12 November 2025

If Putin wins, all this will have been in vain

But they see no alternative to fighting on

Visitors stand next to a makeshift memorial paying tribute to Ukrainian and foreign fighters with flags at the Independence Square in Kyiv. Photo by Roman Plipey/AFP via Getty

I went to the local shoe shop. I recently had knee replacement surgery and I needed some shoes with softer soles. “What do you need them for?” the friendly shop assistant asked.

“Travel,” I replied.

“Where are you going?”

“Ukraine,” I said.

“Holiday?”

“Not exactly,” I replied.

There was a heavy bombardment when I was in Kyiv. The statistical risk of coming to harm is small – Kyiv is a big city, with a population of over three million. Few of my Ukrainian friends in Kyiv bother to go down to basements or bomb shelters when the sirens sound. In the east, near the front, of course, it is quite different.

I was woken at 1am by the deafening sound of a nearby Patriot battery firing, followed by gunfire aimed at the incoming drones. I found this oddly reassuring and much to my surprise got back to sleep despite all the noise overhead, echoing across the city. But several people were killed in Kyiv that night and there were still Shaheds flying overhead – making a horrible, malignant mosquito sound – when I set out for Lviv in the west early in the morning.

Between two worlds

I first went to Ukraine in 1992, shortly after independence. Almost by chance, I had been asked to give some lectures in Kyiv. I have been going there regularly ever since. At first it was to take medical equipment and operate, but I hung up my gloves – as surgeons call retiring – a few years ago. My time in Ukraine is now spent lecturing and teaching. The fact that I have been going for so long gives me a certain status in the country even though, to my shame, I do not speak the language. I have always known that Ukraine was an important country – on the border between eastern kleptocracy and the more liberal societies of the West. It is young, struggling to escape its past.

A stubborn independence

I travelled some 2,000km, lecturing at medical schools and hospitals. Equally importantly, I saw my many friends. That I believe in them and in their country, and have done so for so many years, means a lot to them in such a dark time.

It is something of a cliché in the West to talk of Ukrainian resilience. The reality is that its people see no alternative to going on fighting, despite the appalling cost. They have no illusions as to what life under Russian rule would be like. The history of Ukraine is written in blood and suffering for countless generations under oppressive rulers. This has produced a stubborn independence in Ukrainians, and an extraordinary ability to organise and help each other. This is seen in the huge number of voluntary organisations supporting the soldiers at the front, and evacuees from the east.

It has been wonderful to watch Ukraine grow over the past 30 years, and especially to see the emergence of a new generation of young Ukrainians fighting to establish a democratic society under the rule of law and become part of Europe. It is absurd to argue that Putin’s invasion was provoked by the expansion of Nato. It was certainly the case that during the Cold War the Soviet leadership was terrified that the US and its allies might well attack the Soviet Union pre-emptively. But those days are gone. Putin may want to recreate the Russian empire, but it seems to me that an equally important reason for his invasion is that a free, genuinely democratic and economically successful Ukraine is a deadly threat to his rule. If it is possible there, why not in Russia?

Dying for freedom

You cannot pass village cemeteries without seeing Ukrainian flags flying over the graves of soldiers, graves covered in yellow and blue flowers. In the cities there are long walls of pictures of the dead. I gave a talk at a military hospital. I spoke of how Ukrainians were dying for the cause of freedom – not just their own but for all of us who view a future dominated by great dictators with horror. One of my colleagues showed me brain scans and photographs of the awful injuries with which he and his colleagues have to deal. Almost all of these patients are left dreadfully disabled. I declined the offer of a ward round – I would have found it too distressing – but this is the terrible reality. If Putin wins, all this will have been in vain, with probably worse to follow for all of us.

In 2024 Henry Marsh and Rachel Clarke founded the charity Hospice Ukraine to support palliative care in Ukraine; hospiceukraine.com

[Further reading: Dick Cheney’s bastard]