White House Urges Passage of Ukraine Aid Package after Devastating Russian Missile Attack

White House says America can’t let Ukraine down after largest rocket attack in months during holiday season.

President Biden warns “unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people.”

Full text of statement issued today follows:

Overnight, Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine since this war began. This massive bombardment used drones and missiles, including missiles with hypersonic capability, to strike cities and civilian infrastructure all across Ukraine. Strikes reportedly hit a maternity hospital, a shopping mall, and residential areas—killing innocent people and injuring dozens more. It is a stark reminder to the world that, after nearly two years of this devastating war, Putin’s objective remains unchanged. He seeks to obliterate Ukraine and subjugate its people. He must be stopped.

In the face of this brutal attack, Ukraine deployed the air defense systems that the United States and our Allies and partners have delivered to Ukraine over the past year to successfully intercept and destroy many of the missiles and drones. The American people can be proud of the lives we have helped to save and the support we have given Ukraine as it defends its people, its freedom, and its independence. But unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must step up and act without any further delay.
 
The stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine. They affect the entirety of the NATO Alliance, the security of Europe, and the future of the Transatlantic relationship.  Putin has not just attempted to destroy Ukraine; he has threatened some of our NATO Allies as well. When dictators and autocrats are allowed to run roughshod in Europe, the risk rises that the United States gets pulled in directly.  And the consequences reverberate around the world.  That’s why the United States has rallied a coalition of more than 50 countries to support the defense of Ukraine.  We cannot let our allies and partners down.  We cannot let Ukraine down.  History will judge harshly those who fail to answer freedom’s call.

‘As long as we can’

You don’t have to be a grammarian or linguist to understand the difference between “as long as we can” and “as long as it takes.”

The latter means that your participation, in this case America’s support for Ukraine, will last as long as it takes to reach a beneficial conclusion for Ukraine, that is victory and russia’s defeat. The former means that America’s support for Ukraine will last as long as the circumstances allow America’s support.

One means that nothing will scare America from its salubrious dedication to Ukraine while the other one means that if the heat gets too hot then America will abandon Ukraine.

The latter commitment was repeated by President Biden whenever the topic of supporting Ukraine came up and the former one emerged yesterday after President Zelenskyy met with the President at the White House and lawmakers on The Hill, including the Republican naysayers.

President Zelenskyy departed the nation’s capital with a bag filled with unfulfilled hopes and expectations, after he brilliantly presented the case that helping Ukraine defeat russian invaders is equivalent with defending NATO, the free world, and the United States of America from russian aggression.

Reportedly, President Biden was livid with the Republicans’ stubbornness. Apparently, he was even driven to say he would consider their demand for additional funding for a wall between the US and Mexico as well as a review of the country’s immigration policy. So why did the White House publicly leave the door open to the possibility of relinquishing support for Ukraine? I daresay Ukrainians do not deserve such a dramatic fall from grace.

But so far, senators of the Grand Old Party – that is quickly losing its grandness – are holding fast while the 600-plus day war against Ukraine is still raging. America’s allies, new and old ones, especially the former captive nations of russian subjugation, have earnestly encouraged America, notably the obstinate Republicans, not to surrender to russian’s terrorism and pressure, and continue supporting Ukraine. Still no go.

The Republican schoolyard quarrel with Democrats continues while Ukrainian soldiers, civilians and children are shedding their blood for their country as the nation strives to stay out of moscow’s captivity. And putin is preparing to celebrate a Happy New Year, grateful for the GOP’s holiday gift.

Where are Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, John McCain, ‘Scoop’ Jackson, Pat Moynihan, and Ed Koch when you need them?

If GOP Continues Its Stubbornness, Americans will need to Learn to Speak Russian

Sad but true, blind Republicans can’t see or don’t want to see the global threat that russian imperialism poses. They’d rather be locked into a meaningless schoolyard quarrel with Democrats. They don’t see that moscow, putin, russia, the kremlin also threaten Americans’ way of life. All lawmakers must unitedly support military, humanitarian & financial aid to Ukraine until victory. Without US & free world aid, the West will witness the death of a nation. The only goal for the benefit of Ukraine & the world is the total defeat & destruction of russia not merely its surrender & evacuation from Ukraine.

