Our Enemies Will Vanish Quotes

“The psychology behind the decision to stay or to go is complicated and doesn’t depend on the intensity of immediate danger. Some people are too old, too sick, or too fatalistic to move, even as shells fall nearby and as their windows are blown out. Others, like Denys, have family they don’t want to abandon. Some are just too attached to the comforts of their apartments, to their household possessions, and can’t imagine going to a remote, unfamiliar city—even if doing so would likely save their and their children’s lives. This lack of imagination, or outright self-delusion, rattled me at times. But such an inclination to minimize danger, and to believe oneself to be somehow protected, is natural.”
― Yaroslav Trofimov, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence

“One country that agreed to help rescue Afghans who had worked with the West was Ukraine. In mid-August 2021, Zelensky’s administration sent Ukrainian military planes to the Kabul airport, which was still controlled by American Marines, and dispatched special forces troops into hostile city territory to pick up the evacuees. Weeks later, when I returned to Kabul, the Taliban were already driving around the country in American Humvees and MRAPs and flying a Black Hawk over the city.”
― Yaroslav Trofimov, Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence