How the war is seen from here in Romania and from my perspective as someone who knows nothing about wars

I live roughly 60 km from Ukraine's south western border.

When the first strikes on Ukraine happened, everyone was in disbelief. Russian troops amassing at the border was already worrisome but I think everyone hoped for the best up until the last second.

In an attempt to soothe my anxiety and fear, as a 32 year old millennial with zero knowledge of war, I started reading. A lot.

Romania was part of the Soviet bloc,it was in the sphere of influence of the former USSR up until 1989 when the Romanian revolution happened and they un-alived Ceaușescu.

First thing I did was to research NATO, its history, its principles and the dreaded Article 5.

https://nato.usmission.gov/about-nato/

Next, I started reading about Russia, its nuclear arsenal and its Nuclear Doctrine:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-chain-command-potential-russian-nuclear-strikes-2022-03-02/

Very interesting, scary stuff.
Tl;dr:
- can use nukes if territorial integrity or national security is threatened
- can use nukes if other countries fire nukes OR if they think other countries fired nukes
- can use nukes in "traditional" warfare in a thing called "escalate to de-escalate" or just to force someone into submission.

According to the latest news, they WILL use nukes if NATO enforces the no-fly zone in Ukraine but NATO representatives said that it's out of the question.

Putin has admitted that in a conventional war, Russia is no match to NATO's combined power. This is a very interesting change in rhetoric considering that they've sold the world a whole different perspective.

He pointed out that they do have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world and the more I read I'm convinced that he's going to use nukes should a NATO-Russia conflict happen.

When he put the nukes on enhanced combat duty, he basically opened the chain of command that could lead to actually launching said nukes, a chain of command otherwise closed according to their doctrine.

News here is just about the same as everywhere and your usual fear mongering, misleading headlines that people bite into without even blinking.

Latest one I've heard about was that men here aged 18-35 are getting called into conscription.

1. We are not at war
2. We're currently in no danger of war
3. Obligatory conscription in time of peace was eliminated in 2007

A few others that went around for a while after Vladdy put his nuclear forces on enhanced combat duty were that he's actually definitely arming his nukes and will definitely fire them.

Thing is, governments would technically have a heads up and we'd see if Russia is preparing to launch, at least from land bases (nuke bases with ICBMs would show signs of heating up) and aerial bombers. Submarines are a different subject.

We're doing our part!
I was very happy to see that we're supporting Ukraine along with other countries.

Ukraine is our neighbor. Our hearts break and our souls ache seeing the unnecessary suffering of innocent people.

The mobilization here to help refugees has been mind blowing.

People gathered at the border to help. They donated food, clothes, medicine offered shelter.

It's both terribly sad and heart-warming to see humanity's best side surface in the worst time since WW2.
We could have done better...IMO.

Since Vladdy started making nuclear threats, Romanian people have literally emptied the pharmacies of iodine pills out of fear of a nuclear accident.

Thank fuck it didn't happen.

I mean, I can see why most would react this way since for many the memory of Chernobyl is alive and well but it's still totally uncalled for. For now.

Iodine does more bad than good when taken unnecessarily.

Of course, we have pro-Russian people here as well. People who think Putin's acts are completely justified. That he's "just protecting his people".

I've heard people say that the Ukrainian government has deliberately armed the people, incited them to violence and the Russians are simply "fighting back".

Simple people. The common clay of Romania. You know. Morons.

A Romanian senator blew up social media when she claimed that she looked at the Kyiv webcams and there is in fact no war (Diana Șoșoacă if you want to look her up but be prepared to lose some brain cells)

Lmao

This had me cracking up.
As a Magick practicing woman myself, this threat had me rolling.

Before you ask why won't the "so called witches" simply just curse the fuck out of Putin...it's like opening a proverbial can of worms. There's no telling if:

1. It works at all
2.it might make matters worse

We've had discussions in our circles about this and the elderly, more experienced folk heavily recommended that we do not attempt anything.

I personally pray for the people of Ukraine and hope for this war to end.

My husband has a friend in the Kharkiv area.
He's kept contact but cannot flee. He's currently in hiding. He's been online daily and I sigh in relief every time I ask my husband if his friend is still alive and says: yup.

With the closing of Facebook and other social media in Russia, there's no telling how long he can still communicate.

A few days ago I decided to check out the bunkers in my city near where I live. These were built a long time ago and are currently locked.

Most likely, people living here use them as storage spaces.

While they might be helpful in a conventional war, I'm getting my family's asses away from conflict at the first sign of trouble.

Hopefully we won't need these at all.

Since the conflict escalated, we've had NATO planes patrolling the skies.

These planes are loud AF. I never imagined how loud they actually are.

Not long ago, we've had our skies graced with B-52 bombers as part of NATOs response to secure eastern borders. You know...in case Vladdy decides to get greedy.

We currently suck at everything military so...

Our neighbors in Moldova are having a really bad time with Russian troops already on their borders and more possibly advancing towards Transnistria.

I really don't know what's going to happen and I'm scared. Everyone is.

We joke around and try to find humor to comfort ourselves but truth be told, most of us are terrified.

I go to work every day as the sole provider for my family, trying to be a good mom and, unknowingly to my husband and daughter, starting to make serious plans to getting the fuck out of here if the war spills into other countries.

Slavă Ucraina! (in Romanian)