”A remarkable story happened to me today. Or rather, it didn’t happen to me as much as to my home country, Ukraine.

“Boryspil” airport, Terminal D, I’m there to meet my husband.
There are quite a lot of people waiting for arrivals by the ”Customs control” exit. Knowing in advance that there is sufficiently dense air-traffic at 5pm and that there would be many people, I took a small Ukrainian flag from the car, just in case, to wave and attract my husband’s attention, and just to do something nice for him, since he’s been away from home for more than two weeks.

The plane has arrived, it’s almost time for arrivals to come out, many of the greeting people are waiting with flowers. I take up my little flag modestly and haven’t even waved yet, just holding it in my hand. And then … the curtain. I am immediately approached by two people in “POLICE” uniform who very politely, whispering in my ear, ask me to remove the flag.

A Ukrainian flag! In Ukraine!

I realize that I must remove it, because, as polite as they are, they are starting to push me aside and away from the crowd.

People! Ukrainians! How did we deserve such a punishment for our country? We cannot stop at the president and the prime minister only. We need to switch everyone, the whole apparatus of power and its executors (like they did in Georgia). Only then will we have a chance to live properly and with dignity, and to stop being afraid of one’s own shadow, being ashamed of our own country, being a servant and being humiliated.”