“Why do you want to help Ukraine?” That was a question I faced several times during my latest visit to Ukraine.
My first reaction was “Of course I want to help Ukraine!” Then I answered with some tepid slogans: helping people who suffer, defending democracy, doing the right thing. A young Ukrainian woman I met at the railway station in Przemyśl looked at me with scepticism and tilted her curly head. It sounded as if my main concern was to give the right answers. They were as flat as “Stand with Ukraine, as long as it takes.”
Left with embarrassment, I decided to dig deeper. Why do I, actually, want to help Ukraine? Why have I felt this urge to do something since that dreadful day in February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion?
I love Europe. I have lived in Asia, Latin America and several European countries. No other part of the world offers its citizens the same quality of life blended with history, culture and beauty.
And the more I learn about Ukraine, the more I understand how much it can contribute to that rich blend. Not just in terms of technology, innovation and resources, but also in terms of food, wine, crafts, literature and, not least, history. Ukraine’s history, largely ignored in Western Europe, adds to our understanding of why Europe came to look the way it does. Ukraine is part of Greek, Roman and Viking history. It has been under Mongol, Ottoman, Lithuanian, Polish, Habsburg and Russian rule—empires that, for good and bad, shaped Europe. You cannot tell Europe’s history without Ukraine.
So, I help Ukraine because I want to take care of my home, and Ukraine is part of that home.
Then you have the unwavering spirit of the Ukrainian people. I still haven’t met a Ukrainian who is not willing to fight until victory. “We have no other choice.” Many nations would not have said the same. The Ukrainians’ ability to withstand Russia during the first days of the invasion in 2022 stunned people worldwide. In the small village of Moshchun outside Kyiv, soldiers, aided by civilians, defeated a Russian force several times their own size. That resolve and that resilience have not abated.
You do want to help people you admire. You do want that kind of spirit to triumph over tyranny. My wanting to help Ukraine is not just about fellowship. It is also about wanting the good team to win.
And I come from a country that knows what it takes to fight an overwhelming aggressor. That is another reason I’ll give if Ukrainians ask me again, “Why do you want to help Ukraine?”
Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany for five years. That occupation is ingrained in the Norwegian mindset and culture. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents learned what tyranny looks like. Despite being “blond and blue-eyed,” many Norwegians were executed and tortured. 30,000 Norwegian sailors took part in the Atlantic convoys, facing death and terror from German submarines, while providing Britain with food and petrol to keep up the resistance and enable the invasion in Normandy. We have had two prime ministers who sat in concentration camps.
Ultimately, however, what it comes down to is this: What kind of person do you want to be? It’s not about what you want to look like to others.
It’s not about showing the world that you “do the right thing.” It’s not about “wanting to be a good person”— as I have been accused of by people who haven’t done anything for Ukraine.
It’s about what you want to look like to yourself. So, perhaps the answer I will give to that young woman, if I ever meet her again, is: “I don’t want to face myself in the mirror and say, I did nothing for Ukraine.”
Thanks for reading!
LEARN MORE ABOUT UKRAINE AND ITS HISTORY
“The Gates of Europe. A History of Ukraine” by Serhii Plokhy. For anyone who wants to endulge in the history of this troubled but interesting country.
MORE LINKS
Ordinary Ukrainian citizens are taking up arms to fend off Russian forces as they close in on Kyiv (February 2022).
For three years, Ukraine has shown us the meaning of courage. Have we learnt anything? (February 2025).