Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Three years. For three endless years, Belarusians Yan Dziurbeyka and Siarhei Dziohtsieu have been held in Russian captivity after being ambushed near Lysychansk during combat. This is the kind of captivity from which people return in such horrific condition that just imagining how they are treated fills me with dread and unrelenting anger.
Yan and Siarhei are heroes who went to the front to defend Ukraine – and our shared freedom – from dictatorship. Because this war is not just about our neighbors. It’s a war against injustice – the same injustice that has put our loved ones behind bars. It’s a war against inhumanity, the same inhumanity that has forced thousands of Belarusians to flee their homeland.
To help bring Yan and Siarhei home, the democratic forces are regularly raising the issue of their inclusion in prisoner exchange lists through Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Verkhovna Rada, and every channel available. But it’s important that they are remembered not only by diplomats.
We must speak up and act – support volunteers and fighters, contribute to charity campaigns and solidarity actions, and care for the families of those on the front lines, when it’s safe to do so. Because we cannot pretend this war doesn’t exist. We cannot ignore the fact that people are dying every day – brave, beautiful Belarusians like Maryia Zaitsava, like ‘Brest’, ‘Atom’, ‘Papik’, ‘Syabro’…
I know – each of us makes choices every single day. These men made theirs: to stand with Ukraine, to stand with the free world, to stand against dictatorship. So that drones won’t fly into our homes. So that we won’t have to dig through rubble in search of our parents. So that we can know life – not war.
They made this choice for us. And we will do everything possible to bring back alive everyone who can still be saved”.
Photo: twitter.com/europeanbelarus
