Opinion: The new Ukraine is Putin's nightmare

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Exactly six months ago, Russia launched its war against Ukraine. Now, as Ukraine marks its Independence Day, a new country has emerged, writes DW's Roman Goncharenko. "Why didn't I ever visit this country before the war?" a German journalist recently tweeted from Ukraine, expressing disappointment with herself for never having bothered to visit in peacetime and see the magnificent streets of Lviv and Odesa.

Many in the West feel similarly. It was only after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that scores of journalists, politicians and aid workers traveled to the country for the first time. Never since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has Ukraine garnered the kind of attention it is receiving today. Travel recommendations have arisen from a war.

The above-mentioned journalist is right to feel annoyed with herself. She will never know the old Ukraine -- and this goes beyond what's been visibly damaged by the conflict. The old post-Soviet Ukraine is disappearing, dying in the Russian onslaught, and taking with it people, homes, factories -- and illusions.

Never again will Ukraine and Russia share the positive, fraternal connection they did before the war. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea had already driven a wedge between Ukrainians and Russians. Now they couldn't be more estranged. Future generations on both sides will be consumed by mutual hatred and anger.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/opinion-the-new-ukraine-is-putin-s-nightmare/ar-AA1122Ca

[DFW]

1. Both pessimistic and wrong

Neighboring countries who were mortal enemies can and do become the best of neighbors if the evil regime disappears and is replaced with a benign one. It can take a generation or two, but it inevitably happens. DeGaulle and Adenauer got along fine, and my generation of Germans, i.e. my wife’s contemporaries, all have friends, wives, husbands, houses, and even permanent residences in France, Poland, and other neighboring countries that the Nazis terrorized.

[2naSalit]

2. Say what?

Never again will Ukraine and Russia share the positive, fraternal connection they did before the war. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea had already driven a wedge between Ukrainians and Russians. Now they couldn't be more estranged. Future generations on both sides will be consumed by mutual hatred and anger.

What positive, fraternal connection? It has never been an easy separation and russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine as an independent nation since it's independence.