Ukrainian exceptionalism

Americans like to believe they are exceptional — a pioneer nation born in revolution, animated by liberty, individual freedom, and committed to the democratic separation of powers. In the spring of 2022, at a refugee camp on the Polish-Ukrainian border, I began to suspect that this belief, while powerful, may no longer describe us as accurately as we assume.

I was at the Medyka crossing for only two weeks, but the experience changed me forever.

Decades earlier, I had been a Soviet Studies major in college and therefore exposed to the history, suffering, and oppression that were imposed on this part of the world.

However, aside from the classroom and hearing from a few dissident professors who had escaped the Iron Curtain, I never fully understood the soul of Eastern Europe or the powerful history of Ukraine.

There, in that cold, hastily organized camp, I met Ukrainians of all backgrounds, economic status, and education. Learning, talking, eating, singing, laughing, and crying with them, I could already feel the human cost of this war, but also the potential global consequences if Ukraine were allowed to fall. Even in that chaotic, dark, and bleak time, these people, their determination, pride, and hope captured my heart and my respect.

In those people, I see a trait that we, in our comfort and arrogance, have come to take for granted. Freedom and democracy, liberty and self-determination are not talking points, banners, or weapons used to bludgeon political opponents. In Ukraine, these goals and dreams are the lifeblood and the very identity of the country and her people.

Now four years and 11 visits to Ukraine later, the thing that has struck me more than anything is that Ukraine is, in many ways, the country that the United States often likes to think it is.

Our government derives its power from the consent of the governed, not monarchs or a ruling class. We are taught, and we believe that because of these things, we are unique among the community of nations, a nation with limitless potential and what President Reagan called "a shining city on a hill."

When Ukraine entered the global spotlight in 2022, it garnered support from every corner. What was initially a clear case of good versus evil, freedom versus tyranny, and right versus wrong became muddled and politicized, especially in the toxic clash between multilateralism and the America First vision.

This movement in the United States now criticizes Ukraine for corruption, blames NATO and the West for provoking Vladimir Putin, and holds the chauvinistic view that Ukraine is a fake country, somehow mirroring all of the Russian narratives about Kyiv.

While most Americans can see beyond these extremist statements, I believe that our deeper American psyche of inherent superiority is still willing to cite the lies as we wholly abandon Ukraine and Europe.

This is a terrible mistake.

The United States continues to gloss over our failures and shortcomings and is now embracing a kind of hybrid slide into authoritarianism and oligarchy. This is exactly what we accuse Ukraine of, but the Ukraine I have come to know is fighting to preserve the very same ideals that we believe make us exceptional.

The United States was born from a revolution 250 years ago. Modern Ukraine was born in 1991 after the Cold War, but its revolutionary spirit goes back more than 1000 years. From the time of the Kyivan Rus, Ukrainians endured conquest and occupation from Poland, Lithuania, the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, and then the Soviet Union. The spirit of Ukrainian nationalism only grew stronger with each struggle.

My friend Andrei, a soldier with the 47th Brigade of Ukraine's Armed Forces, told me that "the idea of freedom in Ukraine is something sacred. People here had to fight for it for centuries, and not a single time in our entire history did we settle for some oppressive regime or government."

Americans haven't fought an existential conflict since World War II. Yet when I look at Ukraine, I see a people who have never stopped fighting against real tyranny for their actual survival. Ukraine embraces democracy but navigates its messiness in a much different way than the United States. A way that we should emulate.

Many Americans boast of freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, the Second Amendment, and resistance to government overreach as principles that make us unique among nations. While we offer lip service, sound bites, and slogans to these ideals, Ukrainians actually act on them.

In 2004 and 2013, and again in 2025, Ukrainians of all backgrounds took to the streets to demand change. And they got it, quickly. From new elections to ousting a Russian puppet regime, to rolling back legislation that crippled their anti-corruption efforts, they displayed courage and moral conviction.

Meanwhile, in America, the same people who scream "Don't Tread on Me" remain silent as Americans are rounded up and murdered in the street at the hand of their own government, a government that we now freely allow to intrude on seemingly every facet of our lives.

As others rightly note, Ukraine is not perfect. It has a long road ahead, both on the battlefield and in the critical task of eliminating the centralized, corrupt, and ineffective remains of the post-Soviet cancer. While Americans cling to illusions of exceptionalism and that we are "the greatest country in the world," we should look to Ukraine as an example of what an exceptional nation really looks like.

Ukrainians, especially the younger generations, demonstrate a unity of purpose. They do this in the most trying of times that nobody in the United States can even imagine. While a terrorist regime seeks to eliminate them, they still find the strength to address their shortcomings with actions. While we comfortably bask in an illusion of freedom, Ukraine shows us the sacrifice and vigilance that it really takes to secure it and protect it.

Editor's note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

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