I am Vlad, Ukrainian citizen moved from Donbass and currently in Kyiv. Ready to answer your questions on the situation.

Scale of 1-10 how in danger do you feel? Also in Ukraine what is your view on the US?

Six (6). Would be higher if I lived in some other areas of the city.

Still the bombs are falling and I can hear them very well night and day. Approx every 3 hours there is a bombardment of Kyiv.

Just watching the news makes me scared for you guys. It’s some wild stuff. Stay safe over there though my friend. Best of luck to you.

thank you

What is the general mood in Ukraine? Is it fighting to the last man standing, as Zelensky said? Is it people just hoping the nightmare will be over? Are people trying to lead normal lives during the war?

Good question. I am professional airsofter.

70% of our team and mates went to fight. The spirit of the nation can be proven by these guys:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t10xz8/vitaly_skakun_is_a_hero_after_sacrificing_his/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t0r4ma/an_80yearold_who_showed_up_to_join_the_ukrainian/

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/t0ttcq/russian_warship_go_f_yourselves_final_words_of/

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We don't want to surrender to these fuckers.

You didn’t need to cross out fuckers.

you are right, indeed

How are you doing? Do you have enough food, water and resources to take care of yourself?

I am good, thank you. So as my family.

We have enough provision - some food shops are open, some farmacies as well. Same situation in other major cities / towns. Can't say about villages and small towns - there are many of them in here, and I lost contact with my friends in some of them

What can individuals in other parts of the world do to help?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/s6g5un/want\_to\_support\_ukraine\_heres\_a\_list\_of\_charities/

Thanks for question
There are several ways :

1. As your peer noted - donate. Here's a link of one of the biggest NGO (savelife.in.ua/en/donate). Check "Help the Ukrainian Army" in options. On the top right (desktop) you can change the language as one person recently told me the website was in cyrrilic initially.

2. Help our refugees, if they need that. There are thousands people leaving country, and most probably they will be shocked.

3. Our president - Mr Zelenskyy - said that you may come to UA embassy in your country and offer your help. They will tell you what help they need.

4. Avoid fakes. And by fakes I mean pro-Russian media.

I mean, there might be other ways to help, these were the ones that came now on my mind.

How do Ukrainians view the EU’s and America’s current handling of the war so far?

As a cowards. The history will repeat itself

If you dont help us now. You will fight by yourselves later

True. That said, before protesting us/eu responses it might be good to check in with the perspective of someone from Ukraine. It's a reasonable question.

Unfortuntely u/palcemvglaz is right. I would say it in other words, but the help is not sufficient.

We are definitely glad for sanctions, but russian tanks are still here. And I hear the artillery shots just right now (yeah at this moment, while texting this comment)

Did you leave Donetsk for political reasons? Do you think a majority of civilians in separatist-backed regions (lushank, donetsk) genuinely support leaving Ukraine, or do you think this is primarily a small group of militants? Do you think Russia is involved or leading the coups in these regions?

I left Donetsk, because it was dangerous. People were very satisfied with being in Ukraine. When the revolution happened, Russia used the situation and injected its mercenaries and overtook authority. Merceneries pretended to be Ukrainians.

Media might say whatever, but my dad's companion was kidnapped just in the middle of the day and no-one saw him ever again.

Merceneries were clearly russian, it can be supported by many facts on the official statement. The leaders of the "republics" are controlled from Moscow.

I mean, the current actions clearly show who is doing the mess, right?

How was the sentiment in east ukraine? Similar to West Ukraine?

How was the sentiment in east ukraine? Similar to West Ukraine?

Same if not worst. People saw how life is in "republics" and don't want to have same life.

Probably that was the reason for the worst results of russian attacks at the East

Putin claims that there is genocide going on in the Donbas region. What is really going on there?

well, Russian forces occupy Donetks and Luhansk since 2014. There are indeed locals, but they would not be able to maintain this pseudo-regime alone.

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There are other regions that have similar story, russia is not very creative:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abkhazia

Have the power grids been affected in anyway? Are people sheltering in place, or still going to work? Are stores open? Have people been fleeing the city?

I'll divide your question into parts if you don't mind:

Have the power grids been affected in anyway?

No, thankfully no. At least for now.

Are people sheltering in place, or still going to work? Are stores open?

No-one is going to work apart from crucials: pharmacies, some groceries, hospitals, some post offices.

Have people been fleeing the city?
Yes, many people are leaving the city, but many stay and joint local forces.

Can you post an update on your IG story that you're doing this AMA?

yes, will do

would news of direct American intervention be welcomed by you and those around you?

There are several:

1 More military help, at least weapons. Javelins proved to be very effective against russian tanks for example. (https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2022/02/25/7325733/)

2 Even harder sanctions, including SWIFT system shutdown in Russia. VISA / Mastercard and other multinationals could stop working with Russia - this would both hit russia economically and mock their citizens, so they would protest more.

3 If NATO would close sky above Ukraine, Russia would not have a chance. But from what I can see this is quite improbable.

How bad is it over there? According to TV Ukraine is completely destroyed and in critical situation. But i don't believe everything they say on TV.

Stay safe ✌️

It's good that you don't.

TOP biggest cities are not occupied (Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepr) and deffended well.

Military infrastructure (air bases/defenses) were severely hit.

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Bad thing is that a lot of civilian infrastructure is hit as well, leading to civil victims. We (locals) are donating blood and meds a lot now.

How prevalent are Neo-Nazis in Donbass? Valid concern or propaganda?

How prevalent are Neo-Nazis in Donbass? Valid concern or propaganda?

