3 examples when Ukrainian army came for rescue
Western countries may see Ukraine as a struggling neighbor. And it's understandable as our country has not been very prosperous, and we are at war with Russia for the last nine years. Therefore, it is understandable that Ukraine always needs help from other countries. But before the war with Russia started, Ukraine defended liberty values in different countries. I won't mention historical events like the Cossacks defending Vienna from the Ottomans. Here are three examples of how Ukraine stood up for other countries.
90-s war in Georgia
Many people remember USSR collapse as a peaceful moment. But countries with Kremlin-orchestrated conflicts have a different perspective. One is Georgia, which had Ossetian and Abkhazian conflict heating up since 1989. In 1991 the war started in Ossetia, and a year later in Abkhazia. In both, separatists were helped by former Soviet military units, who had come under Russian command. A ceasefire agreement was reached in Russian Sochi, but it didn't last long for Abkhazia and did not resolve the Ossetian issue. More than 25 000 Georgians had to flee Ossetia and 150 000 from Abkhazia.
In October 1993, Georgian president Shevardnadze called his Ukrainian colleague Kravchuk with a plea for help. "There are thousands of refugees freezing in Caucasian mountains. Children, elderly, they don't have food nor shelter" – the first Ukrainian president remembers that call. Russia refused to give safe passage to refugees, and they had to go through the mountains. They were not prepared for autumn weather there, so people started freezing to death.
No other country was able to help them. Kravchuck sent 16 military helicopters with food, medicament, and fuel. The task of saving people in a rarefied atmosphere was tough, and time was running out. Ukrainian pilots had to take up to 50 people on one helicopter and perform complex maneuvers to pull this off. But they did. In five days, under threat of Russian shelling, Ukrainian pilots delivered 487 tons of humanitarian cargo and evacuated 15 thousand people!
As one operation participant, Pavlo Moroz, remembered it: "When you see a hungry child, you will share your food ration, of course." And another memory: "They were shooting at us. Holes in the fuselage and sets of helicopter blades. Two helicopters were sent for repair".
In 1993 Ukraine had a lot of own problems. The USSR left us with no political and economic institutions; inflation was above 200%. Nevertheless, human life is above all, and the Ukrainian president sent those helicopters and resources to Georgia. Also, Ukraine saved some people from Abkhazia by ship. Ukrainian volunteers were saving lives in Georgia and repelling the aggression. Founder of Ukrainska Pravda Georgiy Gongadze was debunking Russian lies and proving how they supply, organize and command so-called "separatists." Ukrainians risked their lives to save others.
Peacekeeping and bravery: a story of 1995
There is nothing special in peacekeeping missions. But we always had Russia, who opposed US-backed coalitions and pressed Ukraine diplomatically and economically not to do this. So it's remarkable that Ukraine was able to send hundreds or a thousand troops all over the world. We sent troops to different countries during the break-up of Yugoslavia, in various African countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. The most significant contingent outside Ukraine was in Iraq, with 1,650 peaks. The most remarkable story was in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Wars in former Yugoslavia were brutal. During the Bosnian Civil War, the Bosnian Serb army committed genocide against more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. Its next target was located near the Zhepa enclave, guarded by 79 Ukrainian peacekeepers from the 240th separate special battalion. Other countries involved in the operation expected this enclave to fall like Srebrenica.
In Bosnia, Ukrainian Peacekeepers were held hostage and liberated, participated in negotiations with superior enemy forces, and did not comply. Serbian militia defeated two thousand Bosniak forces and headed to the refugee camp. But 79 Ukrainian troopers were ready and didn’t give up the people. The battalion set a circular defense and stood its ground until the rescue operation started.
In an interview with BBC News Ukraine, the commander of the UN peacekeeping contingent, General Rupert Smith, says that negotiations on the enclave's fate were conducted at several levels at that time. "If the peacekeepers had not withstood that, we would not have been able to rescue civilians."
There were other examples of outstanding bravery from Ukrainian peacekeepers, all of which I can not mention. The last one, I think, was in 2021 when the US was pulling out of Afghanistan. A group of civilians was stuck in Kabul and had no safe passage to the Airport. When other troops refused to go, Ukrainian peacekeepers went after them and escorted them to the safe zone. Even after the 2014 Russian aggression, Ukrainian soldiers still save lives abroad.
Russian Invasion in Georgia 2008
In 2008, Russia officially sent troops to Georgia. For five days, a violent confrontation with the use of aviation continued throughout Georgia. Western countries were very active in diplomacy but did not consider the main argument to persuade Russia – sending weapons. It's hard to imagine what they would manage to deliver just in 5 days. But Ukrainian president Yushchenko managed to visit Tbilisi among first-world leaders and give Georgia supplies to defend itself.
"In Ukraine, we trained our military specialists; Ukraine provided us with air defense, which was critically important in the first days of the invasion - they could not gain an advantage in the first days, Ukraine gave us the Buk and Osa air defense systems, several combat kits for each system, and thanks to them, we shot down 12 Russian bombers, including the Tu-22 strategic bomber, which no one had shot down before," Mikheil Saakashvili said. He also repeatedly stated that without the help of Ukraine, Georgia would not have survived.
2008 was also the peak of a Ukrainian trade war with Russia. Kremlin tried to punish the pro-European president with all means possible. Literally, Russia has used everything from a gas blockade to a ban on milk and cheese exports. Nevertheless, Ukraine stood up for the freedom of Georgia. It costs us even now, as the pro-Russian government refused to send back the Ukrainian air defense system, even during the bombardment of civil infrastructure in the Autumn and Winter of 2022.
Conclusion
Ukraine might be a struggling neighbor, but it managed to help other countries. Ukrainian emergency services were present in various emergencies. Ukrainian troops stood against all odds and accomplished the mission. When other countries help Ukraine to fight against Russia, they don’t just defend Western values. They prop up the country, which will always protect these values. And after the victory, Ukraine will have one of the most experienced armies. It will be a major asset of keeping peace in the world.
Dmytro Byrakov
