Maksym Butkevich is a well-known Ukrainian journalist, human rights defender, soldier of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, who spent more than 2 years in Russian captivity. He shared his memories of life in captivity, and also explained what exactly will help the Ukrainian people to defeat the Russian invaders.
Points of attention
- Maksym Butkevich voiced important conclusions to which he was prompted by his stay in enemy captivity.
- He said that in the Russian system, violence turns a person into an object.
- The human rights defender urged Ukrainians not to lose the most important thing that gives us strength to fight — respect for people and hope.
How being in captivity changed Butkevich and his worldview
Maksym Butkevich's honorary speech was delivered at the annual conference of the Frontier Institute on Understanding the Maidan Experience.
During it, the human rights defender expressed his sincere gratitude to everyone who fought for his return home.
After all, I am only one of hundreds and thousands of our boys and girls who ended up behind bars under the control of the Russian Federation. I am grateful to those who remembered, prayed, wrote, published, remembered, did what they could to bring my release closer. To bring our release closer... I don't have enough life to thank everyone. I don't think there's any proper thanks for such things at all. I guess all I can do is say over and over again how important it is to me.
Maxim Butkevich
Ukrainian journalist, human rights defender, soldier
As Maksym Butkevich frankly admits, after his release from captivity, he was able to feel and understand the happiness of freedom even more clearly and strongly.
According to the human rights defender, in order to fully feel what freedom is, you need to be in conditions where this freedom is almost non-existent.
The moment when Maksym Butkevich once again remembered how much freedom of choice means to each of us was especially striking — in Russian captivity it is not mentioned at all.
What is violence in Russian reality
The former prisoner of war frankly admits that earlier his ideas about violence were superficial.
However, in captivity he faced the bitter truth about this phenomenon in all its manifestations.
Violence is primarily the transformation of a person into an object. When she does what you want her to do and doesn't do what you don't want her to do. It's when you turn a human being into a doll: it will say what you tell it to say, behave as you tell it to behave. Otherwise, if she suddenly does not do this, as a result, you have the opportunity to break her, mentally or physically.
According to Butkevich, the Russian system is permeated with violence, even when prisoners are not beaten.
In order to remain human in such realities, you must first of all protect your inner world.
Because you can't be made to think otherwise. They can make them speak, they can make them remain silent, but they cannot make them not think or feel.
Maxim Butkevich
Ukrainian human rights defender, journalist, soldier
Thanks to what Ukraine will be able to defeat Russia
According to Maksym Butkevich, the answer to this question is quite simple: in Ukraine there is respect for the Person — and it is no accident that the word is capitalized.
This is the cornerstone of our policy. Without respect for Man, we are simply no different from them, and if it exists (and we have it), it makes us and them inhabitants of different worlds. We protect our world, where Man means everything, and in that other world, man is just another object that must and can be used to achieve some goals. It seems to me that this is a very important phrase and a very important work so that we do not forget what is fundamental for us.
Against this background, the human rights defender urged Ukrainians to protect and respect each other despite fatigue, exhaustion and exhaustion.
However, it is also extremely important to never lose hope, which is inseparably intertwined with everything else important that makes us Human and will give us the strength to defeat the enemy.
