The founding fathers solemnly enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine that the only source of power in the state is its people. The identical provisions have been included into the Basic Law of the Russian Federation, too. However, they are not filled with any symbols or meaning. That is why those are the hollow words worth nothing. 

Values is something for what you are ready to give away many things in exchange, rather than sell for the provisional agreements with authorities to provide for basic needs, or for ideology on compromises with the imposed frame of reference, or by suppressing your own will and roll it into the asphalt of collective submission. 

For many generations of Ukrainian people, the right of nation for self-determination and governance in their own state was the rational survival technique and the preservation of their identity.

Before the UN Universal Human Rights Declaration was adopted, Ukrainians had intuitively felt that their own statehood was the only thing that could prevent new famines, extermination of intellectual elites, or assimilation with race-congenial others. It was the cry: "WE EXIST! WE ARE REAL!" 

Formal and general provision of the Constitution is not hollow in meaning. Moreover, Ukrainian people walked out to Maidans multiple times for the sake of the real meaning to be instilled. 

The 1990 saw the Revolution on Granite for the Independence; the 2004 saw the Orange Revolution for fair and free elections and the right to make one’s own choices; the 2013-2014 had the Revolution of Dignity for Western civilizational development vector and against violations of human rights with mass beating of students in the Kyiv city center. 

I am deeply convinced, and I keep finding the reassurance in each symbol, that on February, 24, 2022, the final phase of the great War for Independence started. This war must end in the defeat of the Russian Federation. Otherwise, we are going extinct. 

There is no guarantee that the victory brings strengthening of democracy in the world, but it is definitely one of the decisive battles for the democratic order in the middle of Europe. 

As history and practices show, democratic systems do not fight each other. However, they have the duty to defend themselves and their people from authoritarian and totalitarian systems. That is why it is the most fair stage of confrontation, when even the European Parliament condemned the "deliberate and systematic effort of the Hungary’s government" disrupting the European values. Now, the cat is out of the bag, and all things concealed have become more manifest and certain.

To have democracy become a sustainable form of governance, citizens must have the political will to participate in state-building or governance processes. 

If it were not for the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014, we would have long been Russia’s satellite, like Belarus. And we would have been occupied "below the radar." Several years after, we would have had the competitive political environment swallowed and destroyed, as was the case in the neighboring countries in the past decades.

Back in 2004, Ukraine could have become a totally authoritarian state. The triumvirate of Slavic authoritarian regimes would have generated a new union and the "Russian world" that would be much more aggressive to fight the "collective West." 

The participation and agency of the proactive part of Ukrainian people in the state-building through peaceful protests and the capacity to resist the back door agreements produced the new reality that came unexpected for many. 

Russian society is a society of exclusion, ignorance, and non-participation. It is easier to sit out and wait, to gape by when police round up a girl during the protest, to live-stream from the thick of things, but never to engage. 

Another part of Russian society is the society of accomplices. War crimes, the act of genocide, or crimes against humanity are committed by regular Russians. 

Blood-staining the people is an element of fight for historical position as part of transnational crime. No accomplices would condemn the political elites for starting the armed aggression.   

Collective voters in democracies may make serious mistakes, that is why they could often vote for populists. However, it must be borne in mind that populism has a positive side, too: the politician has been elected in the right way, rather than through the imitation of the process when they are not able to hear their voters. 

Unlike the authoritarian leader who makes the influence through force, threats, intimidation, terror, and elimination of any opinion different from the "general line of the Party," a populist is weak in playing the long game. But he enjoys the love of citizens for some time, and they follow his actions. That is why the populist legitimately elected in the free and fair election, Volodymyr Zelensky, could hardly act in any other way. 

New tracks with "peace agreements" against the interests of Ukrainian society were unlikely to happen for the following two reasons: 

  • The authoritarian regime in Kremlin could not admit losing the special operation and show their weak spot, because they risked that their people could stop fearing them, even when the people are intimidated and rolled down to the ground; 
  • President Volodymyr Zelensky could not ignore public opinion that definitively did not allow any compromise with the aggressor who ensanguined one third of Ukraine’s territory. You cannot simply forgive, and it’s not about the forgiveness for the imaginary “crucified little boys” but for the real children who lost their limbs, parents, and cozy homes. You don’t forgive it easily. It is not about the revenge, though. It is about the desire for survival. Those who killed in thousands will never be able to rule millions in a civilized way. 

This week, russia plans to annex 4 regions of Ukraine, regardless of whether they have any authority over those territories in the field. They will include them into their constitution and declare that the Ukrainian Army offensive would be treated as the declaration of war on russian federation. 

The conclusion is rather simple. The same as their meaningless words in the basic law about the power of the people and democracy, their provisions about the creation of a new federal district are hollow, too. 

Russia is shallow, the same as their legal regulations. What Ukraine and our society need to do is to make the reality happen, rather than accept the imposed scenario. Lastly, we cannot forget about the rights and freedoms of our citizens, even during the war. After all, we are not like them. WE DO EXIST. WE ARE REAL.

Olga Aivazovska special for Ukrainska Pravda