My latest blog:

• The Danger of Naïve, Capricious Lawmakers

@UNISdirect @UkrCongComAm 

https://thetorncurtain1991.blogspot.com

AP

Ukraine aid in growing jeopardy as Republicans double down on their demands for border security

https://apnews.com/article/6bdcc5dde4dadb48b43ace75b5a55242

AND

Abandon Ukraine & all of East Europe is under threat, exiled Belarus opposition leader warns US: 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/europe/belarus-ukraine-russia-war-us-intl?cid=ios_app

AND

Olena Zelenska warns that Ukrainians are in ‘mortal danger’ of being left to die if West doesn’t continue financial support. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67667035

The Danger of Naïve, Capricious Lawmakers

In the wake of the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany, the specter of another global terrorist and aggressor immediately reared its menacing head as it stretched chains around its “near abroad,” the independent Eastern European countries. One by one, like dominoes, sovereign countries fell as russian tanks crushed proud, freedom-loving nations.

This scenario is on the verge of recurring because of the blind stubbornness of Republican senators who refuse to support President Biden’s proposal for additional financial, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukrainians so they not only can defend themselves but also defeat and expel the russian cutthroats from their country.

The russian war against Ukraine, the largest armed, bloody conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two, has not only engulfed Ukraine but is also threatening the other former captive nations in Eastern Europe.

The situation in the U.S. Senate has perplexed and angered Ukrainian officials, Ukrainian Americans, and Ukraine’s advocates in the United States. After Senate Republicans choked a supplemental funding package on Wednesday to help Ukraine in its fight against the russian invaders, demanding tough new southern border controls and decreased immigration in exchange, the chamber’s leading Democrat took to the floor.

Calling it “a sad night in the history of the Senate,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a stalwart supporter of Ukraine, lamented the vote as a disappointing reflection on the country, a step away from letting vladimir putin “walk right through Ukraine and right through Europe.”

“Republicans just blocked a very much needed proposal to send funding for Ukraine, funding for Israel, humanitarian aid for innocent civilians in Gaza, and funding for the Indo-Pacific,” Schumer declared. “If there is a word for what we most need now, it is to be serious.”

The 49-51 vote reflected a growing trend in Congress that has become a source of distress for the White House. When Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, aiding Kyiv was a bipartisan project. In May of that year, a $40 billion Ukraine aid package sailed through the House with a vote of 368-57, and the Senate with a vote of 86 -11.

But as the war has dragged on, more Republican lawmakers have turned against extra aid to Ukraine, embracing Donald Trump’s “America first” approach to foreign policy. When the House voted in September on a bill to provide $300 million to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers, most Republicans – 117 members – opposed it.

The historical oddity of this GOP transformation is that during the height of the Cold War Republicans led the charge against Soviet Russia and in defense of the captive nations.

FOX News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane, among others, weighing the consequences if the US stops aid to Ukraine and Russia wins the conflict, said stopping funding for Ukraine would be outrageous.

Indeed, many foreign policy and history pundits have been aghast by the prospect of a russian victory. They described such a possibility as catastrophic. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged members of the alliance to “stay the course in supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion as both the United States and European Union struggle to agree on further military aid.

“It’s our obligation to ensure that we provide Ukraine with the weapons they need,” Stoltenberg told reporters as he arrived for a gathering of foreign ministers from NATO countries at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. “We just have to stay the course. This is about also our security interests,” he added alluding to the possibility of russian armies swarming across Europe if russia defeats Ukraine. Stoltenberg’s message for Republicans is that slashing Ukraine’s support will only empower China.

Many of the advocates for Ukraine are students of russian history while others are more familiar of moscow’s behavior over the past century. However, in both cases they warned that tsarist, soviet or “federal” russia has not changed its belligerent behavior. Russia in all its manifestations has been a terrorist regime that suppressed domestic dissent and spread foreign disinformation because it could not survive if the world knew the truth.

Western leaders and diplomats have naively long tried to find a means to work with the kremlin in hopes of evolving the system. However, the final nail in the coffin of these false hopes has been the latest russo-Ukraine war. The past more than 650 days has finally convinced many that putin and russia will never change. If the United States had listened to those hundreds of russians defectors or the liberation leaders of the post-war captive nations or the current leaders of the former captive nations who came to the free world over the years with powerful warnings, we would have known long before 2022 that reforming Putin’s rotten system is a fool’s errand. Russia will never be a trustworthy member of the family of nations. Sadly, you see that naïve or malicious conviction today in the hallowed halls of congress and academia.

I found an appropriate quotation about this point of view in the book “Putin’s People” by Catherine Belton. It was expressed by Sergei Tretyakov, former colonel in the russia Foreign Intelligence, the SVR, who was stationed in New York before defecting.

