Photo/Illutration Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a blaze at a warehouse after a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 17. (AP Photo)

The protagonist of "The Ex-Son" (translated into Japanese as "Rifujin Gemu") is a 16-year-old boy who falls into a coma after being trampled in a mass panic in his hometown.

He wakes up 10 years later to a completely changed political landscape. Gone are free and fair elections, as is the freedom of assembly. Democracy is on its last legs.

Written by Belarusian author Sasha Filipenko, the story is set in Belarus, which borders Ukraine.

Belarus today supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the novel, the real-life Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is portrayed as a dangerous dictator.

According to a colleague of mine who was stationed in Moscow for many years, Lukashenko won the 2020 presidential election in a landslide. But the election has since been challenged repeatedly as illegal, and Lukashenko has sent a slew of protesters to prison.

Because he relied on Russia in that process, my colleague explains, Lukashenko now has no choice but to do President Vladimir Putin's bidding as his loyal lapdog. And Putin is apparently pressuring him to participate in the Ukrainian war.

In his virtual address to the Diet on March 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Japanese lawmakers to the effect that by waging the war against Ukraine, Russia, the biggest nation in the world, has become the smallest nation in terms of morality.

Looking straight at the camera and his speech never faltering, Zelenskyy's fighting spirit was on full display.

His refusal to be intimidated must make him a royal pain to Putin.

It has been a month since the Russian invasion began. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls Ukraine's most harrowing situation a "living hell."

One in four Ukrainians have fled their war-torn country. My heart aches every time I see images of irrational attacks.

In the novel "The Ex-Son," Belarussian democracy was uprooted over the decade while the protagonist remained in a coma.

I pray that 10 years from now, democracy will flower again on Ukraine's scorched soil.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 24

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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