<ul class="summary-list"><li>Insider met with a group of worried Ukrainian expats in <keyword id="11897569" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="london" source="Orion">London</keyword>. </li><li>One said that they are "frustrated, worried, and upset" about the threat of war. </li></ul>In the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain community center in West London, the atmosphere feels light, like a gathering of old friends and family. But as you turn into the kitchen area, the mood dips. Sitting down with Natalia Ravlyuk, the conversation immediately moves to potential conflict between <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> and <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> and how <a href="https://www.migrationinstitute.org/files/completed-projects/themisscopingstudyukraine.pdf">many thousands of Ukrainians living in England</a> are fearfully watching events in their Eastern European homeland.<div type="image" title="Plaque saying &quot;The Assocation of Ukrainians in Great Britain&quot;" height="3024" width="4032" msid="89530280" hostid="261"></div>Ravlyuk has lived in London for more than 20 years, but it's clear she still considers Ukraine her home.Watching from the safety of London, with the borders of Ukraine now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-photos-show-how-russian-forces-have-surrounded-ukraine-2022-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">surrounded by Russian</a> troops, Ravlyuk said the Ukrainian expat community is "frustrated, worried, and upset" and as though "World War III is here." A lot of the frustration is because, Ravlyuk said, they've been here before: "We've been asking the Western countries for years, 'Please hear us. This needs to end.'"<div type="image" title="Natalia Ravlyuk protesting" height="2274" width="3024" msid="89530282" hostid="261"></div>And it's not just the adults who are watching the news seemingly grow more menacing each day. Inna Hryhorovych, the head of St Mary's Ukrainian School, which is attached to the cultural center, told Insider how her 10-year-old child will ask her for an update each day. "The children here, they go there every year," she said. "They love Ukraine. They have parents who speak to grandparents every day. Right now, you can see in their eyes that they are worried about war."We've got children here who have come here as refugees from areas already impacted by Russian intervention. And those kids also share what they've been through. So the other kids are worried that their relatives will go through the same thing."<div type="image" title="Alena, 32, a press officer in the Ukrainian army, takes a break in the soldiers lunch room on February 9, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine." height="3888" width="5184" msid="89530285" hostid="261"></div>Vlodko Pawluk, the head of the London branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, is the son of <keyword id="11938566" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="world-war-ii" source="Orion">World War II</keyword> refugees."They were grateful that the Brits allowed them to stay here making a life of their own. They didn't sit us down and tell us that the Russians were enemies, but they explained to us what the <keyword id="13160806" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ussr" source="Orion">USSR</keyword> was like, what the Russians were like, why they had to flee, and what we're seeing now … nothing's changed."Ukraine is a former Soviet state, meaning that Russia, which largely dominated the USSR, essentially ruled Ukraine from 1919 to 1991, with millions suffering under the regime.Ukraine endured the <keyword id="13160807" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="holodomor" source="Orion">Holodomor</keyword>, a devastating famine in the 1930s that several countries have since recognized as a genocide. The <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/505743">UN estimates</a> 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians starved to death.Ukraine declared independence in 1991.<div type="image" title="Vlodko Pawluk" height="320" width="640" msid="89530288" hostid="261"></div>But, as with recent events, the threats from Russia have not stopped, with British <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-prepares-to-send-1000-troops-to-eastern-europe-2022-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying</a> on Thursday that Europe faces "its most dangerous moment" in decades.Later, the conversation — the mood solemn — circled back to families and loved ones in Ukraine. "I just can't understand what we're going to do with the families back home. We don't have any plans." Hryhorovych said. "The saddest thing is we will not be able to do anything," Ravluk said."Yeah, because the links will be cut off. That's the problem. So there'll be no escape from it. No means for us to go and be with them because they will be isolated," Hryhorovych said before silence descended over the table, while the children upstairs still played. <h2>A dread that 'casualty rates are going to be horrendous' </h2>"This has been coming for a long time, and it would have happened sooner or later anyway," Pawluk said. "To be honest, I think Ukraine has lived through a lot worse: World War II, the famine. We know these troubles, So nobody wants another war." He added: "If it does kick off, the casualty rates are going to be horrendous on all sides."The Washington Post reported last week that a US military intelligence assessment suggested that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-intel-50k-casualties-russian-invasion-ukraine-2022-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">a full-scale Russian invasion could cause 50,000 Ukrainian civilian casualties</a> and a refugee crisis across Europe."It is frightening to imagine what scale the refugee crisis could reach in the event of escalating hostilities in Ukraine. It will be a continent-wide humanitarian disaster," Agnès Callamard, Amnesty <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword>'s secretary-general <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/01/further-armed-conflict-in-ukraine-would-have-devastating-consequences-for-the-human-rights-of-millions/">said in a statement. </a><h2>Ukrainians have been here before</h2>Ukraine has been living under Russian military threat "for much of its history," wrote <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2022/01/31/the-russia-ukraine-crisis-reminds-us-that-the-absence-of-war-is-not-always-peace/">Marnie Howlett, a lecturer in politics and international relations at Oxford University</a>.Fear of President Vladimir Putin's encroaching influence is not unique to 2022, the group told Insider. "I am in complete physical pain because all these years have gone by and we are still in square one," Ravlyuk said. "It's like we are hamsters who are running in a wheel."<div type="image" title="Inna Hryhorovych" height="451" width="600" msid="89530290" hostid="261"></div>When asked whether they felt let down by countries with whom they were allied, they agreed."We had hope in Europe. We sincerely believed that they were going to help us," At this point, Ravlyuk's voice broke, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I personally believed them. But now, we are here again."It isn't just the West they criticized but also the Ukrainian government, saying government officials are a "bunch of idiots" who they believe need to "increase the budget for the army — not today, but yesterday."Up to 14,400 Ukrainians have been killed and 54,000 people have been injured as a result of the conflict, since 2014, <a href="https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20%28rev%2027%20January%202022%29%20corr%20EN_0.pdf">according to UN estimates</a>. Hryhorovych recalled her childhood, as a citizen of the USSR under a Soviet dictatorship. "I remember my parents being called to the school, and I had to go to detention because we were told to wear the badges with Lenin on our hearts. I wouldn't wear it, so I was punished. We're so lucky that Ukraine moved on, but I think that never stopped in Russia."

