Diary of Ukraine - Part 2: Waterville area native Scott Ewing shares his experiences as Russia continues to invade Ukraine

(Editor’s Note: The following information was shared from a diary of events written by Waterville area native Scott Ewing, a 1980 graduate of Waukon High School and the son of Jerry and Anna Marie Ewing of rural Waterville. The sharing of the diary excerpts was made possible by Kevin Welsh of Waukon, who is a former neighbor, long-time friend and is in consistent contact with Ewing during the current historic experience of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the evacuation of Ewing and his family to Poland. Part 1 of the Diary of Ukraine [February 12-March 4] was published in the March 9 edition of The Standard.)

Saturday, March 5
Today our Polish friends, who have totally taken our family under their wings, located another apartment which Natasha and I will move into next week. To add insult to injury, in Ukraine, some of our family members have come down with COVID, and now the virus is spreading through the apartment.

Today, four family members living in the one-room apartment here in Poland came to our apartment for a visit for a couple of days.  Now we have eight people living in a two-room apartment and this gives some relief for those in the one-room apartment.

We’ve learned recently that Belorussian and Russian semi-trucks continue to move from Germany, through Poland into Belorussia and ultimately into Russia with goods. The Poles are pressuring their government to close-down the Polish border to all vehicles with Russian and Belorussian license plates.
Since the beginning of the war, I struggle to justify my actions. I have several clients in Russia, all of whom know that I live in Ukraine and have family here. It’s difficult to justify my continued assistance in getting them the food items I deal with, while at the same time looking in my family’s eyes knowing how they are suffering.

Hypocritical? Certainly, given my view that U.S. and NATO are not doing enough, and Ukrainian citizens are beginning to be starved into submission. I am currently justifying it in my mind, based on the fact that the information my clients receive from the Russian media, completely controlled by Putin, is information that is totally one-sided and they really do not know what is going on here. Humans can justify anything if motivated properly. I read the English version of the Russian online news source called Pravda. Check it out at https://english.pravda.ru/. The Russians really are living in another world. Brainwashing is a powerful thing!

Sunday, March 6
Today we plan to take the children to the park for some fresh air and exercise.  Ukrainian cell phone companies have implemented a system, that when an air raid is coming everyone’s cell phone sounds an alarm.  In the past three hours Natasha’s cell phone has gone off four times.

One of our family members living in Kyiv called us today looking for help to escape Kyiv and get to Poland. We are trying to figure ways to make this happen.  Escaping Kyiv has become extremely difficult and dangerous, and when possible, the trip to the Polish border can take days. We heard yesterday that the line just to enter the Lviv train station takes seven hours, and once at the Polish border, 60-plus hour waits are the norm.

Yesterday was a bit more relaxing, but today the stress level is back. It’s heartbreaking to listen to the children speaking of war. Polina, 10 years old, has a worried face and we are afraid she will be permanently affected by this experience. The mental stress is exhausting.

I can’t wait to go fishing with Denny at the ponds back in Oregon! We are waiting for one of Lilya’s friends to arrive today or tomorrow from Ukraine.  She will move in with us until we can organize something more permanent. We are still looking for jobs for those who can work, and Zina will start cooking vareniki, pelmeni, borsch and other Ukrainian dishes to sell to Polish friends.

I reached out to Jacek, a client in Poland, as well as my niece in the U.S. who spent a year in Poland studying, hoping to find more stable work for family members here. Hopefully, something will materialize soon.

Wednesday, March 9
Today in Tsentralne - our family member’s childhood home - two fighter jets flew side-by-side just a hundred meters or so overhead. One of the jets had been hit, with smoke billowing out of it. A few seconds after the jets flew by, two missiles flew overhead chasing the planes in an attempt to destroy both. Our relatives were terrified and thought the small village was going to be hit.  No one knows what happened to the jets or if they were Russian or Ukrainian.

