Geoff: Continuing our series
ahead of the one-year
anniversary of Russia's
full-scale invasion, Ukrainians'
loyalties have sometimes been
described as divided,between
those who speak Russian and
Ukrainian, between those who
want to maintain historical ties
with Moscow and those who see a
future in the E.U. And nato.
But Nick schifrin reports that
in war, Ukraine is crafting a
new, united union.
He tells that story through
three russian-speaking cities,
and three Ukrainian mayors,
starting in the south, in the
-- in the south.
>> In the first days of the
work, the mayor got a phone
call.
Russian official who assumed he
would betray his country said,
open the city Gates.
He said, go [beep] Yourself.
We met him at a shelter for
Ukrainians fleeing occupied
territory.
Before the full-scale invasion,
he was a central figure in
Ukraine's pro-Russian political
party.
He once ran for president,
backed by pro-Russian
politicians.
>> Listen, I've never been
pro-Russian.
I've been sanctioned by Russia
since 2018.
>> Vilkul has long denied
supporting Russia.
But on Ukrainian TV, he
routinely called the 2014
revolution that overthrew a
pro-Russian president a "Coup."
One of the revolutions leaders
fought him in the studio.
But that was a different time.
Before Russia's total war to
, quote, "Liberate Russian
speakers from Ukraine's Nazi
government."
>> Russia mistakenly believed
that those people in Ukraine who
speak Russian, or those who are
orthodox, it means that they
love Russia.
Putin made a huge mistake.
The division that he created in
the last few months will last
for generations.
>> And so, what's the future of
the relationship between the
people of this city, this
region, many of whom speak
Russian and Russia?
,>> Does it matter which
language we speak?
We're Ukrainian, we're
patriotic, and we will be
defending every inch of our
-- with Russia, we don't have a
common past.
We just have a divided future.
Sarah: In Kyiv, the city cut in
two a statue of a soviet pilot,
0251 and dismantled a soviet
-- statue of a soviet pilot, and
dismantled a soviet general.
The subway station currently
named for Russian author Leo
tolstoy, will soon be called
"Place of Ukrainian heroes."
Ukrainians trace their identity
back to the 10th century.
But for more than 300 years, the
Russian empire, and especially
the soviet union, undermined any
distinct, Ukrainian character.
It gained Independence in 1991,
when the soviet union collapsed.
And it is now breaking with its
Russian and soviet past, a
process that started to
accelerate in 2014, during
Russia's initial invasion of
Ukraine, and annexation of
crimea.
>> When I was here in 2014, some
-- I got the sense that some
residents of this city had
sentiments toward Ukraine, and
some toward Russia.
What are the sentiments of
residents in kharkiv today?
>> 2014 and today, these are two
different eras.
As if a whole generation has
passed.
Sarah: -- >> Igor terkhov is the
mayor of kharkiv.
We also met him last summer.
He says residents once proud of
their Russian or soviet
heritage, are now proud to be
Ukrainian, and horrified by the
destruction and crimes Russia
has inflicted.
>> Yes, there were times when
people wanted to be friends with
Russia.
To have good relations.
Now, what they have done here
has changed people's perceptions
180 degrees.
And what Putin did, he turned
the people of kharkiv against
him, and against Russia.
>> 300 miles south, Odessa is
southern Ukraine's largest city.
The city was founded in the late
18th century by one of Russia's
greatest rulers, Catherine the
great.
It was one of the Russian
empire's most important ports.
And mayor gennadiy trukhanov was
a senior member of the main
political party with pro-Russian
sentiments.
But immediately after last
February's full-scale invasion,
he posed a rhetorical question
in response to Putin's claimed
defense of Odessa's Russian
speakers.
>> Who the [bleep] Are you
planning to defend here?
>> Today, odesa has changed
because we see what is happening
in our country.
How our Ukrainian cities are
being destroyed.
And we clearly understand who's
doing that, Russian soldiers.
>> They realized that Russia
brings destruction.
>> He is a professor of
Ukrainian history at Harvard.
>> What we certainly witnessed
today is an extremely important
moment in the birth of a new
Ukrainian nation and really
formation of a new type of
Ukrainian state.
>> 160 years ago, president
Abraham Lincoln visited the site
of the single deadliest battle
in American history, to dedicate
the soldiers' cemetery at
gettysburg, as read by an actor.
>> We here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died
in vain, that this nation, under
god, shall have a new birth of
freedom.
>> On new year's day, Ukrainian
president volodymr zelensky
echoed Lincoln.
On February 24, we woke up to
become a different people, a
different Ukraine.
The first rockets became a
wake-up call and we finally
realized who is who.
What our friends are capable of,
what our enemies are capable of,
but most importantly, what we
are capable of.
>> Ukraine was born as an
independent state in with the
vote for Independence in August
and then in December of 1991.
But the question was that there
was a state that still had to to
acquire a nation.
What we see today is
manifestation that that nation
has been formed.
It wasn't fighting for one
particular language.
It wasn't fighting for one
particular religion or for one
-- it was fighting for freedom.
>> And Ukrainian soldiers are
giving their lives today, so
that a new nation might live.
For the pbs newshour, I'm Nick