Fearful Ukrainian expats recall the dark days of the Soviet era as Russia's military buildup reaches its 'most dangerous moment' yet

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to help feed Africa's poorest countries with grain.</li><li>The Ukrainian scheme is being organized by government entities, NGOs, and companies.</li></ul>Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to help feed some of Africa's poorest nations despite the Russian invasion of his country.The Ukrainian president announced the launch of a new scheme on the anniversary of his country's Holodomor famine, when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/exposing-stalin-famine-in-ukraine-muggeridge-1933">millions of Ukrainians starved to death</a> in 1932-33.The Grain from Ukraine scheme is being organized by government entities, NGOs, and companies. It represents a key moment for countries facing severe food shortages due to Russia's war with its neighbor launched, Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy's office, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/26/kyiv-opens-grain-from-ukraine-scheme-to-get-food-to-africas-poorest-countries">The Guardian</a> on Saturday.Three ships are due to depart from Odesa for Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, the newspaper reported. "The genocidal policy of the Kremlin, both then and now, against our citizens, against society, against the state, is aimed at the total subjugation and total destruction of the people of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/prezident-ukrayini-ta-premyer-ministr-belgiyi-obgovorili-rea-79445">following a meeting</a> about the initiative with Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo."But now the Russian genocidal policy has gone far beyond the borders of our state, our continent – and threatens millions of people in many countries of the world," he added. "Russia has done everything to make the food crisis, which was provoked precisely by the blockade of Ukrainian ports and the war against our state, become extremely acute for many countries of the world."Last month, Russia <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-29/russia-halting-involvement-in-ukraine-grain-safe-transit-deal#:~:text=Russia%20pulled%20out%20of%20a,and%20send%20prices%20soaring%20again.">pulled out of a deal</a> to allow grain exports from Black Sea ports after drones struck its naval vessels. US President Joe Biden said then the move was "outrageous" as it would "increase starvation."An UN-brokered grain export deal was extended last week, but Ukraine blamed Russia for taking too long to inspect the vessels. Since the agreement was extended, no more than five ships a day have departed Ukraine's ports, Bloomberg reported.The time taken to inspect <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-grain-ships-taking-2-weeks-inspect-causing-big-backlogs-2022-10">Ukrainian ships</a> carrying grain, fertilizer, and other foods was more than double the usual duration at some points in September, leading to a backlog of more than 100 ships waiting to enter or leave Ukraine. Zelenskyy's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Zelenskyy vows to help feed Africa and boost global food security with Grain from Ukraine scheme

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Zelenskyy compared Russian war tactics to the Soviet-era genocide, which left millions dead.</li><li>Russia has blocked key Ukrainian ports, preventing the global export of grains. </li></ul>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared the food crisis in Ukraine from the Russian war to the 1930s Stalin-era genocide. Zelenskyy drew the comparison at the Ukrainian International Summit on Food Security on Saturday, accusing Russia of causing another global crisis. "Every year, on the last Saturday in November, we honor the memory of millions of people. Millions of tortured and murdered Ukrainians. Women, men, elderly people. Millions of children. Millions of victims of famine," Zelenskyy said in his <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/vistup-prezidenta-ukrayini-na-mizhnarodnomu-ustanovchomu-sam-79449">address</a>. "Today is the 90th anniversary of the genocide committed against us by the totalitarian Stalinist regime."Millions of Ukrainians died from the famine from 1932 to 1933 after Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin ordered the seizure of grains and livestock from Ukrainian farms, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/26/ukraine-remembers-stalin-era-famine-as-russia-war-rages.html">CNBC</a>. The remembrance on Saturday honors the victims of "Holodomor" – or "death by hunger," according to the outlet. On Saturday, Zelenskyy accused Russia of using the same tactics in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Russian air strikes have caused widespread power outages, and the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2022/06/war-in-ukraine-threatens-to-unleash-unprecedented-wave-of-global-hunger-and-destitution-warns-un-chief/">United Nations warned</a> in June that the war would lead to an "unprecedented wave" of global hunger. "We see what is happening today in the world, what is happening in Ukraine. They want to destroy us again with bombs, bullets, cold, and again with hunger," Zelenskyy said. "On February 24, Russia started a full-scale war against our society, the people of Ukraine, against our state. The occupation and the blockade left thousands of people without food and water from the very beginning." Ukraine is typically an exporter of grains, produce, and dairy, but "this year, unfortunately, is different," Zelenskyy said. "Russian troops surrounded Ukrainian ports. They blocked the export of our food. They put the world on the brink of starvation. They provoked a food crisis," the Ukrainian president said.With the help of the UN, Russia and Ukraine came to an agreement to open a corridor to export grains over the summer, but Russia resumed its blockade in October, accusing Ukraine of a drone attack, according to The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-europe-black-sea-crimea-4d00fd0378175a7f73b4778ca71cb045">Associated Press</a>. Ukraine has denied the claims. "We must prevent the further spread of this crisis and this global challenge," Zelenskyy said Saturday. "Ukraine will fulfill its export obligations regarding the supply of grain and other foodstuffs to the global market. Ukraine is a fighter for life, its own and that of other peoples. Life without slavery and hunger."

