Why internal crises hit the home front harder than missiles

When hope is stolen..

Russians are attacking Ukrainian cities night after night. They are trying to hit not so much military targets as the minds of Ukrainians. To cause despondency, which should push for surrender. To make people run away without looking back, to leave Ukraine and not return. They do not have the strength to break through the front, so I am attacking the rear.

This tactic has never worked on its own. Ever since Hitler's barbaric bombing of London.

And it does not work with Ukrainians. Ukrainians stay in their country, even when the enemy tries to show that there are no safe places here. Most stay.

But what keeps people going? Many things, actually. But for many, especially those who can afford to leave, it is hope. The hope that when the war is over, they will live in a wealthy European country. A country of opportunities. This hope is a big factor in the country's resilience .

This hope nourishes the Ukrainian economy and society. It keeps the young and not so young representatives of the office proletariat from despairing, keeps boys aged 15-16 in the country whose parents decide not to take their children out, and encourages Ukrainian entrepreneurs to invest. This hope keeps the home front going.

And suddenly this hope is attacked from within. When reforms are sabotaged in a country and political repression begins, it is not only the reformers and fighters against corruption who are hit. The very hope that holds the rear is under attack .

Can this hope survive alongside steps leading to authoritarianism? A rhetorical question.

Why endure war if after it we will become a small Russia?

Why stay in a country where there will be no change and where all attempts to build the rule of law are sabotaged?

Will the country become an EU member if the state is moving towards autocracy? Will the elections after the war be open and fair, when now we see shameful practices that seem to be written off from Putin's actions?

And these questions, these damned questions. Questions that destroy hope. They squeeze it out of even the most ardent optimists.

All these questions appear in people's minds. And most of the answers can make people despair and leave. More effective than "shahed" attacks.

There is no greater crime in time of war than taking away people's hope. Nothing weakens the Ukrainian home front more than the loss of hope for a decent future after the war. Where the Russians are not able to cause despondency, our leaders can do it. And I really don't want them to succeed. And the hope that they will come to their senses is not dead yet. The hope that someone important from the EU will call and say "this is not the way to go" – and say it in a tone that will make it clear that it is not. This hope is still alive. It is the last to die..

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