Executions, torture of prisoners, forcible removal of children, obstruction of evacuation, shelling of civilians, hospitals, and infrastructure… During the 15 months of the war, the army of the Russian Federation committed almost all types of crimes mentioned in the Geneva Conventions. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine has opened more than 80,000 proceedings related to war crimes. Ukraine demands the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression, which it calls ‘the mother of all crimes’. But what crime is Russia actually committing? What exactly is it trying to destroy, persecuting volunteers, representatives of local self-government, and everyone who does not agree to the occupation? The purpose of this conversation is not to establish the legal qualification of crimes that are prescribed in international conventions but to understand the nature of the great war of the 21st century.

Ukrainians who went abroad feel guilty that they are outside the country. Those who are far from the war zone think about those who are closer to the frontline. Those who do not serve may feel guilty before those who are in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But also those who serve may feel guilty before their fellow soldiers on the frontline. The latter, in their turn, may feel guilty before those who have already given their lives. To overcome this cycle of guilt, in the fifteenth month of the war of attrition, we ask the question: do we have the right to slow down? To take a breath?
Pre-war sociological studies showed that many Ukrainians feel that they have no influence on anything. But the mentioned feeling of guilt can be interpreted as a feeling of subjectivity. You can feel guilty only when you think that you can do something. How can we use this resource? Can we organize the vocabulary of our new experiences?

Our conversation is based on the key Russian paradox: “Ukraine does not exist, but it must be destroyed”. Russia bombards Ukrainian cities, creates filtration camps, destroys schools, museums, churches, synagogues, and mosques, and persecutes the Crimean Tatar people. Millions of people of totally different origins consider it necessary to resist together in any available way, to protect their home, Ukraine. But what is Ukraine today? What does its complex, multicultural society look like, and what exactly is the strength of its resistance?