That’s why the European Union and NATO are both founded upon equality and respect for all. Within those bodies, mighty Germany and the US have the same voting rights as smaller, poorer (but by no means inferior) Slovenia and Lithuania. But Russia has decided to ban Ukraine from being a separate, independent state and to deny all Ukrainians the right to exist, claiming that their nation has never existed.
This is more than a Russo-Ukrainian war, it’s also a war on the very foundations of Europe. When the Russians first attacked on 24 February, there was a battle for Snake Island, which went down in history thanks to one Ukrainian border guard’s cult reply, telling the Russian warship where to go. Then the whole world discovered that tiny island, basically a rock in the Black Sea. But amid the insane torrent of news, the world failed to notice that it wasn’t just any island.
Because Snake Island is a rock right opposite the spot where Western Europe’s longest river, the Danube, flows into the Black Sea. That’s why it’s called Snake: the river water washed snakes out into the salty sea, and they slithered to safety onto that scrap of land. In the times of the ancient Greeks, the area was considered unique: Medea herself sailed past Snake Island as she fled from Colchis (present-day Georgia) to escape her pursuing enemies.
And Snake Island was raised from the sea bed by the goddess Thetis, as a refuge for the soul of her son, Achilles – yes, the hero of the Trojan War, whose heel spawned an ancient aphorism. According to myths and legends, Achilles was buried on the island, and the Greeks built a temple over his grave. Its stone blocks survived and were later used to erect a lighthouse on Snake Island.
So, one of the first battles in the war for Ukraine was fought beside the grave of the illustrious Trojan War hero, Achilles. As if to remind us that, in ancient Greek times, Ukraine was part of the oikumene (the inhabited, civilised world), alongside the roots of Europe and all things European. Today, Ukraine is defending that selfsame civilised European world, at the price of the lives of many heroes as brave and valiant as Achilles.