"And when there is will, there is a way", — Kateryna Zarembo, keynote speaker at LMF 2025
“If there is shelling, jump out and run to the sideway; that's where you can take shelter," — says the crew commander. I nod silently. It's 3 a.m. Just half an hour ago, I desperately wanted to sleep; now my head is clear from adrenaline. We are heading out to evacuate the wounded. The Russians are tracking the evacuation vehicles. International humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, prohibits attacks on medical personnel, but the Russians have never respected international conventions. Evacuation cars and stabilization points are their primary targets: they not only aim to kill the wounded but also condemn the next ones to death, as no one will be there to help them. The armored vehicle passing us the casualties has been targeted multiple times.
Despite the fact that we are moving in the direction of the enemy, there is no point in fear. It consumes your energy, diffuses focus. In order to do your job, you must put fear aside.
The focus theme of this year's Media Forum is "Speak the Unspoken." I see it as an invitation to an honest conversation, without fear or self-censorship.
The first question I want to ask you is: do you believe in democracy as a value? If so, how do you practice it? I think that after over eleven years of Russia's war against Ukraine, no one needs to explain anymore that this is a war not only for Ukraine's independence and freedom but for the entire free world. It is a war of democracy against dictatorship. And that means it is also your war.
This war continues, even if you cannot see it. Shelling still occurs in what are conditionally considered rear towns and cities, and the victims resulting from shelling of the territories close to the frontline often do not even make the news [add recent examples]. Any peace agreement, if one is reached, would be only temporary because Russia is not interested in peace. The war will persist as long as Russia exists in the form we know it — because war is the essence of its existence. This is a country that has always fought wars in different parts of the world: Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Syria... It’s a country that committed war crimes in Mali and Libya. It’s a country that has believed in its own immunity from the consequences of war crimes.
Recently, the body of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchina was returned to Ukraine. She was captured by Russia in October 2023. She was tortured with electric shocks, had her ribs broken, and was fed rotten food. By summer 2024, Viktoria weighed only 30 kilograms and couldn’t stand due to exhaustion and illness. In the fall of that year, she died in captivity, having not survived to the planned exchange. When her body was brought to Ukraine, pathologists observed that her brain, eyeballs, and part of her trachea had been removed. Doctors believe this was done to conceal the cause of death — suffocation.
If it’s difficult for you to hear this, imagine how hard it is to live through it. Today, sixteen thousand Ukrainians are in Russian captivity.
Right now, this very moment, they are enduring torture—those I just mentioned or even worse. And that’s not all. I have yet to speak about life in occupation—an everyday, exhausting ordeal. About the kidnapping and forced "re-education" of Ukrainian children. About the executions of the Ukrainian prisoners of war right on the battlefield.
This is only a part of the inhumane crimes committed by Russia. And it continues to do so—in this very moment.
You might ask, ‘What can I do?’” I have a few pieces of advice for you.
First. Do not limit your imagination. The only thing truly holding back our possibilities is the boundaries of our imagination. Ukraine’s history is a continuous story of how others did not believe in us, but we succeeded anyway. This is not only about the prophecy “Ukraine will fall in three days,” which Western media repeated as a mantra in the weeks before the full-scale invasion. Providing Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems, ATACMS missiles, and F-16 fighters, stopping Nord Stream, freezing Russian assets, or granting candidate status to the European Union—all of these seemed impossible to you just a few years ago.
Forty years ago, even the very idea of an independent Ukraine seemed utopian—only a handful of dreamers believed in it abroad. I urge you to believe that the de-occupation of Ukraine, de-imperialization and disarmament of Russia, holding Russians accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide—are all possible. And when there is will, there is a way.
I can also assure you that Ukraine will continue to fight and defend itself, even if the United States completely withdraws support. And if we do this together with our partners, even limited to the Coalition of the Willing, we will be invincible.
Second. If you think you are not doing enough, do more. I do not necessarily mean going to the frontlines, although that could be a path for many of you—even if you are not Ukrainian citizens. During the war, I have met many dedicated foreigners who fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army.
I am primarily talking about your conscience. It does not lie. The truth is: you can do enough. Enough within the possibilities of your life and the scope of your personality. Your conscience will tell you when you reach this point, when you can say to yourself in all honesty: “I am doing the most I can”.
