WILL THAULT: From ‘Olympic truce’ to Russian invasion

I intended to give those of you who didn’t bother watching the Beijing Winter Olympics this year a bottom line report of what you missed. Since the 16-day broadcast combined drew the lowest ratings in the history of NBC Sports, there’s a good chance you were among the vastly disinterested majority. To put it kindly, the whole affair was odd and full of drama, but not of the “thrill of victory, the agony of defeat” type.

Yes, there were memorable moments of Team USA glory. American boarder Chloe Kim won gold in the halfpipe, and Nathan Chen took gold in a record-setting figure skating short program. Erin Jackson won speedskating gold, and Kaillie Humphries not only took home the gold, but became monobob’s first Olympic champion.

Then came the odd moments. U.S.-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu won two gold medals and a silver for China. Yet another flagrant Olympic doping violation by the Russians was overruled by a Court of Arbitration for Sport so that a 15-year-old figure skater could compete in spite of breaking the rules.

A boycott was called by many Western nations of an authoritarian government accused of gross human rights violations. In counterpoint, Premiere Xi’s VIP list of invitees tilted notably toward a who’s who of leaders from “strongman” regimes, with Vladimir Putin taking center stage during the Opening Ceremonies while glaring contemptuously down on the Ukrainian athletes as they paraded across the stage. How could I tell his expression? He wasn’t wearing a mask.

Which brings me to my pivot piece in this column: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you’ve been following the news, Putin’s army launched a power-grabbing attack against a neighboring country this week in a total takeover attempt by brutal military force. These are actions not witnessed since Hitler’s Third Reich steamrolled its Blitzkrieg across Europe 80-some-odd years ago.

You’ve seen the newscasts and read the newspaper reports, but have you heard first hand from Ukrainian civilians who are witnessing the invasion as it moves closer and closer to their very own doorstep? There is one such person who’s telling her story to the world from that vulnerable point of view.

For those of you who follow Instagram, her page is called kolyada.t. Tonya and her family live in Kiev. She crafts beautiful one-of-a-kind jewelry and sells it on her page.

I’ve been given permission to share some of her observations — a diary of sorts — on the terror facing her and her countrymen.

Sunday, Feb. 20: “If you are monitoring the situation in my country, I do not know what to tell you. Are we afraid? Yes and no. Our crazy neighbor wants war, and we want to live our lives. I want my daughter not to cry. I want to live long and happily with my family. I want to come up with and make new jewelry so that they can fly around the world and make you happy. I want to travel, see new countries with my own eyes, finally see the ocean. I want everything to be good. Meanwhile, tensions are rising and it is unknown what will happen tomorrow.”

Tuesday, Feb. 22: “My dear friends. You ask how my country is like me, you wish us peace. Thank you for such strong support. Yes, a few hours ago Russia attacked Ukraine and my morning began with “good morning, darling, the war has begun.” Yes, we are very scared and we do not know what will happen next. We hope that this will stop soon, although the mad president of the neighboring country is doing everything to make the whole world afraid of him. Pray for us, support us. You should know: We do not have a civil war, such information is spread by Russian false propaganda, but it is not true. It is thanks to Russian aggression that explosions are being heard all over Ukraine and people are dying. My daughter is 10 years old, and now she is crying and writing to her friends, “I love you, I’m afraid of war and I hate Putin” — is this the right morning for a 10-year-old girl? I’m scared, and I’m very, very angry. Meanwhile, the terrible animal that rules Russia and its army threatens the whole world.”

Wednesday, Feb. 23: “Every day I worked to show you something new and beautiful every evening. But tonight I can’t do it. It was the longest and most terrible day of my life, and now, when it is almost half-past one at night, I cannot sleep. Our news reports that rocket attacks on Kiev are expected in an hour. It seems like my head is about to explode from this news. I don’t know what the news shows in your countries. But if they tell you that Russia has nothing to do with it, don’t believe it. It is thanks to the actions of Russia that many people died today in my country. It is thanks to the actions of Russia that I do not know if we will be alive in a few hours. It’s very scary.”

Thursday, Feb. 24: “Good afternoon, dear people. I want to thank you for the insane amount of supportive comments. I’m sorry I don’t answer you: I just don’t have the strength for that. I did not sleep all night, first because of the alarm and then because of the sounds of explosions. At the moment, the situation is becoming increasingly alarming. In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, where I live with my family, there are explosions and sirens, there are dead. Shelters are clogged with frightened people. Today we are promised a very, very difficult day. Sorry to write about this on my jewelry page, but I just can’t keep quiet.”

Thursday Evening, Feb. 24: So, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is the second day. This is a very difficult day. A huge number of Russian military equipment and soldiers in my country. Lots of shelling. There are victims on both sides. Destroyed buildings and life. Lots of lies from Russian bots everywhere. My frightened mother (living in Chernihiv) on the phone: “Daughter, the tanks are very close.” Now explosions are raging near us, a friend writes to me: “Is it noisy near you?” And I say, “Yeah, noisy, I’m frying meat, it’s hissing in the pan.” Because I can’t be afraid every minute.”

Thursday, February 24: “In the Ukrainian city of Akhtyrka, Russian shells hit a residential area and a kindergarten. There are children seriously injured. These are terrible war crimes. Russian troops shelling the cancer hospital in Melitopol.”

1:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 25: “Dear friends. I have received hundreds of comments and letters from you today in support of me, my family and my country. Your every good word is not in vain, they all warm my heart and give me hope. I am amazed that I have received some very serious offers to go to different countries until this war is over. You leave me your addresses and phone numbers so that my family and I can come to you, and I am very moved by that. I feel your kindness and it gives me great hope. And I’m crying over it, but it’s tears of gratitude.”

“And in the photo you see my daughter. As I write this note for you, she is sleeping right in the bathroom. I put a blanket and a pillow in it; my husband and I are sitting on the floor, our dog Panda is laying next to me. We hid in the bathroom because we had a loud siren warning of air strikes by Russian troops. It is said that the bathroom is a fairly safe place in the apartment. In fact, I don’t want to check if it’s true.”

Later Friday morning, Feb. 25: “You know, I still thought I was a strong, brave, optimistic woman. I think I was wrong. For almost an hour, not far from my house, many loud explosions and shots were heard. It turns out that it is very scary, arms and legs tremble, and it is impossible to speak calmly, without stuttering. I don’t know what this morning will be like. So far, the worst night of my life is going on. I’m sorry. In the morning I will delete this note. But now I really need to talk to you. Russian troops, your actions are monstrous, you are monsters.”

Dawn Friday, Feb. 25

♦ “There have been fights all over Ukraine all night and they are still going on. Can you imagine, Mr. Putin told his people that this would be such a liberation operation exclusively in eastern Ukraine. What a lying filthy st! His troops are in the east, in the west, in the north, in the south, in the center of Ukraine, huge money, human, technical resources are spent for … for what, actually?” To make Mr. Putin feel like the king of the world? For shooting at orphanages and hospitals. They have come to my beautiful land and want to destroy it. And we say very seriously: we will not forgive. (It’s) dawn in my city, a fire at the site of night battles near the zoo. I’m scared to imagine how the beasts endured this terrible night.”

Pray for Tanya and her family. Pray for Ukraine.

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