I watched an old woman in her late 70's struggling to push a shopping cart with all of her worldly possessions up a long winding street. At that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder where she could possibly be going.
There was nothing in the direction she was headed in; nothing for miles to come.
After Russian troops had finished their fallacious claim of "de-Nazifying" her old neighborhood, nothing remained behind. Nothing.
The elderly woman, pushing that cart up a hill that would cause even the fittest and most robust of us to catch their breath. For this is symbolic of what can be described as the epitome of strength, and the height of resolve. I have witnessed such things from almost every Ukrainian I interviewed while traveling the country over the course of several weeks.
From refugees, to military personnel, to police and business owners: strength, resilience and determination to not only survive, but win this horrible war.
These are my takeaways from each and every conversation with such people.
After witnessing the struggle in Ukraine firsthand, it's impossible for me not to draw comparisons to America — c.1776.
Farmers, merchants, and shopkeepers — people of all ages and backgrounds were picking up weapons to defend their homes and families from an arrogant foreign imperial army.
All of this done in the hope of securing freedom and achieving liberation.
Where have we all heard that before?
A thought occurred to me as I was on patrol with the Ukrainian Territorial Defense, that the most striking parallel with our own country’s historical struggle was with tales of the colonial militias backing up America’s "regular army," in our own war for independence centuries ago.
Most Ukrainian men signed up to fight after ensuring their wives and children were either hidden away in relative safety or with family and friends outside of Ukraine.
Others, many young college-age girls, stayed behind as well, making food for refugees and improvising camouflaged nets for the army. Almost everyone who chose to remain in the country had a task and a purpose and knew exactly why they had to fulfill it.
However, most importantly, they all knew the potential cost.
That cost is steeper than anyone in the West can imagine.
Having served in combat, and having worked undercover for the FBI, I've seen my fair share of macabre scenes and horrific realities, but what I saw in the liberated suburbs of Kyiv — in Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin was the very worst of humanity I've ever witnessed.
Families executed at point-blank range as they attempted to flee, dozens upon dozens of lifeless bodies just left rotting in the streets. No words describe such horrors.
There were certainly a few fallen Ukrainian and Russian soldiers here and there, but the vast majority of the dead were civilians, who just a few weeks prior were dropping their children off at school, going to the market, heading to work, and deciding what movie to watch later that evening.
Before this war, Ukrainians were indeed ordinary people with common lives just like ours.
But, just as America’s forefathers did in 1776, the second their existential challenge came, they answered the call.
They did so bravely and stoically.
None of the hundreds of Ukrainians I met along the way dared to display any raw emotion other than anger, in an effort to ensure the Russians would not see even a hint of Ukrainian weakness. The belief in the Kremlin’s supernatural ability to monitor every conversation was palpable, even if not accurate.
The outcome of the war is yet to be determined, but the Ukrainian people are forever hardened, galvanized, unified by their common enemy, and hellbent on refusing to kneel to tyranny.
Their unwavering optimism is astounding, considering even the smallest victories come alongside weeks of bombardments and horrific losses.
This Ukrainian optimism is exhilarating to see.
What the Kremlin must surely be realizing now is that the Russian military may have the technology to reduce Ukraine’s cities to dust, similar to what transpired in Syria’s Raqqa, but no bomb in Russia’s arsenal will likely break the spirit or the will of the Ukrainian people.
From the ashes the Phoenix rises . . . if freedom begins with a peoples’ hearts and minds, an earnest, unrelenting desire to chart one’s own course — then perhaps Ukraine has already won.
Time will tell.
Michael Grimm is currently in Ukraine as a Newsmax correspondent. He is a former U.S. congressman who represented New York's Staten Island, and a former FBI agent. Read Michael Grimm's reports — More Here.
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