Kate Emery: The lessons we can learn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

There are lessons we can learn from Russia’s war on Ukraine.

No, not the big ones about the dangers of appeasing a megalomaniacal autocrat with nukes. Those conclusions I’ll save for historians and all the books yet-to-be-written about the events of 2020-22 (with the working title of: Well That Was A Lot).

I’m talking about the lessons that have emerged for the rest of us since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine and the world had to get up to speed with both the politics of a post-Cold War eastern Europe and the LinkedIn profile of a guy who voiced Paddington in the Ukrainian version of the popular children’s movie.

What freedom fighters actually look like

We’ve seen their faces and heard their voices.

The Ukrainian dad sobbing as he puts his daughter on a train, knowing he may never see her again.

The Ukrainian woman picking a fight with a Russian soldier, warning him to fill his pockets with sunflower seeds so when he’s killed the country’s national flower might bloom from his corpse.

The 13 Ukrainian border guards of Snake Island who, when offered a chance to surrender to a Russian warship, told them to “go f… yourself”. Initially thought killed it now appears they might have been captured.

And Paddington himself: actor-turned-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who rejected an offer of escape to stay and fight. Kids will read in history books his response: “The fight is here: I need ammunition, not a ride.”

This, it turns out, is what freedom fighters actually look like: not tin foil hat numpties picking fights in bottle shops because they think Bill Gates has nothing better to do with his spare time and billions than microchip the world.

Patriot isn’t a dirty word

Lately “patriot” has become a four letter word. It conjures up jingoistic images of Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol or the hastily penned manifesto of a domestic terrorist shortly before he opens fire in a mosque.

But the Ukrainian defence, which has seen citizens armed with Kalashnikovs, shows us the power of patriotism and how far people will go to defend their way of life. I can’t be the only one who watched what looked like school mums prepping Molotov cocktails and wondered how far I’d go.

Refugees are people, not problems It is easy to be cynical about why Ukrainian refugees — many white and Christian — have been more warmly welcomed than refugees from countries where the population is more likely to be brown and Muslim. But, since nobody wins at a game of “but what about”, we can let the Ukrainian experience inform our attitude to future refugees.

The stories of loss, hardship and bravery among those fleeing the Ukraine are common among all refugees.

Refugees who come to Australia seeking asylum have had a similar experience to the faces we are currently seeing on TV: the scared and desperate forced to fit their life into a backpack; the crying kids being plucked from their father’s arms, the parents handing their kids over to strangers just for a chance to get them to safety.

We are not powerless

The war in Ukraine is not going to be won on Twitter, no matter what Twitter might think. But the world’s response to Russia’s invasion, including protests in Russia where they risk more than a telling off, has helped ramp up the pressure on global governments to act.

And if doom-scrolling on social media or saying “isn’t it just awful” to friends is starting to feel just a bit useless there are charities to support: Razom for Ukraine, United Help Ukraine and Revived Soldiers Ukraine are good starts.

The dangers of the echo chamber

Surround yourself with people who think the same as you do and you’ll start to believe you’re right about everything.

This is the kind of dangerous behaviour that has polarised the debate around COVID-19, deludes people into thinking the Government is a front for a lizard paedophile ring and makes grown women believe that leggings are pants.

When you’re a powerful dictator whose enemies tend to have the life expectancy of a sickly mayfly, it’s easy to get stuck in an echo chamber where nobody will say “no” lest they suffer an unfortunate accident involving, say, a carelessly placed vat of battery acid.

Those who claim to understand the workings of Vladimir Putin’s circle believe he is surrounded by yes-men, which may have led him to misjudge both the ease with which Ukrainian resistance would be crushed and the world’s willingness to allow it.

Lesson learnt, I suppose. Should I ever become a corrupt despot I’ll be sure to keep someone on staff who isn’t afraid to tell me when my fly is down, so to speak.