My Thoughts On Russia/Ukraine As A Russian Immigrant

when i was six years old my family and i escaped from russia and came to the united states as refugees today i want to share that story and talk about how those experiences shaped my feelings on the current ukrainian russian conflict where i still have family living to this very day [Music] being that i was so young when we left russia i don't have a lot of memories as to what my feelings were at the time what i even knew at the time but as i became older i had more questions for my family i rep

eatedly questioned my father why did we leave russia why did we get refugee status and he consistently told me the same points one it was the political corruption i mean money runs the world in russia bribery was rampant especially within the government after the fall of the soviet union my father told me that the economy was literally up for grabs by the oligarchs there certain individuals gained huge economic power while the majority of the people were living paycheck to paycheck were even una

ble to make ends meet and were starving i find my food in the bin he cries why was i born for what reason second was the anti-semitism aspect my father born in ukraine is jewish in russia there was anti-semitism that was growing and he felt it economically he felt it even throughout his education process and the final thing he was worried about was what would happen to me and my sister he saw crime was at an all-time high he saw the economy was collapsing he saw that the education system was suf

fering there was so little money being put towards the future of russia and he became genuinely worried turns out he was right about almost everything 25 years later the risk that he took well him and my mom took to get me and my sister here has paid off and i owe them a debt of gratitude for completely changing my life [Music] the russian forces came in broadly on three fronts from the north from the south and from the east when i talked to my father about this the anxiety that he has the panic

attacks that he's developed as a result of watching ukrainians suffer watching russia unprovoked invade ukraine russian rocket launcher grad strikes hospitals schools kindergarten and apartments of civilians where so many families are related ukrainian people have family in russia russian people have ukrainian family members and the reality of causing these countries to go to war for no reason i don't mean there's no geopolitical discourse that is real it is real and there are disagreements but

war is never the answer [Applause] [Music] for the russians that are out there that are protesting the war that's that's the strongest level of courage i've ever seen because to stand against a corrupt government to go in the media and hold up a sign to go onto the streets and protest where it's against the law to do this to speak out against your government is really a thing of beauty like i stand up with those people i want to thank those people for fighting against their own government for t

he people who aren't speaking out against it i'm understanding as well the russian government the ones in power do a really good job at having a choke hold of the media of controlling the state-sponsored messages that people see they've confused the russian soldiers into believing that there's nazis in ukraine this is a country where the president of ukraine is jewish he's had family members die in the holocaust how can you say you're invading a country to rhythm of nazis when the person in powe

r is the opposite of a nazi no relief in sight for the city of mariopol where more than 100 000 people are still trapped innocent bystanders are suffering soldiers that are merely protecting their own homeland are suffering the economic sanctions are not only destroying the ones in power and the oligarchs and hurting them but they're also hurting the everyday people one resident svetlana purchased more than 20 pounds of sugar in the city of vladimir an hour away so i'm hopeful that there's some

sort of diplomatic solution in the future and while my responsibility right now is to my patients and the ones that i take care of in the hospital i do want to do something for this war there is a way for me to support ukraine as many of you know i have an upcoming boxing match that was recently announced against idubbbz every dollar that i'm going to earn from that boxing match i'm planning on donating to the ukraine crisis relief fund hosted by global giving i've done a lot of research on this

foundation it has four out of four stars on charity navigator my patreon community recently donated almost six thousand dollars to this organization they have a goal of raising 20 million dollars having already raised 17 million dollars also all the proceeds of this video all the adsense revenue will go to the ukraine crisis relief fund i'm also making this an official charity video where you can donate um anything you can donate matters to the russian leadership and politicians please end this

war there has to be a diplomatic solution here and to the ukrainian people know that we stand with you thank you for watching