Rob Goossens sees a huge quarrel in his in-laws due to the war in Ukraine. There is a lot of annoyance about family members who do not speak out explicitly against Putin, he says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has started a bloodthirsty war in Ukraine. For this he works together with the dictator of Belarus, the country where Rob Goossens’ girlfriend Veranika comes from. “It’s a crazy situation,” says the media expert at the desk of RTL Boulevard.
Parsley
What does the family of his girlfriend Veranika think about this theme? “At the moment everyone is safe and that’s what you do with it, but at the same time there are quarrels about this in families,” he explains.
He continues: “My girlfriend’s grandpa and grandma, for example, think it’s horrible what’s happening here, but they prefer to sit in a corner with parsley in their ear and wait until it’s all over, while Veranika’s brother, for example, also belongs to grandma and grandpa. wants to hear that they completely disapprove of this.”
fierce
Veranika’s brother thinks it’s ridiculous. “He’s really just furious and doesn’t want to talk to grandma and grandpa anymore. Mother tries to calm that down. In the light of the bombings it all sounds very stupid, I understand that, but it is the consequences that continue to this level.”
Colleague Vivienne van den Assem: “It doesn’t sound stupid at all. It comes very close and it evokes all kinds of emotions in everyone. I actually don’t find that very strange at all. It also seems intense to me to be constantly confronted with the images there, even if you are here, also for Veranika.”
powerless
Rob responds: “I also notice that with my girlfriend, that it is of course nice to sit here, because you know for sure that you are safe, but at the same time that you also feel completely powerless because you want to contribute something there. Friends of ours from Ukraine yesterday strongly considered coming to Europe.”
“He also works in Europe, so they could have left, but they just decided yesterday to stay there and fight there. Then came the message that as a man between the ages of 18 and 55, he will no longer leave the country at all,” he says. Then: “God damn it, how could this happen on our continent?”