– The Ukrainians are pretty sure that they will win, but that it will cost many lives and be hard, says researcher Arve Hansen, who has spent the last week in the areas around Lviv in Ukraine.
He has noticed that there is one explanation in particular that is highlighted:
– The Russians have not achieved any of what they expected to achieve. Now it is only getting warmer, which means that the soils will soon become swamps. Many Ukrainians believe that the Russians will drown in their tanks.
If the Russians drive out on the roads, they become simple targets for the Ukrainian forces, explains Hansen, who knows the country well.
WAKEN UP TO FLY ALARM: Arve Hansen in Lviv after a long day. He and the rest of the inhabitants of Lviv woke up to plane alarms and a series of explosions at 6 o’clock on Friday morning. Photo: Private
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– Even in Odesa, they are optimistic. Although there are still fierce fighting in the Donbas, the Russians have done little around Kyiv, little in Chernihiv and they are struggling in Kharkiv. These are important places, says Hansen and continues:
– At the same time, weapons continue to flow into large loads from Western Europe and the United States. And the Ukrainians have a great will to fight.
Investigating war crimes
While the debate has raged over whether President Putin should be labeled a war criminal or not, Hansen has traveled to Ukraine for the Helsinki Committee to gather evidence on just this.
Together with colleague Aage Borchgrevink, he is in Lviv to assist a group of human rights experts from the Ukrainian organization Truth Hounds, who have extensive experience in investigating war crimes.
The researcher, who speaks Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, has previously conducted fieldwork in Ukraine. He says it was strange to return to the city of Lviv in wartime.
– People are on their toes. We have a number of errands where we have to talk to people and take pictures, and then there are many who become suspicious and skeptical of us.
DOCUMENTS: Arve Hansen and colleagues from several countries and organizations are now working to map and document the war crimes committed in Ukraine. Here in Lviv. Photo: Private
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gallows humor
One of the first things Hansen noticed when he returned to Ukraine was how they use humor to keep their spirits up in wartime.
– They joke a lot with Russians and Russian losses, he says.
Posters have been hung around the city addressing the Russians directly – should they come to Lviv. For the time being, it has been calm in the western Ukrainian city after Russia invaded, with the exception of an attack on an aircraft maintenance facility at the main airport on Friday.
DAVID AND GOLIAH: The poster compares the size of Russia and Ukraine with David and Goliath. In Ukrainian it says: “Do you remember how it all ended?” and “Go to Hell!” Photo: Arve Hansen
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Hansen says that the regular posters that have been hung up include “This is our earth, you will stay in it”.
– I have also seen posters with a map showing a large Russia with a tiny little Ukraine next to it, with a reference to David and Goliath where it says “we know how it went”.
Read more about similar messages the Ukrainians have sent to the Russians here:
Warns Russians: “Go to hell”
– Risks his life
Dagbladet has previously interviewed Hansen about how the counter-movement in Ukraine works to sabotage the Russians. Now he says that there is still a high level of mobilization among the civilian population throughout the country.
– The flat structure continues. Everyone is trying to contribute something, whether it is making Molotov cocktails or lending their car to the military.
He himself had a small role in a major operation to provide vital heart medication to the father of a good friend of his in Kharkiv.
It eventually went on second try.
– Through contacts and friends of friends, I have got someone to buy medicine and transport it to me in Lviv. Then we finally got a voluntary organization that transports vital things in areas like this. Then we can only hope the medicine comes out.
He says that there are many volunteers who risk their lives when they travel into bombed-out cities like Kharkiv.
– If you only tell what you need, there is always someone trying to help.
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