Does Europe want Ukrainians as living partners or dead heroes? | Kateryna Mishchenko

Putin's genocidal war is turning my country into a graveyard. For our sake and for its own future, Europe must defend the revolution he is trying to crush

Nine years ago, Maidan, the main square of my home city Kyiv, was filled with people carrying EU and Ukrainian flags. Maidan, or the Revolution of Dignity, was the last successful European democratic revolution. The protesters won. They - we - managed to overthrow a regime that was actively preparing Russia's political annexation of Ukraine. Nine years ago, the human ocean of Maidan carried on its shoulders the coffins of activists who had been shot dead by police. The tragedy was immense but the space for mourning was limited: the annexation of Crimea began and we realised that the Kremlin had gone to war against Ukraine, against us.

We learned then that achieving the impossible might be romantically beautiful in songs or movies. It came at a price, however, a price that was too high from the very beginning. But that image of Maidan filled with European flags remained a point of reference and a symbol of the change we sought. Social togetherness and community, democratisation and responsible citizenship were our goals.