Dr. David J. Simon, a famous researcher at Yale University (USA), a senior lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, and Director of the Genocide Studies Program, told the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation about how the Russian aggression has made the Ukrainian nation stronger, why talks about a ceasefire bring benefit to the aggressor, and expressed his thoughts on how the war in Ukraine could end.

Dr. Simon admits that when the full-scale invasion began, he could not believe that such a gross violation of sovereignty was possible in 2022, and felt frustrated by the failed efforts to prevent the war. According to the scholar, the war strengthened Ukrainians as a nation in a way that no other event could have made.

“Solidarity that you, that Ukrainians have shown in the face of the Russian aggression has, you know, had… It’s Putin’s greatest mistake, it’s had 100% opposite effect of what he intended. He wanted to destroy the idea of the Ukrainian nation. Instead, he made it as twice as strong, more than twice as strong as it ever was,” the expert believes.
The scholar does not affiliate himself with the group of those who advocate peace negotiations with the aggressor.

“There are people who believe that there need to be peace talks with a dignity and honour, and on-ground and off-ramp for Russia that leads them to dignity and honourably. Let them keep part of Ukraine that they have invaded. I don’t, I certainly don’t think, right, again, that rewards aggression, that rewards violation of international law and norms. That should not be on the table at all,” Dr. Simon said.

According to the expert, Russia should be punished in international realms for waging the war.

“It must be sanctioned, and it must become an outcast for everything that it has done. When justice is restored, Russia can continue to exist, as long as it does not show aggression and does not invade or threaten to invade the territory of its neighbours,” said the researcher.

Dr. Simon also commented on the mission of the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

“As a scholar, who studies mass atrocities, I am a political scientist and many of my colleagues are historians, and we have so much to learn from the voices of people who have experienced these atrocities. We need to pass this information from generation to generation. One way to pay homage to survivors of these crimes is to listen to them,” the expert said.

The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is the world’s largest archive of stories of Ukrainian civilians who became victims or witnesses of the war. The Museum’s collection includes more than 55,000 stories told first-hand, which have been collected since 2014.

The Museum collects and shares stories of Civilians in order to become a reliable source of information about life during the war and preserve the memory of the events from the past and present for the sake of a better future of Ukraine.

Every story matters. Share your story too! You can share your story as follows:
— write your story on your Facebook page with the hashtags #Civilian_Voices #tell_your_story, and invite your friends to join in
— use the t.me/civilvoicesmuseum_bot chatbot on Telegram
— visit the Museum’s portal https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/ and click “Tell a story” in the top right corner
— call the toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001