On the Brink of War With Russia, Ukrainians Are Resigned and Prepared – WSJ

KYIV, Ukraine Computer whiz Danylo Kovzhun has taught his children to handle a pistol. Confectioner Roman Nabozhniak is training colleagues to run his business so he can focus on fighting Russians. Bar owner Vitaliy Kyrychenko keeps his gas tank full in case he needs to get out fast.

Ukraine has struggled to maintain a sense of stability since it fully established itself as a sovereign country in 1991, and has been at war since 2014. But with 100,000 Russian troops gathered nearby, threatening Europe s biggest land war since the 1940s, people there say something feels different this time.

It became kind of normal to say, What, again? said Mr. Kovzhun, 46 years old. On the other hand, I tend to be panicky. I think it s going to be a nightmare, like Syria. That s the only thing Russians can do.

Mr. Kovzhun is among those who in 2014 supported the army with clothes, food and equipment when forces were threadbare. Ordinary folk are ready to pitch in again, he said, adding, We know the drill.

via www.wsj.com

This strikes me as accurate. You have to remember that the Ukrainians have historic grievances against the Russians of historic scope. They were the victims of a vast genocide by the Russians, the Holodomor, in which Stalin essentially starved them, killing many millions. They have lived with the expectation of the Russians coming down on them for years. The CIA probably did facilitate the 2014 Orange Revolution, but the makings of a revolution were there, to be sure. They had been there for decades.