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy compares Russian invasion to Stalin-era genocide: 'They want to destroy us again'

Content note: This story contains graphic images.SLOVIANSK, Ukraine — In the year since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the bodies of civilians and soldiers have piled up in mined forests and in cratered fields along Ukraine's front lines. It often falls on civilians like Oleksiy Yukov to find and retrieve the bodies."In war, you see the value of human life," he said. "How much, in war, human life has no value."With every death that I see, I want to become even more human," he continued. "I want to save more souls, bring more bodies back to their families. I commemorate the dead with every mission by becoming more human."Yukov, who's 37, lives with his wife and 2-year-old son in Sloviansk, a city in eastern Ukraine that's roughly halfway between Kharkiv, to the north, and Donetsk, to the south. He's part of Black Tulip, a humanitarian mission made up of Ukrainian civilians to carry the dead from battlefields or exhume and retrieve bodies in newly liberated territories.Yukov estimates his team has retrieved at least 800 bodies since the beginning of 2022. But that's a small fraction of who's out there.The United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/02/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-13-february-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has registered</a> over 7,000 civilian deaths, including 438 children, since last February, while US officials have estimated that over 40,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict. Intelligence experts believe that military losses have been staggering on both sides: They've estimated that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63580372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 100,000</a> Ukrainian soldiers and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/us/politics/ukraine-russia-casualties.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">twice as many</a> Russian troops have been killed or seriously wounded in the past year.This could translate to tens of thousands of bodies left behind — and many years of work for the body collectors."Every soul has to be respected," Yukov said. "It has to be given back to the family. And it has to be given a proper burial — not just left to rot in the field."<h2>A dignified burial</h2><div type="image" title="A man in camouflage stands in the woods holding and looking down at a helmet." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98198875" hostid="261"></div>A decade ago, Yukov launched Platsdarm — "Bridgehead" in English — a nongovernmental organization focused on finding the forgotten remains of people who died in World War I; in World War II, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union; and during the Holodomor, a famine engineered by Stalin in the 1930s that the European Parliament has since <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221209IPR64427/holodomor-parliament-recognises-soviet-starvation-of-ukrainians-as-genocide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a genocide.Ukrainians have long held that their death tolls during the 20th century were far higher than the numbers put forward by Soviet and Russian propaganda — evidenced in part by the bodies left hidden in the Ukrainian countryside. Yukov's mission has been to prove that. He came upon his first remains at 8 and his second at 13; the experiences were traumatizing, but they also set him on his current life path. "I've been searching for bodies for 24 years at this point," he said.In 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea and the Donbas region of Ukraine, Yukov helped start the Black Tulip mission. His work moved from the past to the present, from excavating decades-old corpses to removing casualties from an active war zone.That April, Yukov's city of Sloviansk became the first major regional capital to be seized by Russian-backed separatists, and it saw heavy fighting when Ukrainian forces liberated it three months later. Early in that occupation, Yukov was captured by a Russian-backed unit and charged as a traitor. He narrowly avoided being killed that day when his captors came under fire, he said. When he again slipped into Russian hands, one of his captors recognized him and saved him, saying, "We didn't realize you were the corpse guy!"From 2014 until early 2022, Yukov said, his team retrieved nearly 1,000 bodies.Then came February 24, 2022, and the year of war that followed.<div type="image" title="Two men stand in a ditch in the forest and two others look on." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98198878" hostid="261"></div>The military's J-9 units — named for the rule under the Geneva Conventions that addresses the retrieval of casualties — are generally the first on the scene to collect the dead. But thousands of bodies can be left behind, out of view. Those bodies are the focus of Black Tulip, whose members in many cases have years of experience locating, identifying, and exhuming the dead, and helping return them to whichever side for a dignified burial.The retrieval process is identical for Ukrainian and Russian bodies, Yukov said. Ukrainian bodies are returned as quickly as possible to their grieving families, while Russian bodies are transferred to Ukrainian government hands so that they can be exchanged for Ukrainians in the possession of Russian forces. "It's the best job in the world, because every Russian brings home a Ukrainian," said Lutsenko Alexander, 50, who was assigned to a J-9 unit last spring.At last count, Ukraine's prosecutor general was investigating <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/5756" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 50,000</a> alleged war crimes carried out by Russian forces during the war. The work of the body collectors — such as documenting how a person died, whether their hands were tied or there were weapons nearby — can help investigators decide whether a war crime was committed and by whom, said Belinda Cooper, a professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. "Their work could help with the prosecution and conviction of war crimes," she said.The work also has a more immediate purpose. "People can't really move on until they know what happened to their loved ones," Cooper said. "It's a significant part of the post-conflict process."Or, in Yukov's case, the mid-conflict process. In January, Yukov's team lost its first member. Denys Sosnenko, a former Ukrainian national <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64446436" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kickboxing champion</a> also from Sloviansk, was killed driving over a buried anti-tank mine while on a Black Tulip mission. The bomb was made from plastic parts, Yukov said, making it much more difficult to detect.<div type="image" title="A man sits alone in a forest." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98198879" hostid="261"></div>Sosnenko, who was 21, had signed up with the group the year before and had started joining missions only recently, after completing his training."We understand every time we go on a mission that no matter how many security measures we take, there is still a great risk of dying," Yukov said. "We have to understand that Denys' death is not a precedent to change something of what we're doing but rather a confirmation that the work that we're doing is incredibly risky."Yukov himself has been seriously hurt 18 times. He has a prosthetic eye from a shrapnel wound he got years ago, and he's had to get surgery on his knee because of another bad day. But Yukov said he'd been most affected by the cumulative years of war and trauma."All of Ukraine and all of Ukrainians are in danger," he said. "People die just being in their houses when a bomb is dropped on their apartment. People can die sitting on their own bed. No one is safe from this."<h2>'The bones say a lot'</h2><div type="image" title="Shovels and other tools are seen laid out on the ground." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98198881" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="A close-up of a man using a brush to clean off the face of a credit card." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98199258" hostid="261"></div>In December, Yukov invited journalists to accompany his crew on a mission outside Sloviansk. That summer, Russian forces advanced to within 10 miles of the city, determined to occupy the regional transportation and logistics hub, but were pushed back by a massive Ukrainian counteroffensive. It's calmer now, but the area still comes under attack from the air.Every recovery mission starts in the same way: Yukov and his team — there are two others who do this full time and seven others who drop in and out — cordon off the grave site with colored tape. The work itself is delicate, because of a need to both respect the dead and avoid mines or other booby traps that might be hidden nearby. A demining team should have already created a secure path from the grave site to the road, but Yukov's team still pokes and prods around the bodies with a long metal pole before attempting to move anything or get too close, just in case.The work takes patience, too. A single grave site can take days to empty, especially in winter when the ground is frozen solid. Once the bodies are unearthed, the team dons blue rubber gloves, and the exhumation finally begins. No matter the season, the smell gets much stronger. The team must work as quickly as possible, and often into the night. They move deliberately and with respect, taking care not to disturb the dead more than they have to.<div type="image" title="A body is seen in a dug-out grave." height="4000" width="6000" msid="98199263" hostid="261"></div>They examine the uniforms for battalion patches or hidden dog tags. They note any discernible information about how the dead were killed. As part of the documentation process, they take photos of the bodies in their final resting place, with any belongings they find alongside them."The bones say a lot," Yukov said. "I see death exactly the way it is — not like the statistics that you see in the news." He added: "I see people and their encounter with death, in the very moment that it happened. I see the position in which the person died. I see under which circumstances the person died."He's used to the sight of the dead, along with the grotesque sounds and smells that come with the work. It doesn't bother him, he said. But he knows that the weight of all that death is having a deeper impact on him."It changes me, inside, every time I go out there," he said.Correction: February 24, 2023 — Due to an editing error, an earlier headline overstated estimates for the death toll from the war in Ukraine. While many Western governments believe hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or injured in the war so far, most estimates put the death toll below 200,000. The actual figure is unclear.

