Valentina Quinn has spent more than a week at the Warsaw West train station, distributing food and clothes to thousands of fellow Ukrainians arriving from across the border. She thanks her stars for having moved to Poland much before the war started.
When asked about her parents and siblings, she said they were trapped in Ukraine. “My father is disabled, he cannot walk,” she said. “He cannot even go to the shelter. My mother is with him in their fourth-floor apartment in Poltava, a town in Ukraine’s east-central region. They have sent my sister to the shelter.”
Safely away from Russian shells and bullets, Valentina has no time to cry. “I am here to support my people to fight the war. People are running away; some have lost their homes.”
She has stopped watching the news, fearing that it cannot be good. She knows that the Russians have not made much progress even after two weeks. She knows that Kyiv is still holding on, with the Ukrainian army and citizens putting up a brave fight, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a defiant address to the British parliament on March 8, Zelenskyy invoked World War II hero Winston Churchill, saying, “We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets. We will fight to the end.”
Valentina’s hosts, the Poles, should know. For it was Hitler’s invasion of Poland that was the last straw for Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, who issued the ultimatum (to Germany) that started the war. But today, Europe does not have a leader to send such an ultimatum. Zelenskyy’s desperate pleas for NATO to get involved have invoked little response. The European Union and many of its members, including Germany, have offered arms; Poland has offered its old Russian-made MiG-29s.
This story is from the March 20, 2022 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 20, 2022 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
PRESSURE POINTS
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world