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 an occasion for a fun celebration, rather than one focused on thinking about what they as a nation sacrificed to be free.
I believe there are few, if any, nations in the modern world where independence means as much today as it does in Ukraine. Ukraine's fight for independence took centuries. And when we finally got it after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, its successor, Russia, soon tried to subjugate Ukraine again. For my generation, an independent Ukraine was something we first took for granted, and then learned the hard way to cherish.
I was two years old when the Soviet Union collapsed. My early years took place in the tumultuous 1990s, when a newborn state was stumbling its way into democracy. It was a rocky transition, and that's how it felt, even for children. Our 1990s were marked by poverty, unemployment and uncertainty about the future.
Things soon got better economically, but we were still discovering Ukrainian identity, slowly carving it from the ever-present Soviet cultural legacy. There is no bigger manifestation of it than the language we speak.
Denne historien er fra August 30, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra August 30, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
