Yes, both sides are losing their lives in this war. But Ukrainians sacrifice the most precious things for the sake of life, not for the sake of war. We did not start this war, but we stood up to defend our country.
I don't know what the Russians are fighting for. They have no vision of the future. They live in the paradigm of the past and do not build a future for the benefit of the world. Because those who destroy and give silent consent to the destruction of others are incapable of creating anything.
Throughout our thousand-year history, Ukrainians have been Creators. We have never annexed foreign territories or interfered in the affairs of other states. We have developed culture and science, we built temples and universities. But for the past 300 years, we have been defending our land from our constant existential enemy, Russia.
Russia has always wanted to destroy Ukrainians as a nation (The Holodomor, the banning of the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian-language education and the Ukrainian church, mass shootings of Ukrainian intelligentsia, deportations, concentration camps in Siberia, etc.). Therefore, people of creative professions, such as Ivan Kuzminsky, become Warriors to once again defend their land, culture and people. They know what they are dying for, in the name of Ukraine, freedom and the Lives of future generations.
Putin and the siloviks who run Russia started this war in 2014 because they perceived a Western oriented Ukraine to be a threat to their grasp of power in Russia. They want total control over Russia to be able to continue to exploit its resources for their own benefit. For that purpose, they need airtight control over the information space in Russia. They fear that if the people who they consider culturally closest and in many cases Russian speaking get a taste of freedom, the color revolutions will spread over to their side of the border. They are no different from previous generations of Russian elites - nor the Russian masses who in their docility and passivity will go along with anything the czar and the boyars need them for - the idea of "Malorossiya" becoming independent is the greatest possible anathema as it threatens the very idea of their beloved empire.
It is the right of any people to decide about their own future. Russia's imperialistic war of conquest is the sort that should be relegated to the dustbin of history. Ukraine must be financially and materially assisted until Russia is forced to leave all Ukrainian territory. They cannot be allowed to gain anything from this war of conquest. That is the only way to keep the horde from threatening Europe in the foreseeable future. If that cannot successfully be done, a greater war awaits us all in the future.
Thanks for your comment.
Unfortunately, people in the world don't want to think about that.
Communicating that is a task for our leadership or experts who understand Russia. Regrettably, Western leaders have not clearly stated the goals of this war from the Western point of view.
Retired General Ben Hodges says recapturing Crimea by making it untenable for Russia to hold is key. That can be accomplished by blowing up the bridge again and having severing the land bridge between Crimea and the rest of Russia.
Russia won't recover from that for quite some time. I would like to see Russia unable to pose a threat in my lifetime.