The body collectors recovering Ukraine's war dead

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Generational <keyword id="12230144" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trauma" source="Orion">trauma</keyword> occurs when parents unintentionally pass their trauma down to their kids. </li><li>Generational trauma can affect multiple generations over the course of hundreds of years. </li></ul>A traumatic event is terrible in the moment, but as anyone who has experienced trauma knows, it doesn't stop there: The <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma#:~:text=Trauma%20is%20an%20emotional%20response,symptoms%20like%20headaches%20or%20nausea." target="_blank" rel="noopener">emotional and physical ramifications</a> last for <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weeks, months, and even years</a>.But it's not just you. Your trauma can take a toll on others, too — in particular, your children, grandchildren, and other generations that follow. This is called generational, or intergenerational, trauma. Also dubbed <a href="https://medicamondiale.org/en/violence-against-women/overcoming-trauma/transgenerational-trauma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgenerational trauma</a> or <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/intergenerational-trauma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multigenerational trauma</a>, the concept of intergenerational trauma was pioneered by <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/02/legacy-trauma#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20first%20articles,(Canada%27s%20Mental%20Health%2C%20Vol." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vivian Rakoff</a> in the 1960s. Her studies on Holocaust survivors revealed that their children were more likely to struggle emotionally than kids whose parents hadn't experienced genocide."A lot of people don't tend to understand that intergenerational trauma, unless those patterns are changed, the patterns tend to continue. They don't just go away on their own," says <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/persons/susan-beaulieu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Susan Beaulieu</a>, an assistant extension professor in family development at the <a href="https://twin-cities.umn.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Minnesota</a>. "If we don't deal with them, they actually end up compounding over time."Here's how intergenerational trauma may be affecting you and your family and how to break the cycle.<h2>Examples of intergenerational trauma</h2>One of the longest-running cases of intergenerational trauma still in effect today dates back hundreds of years to the mass enslavement of African people in the United States.Over the decades and centuries, those traumas were passed down to younger generations, in part, due to outside factors of historical oppression like socioeconomic impacts and a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934718803737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legacy of poverty</a>.<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934718803737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">But there's also </a><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0539018419899336" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic elements</a> of stress transmission, and psychological factors like parent-child relationships that play a role.Almost any significant trauma can spread to your children and subsequent generations.Other examples of <a href="https://medicamondiale.org/en/violence-against-women/overcoming-trauma/transgenerational-trauma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intergenerational trauma</a> include:<ul><li>Sexual and physical abuse: Research has found that at least <a href="https://1in6.org/get-information/common-questions/am-i-going-to-become-abusive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75% of people who sexually or physically abuse others</a> were abused themselves as children. In the case of incest, this perpetuates the trauma of sexual and physical abuse across generations. </li><li>Genocide: Studies have shown that the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720013/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children of Holocaust survivors</a> experience higher rates of mental health problems than children of non-survivors. They can also experience physical changes, like increased or decreased cortisol levels. These modifications can make children of survivors either more or less prone to stress.</li><li>Debilitating accident: Events like <a href="https://medicamondiale.org/en/violence-against-women/overcoming-trauma/transgenerational-trauma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">car accidents</a> can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396820/#:~:text=For%20many%20individuals%2C%20the%20symptoms,e.g.%2C%20reluctance%20or%20refusal%20to" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cause post-traumatic stress disorder </a>(PTSD). <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.480690/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Studies</a> have shown that parents dealing with trauma may have a harder time connecting to their children, and children develop potentially unhealthy coping strategies, like self-soothing, as a result.</li></ul>Important: Another common type of intergenerational trauma is <a href="https://extension.umn.edu/trauma-and-healing/historical-trauma-and-cultural-healing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historical trauma</a>. Historical trauma occurs in a cultural group that has been systematically oppressed over a long period of time, says <a href="https://medicine.osu.edu/find-faculty/clinical/psychiatry-and-behavioral-health/anthony-king-phd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthony King</a>, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health at <a href="https://medicine.osu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Ohio State University</a>.<h2>How is trauma passed down through generations?</h2>Intergenerational trauma is perpetuated through a mix of behavior and genetics.Most obviously, negative <a href="https://oie.duke.edu/inter-generational-trauma-6-ways-it-affects-families" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cycles of abuse </a>can lead to repeated traumas from generation to generation. For instance, parents may think physical abuse is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426107/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the best way to parent</a> their children, King says, but ultimately, it contributes to intergenerational trauma.Moreover, if parents have unresolved traumas, they may develop negative coping mechanisms they pass on to their children. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953615002294" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one 2015 study</a> suggests that survivors of the Ukrainian Holodomor genocide were likely to experience feelings of anxiety and fear, and to adopt behaviors like hoarding food. Their children and grandchildren later adopted some of these negative coping strategies and fears.The way trauma spreads can be more subtle, too. Parents who have experienced traumas can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720013/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struggle to develop positive attachments </a>with their children and may have issues anticipating their kids' wants and needs. Though this lack of bonding isn't necessarily as obvious as physical abuse, it can cause mental health and interpersonal issues for children in the future, like an <a href="https://www.psychalive.org/disorganized-attachment/#:~:text=A%20disorganized%20attachment%20results%20when,met%20without%20fright%20and%20terror." target="_blank" rel="noopener">inability to be vulnerable and trust future partners</a>. For instance, Beaulieu says that many children who were forcibly sent to Native American boarding schools were abused and weren't taught how to regulate their own emotions. Instead, they learned to shut down when they were stressed. Later, when their own kids were in high-emotion situations, they struggled to teach and connect to them, creating a distance between parents and kids and perpetuating the cycle of trauma.Trauma can also be passed down through your genes, specifically through epigenetics. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/disease/epigenetics.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Epigenetics</a> is the way that your genetic code is expressed. According to Beaulieu, different life experiences can "turn on or turn off" certain genes. A mother's diet during pregnancy, for instance, can determine <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/disease/epigenetics.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which genes are triggered</a> in her baby, affecting the child's disease risk as an adult.This means that even if you had a perfectly happy and healthy childhood, you can still experience the effects of intergenerational trauma. