Journalist Vitalii Portnikov made the comments during a broadcast on Espreso.“When I expressed my views on social media about the debate over the moment of silence, some opponents argued that my comparison with Israel was inappropriate, because in Israel it happens only twice a year, while here it is daily. But Israel is not in a constant war on its own territory. Of course, in Israel, where past wars lasted only days or weeks, it was enough to honor the memory of the fallen several times a year. I believe that once the Russian-Ukrainian war ends, we also will hardly observe a moment of silence every single day,” Portnikov said.The journalist stressed that Ukraine is now living through a cycle of endless war with no clear end in sight. Yet the majority of society prefers not to notice it.“I think the moment of silence now is not just about remembering those killed or injured in this war. It is a reminder that the war continues. The negative reaction comes from the fact that much of society does not want to recognize this reality. People want not to be reminded. A large part of Ukrainian society is trying to live as if there were no war,” he added.Portnikov also warned that after years of great war, there has always been inevitable degradation of both society and the state. If Ukrainians do not resist this process, he said, the country risks meeting the war’s end amid the ruins of its own statehood.“One can close their eyes to such social attitudes, but they exist. I want to remind everyone that as this war goes on — now already three and a half years — these attitudes will only deepen. The longer it lasts, the more people will detach from the war, get used to it, and believe it is someone else’s concern. Many will view those who fight or directly experience the war as failures, while others live comfortably despite ongoing battles. Yes, they may have to go down into shelters, but they blame this on the Ukrainian government’s inability to negotiate peace. They feel it is not their problem. A significant part of the population may even consider that changing the Ukrainian flag to a Russian one is a small price to pay for their comfort. After all, in their view, nothing in their lives — language, values, or civic obligations — would change, because they never had those obligations to Ukraine, and hope they won’t have them to Russia. These people become fuel for Russia and material for the degradation of Ukrainian society during the coming years of war. The debate about the moment of silence simply became a litmus test for what we could have learned even without it. According to historical patterns, after three or four years of a great war, inevitable social and state degradation begins. We must resist this degradation if we do not want to reach the end of the war standing on the ruins of Ukrainian statehood,” Portnikov concluded.On September 22, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, announced that Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv will be closed daily at 9:00 a.m. during the nationwide moment of silence.