We had the good fortune to get Professor Ihor Zhaloba to give two lectures in our region in Southwestern Germany. On February 13, he spoke at the invitation of the Württemberger Gesellschaft in Heilbronn, and, on February 16, 2025, at the Kulturhaus Wiesloch at the invitation of Kulturforum Südliche Bergstraße e.V..
Ihor Zhaloba is a professor of history at the Boris Grinchenko University in Kyiv and chairman of the Ukrainian chapter of the Pan-European Union. On February 25, 2022, he volunteered for service in the Ukrainian army and, as a soldier in a reconnaissance unit, participated in in combat operations over the next two years in Kyiv, Bakhmut, Robotyne and Chasiv Yar, and other hotspots.
We met him last year in Kyiv through the through our friend, Malte Rosenberger. Zhaloba has a unique perspective as an academic, a dedicated European, and as a front-line soldier. Thanks to his excellent knowledge of German, he was able to convey his perspective to the audience in Heilbronn and Wiesloch in a direct and gripping way.
Zhaloba outlined crucial differences between contemporary Ukrainian and Russian society based on historical developments. His key point is that the impetus for the formation of Ukrainian social institutions came from the grassroots of society, in contrast to “top-down” development in Russia. Therefore, there is a strong tradition of horizontal networks in Ukraine to assume tasks that in other countries are reserved for the state—sometimes parallel to the government, and sometimes bypassing it. Everyone has to take a stand, not just as onlookers, but actively to do something.
In the run-up to the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, private social organizations gave basic courses in weapons and tactics on weekends. These courses, under the motto “Don’t panic, get ready!”, served, among other things, to convey to people that they do not have to passively wait and see what others do, but can take action themselves. Zhaloba noted that foreign journalists had laughed at these exercises, some of which were carried out with wooden dummy rifles, and that the participants indeed had absolutely no experience. Yet, Zhaloba also emphasized, these people—including himself—successfully defended Kyiv.
From the very beginning, civilians developed self-confidence, learned from experience, and passed on their newly acquired knowledge to new soldiers—all without officers. Here, Zhaloba also expressed criticism of the Ukrainian political leadership. Citizens have to repeatedly step in where the state does not act or does not do enough, whether in preparing, training, or equipping the army. The unwillingness of politicians to admit mistakes and change their strategies accordingly is also critical.
Zhaloba described what this commitment looks like using the example of the people in his unit: The platoon commander, callsign “Estonian”, who lost his home in Luhansk to the Russian occupation, worked in Estonia before February 2022, but voluntarily returned home to defend Ukraine. “Estonian” lost an arm and a leg in battles near Pokrovsk, but he remained and remains an integral part of the community of his buddies. They visit him, monitor the progress of his rehabilitation, and he asks how he can continue to contribute to the defense, despite his missing limbs. In his mind and heart, he is still with “his people.” He expressed this sense of belonging in his answer to the question whether he had already been evacuated from Pokrovsk. He replied: “I never left.”
Another soldier, “Virus”, a barista and young father in civilian life, died in October 2023. A month later, a Russian airstrike destroyed the apartment of his pregnant wife and their young daughter. Buddies from his unit found a new apartment for the widow and two small children and visit them regularly, at Christmas and on his son’s first birthday—the son “Virus” never met.
The cohesion of Ukraine’s citizens is its strength.
Ihor Zhaloba does not consider an immediate ceasefire to be a real solution. Both armies are tired, and both armies have suffered massive losses. But the existence of Ukraine is at stake. And for Russia, whose goals have not changed, a ceasefire would only be a respite to recover their strength. His outlook is sober but confident: Ukraine’s best hope is its army.
He replies to skeptics that no one believed in the reunification of Germany, either. He is convinced that Ukraine will survive. “We are strong enough,” he said firmly.
Pickup4Ukraine would like to thank the Württemberger Gesellschaft and the Kulturforum Südliche Bergstraße e.V. for their support and cooperation. We would especially like to thank Prof. Zhaloba for his vivid depiction of wartime Ukrainian society and for his outspoken commentary on the state of Ukraine and Europe.
