The Bloody Awful Geography of Ukraine

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

As a freshly minted high school history teacher forty-some years ago, I was also given the opportunity to teach one class of basic world geography, a class that I enjoyed immensely.  One of the materials that I used to introduce each region of the world that we studied were outline maps.  I would give students a blank map of a particular set of countries along with a list of places which I had carefully chosen for them to locate on the maps.  It was an activity that stirred a lot of chatter and helped to get the kids oriented to the part of the world that we would be learning about.

For the past few weeks the world has been focused on Ukraine, a country which is the second largest in Europe (second only to Russia), yet many Americans knew little about Ukraine until the war broke out.  Now we hear about it daily - and in the process we all seem to be absorbing lots of geographical information - and without the aid of outline maps!

Before the war some of us knew Ukraine as a former state of the old Soviet Union.  The Soviets thought of it as a "region" of their country that they referred to as "the Ukraine."  For some, calling the country "the Ukraine" felt right, but that is no longer the way to refer to it.  "Ukraine" is an independent nation - and a democracy - and it is decidedly different in its political makeup than its neighbor, Russia. "The Ukraine" refers back to a time of political captivity by a dangerous neighbor, and that is no longer the case - and it is no longer acceptable to refer to the proud nation of Ukraine as though it was little more than a mountainous extension of Russia.

Another simple geographic fact that became quickly evident as the war news spread across audible news sources like radio and television had to do with the pronunciation of the name of Ukraine's capital, a name, Kiev, which the world generally pronounced as "Kee-ev," but now is correctly spelled in newsprint as "Kyiv" and pronounced in a way that rhymes with the name "Steve."

The Soviet Union earned the enmity of the world with the 1986 meltdown of a nuclear reactor in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl.  Today the reactors at Chernobyl remain off-line, as they have been since 1986, but radioactive waste is still stored at the site.  The world had almost forgotten the catastrophe, but with the war that is currently raging we have been reminded of Chernobyl, particularly when Russia fired missiles at the city where the reactors are based.    Now we are more aware than ever of the dangers still present with the retired nuclear reactor site.   We are also aware that there were fifteen active nuclear reactors in Ukraine which were operating at the time the current war started, and that seven have since been pulled off-line by the government.    Nuclear power provides about half of Ukraine's electricity needs, and the existence of those reactors poses a horrendous health and safety threat to Ukraine and much of Europe as a result of Russia's aggression.

In addition to being reminded about the horrors of Chernobyl and the unique dangers posed by nuclear reactors in a time of land wars, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is also introducing us to other cities and areas of the country.  Many of us now recognize that the city of Mariupol, for instance, a large urban area that Russia tried to pound back into the Stone Age, is also an important port city for the country of Ukraine.

News reports remind us that the country has ports on the Sea of Azov (Mariupol) as well as on the Black Sea, and that it has seven European nations as neighbors, including Russia, Belarus, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Romania.  All of those countries, even Russia to a minor extent, have felt the impact of refugees from the war crossing their borders in search of sanctuary and safety.

The war has made us familiar with Bucha, a commuter suburb of the capital, Kyiv, and the butchery and horrors that Russian troops committed on the city's citizens.  We've seen the photos of broken bodies lying on the ground and heard the stories heavy equipment being brought in to unearth mass graves.  Bucha is ugly, it was made ugly by Russia, and its images of despicable war crimes have been burned into our brains.

Now we are learning about Donbas (or Donbass), a region in northeastern Ukraine near Mariupol where apparently Russian forces are massing for a new, revitalized attack on the independent and very proud nation of Ukraine.

America and the world are learning the geography of Ukraine.  It is being taught with stories and images that defy imagination and mock humanity.  The geography of Ukraine that is being seared into our consciousness is so bloody, goddamned awful that it will be with us forever.  

Civilization must never forget what has happened to the people and the nation of Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin, the man who taught us the geography of Ukraine, must be held to account for his war crimes and crimes against humanity!