Over the past week another relative - Roman and his wife - living in Kyiv, moved to his parent’s home in a village near Korosten’ in northern Zhytomyr region Ukraine. Roman wrote us last night that they were hiding in the house, covered in blankets, with bombs and gunfire going on all around the village. They are absolutely terrified.

Friday, March 11
It’s 3 a.m. in Warsaw and sleep is hard to come by these days. We go to bed at night reading the latest news on our cell phones, we wake up in the morning doing the same. I guess helplessness and depression are the two emotions our entire family feel the most here in Poland, as we see Russian troops moving closer - however slowly - to major Ukrainian cities. The most recent bombing of a maternity ward in Mariupol - one of 25 or more hospitals bombed in the past two weeks - was another example of the tactics Russia is willing to use to terrorize innocent citizens in Ukraine.

The mass graves the Ukrainians are forced to bury the dead is sickening, pathetic and absolutely unacceptable. This will continue, though, because Ukrainian forces must resort to urban warfare to fight effectively against Russia - advice they are taking from Georgian and Chechen rebels who fought Russia over the past 20-plus years, and who know tactics that work against a larger force.  Ukraine simply does not have the resources for an open, sustained, out-in-the-field battle against Russia.

We - U.S. and NATO - are not willing to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, or implement a No-Fly Zone and the sanctions imposed thus far are laughable to Russia, but of course these sanctions will not be laughable for long. Soon the sanctions will start to bite, but will it be enough, or in time to change the outcome?

If I have learned anything over the past 25 years living and working in this part of the world, it is that the Slavs, especially the Russian Slavs, understand, and sit up straight by one thing - force! Ukrainian President Zelensky understands this as well, and that is why he is begging the West to do more. It is time for the U.S. and NATO to lean into this conflict, instead of continuing to back away from it with sanctions and empty threats that will not bring the results hoped for.

I hate to write it, and I hope I am wrong, but I feel it is inevitable that we will be drawn into this militarily at some point. We are now seeing volunteers from all over the world, including NATO country volunteers, going to Ukraine to help fight Russia. Eventually, one of those NATO volunteers will be captured alive by the Russians. What will be our response to this? By NATO charter, an attack on one is an attack on all and we are bound by this charter to respond.

Saturday, March 12
Last year, Natasha and I spent several months living in Odessa. Odessa is my favorite city in Ukraine and is referred to locally as the New York City of Ukraine.  More than 100 different cultures are represented in Odessa and the arts and architecture are amazing.  Last September, our children visited us spending time in Kyiv, Odessa and Turkey. The two weeks the kids were with us were some of the best days of our lives and we hope to make the trip together again someday.

Russian and Ukrainian forces are battling currently over the city of Mykolaiv, but the ultimate goal in southern Ukraine is Odessa.  If Odessa is taken, Ukraine will be completely shut off from the Black Sea.

Yesterday we spoke with our friend, Maya, in Odessa. Normally, Maya is very cheerful with an infectious smile and laugh that always brings joy to our hearts.  Yesterday she was different. We could see the concern and worry in her eyes, as we talked with her about the possibility for her and her son to leave Odessa and go to Tsentralne, Ukraine to live with our family. Maya is struggling to make the decision to take the risk of traveling north because this will mean she has to take the main highway toward Kyiv and no one knows what dangers lie between Odessa and Kyiv.

A few hours after speaking with Maya, we learned that a Russian ship in the Black Sea fired several missiles at Odessa. Probably a tactic to see what the response - both civilian and military - would be in a run-up for what will come in the days ahead as Russia inches closer to Odessa.

Over the past few days, I have written to approximately 50 U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle giving them my diary and asking them to do more. To date, only four have responded - two Democrats and two Republicans. All responses have been basically the same political rhetoric, outlining all the great things they have personally done in support of the Ukrainians, and blaming the other side for the inaction from the U.S. thus far.  It’s absolutely embarrassing.

