Three years later – about the war in Ukraine, peace and the future

We grew up with the stories of World War II, and the current generation of children will also live with the idea and remember that they experienced war, says opera singer Anastasia Altukhova

published on 2/24/25 12:45 PM

Author: Joan Kolev

Photo: BGNES

Exactly 3 years ago, on February 24, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began – an event that woke up Europe 77 years after the end of World War II and called into question one of the main goals of the EU – preventing a new armed conflict on the continent. With the return of Donald Trump to the White House and his tense dialogue with the EU, the first diplomatic steps towards ending the military conflict are being observed, yet many analysts remain skeptical of the actions of the new US administration. Despite meetings like the one between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh and the phone call between Trump and Vladimir Putin, experts emphasize that clear guarantees are needed for a just and, above all, lasting peace not only for Ukraine, but for all of Europe.

Is a just peace in Ukraine possible? With this question, and with the caveat that the opinion is not an expert one, we turned to Anastasia Altukhova, an opera singer at the Stara Zagora Opera, born in the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporozhie:

"For me, the only just peace would be for Russia to withdraw and return to its borders from 3 years ago. I am from eastern Ukraine and the Russian units are 50 kilometers from my city, and half of my relatives who live in the villages there are currently occupied. If Russia intends to stay in these territories, this is not a just peace for me, because it means that I will never be able to see them again. I will not go to Russia, I have no contacts with that country."

She remembers how in the first week of the invasion her mother and grandmother stayed at a friend's villa, not expecting the conflict to escalate. Almost immediately afterwards, however, they managed to leave for Germany to stay with Anastasia's aunt, who helped them settle down and start a new life there. Although she thinks it sounds too much full of pathos, Anastasia says that she dedicates every performance she performs on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera to Ukraine.

"I give my all, hoping that God will hear me and grant peace to Ukraine. It may sound very emotional, but I believe it. I always make sure that the posters say that I am Ukrainian, so that people know that they are coming to listen to a Ukrainian singer. At every convenient moment, I try to perform Ukrainian music, so that people know that Ukraine also exists in the cultural world."

What mark will the war in Ukraine leave on the memory of future generations? – Anastasia answers:

"When we talk about past events, we are used to relying on the memories of people who experienced them. However, memory is not a sure thing, and if there is documentary confirmation that something happened, you cannot say that it was invented. That is why it is important for the whole world to know that it happened. The fact that there was a war in Ukraine will be preserved at the genetic level in the children who grow up there today. We grew up with stories about World War II, and the current generation of children will also live with the idea that they experienced war and will have memories of it. So I don't think it is possible to be friends with Russia again in 100 or 200 years." ‎

Anastasia Altukhova is extremely grateful to the director of the Stara Zagora Opera, Ognyan Draganov, who, as her teacher at the Sofia Academy of Music, suggested that she follow him and, together with several of her colleagues, become part of the opera's cast in 2021.

Her compatriot Oksana Kharkiv, a lawyer from Kyiv, has a less fortunate professional fate in Bulgaria. Oksana arrived in Bulgaria at the beginning of the war, but cannot practice her profession and is currently a housewife at home. Oksana is rather skeptical about the attempts to end the military conflict in her homeland and believes that the decisions will hardly benefit her compatriots:

"Ukraine was not prepared for the war. Our government wants peace from Putin, but I do not think that Ukraine will be in a strong position during the negotiations. And Ukrainian citizens will not understand everything that our country has managed to negotiate in such negotiations, because today's politics in Ukraine are conducted almost entirely in the dark."

Nevertheless, both women hope that when it is possible, they will return, without fear, under the peaceful sky of their free homeland. Until then, their home is Bulgaria.

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Photos: BGNES, private archive

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