Introduction to “On the Russo-Ukrainian War: August, 2023 to June 2024 “
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Personal SubStack
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/08/09
Table of Contents
In-Sight Publishing …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
On the Russo-Ukrainian War: August, 2023 to June 2024 …………………………………………… 3
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Introduction by Scott Douglas Jacobsen …………………………………………………………………….. 6
Humanist …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
- Humanists International, Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the United Nations (2024/01/08) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8
Personal …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18
- The Long Happenstance of Iceland and Copenhagen (2023/12/09) ……………………………… 18
- Violence’s Imaginarium: Informal Follow-Up to ‘War Is Hell’ (2024/07/11) ……………………. 22
Romanian ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25
- Remus Cernea on Independent War Correspondence in Ukraine (2023/08/25) ……………… 26
- Zaporizhzhia Field Interview With Remus Cernea (2024/02/21) …………………………………… 31
- War and Destruction With Remus Cernea (2024/02/22) …………………………………………….. 38
- Remus Cornea on Ukraine in Early 2024 (2024/04/29) ……………………………………………….. 42
- Remus Cernea on Perpetual War and Perpetual Peace (2024/06/28) ……………………………. 49
Ukrainian ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 59
- Ms. Oleksandra Romantsova on Ukraine and Putin (2023/09/01) ………………………………….. 59
- Oleksandra Romantsova on Prigozhin and Amnesty International (2023/12/03) …………….. 67
- Dr. Roman Nekoliak on International Human Rights and Ukraine (2023/12/23) …………….. 73
- Sorina Kiev: Being a Restauranteur During Russo-Ukrainian War (2024/01/27) …………….. 83
- World Wars, Human Rights & Humanitarian Law w/ Roman Nekoliak (2024/03/07) ………. 91
- Oleksandra Romantsova: Financing Regional Defense in War (2024/03/11) ………………… 102
- Russo-Ukrainian War Updates, February to April: O. Romantsova (2024/05/13) ………….. 109
- Dr. Kateryna Busol on Dehumanization in Russo-Ukrainian War (2024/06/20) …………….. 122
- Oleksandra Romantsova on April to May in Ukraine (2024/06/24) ………………………………. 132
License and Copyright …………………………………………………………………………………………… 139
Acknowledgements
To Oleksandra Romantsova and Remus Cernea, in particular, for their instigation and complete support in working on this endeavour inclusive of travel to Ukraine, and to Dr. Kateryna Busol, Sorina Kiev, and Dr. Roman Nekoliak for their contributions to this volume; Dr. Kristen Monroe at the University of California, Irvine Ethics Center for the years of support as a Tobis Fellow and the Ethics Center family; and Dr. Daniel Bernstein, Weston MacAleer, Joan Payne, Simon Parcher, Dr. Lloyd Robertson, and Dr. Richard Thain.
Just so many people have been so crucial in this endeavour—it’s overwhelming, a bit, writing this—even Brent Balisky, Laura Balisky, and LJ Tidball for bringing in a stray Canadian under their Tbird aegis; and to human rights defenders devoting their resources and putting their lives at risk for a fairer and more just situation in Ukraine (and the Russian Federation).
Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Introduction by Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Life is a continual process of initiation, of humbling. I shoveled a lot of horse shit and laid a lot of mulch in gardens while working at a horse ranch to self-fund this independent journalistic journey. I loved the time there.
In Langley, agriculture can have a hard go of it, for employers and employees alike. Good labour is hard to find. It’s a rewarding lifestyle because it’s a hard day’s work well-earned—merely ask your body at the end of the day. In fact, you don’t need to ask; it will simply tell you.
When I went to Copenhagen, I was thinking of going to a regular conference in Europe. Life had other plans. I met Oleksandra and Remus there. I was struck by their sincerity and dedication. Remus proposed work in Ukraine together. It sounded crazy enough to do it.
Thus began plans to travel to Ukraine. Upon arrival, you meet all types of people in every kind of situation, while united by a common sense of identity and suffering. Street vendors selling cigarettes, breaded meats, coffee, and souvenirs.
A wide range of styles of cars, of quality of infrastructure, and the like. Everything seemed normal for about a day, maybe a day and a half, then the scramble of war came to a head: air raid alarms, explosions in the distance, casualty reports, international and domestic war reportage, people’s trauma stories, soldiers in buses, in train stations, in hotels, walking the streets, at checkpoints.
Then the horror of war crept more into the central vision: memorial to those bombed outside of office buildings, religious sites like cathedrals, apartment complexes, administrative buildings, і так далі. The horror of war is the horror of the normal, fragmented and twisted to the barely recognizable.
A museum, as with the first instance of a bone healing, seems like another step and stage in the diagnosable instance of real civilization from the human species. Kindness matters. When a museum is destroyed, it leaves an emotional mark—a pause.
When people power through horror and turn their restaurant into a shelter and food service for those victims of war in need, it leaves a pause. I am struck and humbled by the kindness of an invitation to take part in this narrative and recordkeeping aim in Ukraine with Remus, Oleksandra, and others. That’s why I’ve decided to commit so much time and resources to cataloguing these voices.
Fundamentally, it is a decision grounded in a sentiment experienced and felt. So, thank you everyone for helping this come to fruition.
I am off to Ukraine for a second trip today.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen
August 19, 2024
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