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1803630115" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One 2018 study</a> showed that sons of American Civil War prisoners of war had higher premature death rates than sons of non-prisoners of war, being more likely to die from illnesses like cerebral hemorrhages and cancer. After controlling for socioeconomic and cultural factors, researchers attributed this difference in mortality to epigenetic changes resulting from the stress of POW camps, which were passed down to prisoners' sons.It's not totally clear yet how long the genetic impacts of intergenerational trauma can last in humans, Beaulieu says. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aah6412" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Some studies</a> on animals suggest epigenetic changes related to environmental changes can stick for as many as 10 generations.But broadly speaking, evidence indicates intergenerational trauma can be passed down for hundreds of years, spanning dozens of generations, such as in the case of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-00820-003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intergenerational trauma due to slavery</a>. In the end, how long a particular intergenerational trauma lasts depends on a variety of outside factors, including your desire to address your own traumas and break the cycle.<h2>Who is affected by intergenerational trauma?</h2>While intergenerational trauma can affect anyone, certain demographics are at a higher risk. Groups which have experienced historical traumas — including <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/cultural-competency/education/stress-and-trauma/indigenous-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indigenous</a> and <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2019/03/08/the-curse-of-slavery-has-left-an-intergenerational-legacy-of-trauma-and-poor-health-for-african-americans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Black people</a> in the US — are particularly vulnerable, King says.For example, the first generation of Indigenous people who experienced colonization underwent undeniable horrors – but their children experienced those traumas as well as the traumas of their parents. "That's twice as much trauma," Beaulieu says.It's important to note that just because your ancestors experienced trauma isn't always a guarantee that you, or your children, will be affected. "There's lots of factors that play in. If there are people and experiences that can help buffer that trauma, even in that generation or the second generation, then the trauma doesn't end up perpetuating," Beaulieu says. Important: Isolating intergenerational trauma from other types of trauma is difficult. "It's tricky. It's not always easy to tease out this is intergenerational trauma or this is ancestral trauma or this is ACEs, because they tend to connect and impact one another," Beaulieu says.<h2>What to do about it</h2>Intergenerational trauma can be treated. In fact, one of the most important ways to address intergenerational trauma is preemptively, through education and awareness, King says. If people can <a href="https://iuhealth.org/thrive/generational-trauma-breaking-the-cycle-of-adverse-childhood-experiences" target="_blank" rel="noopener">address their own trauma</a> before they have kids, they can be proactive about not spreading their negative experiences. Treatments include mental health medications or psychotherapy techniques, King says, which can include:<ul><li><a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cognitive behavioral therapy</a>, in which patients address and change unhealthy thought patterns.</li><li><a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/cognitive-processing-therapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cognitive processing therapy</a>, a trauma-specific form of cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients rework trauma-related thought processes.</li><li><a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/prolonged-exposure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exposure-based therapy</a>, in which patients are exposed to and learn to manage their trauma and triggers.</li><li>Family systems therapy, which helps the family resolve generational trauma in the context of the family unit by working together to better understand the family history of trauma and evaluate how each individual of the family affects the family as a whole.</li></ul>Important: With all intergenerational trauma treatment approaches it is important for the clinician to be trauma-informed and multiculturally competent; meaning that the therapist acknowledges, respects and integrates the patients' and families' cultural values, beliefs, and practices, as well as their history of trauma and how it affects each individual and family as a whole.Parents who have already had children can also use <a href="https://iuhealth.org/thrive/generational-trauma-breaking-the-cycle-of-adverse-childhood-experiences" target="_blank" rel="noopener">therapies</a> to promote parent-infant attachment, including <a href="http://www.pcit.org/what-is-pcit.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parent-child interactive therapy</a> (PCIT), in which therapists watch parents and children interact and give parents tips on how to more positively respond to their children. PCIT techniques can include encouraging parents to <a href="https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/parent-child-interaction-therapy#:~:text=PCIT%20Techniques,-PCIT's%20in%20vivo&amp;text=These%20skills%20are%20represented%20with,what%20their%20child%20is%20doing." target="_blank" rel="noopener">praise their kids and mimic their behaviors</a>. These strategies can help parents and children bond and develop a better relationship.The length of a treatment plan <a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/length-treatment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">varies depending on the patient</a>. Typically, psychotherapy regimens last around <a href="https://www.cebc4cw.org/program/parent-child-interaction-therapy/detailed#:~:text=PCIT%20is%20time%2Dunlimited%3B%20families,with%20hour%2Dlong%20weekly%20sessions." target="_blank" rel="noopener">14 weeks</a> for PCIT or <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd#:~:text=Talk%20therapy%20treatment%20for%20PTSD,but%20it%20can%20last%20longer." target="_blank" rel="noopener">6 to 12 weeks</a> for PTSD treatment. Patients can stay on medications <a href="https://nyulangone.org/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-adults/treatments/medication-for-post-traumatic-stress-disorder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for months or years</a>, or they may choose to stop taking their medicines at some point after consulting a physician.Survivors don't have to pick just one approach: <a href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10896-022-00387-5?sharing_token=4oijeMnNkoLS7p5vvpa1Ofe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY7udopZowCLWPVwQ3VURbW9stUt_JlHyoie-3KkqtMCVfL-oGkd-vVF1t7XKJPD40Fmj4F2XbpgzsCrgm5NK2B8TA37gNNvaTj8v-DZnxflknmNCIouOinrzJXm5B3pZMo%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One 2022 study</a> suggested that a combination of <keyword id="11910745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="parenting" source="Orion">parenting</keyword> assistance and mental health treatment is the most effective way to address intergenerational trauma.Over time, behavioral changes can even alter epigenetic code for the better, Beaulieu says, since epigenetic changes <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/disease/epigenetics.htm#:~:text=Epigenetics%20and%20Reversibility,changes%20in%20behavior%20or%20environment." target="_blank" rel="noopener">aren't necessarily permanent</a>.The focus is really on rewiring the nervous system. "Maybe our ancestors or parents or even we grew up in environments that were really unsafe, were literally under physical threat," Beaulieu says. "But now we have to train our nervous system that we're not in that situation anymore. I see it as aligning the nervous system, and I believe that any and all of us not only have the capacity to do that, but really have the responsibility to do that."<h2>Other resources</h2>In addition to consulting a psychologist or psychiatrist, other supportive resources to deal with trauma include the following:<ul><li>National Prevention Lifeline, 800 273 8255 (TALK)</li><li>National Hopeline Network, 800, 442, 4673 (HOPE)</li><li><a href="https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/resource/samhsas-national-center-for-trauma-informed-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SAMHSA Network for Trauma-Informed Care</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nctsn.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Child Traumatic Stress Network</a></li></ul><h2>Insider's takeaway</h2>Intergenerational traumas are negative experiences that are passed down between generations. Behavioral factors, like cycles of abuse and epigenetic changes can both transmit trauma.Trauma won't ever completely go away, King says. But most people can move past trauma. "The memory of the trauma, the impact that it has, is something that can be part of our lives," he says. "Trauma can lead to increasing empathy and compassion and can lead to all different forms of growth."