No. There are ultra-rights in Ukraine, but they are minority. Even not in Parlament.
However, almost all of them are fighting Russians now, and frankly for me they are same Ukrainians at the moment. We will deal with political issues when we get rid of these nasty russians

Does important information like the open border to Poland reach the right people or do some believe the Russian disinformation about close European borders?

It does reach people. There are many effective sources of information here.

What’s the attitude among everyone there? Is everyone willing to do their share to stop Putin? I’m rooting for you all and I hope you stay safe!

people hate russia and putin.

Yes, general mood among my friends all around Ukraine and neighbours is very aggressive towards russian invaders.

What is the feeling among your group? Defiance? Anger? Fear?

Stay safe and I hope for a peaceful and fair outcome.

I don't know how, but you pretty well pointed out all of them.

not the best feeling to have the mix of these emotions

What event/situation will trigger your "oh shit - things just got real" moment?

Do people on the ground seem to be waiting on something specific to happen?

Stay safe!

Shit is already real, I dont know how you could really even type that lol.

In one of his responses he said he felt like he was a 6/10 in danger.

My statement, while unclear I suppose, I meant what would get him to a 10/10.

Edit: typo

6 out of 10 because I am in capital in a comparably safe place.

Thanks for your time.
Is there hope/expectations to hold the line, or is more about delaying the attack then going into guerrilla?

can't predict. but considering how people hate russia, it's possible

If volunteers come from other countries, where should they go?

At the moment, I would not recommend any volunteers to come to Ukraine, until you want to join military (it is possible to do that).

For civil help, you may come to the Ukrainian embassy at your city or ask refugee camps (there should be appearing some soon), if they need help

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thank you for your question

Same deal if we want to fight? Get to the border and find someone to give directions?

I would suggest contacting Ukrainian embassy in your country (either phone or mail) and ask them. The information on the internet is not reliable anymore.

It may take them some time to respond, given the situation

Having lived in Germany yourself and Ukraine having been repeatedly courted by the EU and NATO, is their much frustration towards Germany and Italy w/r/t sanctions? or everyone is still in shock and just figuring out where family is and where the guys need to sign up to go fight back?

People are not panicing (amazingly)

probable because Ukraine is in war (not on this scale of course) for more than 8 years. So everyone was expecting this by their gut feeling

What's your opinion of Ukraine's handling of the Donbass region for the past few years?

Could do better. But there is always room for improvement.

IMHO, we could reach diplomatic solution peacefully, though it doesn't matter any more unfortunatelly

You won't like my question, but I'll try.

One of the arguments for the invasion sounds like that: during the last eight years Ukraine regularly killed innocent Donbass citizens, including children (I don't believe you don't know this, but if it's the case, you can google Alley of Angels, for example).

What do you think about this? I mean, there was a Minsk agreement, that could in theory end this nightmare. There could be other possible steps to de-escalation, maybe. So, my question is: do you think that some of the responsibility for Donbass crisis lies on Ukraine and its politics at the time?

I'm not trying to hold Ukraine responsible for the invasion, of course. It's horrible, and Russia shouldn't do that. I'm just wondering what people from Donetsk think about it, especially pro-Ukraine people from Donetsk.

Hello, great question.This is one of the points very frequently brought up by pro-russian media. This is true indeed that civilians get injured & dead on both side of the front-line in Donbass. But have you ever though why?

Let me show you 1 video, recorded by (!) russian media. It is of course already deleted from their official channel.

https://youtu.be/Zv39Lc5oSVs

Turn on automatic subs to understand what they are talking about.

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In short, russian soldiers went into the civil house, where there still were some people living. And started shooting Ukrainians. Obvoiusly, they were striked back - the attacking spot should be neutralized. And the replying attack gets into house. The soldiers already left and the destiny of this old woman - unknown.In this case, Ukrainians technically attacked the civilian. Did they know that? No, they were replying to attack. Is it their fault? No.

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Same situation happened again and again - russian forces frequently place their artillery into civilian areas and then leave these places.

https://www.opindia.com/2022/02/ukraine-had-opposed-indias-nuclear-program-condemned-india-in-1998/

Back in 1998 when India completed its nuclear tests and became nuclear capable to safeguard itself against the growing threat of China and Pakistan, you guys voted against us in the UN and condemned us.

So why are you asking for India's help today? Diplomacy isn't one sided

Firstly, I will tell you the truth - I was very young to follow that situation.

Secondly, as for today - it's up to you to accept our requests or reject them. The thing is that it is not possible to construct positive relations out of the blank. If you would be pissed for something that happened 26 years ago (and I admit, it might have been very unpleasant), then I do not think that there would any room for discussion in the future. And on the contrary, real friends are found in the difficult situations.

How much do Ukrainians consider having ceded their nukes and maintained a generally unarmed population was a mistake? or would things have been much worse otherwise?

hey

good question. Back in that time it was the only possible solution. I want look for links, but long story short:

1. Ukraine didn't have control over that nuclear heads as they were controlled from Moscow
2. The global political tension was so great that Ukraine had to do that

Nevertheless, our gov mentioned recently that as budapest memorandum is not followed, then we may reconsider this solution. Ukrainian scientific potential allows that.

Everybody saying Putin is bad and seeing Russia as the villain now. As if they decided out of nowhere to create harm to Ukraine and start a war. I believe it’s much more complex than that. What can you tell us?

It's not. You sound like an idiot/Qanon dipshit.

I asked for his opinion. Sorry if no one cares about you

Telling you the truth, I was completely sure that Russia would not attack - there were no big reasons for that. Yes, there was no solution on Minsk agreement, but that's why diplomacy exists - to find peaceful solution that suits (or moderately suits) both parties.

Seems like russia is not strong in dimplomacy, thus they decided to go for what they are strong with