There is a fundamental moral asymmetry between the suffering of Ukrainians during the war and the fears of Russians who do not speak out against it, which is unacceptable to compare…
In February of this year, a respected evangelical minister from the United States convinced me for almost 30 minutes that we, Ukrainians, do not sympathize enough with the Russians whom Ukrainians are killing at the front. He said that we do not show adequate compassion for Russian orphans and widows who suffer from the loss of their husbands and fathers killed by Ukrainians. He persistently argued that Ukrainians do not understand the fears of Russians and are therefore incapable of empathy for them. It is noteworthy that throughout this conversation, this person did not show a single drop of sympathy for Ukrainian mothers, widows and orphans who suffered from Russian aggression, even for the loss of Andriy by our family…
There is a fundamental moral gap between the fears of Ukrainians and Russians. When Russians compare their fear of condemning the war and Russian imperialism with the fear of Ukrainians who live under Russian shelling every day, losing their homes and loved ones at the front, they are committing a deeply immoral act of comparing the incomparable.
Ukrainians do not choose their fear – it is imposed on us by Russia’s external aggression. IDPs who have left their homes, children hiding in bomb shelters, as well as parents, wives, and children waiting for news from the front every day – they all have no choice about their fear. It is real and physical.
But Russians, including Russian Christians, pastors, and evangelical educators who are afraid to speak out against the war, do have a choice. Since 2000, tens of millions of them have consciously chosen to support the system and Russian dehumanizing propaganda that ultimately led to this war.
But now, out of fear, many of them are deliberately refusing to recognize the consequences of their choices. Their fear does not pose the fundamental threat to life that Ukrainians experience on a daily basis. The fear of losing one’s job, ministry, comfort, or status is fundamentally and fundamentally different from the fear of losing children under Russian daily and nightly shelling, or family and friends on the front lines.
Biblical ethics clearly distinguishes between the suffering of the innocent and the suffering of the consequences of one’s own choices, even if they are your choice along with the tens of millions who support Putin. Biblical ethics calls for the protection of the most vulnerable and condemns comparisons that demean the suffering of victims of violence. The Bible speaks many times and in many ways about responsibility for one’s actions and silence when it is necessary to speak up. “Anyone who knows how to do good and does not do it commits sin” (James 4:17) – this also applies to those who remain silent when they need to speak up.
Western voices calling on Ukrainians to understand and sympathize with the fear of the Russians do not realize the profound immorality of this comparison. It is logically equivalent to asking a victim of violence to show compassion for observers who have chosen not to intervene for years. In the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, it is those who pass by suffering and choose “quiet and carefree service” and inaction out of self-interest or fear that are condemned.
The fear of Russians is an internal problem of Russian society and the Russian church, not a burden that Ukrainians and the Ukrainian church should bear in addition to their own suffering. Making excuses for your fear of people whose children are being killed by bombs is not just immoral, it is also a form of violence through comparison of the incomparable.
If there is ever to be reconciliation and understanding, it must begin with a sincere and honest acknowledgment of this moral asymmetry by Russians, as well as by Western voices calling on Ukrainians to sympathize with Russians. Without this, any calls for “mutual understanding” will only deepen the injustice by imposing on the victims the obligation to understand those who, by their tacit consent, made their deaths, torture, suffering, and destruction possible. And this is immoral, unbiblical, and absolutely contrary to your traditional Christian values…
