The Polish GDP Miracle That Wasn’t
Ukraine was on track to repeat Poland’s miraculous doubling of its GDP. Vladimir Putin robbed the nation and its people of that future.
“As everywhere, life in the Ukraine before this invasion wasn’t without its challenges,” says Olena Shevchenko when asked about her life in Ukraine prior to February 24, 2022. “But over the last 10 years, there had been a real transformation. Our lives were very normal before this, we had self-determination.”
A war zone is no place for children. In the month leading up to the attack, Ms. Shevchenko, like so many other Ukrainians, made the difficult choice to flee the country with her teenage daughter.
The road out of Ukraine wasn’t easy, but after being invited to stay in the United States by a lifelong friend until the trouble passed, Shevchenko decided to err on the side of caution.
She wasn’t alone.
“I will never know what made me decide it was time to go,” says Ms. Shevchenko. “There was something in the air that last month, many people- mothers with young children in particular- were starting to feel very afraid.”
“Some people just didn’t believe an invasion would happen, they couldn’t,” she adds. “They thought those of us who wanted to leave were overreacting.”