Kyiv is not just a city. It is the pulsating heart from which Europe has drawn kings, sages and greatness. From Yaroslav the Wise, whose will and intelligence forged Kyivan Rus into the centre of civilisation, to his descendants who ruled from Paris to Budapest, Ukraine was a titan that held the continent on its shoulders. But how did it happen that this titan, this giant nation, found itself under the crushing blow of the Soviet hammer and sickle, and now under the ruthless sights of the Moscow horde? And why, against all odds, is it still standing, proud and unbreakable?
Kings born by the Dnipro
Imagine the Kyiv of the 11th century – a golden city that shone over the Dnipro River like a beacon to the world. Yaroslav the Wise did not just rule – he created an era. His daughters – Anne, Queen of France, Elizabeth, Queen of Norway, Anastasia, Queen of Hungary – carried Ukrainian blood to the heart of Europe. His sons entered into alliances with the most powerful courts. Kyivan Rus was not a state – it was an empire of the spirit, where power, wisdom and faith were intertwined. St Sophia’s Cathedral stood as a symbol of eternity, the Golden Gate as the gateway to greatness, and the chronicles recorded the triumph of a people who were not afraid to look to the future.
It was a kingly people. A people who did not ask for anything, but gave it. And Europe accepted these gifts, because it knew that from Kyiv came a force that could not be stopped.
Soviet darkness: an attempt to destroy a titan
But the twentieth century came and the Soviet hammer fell on the land of the titans. Moscow, blinded by imperial greed, rushed to destroy everything that made Ukraine great. The Holodomor was a genocide that tore the heart out of millions of hearts. The purges are a massacre that slaughtered the intelligentsia. The culture that once amazed the world was strangled in a cage of censorship and lies. The Kremlin didn’t just want to conquer Kyiv – it wanted to wipe it off the face of the earth, crush its spirit, turn the titan into dust.
But even in that darkness, Ukrainians burned like an unquenchable fire. In the Soviet Union, where every breath was controlled, they thought. They created. They were winning. Sergei Korolev launched rockets into space, Nikolai Amosov pushed the boundaries of medicine, Lina Kostenko challenged the system with words sharper than steel. Ukrainians were everywhere – in factories, in offices, in science. And this infuriated Moscow. After all, how can you destroy a people who, even in chains, are capable of turning the world upside down?
Moscow today: war against the eternal
And now it’s a new chapter in the same tragedy. Moscow, like a rabid beast, is again tearing Ukraine apart. But this is not just a war for land – it is a war against the soul. The Kremlin is attacking Kyiv not because it wants to capture it, but because it is afraid of it. It is afraid of the fact that the memory of Yaroslav, the power of the ages, the spirit that does not bend, lives in these people. They destroy cities, but they cannot destroy the will. They throw rockets, but they do not extinguish the fire that burns in the hearts of Ukrainians.
Kyiv is standing. Wounded, burnt, but unbreakable. Because titans do not fall.
The final chord
Kyiv was once the crown of Europe – and still is. The Soviet hammer tried to smash it, and the Moscow fire wants to burn it. But the crown is not gold, it is the spirit. The spirit of the people who gave the world kings and did not submit to anyone. Moscow can throw its armies, but it will never destroy what is in our blood: the ability to think, create, and fight. Because Ukraine is not just a land. It is a titan that will always rise from its knees and make the world remember: we are the ones who gave kings. And we will not give up.
Author:Aleksandr Potetiuiev