I encourage everyone to go on Facebook, Tik Tok or one of the other major social media apps and look for personal posts from Ukrainians on the ground in Ukraine. Major cable news channels attempt to filter out and sterilize the images we see in worry we will somehow be shocked or offended by the raw images. You will be shocked by what is really going on there. My hope is that the images you find will forever be burned into your minds so that you cannot forget, and eventually enough guilt from our inaction will push us to do more.

Sunday, March 13
From 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. this morning, Kyiv citizens were directed to bomb shelters as air raids continued to hammer the city. An hour ago, the Center for International Peacekeeping and Security in Yavoriv, Ukraine near Lviv, and close to the Polish border, was struck by eight missiles. This is Putin’s way of warning the west, and at the same time giving Ukraine’s western citizens a taste of what’s to come.

I continue to live with the hypocrisy of my life as it currently stands. Last week, a shipment of eggs I sold to one of my Russian clients was scheduled to depart for St. Petersburg. The company I work for continues to do business with Russia, and this weighs heavily on my mind. We continue to feed Russia while at the same time Russia is in the process of systematically starving out the people of Ukraine.

Luckily for me, U.S. Customs informed us Friday that we would not be allowed to make any future shipments to Russia and the shipment was not sent. But, this was our federal government’s decision not ours. It would have been shipped if the company could have legally shipped it. We have a scheduled shipment to go out to another Russian client this week, and I am happy that we will be informing them that it will not be shipped.

Although this eases my mind a bit, I still struggle with the fact that the multi-national organization I work for continues selling their goods to Russia. Last week, I discussed my internal struggle with my boss, telling him that I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I simply cannot justify it any longer and my mind has been made up. How would I be able to look into the eyes of my family and tell them I did everything I could?

The city of Mariupol has been without food, water and electricity for more than a week, and people there have resorted to collecting water from ground sources, lighting a fire and boiling water to drink and cook.  The city’s mayor has reported that Mariupol has been leveled. Effectively, Putin has sent the city back into the stone age.

Today, our family is going to Warsaw city center to visit what is called Old Town. It’s what is left of what Warsaw was prior to WWII. It consists of several city blocks of beautiful architecture and cultural wonders - 85% of old Warsaw was destroyed during WWII. I think about Kyiv, Odessa and other beautiful cities in Ukraine that are on the verge of becoming another “Old Town,” like Warsaw. And, we are going to sit back and watch it happen. Unimaginable! Unacceptable!

Last night around 1 a.m. I wrote to my nephew in Ukraine telling him that whatever help he needs, to please let me know. Nazar is in his early 20s and has been volunteering, assisting with whatever he can. He and his girlfriend recently brought in three of four displaced Ukrainians to live with them. More than 2.5 million have fled Ukraine to other countries, but how many other millions have been internally displaced?

This morning, Nazar wrote back to me. Below is a Google translation of what he wrote:

“Hello. Thank you so much for what you do. This is very important for all of us. Ukraine is now defeating the world’s second army. But we need the support of Western countries. This is our common war. Not everyone in the United States and Europe understands the threat they face if we lose. I live in a relatively safe region. But those peaceful people are dying. That number of dead children, it hurts us all.

“Putin is the world’s top terrorist. The United States has recently declared war on terrorism. But for some reason, they do not want to participate in it and support our war on terrorism, at least with military equipment.

“Thank you for your contribution. I think your government will hear you and other American citizens rather than the people being killed in their homes. They said they would act when Russia attacked NATO countries. It is not clear to me that life in Poland and Romania and Lithuania is worth more than life in Ukraine.

“Let’s keep in touch. I know English worse than you know Russian. On this I write so but ‘Russian ship go **** yourself’.”

“Russian ship go **** yourself” refers to an attack on 13 Ukrainian soldiers guarding a small military base about 60 miles off the coast of mainland Ukraine.  In the first days of the war a Russian warship approached the island and established radio communications with the soldiers, telling them to lay down their guns and surrender or they would be fired upon. “Russian ship go **** yourself” was their response. All 13 soldiers were reportedly killed minutes later by a Russian bomb.