A Ukrainian Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions About Ukraine (Honest Answers Only)

When will Ukraine surrender? It was Russia that was part of Ukraine, not another way around. If Ukraine falls, Putin will not stop. Ukraine is not called the Ukraine. When will Ukraine f***? Yeah, I wonder who Googled this. Hi everyone, my name is Max and I'm from Ukraine. I was born and raised there and then at the age of 16 I moved to the UK where I studied and now have built my business and I'm doing this social media thing. I decided to answer Google's most popular questions about Ukraine. Well, not Google's, people who search questions about Ukraine. How did Ukraine gain independence? We actually voted in a referendum that we want to leave the Soviet Union and we want to be independent. So in 1991, when the Soviet Union fell apart, it fell apart in a large number of countries and one of those countries was Ukraine. How did Ukraine and Russia war start? There has been tons of kind of political quasi-warfare before the annexation, but if you're talking about troops, tanks, it started in 2014 with Russia entering Crimea. How did Ukraine get its name? Ukraina comes from the word kraina or krai, which means a land or an area where its people live. How did Ukrainian president get elected? There was a democratic election two or three years ago where Volodymyr Zelensky, who is the president now, got 73% of people's vote. So in democratic elections, that's kind of how we do it in Ukraine. Did Ukraine have nuclear weapons? Yes, we did have nuclear weapons. I think a better question is why we don't have them anymore. And the answer is because in 1994, Ukraine gave up our nuclear arsenal. There was actually the third in the world at the time in exchange for territorial and sovereignty guarantees from Russia, the US and the UK. It hasn't worked out for us super well, obviously. Did Ukraine used to be part of Russia? Most recently, we were part of the Soviet Union with Russia being the dominating economy in the Soviet Union. I also want to say that the country Ukraine originates from Kievan Rus, which existed a thousand years ago. So at some point, actually, it was Russia that was part of Ukraine, not another way around. Did Ukraine ban Russian language? OK, so I get this question a lot and I'm actually a native Russian speaker. And in my 16 years in Ukraine, I also now go back to the country a lot. I have never been discriminated against because I speak Russian. We have one official language and that's Ukrainian. So all of kind of business, judicial stuff, education, like some of the TV channels have to be in Ukrainian. That's the language that most of the population or that the majority of us, majority of Ukrainians understand best. But Russian language is not forbidden at all. Did Ukraine bomb Donbass? So that's one of the key kind of pillars of Russian propaganda that Ukraine for eight years has been bombing Donbass. And actually, the OECD reports and the UN report both suggest that Ukraine has not bombed any civilian targets in Donbass, that Russia has been occupying illegally for the past eight years. Did Ukraine fight in World War Two? Actually, most of the fighting of World War Two happened on the territory of Ukraine. And Ukraine's casualties were something like six million to eight million people, which is a, you know, one fifth of our population. Why is Ukraine not in NATO? Because they didn't let us in to the club. We've tried a few times to join NATO, but for a multitude of geopolitical reasons, I guess they're scared of the Russia's reaction to this. Why is Ukraine important to Russia? Ukraine is important to Putin because he sees it as his personal mission to restore Soviet Union and the Russian Empire. As far as I'm thinking, to Russia, Ukraine is not that important because that country has tons of natural resources. It has great location. It's the biggest country in the world. So they would actually be doing fine if it wasn't for their government putting them in this precarious situations where they're in, hated by the entire world. Why is Ukraine the West's fault? The fault is with the Russian government and the Russian state, right? They decided to invade a sovereign country. So they are the ones who are at fault. But I guess the West shares maybe some responsibility because they haven't accepted Ukraine to NATO. That would have probably been enough to prevent this war. Why is Ukraine called the Ukraine? Ukraine is not called the Ukraine. The Ukraine, it kind of presupposes that it's land that is under someone else's control. Like the Ukraine was the name in the Soviet Union. So if you hear someone say the Ukraine, please correct them. Why is Ukraine not in the EU? Similar to the question about NATO, we weren't accepted or we haven't been accepted yet. Now in the EU, there is actually a law about Ukraine's candidacy in the EU. That's kind of the first step to join in. Is Ukraine in NATO? No, unfortunately. Is Ukraine bigger than the UK? Yes, Ukraine is actually the biggest country in Europe that is wholly in Europe, not counting the Russian part of the country that is on the European continent. So, yes, we're bigger than the UK. We're also bigger than France and bigger than Germany. Is Ukraine winning the war? One thing for sure is that Putin wanted to conquer Ukraine in two days. Now it's been more than two months. The plan for Russia of conquering Ukraine is failing miserably. That said, all of the war is on Ukraine's territory. So we are the ones who are losing infrastructure. We are the ones who are losing civilian lives that we can't get back. We are doing much better than the international community thought against the Russian army that is ten times larger. But I wouldn't say that we are winning the war just yet. Is Ukraine in Europe or Asia? We are wholly in Europe. Is Ukraine a poor country? Excuse me. Yes, I guess we are. We are relatively poor, but we are rich in nature. We are rich in beautiful and talented people. And we are rich in potential, which we will fulfill after Ukraine wins the war. Ukraine is poor. Maybe we're just not materialistic. Maybe we care about other stuff in life. There are other things in life. There is more to life than just money. When will Ukraine war end? And I don't know. I think no one knows. Some people say in a few months, some people say in 13 years. But I'm sure that it will end eventually and it will end with Ukraine's victory. When will Ukraine join NATO? Dear Mr. Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, that's the question for you. So if you want to comment below and tell us when that's going to happen, that would be great. When will Ukraine fall? Never. Ukraine will never fall. When will Ukraine borders open? This is some tourists just looking at Google like, I want to go to Ukraine. When will Ukraine play Scotland? Actually, the Ukrainian national team is playing the Scottish national team in the World Cup qualifiers on the 1st of June. I'll try to be there to support Ukraine. To all the Scottish people watching. When will Ukraine join the EU? Again, that's for Ursula von der Leyen to answer that question. When will Ukraine surrender? I don't think that's going to happen. And I don't think after what's been done to, you know, Mariupol, Bucharest, Costoma and other cities, we hope to win and we believe we're going to win. So I think that that's what's going to happen. OK, so that was the last question. Keep in mind that I didn't do the research for this video and I didn't kind of prepare it just to show you the Ukrainian's perspective on these questions. You know, I'm really fortunate to be abroad right now, and I really feel for my fellow Ukrainians inside of the country. I hope this will end soon. I'm doing everything I can and my agency is doing everything we can to to help Ukraine win this war and help the people who are suffering. So please don't let this war become normalized. Please don't get used to this. If Ukraine falls, Putin will not stop. Putin will keep going for Poland, keep going for the Baltic countries. And then eventually, you know, I don't think the UK or the US are safe because that man has gone completely mental with what he's doing. So now Ukraine is fighting for democracy. Ukraine is fighting for the West. And I am really thankful to my audience for supporting me in this. So all the proceeds from this video will go to help Ukraine to help in the humanitarian needs and the military needs. So like, thumbs up, share. All the money is going to Ukraine. So thank you very much for watching. Slava Ukrainii and bye!