The trauma your parents experienced well before you were born could explain why you're so anxious all the time

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5540ec796bb3f7641fe17bdd-1200-924/ukraine-294.jpg" border="0" alt="ukraine">Gleb Garanich/ReutersLocal residents wait to board a bus to flee the conflict in Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine, February 5, 2015. </img></div></div></div>Pro-Russian separatists are teaching students in southeastern Ukraine that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-famine-2014-3">a forced famine in the 1930's</a> was not a genocide but a "tragedy" that befell the entire Soviet Union, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/world/europe/ukraine-separatists-rewrite-history-of-1930s-famine.html?_r=0">New York Times</a> reported.Anywhere from <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7111296.stm">3 million to 10 million</a> Ukrainians starved to death in the the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor">Holodomor</a>, translated as "killing by means of hunger," which historians say was an attempt by Stalin to quell Ukrainian nationalism after the country first declared independence in 1918. Historians agree that the famine falls under the <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/justice-and-accountability/introduction-to-the-definition-of-genocide">legal definition of genocide</a> as it deliberately targeted a large group of people - in this case ethnic Ukrainians - and directly resulted from Stalin's forced collectivization and mass export of grain between 1932 and 1933, totaling roughly 1.8 million tons. That amount would have been enough to feed 5 million people for one year, <a href="http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman1933.pdf">estimated</a> Russia expert and University of Amsterdam professor Michael Ellman. Even <a href="http://www.uccla.ca/SOVIET_GENOCIDE_IN_THE_UKRAINE.pdf">Raphael Lemkin</a>, the man who coined the term "genocide," used the Holodomor as an example. The whitewashed Russian version of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor">Holodomor</a>, however, denies that the famine was organized along ethnic lines. Rather, the country frames it as part of a larger disaster: the Soviet famine from 1932 to 1933, which resulted from a poor crop season and the subsequent inability to harvest grain.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5540e993ecad04e452e17bdc-480-360/holodomor-1.jpg" border="0" alt="holodomor">Wikimedia CommonsPedestrians in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1933 walk by starved bodies on the street.</img></div></div></div>The Soviet Union had denied the famine ever occurred up until the mid-1980's. Even now, Russia doesn't recognize the Holodomor as a genocide, nor does Ukraine's ousted, pro-Russian president, <a href="http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/alexander-j-motyl/yanukovych-and-stalin%E2%80%99s-genocide">Viktor </a><a href="http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/alexander-j-motyl/yanukovych-and-stalin%E2%80%99s-genocide">Yanukovych</a>. Now, students living in the Russian-backed separatist government of the Donetsk People's Republic and other rebel strongholds are being taught a revised version of events that even a pro-Russia senior official has trouble accepting. "It was terrible," he told the Times, referring to the famine, which he considers to have been an intentional consequence of Stalinist policies. During the Holodomor, entire villages <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25058256">were wiped out</a>, their streets littered with the corpses of those who tried to leave their homes in search of food but didn't make it. The death rate <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25058256">reached one-third</a> in some regions, and many <a href="http://www.holodomorct.org/accounts.html">eyewitness accounts</a> describe people eating their dogs and, horrifyingly, their own children.Regardless of the horrors, history teachers in the separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine have been ordered to trash their old textbooks - halfway through the school year - and start teaching Ukrainian history according to new government-provided guidelines called "Materials for the Questioning of History Teaching," according to the Times.When asked about the new curriculum, history teacher Natalia S. Skrichenko was careful not to overtly criticize the shift. "History doesn't change," she told the Times. "People just look at the facts with a new mentality. We don't really know what happened in the past. It's gone. All we can know is what we see through the prism of our own time." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-after-black-widow-spider-bite-poison-2015-4">Here's what happens when you get bitten by a black widow</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="5wdGFndDqN2zqp8TnWPghhDHfhDWYD_r" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '5wdGFndDqN2zqp8TnWPghhDHfhDWYD_r',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

