Originally Posted by Wautier

I just hope that the other Slavic countries won't forget that they are in fact Slavs, and even if it seems that there is an unprecedented amount of hatred towards anyone who is Russian at the moment -- even if they oppose Putin's views and war in general. I'd like to think that this lunacy won't continue for much longer, and that we will be able to focus on the "why" and accordingly punish those responsible.

I don't know what happened, but I do in fact believe, with all my heart, even though I'm not a conspiracy theorist, that someone, somehow -- managed to turn and divide, like you said: one nation into sworn enemies.

I've worked with both Russian and Ukrainian people my whole life, and I hold nothing but love for both, and I believe that up until before 2014, I've never seen any type of anti-Russian sentiment from my Ukrainian friends.

It hurts, and it's horrifying to even think that this is happening right now, especially because of the mocking towards the dead (even if they're enemies, everyone should be treated with the utmost respect, if you have to kill to defend yourself, then you do so -- with pride, but do not mock or call for others to take human lives) and wishing on them to get killed in agonizing ways, and punishing the innocent Russian civilians just because they hold the Russian passport, and because of the name that they bear.

Unfortunately, there is not much that the Russian people can do here, and I say that with the utmost respect towards the Ukrainian people as a whole. But we all have to live, and we all have to make sure that our families are safe. We won't do a lot for the humanity as a whole if we only put our family first, but it's the only family we've got, and unfortunately... the game is rigged. We can only hope that those in charge will grow a little bit of a conscience and say something. Do something.

But the civilians, in countries like Russia simply cannot do anything to prevent their governments from doing whatever they want. It is childish and naive to believe otherwise. It is good to teach our children to be the change that they want to see in the world, but in order to survive in this world, we can't be so naive to believe that we can oppose a strict government and bear no consequences ourselves, or to our families.

I pray for both the Ukrainian and Russian people tonight.

There are no winners or losers here. The moment people started losing their lives, all hope was lost for a better tomorrow because of the growing hatred and animosity. I truly hope with all my heart that they will realize that no one can win or lose this. People's lives are at stake here. Buildings are irrelevant. We can't revive all those lost lives, and even if you make the enemy leave. You accomplished nothing if you helped breed more hate.