I’m Ukrainian but my first words were Russian. It’s a legacy we’ve spent our whole lives trying to escape | Olga Rudenko

Putin is attempting to wipe us off the map, but on this independence day it seems that he has inadvertently finalised the formation of our state

At 35, I'm younger than many things - such as the internet or Apple computers. And yet I'm older than my country's independence.

For most people, the independence of their birth state is so ironclad they rarely get to really think about it. Others won independence centuries ago and mark it as a general occasion for a fun celebration, rather than one focused on thinking about what they as a nation sacrificed to be free.

Olga Rudenko is the editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent

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