Governor, Chernivtsi is one of the few large Ukrainian cities that has not yet been shelled.

However, should Belarus also attack Ukraine, western Ukraine would suddenly be in danger.

How is the region preparing for this?

Michael Martens

Correspondent for Southeast European countries based in Vienna.

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Every region and city of Ukraine is preparing for all possible scenarios.

Troops from Belarus can actually invade Ukraine, either disguised as Russian units or actually openly as Belarusian units.

But the attackers must be aware that western Ukraine has at least a million combat-fit men and women under arms.

And what gives us absolute superiority in this war is the strong will to preserve our state, to defend our freedom and to preserve our sovereignty.

We can't dodge.

Putin is waging a war of annihilation against Ukraine.

Either defend ourselves to the last shot and survive, or we disappear as a people.

The morale of many Russians, on the other hand, is considered poor, they don't want to go into a so-called "fratricidal war"...

My advice is to be very careful when using assumptions and formulations such as “fratricidal war”.

This term is simply outdated.

These so-called brothers attacked us.

They have shown that they are neither Christian nor Orthodox, and certainly not brothers.

The Russian soldiers carry out orders.

We don't care whether they agree with these orders or not, because they are in Ukraine, they are shelling and destroying our cities from the air or on the ground.

As long as there is war, there are no good Russians for us.

More than two-thirds of the Russian population supports Putin in this war.

They side with Putin's aggression.

So they are all responsible for it.

Chernivtsi is legendary because of its multi-denominational, multi-cultural, multi-lingual past.

The city is still at least bilingual, you can hear Russian and Ukrainian on the streets.

What does this war mean for the future coexistence of Ukrainians?

Just as the Second World War meant a deep turning point in the relationship between German-speaking Jews and German culture, an enormously deep rift has emerged today between Russian-speaking Ukrainians and Russia as a country and as a society.

That's clear.

After this war, will it be difficult to speak Russian in Chernivtsi?

Absolutely not.

Not only in my city, but everywhere in Ukraine, Russian can remain a proud language of Ukrainian patriots, because Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the south, east and north of our country have shown themselves to be the greatest patriots who opposed Russian tanks with their bare hands and defended their homes, with arms and as civilians.

They have shown that they want to keep Ukraine as their own state and are willing to die for it.

That is why the sound of the Russian language from the mouths of Ukrainian patriots today is synonymous with the West Ukrainian dialect of the Ukrainian language from Galicia or Bukovina.