices, they defended their country.
The national flag still flies over Kyiv, and will fly forever. Even in early 2022, when the occupiers were driven from the capital, they were already left empty-handed. I dream, of course, that Ukraine reclaims every inch of its territory, including Donbas and Crimea. I believe that one day my dream will come true. One day, history will judge everything fairly. But Ukraine has won anyway. It’s already won! That’s all.
Petrogradsky Court, Saint Petersburg, Russia
18 April 2025
Source: SotaVision
More about the case: Memorial
Photo: Andrey Bok / BBC