This is a letter from Donetsk, in southeastern Ukraine, which you have probably been told is the pro-Russian part of the country.

My name is Irina, and I speak Russian, just like most people here. I am a philologist by profession; I graduated from a local university. I have worked as a schoolteacher with small kids. Right now I work in IT. I never joined the protests at the Maidan and I don't support any existing political party. I'm passionately interested in languages, movies, dresses, shoes and makeup. I cannot say that I am ordinarily a very political person. Before our Ukrainian revolution started, I was devoting my energies to learning how to blend eyeshadow. I'd love to brush up on my Spanish and start learning Italian. In summer my boyfriend and I were thinking of traveling somewhere nice.

Donetsk, where I live, was the political base of Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of my country. Donetsk gave (political) life to Yanukovych. Donetsk will (politically) smash him. This opinion has been common in Kiev since the beginning of the Ukrainian revolution. Today it has become a reality. There are zero Yanukovych supporters in Donetsk these days. People are angry because they have been massively fooled by him and his regime.

People are also mildly confused, which is a good sign, because it means that they are thinking. I believe that people here in Donetsk are about to restart their value system and recharge their senses. This process needs time. Because taking responsibility for your freedom means doing something—learning, working (often for yourself, not some oligarch), controlling the government instead of choosing another power-hungry “czar.” And I am sure that soon they will understand and accept this freedom with gratitude.

The revolution gives us this chance, but the counter-revolution has come, and come from abroad, from Russia. Russia has invaded the Crimean peninsula, as I am sure you know. Ukrainian sailors and soldiers in Crimea are under siege on their bases or blockaded in their ships, being treated as if they have no right to know the truth and to feel righteous anger. These brave men tell us, the 45 million people who support them, that they will stay loyal to their oaths of service to Ukraine. I pray that they stay alive and no one has to die.