“Diplomacy has failed to deter aggression,” said H. E. Dr. Vasyl Hamianin, Ambassador of Ukraine to Indonesia. He spoke in a Public Lecture titled War in Ukraine on Friday (23/9). This event was a collaboration between the Department of International Relations UGM (DIHI UGM) and the Ukrainian Embassy in Jakarta. Around 90 participants attended the lecture offline at the Auditorium FISIPOL UGM, and another 50 joined via Zoom.
The words of the Ambassador of Ukraine to Indonesia have a deep meaning because Ukraine is still struggling to overcome the Russian invasion which began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and then continued into a large-scale invasion since February 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been going on for approximately eight months and still showing no sign of ending.
This year marks 30 years of relations between Indonesia and Ukraine. Ambassador Hamianin explained what happened to Ukraine. He started by telling about the long history of Ukraine and Russia, where Ukraine in the past was part of the Russian Empire, but Ukraine always wanted to break away because of Russia’s tyrannical leadership.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent country but could not completely escape from the shadow and control of Russia in Eastern Europe. With Russia’s ambition to become a global power again, Ukraine is an important part that cannot be separated. Zbigniew Brzezinski said that “Without Ukraine, Russia could never become a global power.” Russia started a large-scale invasion of Ukraine by occupying areas in the East like Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Luhansk.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused various damages and casualties of war. Until recently, the Russian attack has caused infrastructure damage by destroying 200,000 private transportation, 130,000 housing, 2,472 educational institutions, 934 health facilities, 924 cultural and sports facilities, and 433 companies. The attacks also caused at least 15 million of the 40 million population to become refugees.
During the war, Russia was found to have committed several violations of international humanitarian law, some of which were the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens in Russian-occupied territories, uncivilized rape, and the taking of hostages and torture of prisoners of war. Toward the end of this public lecture, Ambassador Hamianin asked the world’s citizens to condemn Russia’s actions as genocide against Ukrainian citizens.
An important message conveyed by Ambassador Hamianin in this public lecture is that to understand and respond to a phenomenon or problem, we have to find out the root of the problem. It is necessary to look at context and history. By digging for in-depth information, we will not be easily influenced by propaganda.
The public lecture ended with the exchange of souvenirs between the Department of International Relations and the Ukrainian Embassy. The Ukrainian Embassy presented a memento that included the poem titled ‘Aku’ by Chairil Anwar, which has been translated into Ukrainian. It indicates the closeness of the Ukrainian-Indonesian people through the acceptance of one of the most popular Indonesian literature in Ukraine.
Written by: Arlitadian Pratama, Trystanto
Translated by: Melisa Rachmania