I will quote here journalist Kateryna Kobernyk: “The full-scale war has shown that all these balances, ‘you first,’ ‘choose yourself’—are bullshit. No, that choice remains. Millions have looked after themselves and their loved ones first. And others have taken care of their wellbeing, future, lives, property, and health—those who every day put the oxygen masks on others, rather than themselves. Thanks to their sacrifices, the physical war is happening where it is, and thousands or tens of thousands still live at home or have managed to leave. Their homes here are worth something and are even being sold. Their elderly parents are not in occupation.”
In other words, including the words of my dear friend, writer Sasha Dovzhyk, “You cannot save the world by choosing yourself, .”
If you live abroad, you can also do a lot. It’s not only about supporting Ukraine through the established ways—volunteering, donations, participating in demonstrations—but also, very importantly, influencing politics in your countries. Vote for politicians who support democracy and the rule of law, not the law of the strong. Talk to your relatives and neighbors. Explain to them why Russia’s war against Ukraine concerns them personally.
Third. If you don’t know how to do something, learn. At a minimum, basic combat training is the least that citizens of Ukraine and other European democracies should undertake. Millions of Ukrainians previously didn’t know how to sew camouflage nets, repair drones, or understand the types of electronic warfare (EW) or radios. Most of the Ukrainian army are not professional soldiers; they learned everything from scratch.
If a few years ago someone told me I would be able to give injections, work with blood, or that the sight of an amputated limb would not terrify me, I would never have believed it. Sometimes I hear people say: “I couldn’t do that.” You could, if you believed it was necessary. The only thing I cannot and do not want to get used to is human suffering. We have the power to stop it—here in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Fourth. As a writer, I cannot help but mention literature, and my advice is simple and complex at the same time. Read books. Read long texts. In an era of excessive information, bots, and artificial intelligence, mass manipulation becomes even easier through short messages that stir emotions and distract from analysis. Practice concentration. A person accustomed to following a storyline can more easily recognize lies, manipulations, and inconsistencies that dishonest people use.
For us, Ukrainians, reading during the war has also become an act of resistance: Ukrainian children in occupation secretly study using Ukrainian textbooks. Recently, many were struck by yet another story of a Ukrainian child—let’s call her Sofia—a teenager who lived in occupation for ten years and escaped from the occupied Donetsk as soon as she turned eighteen and gained the right to travel unaccompanied. Besides her local school, she secretly studied remotely in a Ukrainian school in Sloviansk. Can you imagine the strength of spirit a child must have to secretly resist for years in an atmosphere of fear, propaganda, and lack of freedom, without even being able to tell their inner circle?
Recently, British journalists also reported on the most dangerous book club in the world—teenagers’ clandestine meetings in Mariupol, where they read Ukrainian literature in secret from the occupiers.
Russia understands the power of the Ukrainian word, which is why they systematically and purposefully destroy Ukrainian libraries. According to the data from last year, Russia destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand Ukrainian libraries containing over 200 million books. This means that the voice of Ukrainian literature must be heard even louder. It would be wonderful if each of you left here from Lviv with a Ukrainian book or bought one translated into your language. Mention Ukrainian authors—or the authors from other nations whom Russia silenced—when people ask you for a reading advice.
Fifth. Be humane and maintain empathy for yourself and others. Personally, I find this advice the most challenging because the temptation to retreat into your own bubble and distance yourself from the rest of the world is very strong. However, only those with strength of spirit can distinguish enemies from opponents. Also, сare to act and act to care. Evil is possible not only because criminals commit heinous acts but also because of the inaction and silence of its witnesses. Kindness and impartiality are not an emotion; it is an action.
The slogan of the Hospitallers is "For the Sake of Every Life." This is my personal guideline. Whether it's a civilian or a soldier, young or old, strong or weak — every life is valuable. And this is what we often forget when, in the context of peace, we talk about territories, mineral reserves, Zelensky's suit — anything but human life, safety, and dignity, whether on free Ukrainian territory, in occupation, or in captivity. And it is this that should be at the center of any negotiations.
To conclude, I want to tell you a story shared with me by my colleague, a Hospitaller with the call sign Rudy. In spring 2022, when the Russians hit one of the residential buildings, all its residents ran outside. Everyone except a nine-year-old boy. Remembering that a dog was locked inside the neighboring apartment, he went back, grabbed the keys from under the doormat, took the dog, and returned to shelter with him.
My friend, children's book author Iryna Ozymok says: “Noone is too small to change the world for the better”, and I infinitely agree with her. This phrase can have many variations. For example: “Noone lives too far away or is too busy to care”.
I would like to conclude with the words of Oleksandra Matviychuk, Ukrainian human rights defender and Nobel prize winner: “You don’t have to be a Ukrainian to support Ukraine. You just have to be a human”.