mykola lysenko could write operas to russian-language libretti, but it was offered to him by composersh more famous in the world than he is, because if he had made this choice, his operas would have been staged in his... theaters of st. petersburg and moscow but if lysenko had made such a choice, we would not have the ukrainian opera. this list can go on and on and on for hours. therefore, i always ask to appreciate those who chose ukraine. he chose the ukrainian world as his civilizational reference point, he gave us all an opportunity. to develop and be proud of, gave us the opportunity to understand that this country exists not just as a territory, but as a civilizational project, as a real land whose inhabitants share common public, national, and cultural interests. in the end... i want to remind you that there were enough people who perceived ukraine exclusively as a place to build prosperity in pre-soviet, soviet, and post-soviet times. franko wrote about this: you love russia like bread and a piece of lard, simply as a territory where you can get rich , where it is convenient to