Russian-backed rebels are re-writing one of Ukraine's worst massacres

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5318bb23eab8ea3a4852981b-627-470/holodomor.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Holodomor" width="480" />Wikimedia CommonsPedestrians in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1933 walk by starved bodies on the street.</div></div>Growing up in a Ukrainian family, I always wondered where my Baba's frantic need to feed everyone originated.
My grandparents didn't talk about how they suffered during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor">Holodomor</a> - a forced famine in Ukraine perpetuated by the Soviets in the 1930s. I have seen pictures though, of them waiting in line for bread at a relocation camp. They finally fled Ukraine in 1943. My uncle was born during the journey somewhere in Poland.
With mounting pressure from the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-reserves-the-right-to-use-force-in-ukraine/2014/03/04/92d4ca70-a389-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_story.html">defend his invasion</a> of the Crimea section of Ukraine. Putin claims Russia has a right to protect the former government headed by President Viktor Yanukovych in a "lawless" country like Ukraine. 
But many people forget the history of oppression against Ukraine goes much further back than Putin's recent invasion. During Soviet rule in the 1930s, when my grandparents lived there, Stalin lead a genocide of Ukrainians.
"The Ukrainians have a lingering memory of a previous union with the Russians that nearly broke the back of their nation," Walter Zaryckyj, executive director for the Center for U.S.-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR) told the <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366682/roots-ukraine-protests-stalins-genocide-alec-torres">National Review</a>.
In 1932, Joseph Stalin and his forces perpetuated a famine in Ukraine known as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor">Holodomor</a>," meaning "death by hunger." As a communist leader, Stalin wanted to curtail the country's growing independence (declared for the first time in 1918). He considered wealthy farmers, known as "<a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/324575/kulak">kulaks</a>," capitalist and, therefore, anti-socialist. Consequently, Stalin instituted "dekulakization," seizing families' estates and imposing heavy grain taxes. He hoped not only to feed his growing forces but also to force Ukraine to abandon their national pride and adopt Soviet ideals.
 No one knows how many Ukrainians perished, but historians estimate anywhere from <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7111296.stm">3 million to 10 million people</a> starved to death. Some <a href="http://www.holodomorct.org/accounts.html">eyewitness accounts</a> describe people eating their dogs and, horrifingly, their own children. 
But history often ignores Stalin's reign of terror. Currently, Russia doesn't recognize the Holodomor as a genocide, <a href="http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/alexander-j-motyl/yanukovych-and-stalin%E2%80%99s-genocide">nor</a> does Ukraine's ousted, pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych. While Kremlin-supporters fail to acknowledge the genocide, many countries, as well as the <a href="http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/ukraine_famine.htm">United Nations Human Rights Council</a>, recognize the event as exactly that. Even <a href="http://www.uccla.ca/SOVIET_GENOCIDE_IN_THE_UKRAINE.pdf">Raphael Lemkin</a>, the man who coined the term "genocide," used the Holodomor as an example. While we can never call one tragedy "worse" than another, some historians claim Stalin killed just as many Ukrainians as Hitler killed Jews - possibly more.
Although Ukraine declared independence 1918, that government soon collapsed, and the country wouldn't gain true independence until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Decades later, Yanukovych has maintained a close relationship with Russia and Putin, a leader who makes no secret of his pro-Stalin ideology. Recently, he <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sochi-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-hail-stalin-era-industrial-revolution-1435468">dedicated</a> the Sochi Olympics to his favorite communist leader. On top of that, Yanukovych has refused to allow Ukraine to join the European Union and cut troubled ties to Russia.
"For Ukrainians, E.U. membership means more than economic opportunities and mobility. It is about distancing themselves from Putin, who is said to revere Stalin, the very dictator who tried to erase Ukraine and managed to partition it, at least politically," Andrea Chalupa, who studied at the <a href="http://www.huri.harvard.edu/">Harvard Ukrainian Institute</a>, wrote for <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/17/how-to-explain-whats-happening-in-the-ukraine/?iid=op-main-lead">Time</a>.
Although fewer than one-fifth of Americans feel the U.S. has any obligation to protect Ukraine from Russian invasion, according to a<a href="http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/1bf0l9uz87/tabs_OPI_ukraine_20140303.pdf"> YouGov poll</a>, history reminds us of the need to watch closely. Putin's affiliation with Stalin looks all too clear. And Hillary Clinton, among others, already compared <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-comments-on-russia-and-hitler-2014-3">the Kremlin's actions to those of Adolf Hitler</a>.
For Ukraine, this invasion just signifies another notch in a long line of abuses.

