Tina’s choice: “I’m staying in Ukraine, I’m a translator against Russian propaganda”

Tina is 22 years old. And she is not afraid. She arrived ten days ago from the University of Pisa in the Carpathians to spend a few days in the mountains with her family in Ukraine. When the war broke out, her father wanted to put her back on a train to get to Poland quickly. “I said no: I’m staying here with my parents and my brother.”

A missile hit the apartment building next to the office of his father, an esteemed Kiev doctor. “We tried to figure out if there was a way to return to the capital, to do our duty and defend our people, but we’re stuck here.” And so she decided to use her love for her and her linguistic knowledge to become a volunteer translator. «I work all day: I translate the dispatches of the Ukrainian government for the sites in Russian. I translate into English for foreign sites. And then in Italian. So that the people really know what is happening here“. Posts, newspaper articles, television news, verified and authorized sources. “Because the biggest mistake Europe can make is to consider this war a regional conflict.”

Tina Bushuieva was born into a wealthy Kiev family. As a teenager she develops a great love for Italy and Italian, which she studies at the language faculty of the Ukrainian capital. Since 2021 you are enrolled in the master’s degree in humanistic computer science in Pisa. She came back at the worst moment, but she is proud to be home right now.

“In Kiev there is a lot of tension as in other Russian cities. TO Kharkiv bombed the Parliament. But propaganda is at least as lethal a weapon as bombs. The Russians on social media pass the narrative that we Ukrainians want war. This is why many civilians also wish us death and continue to believe in Putin. I try, in my small way, to fight all this. Russian propaganda distorts the truth ».

Blocked in Italy by Covid, Tina managed to return home after six months. “Now we are stuck here: impossible to travel. In addition to the bombs, the problem is petrol. With my family, we pay money to volunteers. It is hard but we are lucky because we are safe ». Tina’s days are marked by the sending of videos and posts from the capital and other hot areas. «My friends, friends of my family, send us many contributions. I translate everything and then try to verify these sources. That’s all we can do right now ». This is no small feat, because responding to fake news is at least as important as picking up a weapon. “The Russian army is less powerful than it makes you believe. And the Ukrainians are demonstrating valiant stamina. But this is a dangerous war not only for us. And the rest of the world has to understand it ».

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Source: Vanity Fair

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