My name is Artem Shamsutdinov.  I was born and raised in Soviet Union when Russia and Ukraine where just one country.  I've been to both Moscow and Kiev as a child and remember the times when going between them was as easy as showing up at the train station and buying a platzcart ticket.  After the breakup of the Union I saw the two countries grow apart.  I was outraged when the first Donbas conflict started and been debating with my family and friends in Russia about how to stop the war in Ukraine ever since it started this February.   Just the other day I was asked a question by my best friend from childhood: What have YOU done to stop the war?

War was never the answer and never will be.  I believe that there is always a better alternative to sacrificial growth.  And now, just as before, it is up to the human to decide the outcome of the events on this God given Earth.

War in Ukraine started this February as what seems like an attempt to redraw political protectorate lanes.  It turned into what appears to be a conflict between feudal lords, at the cost of countless lives lost on both sides.  Now we've come to a point where Russia has mobilized a quarter of a million of its citizens and Ukraine is full of resolve to take back all of its territory at any cost.   The casualties on both sides are rising by the day and are likely to only keep on increasing.  And now they are most certainly casualties of lives of people who did not choose war as their path.

Let us ensure that usage of weapons of mass destruction, carpet bombing and trench warfare are a thing of the past and always will be.  Let us apply political pressure where ever needed to come to a peaceful conclusion of this conflict!