Ukrainian author Oleksandr Mykhed, whose "The Language of War" has become a landmark of modern conflict literature, has delivered a stark warning to Western audiences who believe the war is nearing its end: what they see as the final act is in fact the opening chapter, the New Statesman has reported from Kyiv, as cited by "Hvylya".
"People think this is the third act," Mykhed told the New Statesman's Will Lloyd at a cafe in central Kyiv, a short walk from the Maidan. "But you should think of this as the first act."
Mykhed, dressed head-to-toe in black and visibly exhausted, rejected the very premise of questions about peace and the future. The future was no more than a "luxury," he argued - something "impatient" Westerners imagined while Ukrainians were "raped, kidnapped, bombed, burned and droned." He bristled when Lloyd raised the topic. "You are talking about this like it's over," he said.
He compared the war to a chronic illness. "This war entered your bones, like arthritis," Lloyd wrote. It was not fatal, but it would not end quickly either. Ukraine had become "a militarised society, a laboratory for some of the most sophisticated weaponry in human history, funded by allies abroad; a garrison state, 'a big Israel' where every activity pulled towards survival."
Mykhed's warning found an echo in President Volodymyr Zelensky's rhetoric. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approached in February, Zelensky told the BBC that these were the first years of the Third World War. The conflict had spread beyond Ukraine's borders: Iranian Shaheds raining on the Gulf, Turkey at risk of being pulled in, energy infrastructure under threat across the Middle East.
"Our Western partners are gung-ho, saying 'woo-hoo, keep on going'," Mykhed said. "But we are not OK." His parting question carried the weight of everything he had witnessed and written: "Are you ready to be in the first act?"
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