The Crisis In Ukraine Has Much Deeper And Darker Roots Than Many Realize

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5566e445eab8eaaf470b4895-1200-924/russia-vladimir-putin-9.jpg?maxX=600" border="0" alt="Russia Vladimir Putin" width="600">APRussian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at the 10th business forum "Business Russia" in Moscow on Tuesday, May 26, 2015.</img></div></div>Ever since his aggressive annexation of Crimea began in March 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin has tried to defend his actions as simple unification. "People who have their own views on history and the history of our country may argue with me, but it seems to me that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are practically one people," he said in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/29/putin-ukraine_n_5735454.html">August 2014</a>.Putin reiterated this point on the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11480864/Vladimir-Putin-praises-Russian-patriotism-and-claims-Ukrainians-and-Russians-are-one.html">one year anniversary</a> of Crimea's annexation, and on Friday morning he said Ukraine and Russia are "<a href="https://twitter.com/lauraphylmills/status/611899944555937792">doomed to share the same fate</a>."As an ethnic Ukrainian, I can see the two countries undoubtedly have similarities: geography, language, and even cuisine. But one characteristic - or rather one figure - forever separates them: Joseph Stalin. In 1932, Stalin and his forces perpetuated a famine in Ukraine known as "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-famine-2014-3#ixzz3P2dnulhx">Holodomor</a>," meaning "death by hunger." As a communist leader, Stalin wanted to curtail the country's growing independence (declared for the first time in 1918). He considered wealthy farmers, known as "<a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/324575/kulak">kulaks</a>,"capitalist and, therefore, anti-socialist.Consequently, Stalin instituted "dekulakization," seizing families' estates and imposing heavy grain taxes. He hoped not only to feed his growing forces but also to force Ukraine to abandon their national pride and adopt Soviet ideals.<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/558473de6bb3f7f54cc71a12-479-360/holodomor-3.jpg" border="0" alt="holodomor" width="600">Wikimedia CommonsPedestrians in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1933 walk by starved bodies on the street.</img></div></div>No one knows how many Ukrainians perished, but historians estimate anywhere from <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7111296.stm">3 million to 10 million people</a> starved to death.Some <a href="http://www.holodomorct.org/accounts.html">eyewitness accounts</a> describe people eating their dogs and, horrifingly, their own children.Russia, however, refuses to acknowledge the event as a genocide. And Putin, who once called the breakup of the Soviet Union the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century, makes no secret of pro-Stalin ideology. In fact, almost as soon as Putin took office, he began what's become known as "re-Stalinization," <a href="http://www.taraskuzio.net/">Taras Kuzio</a>, a Ukrainian political expert, <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2015/04/16/attitudes-to-stalin-show-ukrainians-are-not-russians/">wrote for FT</a>. He ordered teachers and historians to rewrite texts to portray Stalin as a successful leader, not a violent tyrant. He also created a group to open museums in the Soviet figure's honor. Today, nearly half of Russians think the Soviet Union's remarkable economic progress made up for the "sacrifices" (read: horrors) Stalin perpetuated, <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/was-stalins-terror-justified-poll-shows-more-russians-think-it-was/518298.html">according to a recent poll</a>. And nearly a quarter feel Stalin's death meant the "loss of a great leader."Many of the Ukrainians who remember how Stalin starved an entire country to undermine its nationalist pride do not feel the same way. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-models-pose-with-bear-2015-4">Two models in Russia just posed with a 1,400-pound bear</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dobDNwdDrBMVZujpjC92M8SlR9FEI06Y" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'dobDNwdDrBMVZujpjC92M8SlR9FEI06Y',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

Putin keeps saying Ukrainians and Russians are the same - here's the main reason why they're not

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5329a9c86bb3f79b36be2969-720-540/ukrainian-ama.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Ukrainian AMA" width="480" /><a href="http://imgur.com/EKbuNdD,5IGGEv5,Z6hTYkG,XCi728A,KHzRo0G#4">Imgur/2positive</a>A picture of Reddit user 2positive </div></div>Reddit user <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20pf21/iama_portfolio_manager_in_a_ukrainian_investment/">2positive</a> has a unique perspective on the situation in Crimea: he grew up in a half-Ukrainian, half-Russian family and now has a Crimean girlfriend.
In a candid Reddit AMA, he says he participated in the pro-EU protests in Ukraine and claims most of the ideological divide over Crimea stems from leftover feeling toward the USSR.
"I was there on two of the three police assaults, I was there when violence on Hrushevskogo street started and I've seen dead bodies and streams of blood on Institutska street right after the shootings," says 2positive, a portfolio manager in a Ukrainian investment firm. "I've seen it all with my own eyes."
Even when asked about police killings, 2positive gave a straight answer.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5329b9f3eab8ea6b08be2968-833-235/screenshot%202014-03-19%2010.14.59.png" border="0" alt="Ukrainian AMA" width="800" /><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20pf21/iama_portfolio_manager_in_a_ukrainian_investment/">Reddit/2positive</a></div></div>
2positive's Russian father was a doctor on one of the first USSR nuclear submarines, making their family upper-middle class by USSR standards. Upon retirement, his father chose to live in Kiev, where the government gave him an apartment and a car.
"They miss the glory days in USSR, regret it collapsing and are definitely pro-Russian," he wrote. He added that many other retired Russian officials chose to settle near <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-crimea-takeover-in-3-photos-2014-3?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+(Business+Insider)">Sevastopol</a>, a Ukrainian military base in Crimea and a "very nice place."
2positive's Ukrainian grandfather had six siblings, all of whom died during the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-famine-2014-3">Holodomor</a>, a forced famine in Ukraine perpetuated by the Soviets. His grandfather's wife's father also "died in prison for nothing." After that, 2positive's grandfather's wife and great-grandmother couldn't find jobs, forcing them to live in a train station for a year. 
"It's quite natural that this part of the family hates USSR and Russia and believes that Nazi soldiers during German occupation were much nicer than soviet NKVD, I am not kidding, this is an actual quote by my grandmother," 2positive wrote.
Considering his background, 2positive tried to remain neutral, but he expressed some strong feelings on Russian President Vladimir Putin's motivations for trying to take Crimea from Ukraine.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5329b98f69bedd1927f624b5-831-186/screenshot%202014-03-19%2010.00.40.png" border="0" alt="Ukrainian AMA Crimea" width="800" /><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20pf21/iama_portfolio_manager_in_a_ukrainian_investment/">Reddit/2positive</a></div></div>
He also blames the media and Russian propaganda for much of the misconceptions in public opinion, especially in the West.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5329acff6da811f515b8ed7e-838-392/screenshot%202014-03-19%2010.12.02.png" border="0" alt="Ukrainian AMA screenshot media" width="800" /><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20pf21/iama_portfolio_manager_in_a_ukrainian_investment/">Reddit/2positive</a></div></div>
Aside from the current clash, 2positive said he believes both Ukraine and Russia are kleptocracies, or governments that steal and bribe to retain power. And he worries about the future of an independent Crimea - even fearing another ethnic cleansing in the area.
<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20pf21/iama_portfolio_manager_in_a_ukrainian_investment/">Click here</a> to read his full AMA.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5329ab2c69bedd3570f624b2-959-720/ukrainian-reddit-ama.jpg" border="0" alt="Ukrainian Reddit AMA" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><a href="http://imgur.com/EKbuNdD,5IGGEv5,Z6hTYkG,XCi728A,KHzRo0G#2">Imgur/2positive</a>A photo 2positive took during the protests in Kiev.</div></div>

You Searched For "holodomor" and got 9 results

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Putin keeps saying Ukrainians and Russians are the same - here's the main reason why they're not

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Half-Ukrainian, Half-Russian Protester Addresses Crimea Misconceptions In Shockingly Honest AMA

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