Tretyakov observed: “I want to warn Americans. As a people, you are very naive about Russia and its intentions. You believe that because the Soviet Union no longer exists, russia now is your friend. It isn’t and I can show you how the SVR is trying to destroy the U.S. even today and even more than the KGB did during the Cold War.”

The see-saw war has become dangerously tiring for many in the free world. Europeans, especially Eastern Europeans, are committed to supplying Ukraine with arms. In the United States, news of the war against Ukraine has fallen off its previously visible perch due to putin’s other war, the one between Israel and Hamas and its kindred spirits. If you find and read news of the war against Ukraine, you’ll see that one day Ukrainians are scoring magnificent victories while the next day russia has successfully pushed back against Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukraine still boasts of national unity in support of the war effort. The unanimous belief in the ultimate victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is palpable among all strata of Ukrainians. It also enjoys the support of many near and far countries and international organizations. Most importantly, Ukraine has prevailed as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation. This is a major achievement – a big win despite complaints from naysayers.

As Ukraine has moved forward, russia has fallen backward. It is now weaker politically, militarily, and economically. The free world knows russia and putin for what they are – a terrorist country lead by a terrorist dictator.

Among former captive nations, Lithuania’s leaders have staunchly supported comprehensive help for Ukraine and warned against a russian victory. Ukraine urgently needs long-range weapons it needs to win the war against Russia, Gabrielius Landsbergis, minister of foreign affairs, urged. He said, however, that he has observed a unsafe “slowing down of urgency” in Western support for Ukraine. 

Making the case that there is “no bigger element in Ukraine’s victory [than] weapons deliveries,” Landsbergis said there is a “slowdown” and a “bureaucratic approach” to Ukraine’s needs.

“We have to admit that we need Ukrainian victory, otherwise, we’ll be giving a victory to (russian president Vladimir) putin, which in turn is a nightmare, not just for Ukraine, but for the region, for us, for Latvia, for Lithuania, for other countries in our neighborhood, but also globally it will send repercussions,” the minister warned.  

“(We) need to go back to the urgency that we had and then send everything that we can,” he said, specifically noting the need to fulfill Ukraine’s request for long-range rockets that could target Russian military supplies in the occupied regions of Ukraine. 

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron has also urged US lawmakers to “lift the morale” of Ukraine by passing an aid package for Kyiv that has become entangled in Republican quarrelling. Cameron, a former British prime minister, told CNN during a trip to Washington, DC, that the U.S. is “the lynchpin” of the Western coalition backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“Most of the people I met on the Hill yesterday support backing Ukraine, because it’s the right thing to do,” Cameron told CNN, though he avoided commenting on Republicans’ demands on immigration. “This is an investment into their success, and the worst thing in the world would be to allow Putin a win in Ukraine – not just because that would be bad in itself, but (because) he’d be back for more.”

In the meantime, while the Senate remains stalled on the original legislation, the United States is sending a $175 million package of military aid to Ukraine, including guided missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), anti-armor systems and high-speed anti-radiation missiles, the Pentagon and State Department announced on Wednesday. In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that unless Congress approves the supplemental funding, “this will be one of the last security assistance packages we can provide to Ukraine.”

The Senate, especially that part which so far opposes additional help to Ukraine, must seriously consider the globally disastrous conclusion if Ukraine were to be defeated by russia. Life around the world would change, life in Ukraine would change as russification would tear asunder the people’s lives and kill those men, women and youth who won’t change.

The only moral and just path for the world and for the Senate would be if russia were defeated and destroyed. Call your elected officials.

OSCE: That’s like Giving the Bank Robber the Key to the Vault

It was too astonishing to believe! Many anecdotes can illustrate this ludicrous gambit but the one about giving the bank robber the key to the vault is appropriate.

Apparently, some bureaucrat at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, formed in the mid-1970s to cool Cold War rhetoric and tie russia to human rights obligations, decided it would be appropriate to invite a representative of the evil empire to attend that 30^th Ministerial Meeting, which will be held in Macedonia November 30-December 1.

The countries that most visibly benefited from this historic agreement were astounded and loudly protested this ludicrous idea.

Three Baltic countries and Ukraine, former captive nations of russian subjugation said they won’t attend a meeting of the European security body OSCE after it invited russian foreign minister sergei lavrov to participate.

Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia said in a joint statement earlier this week they will shun the gathering of the 57-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “It will only provide russia with yet another propaganda opportunity,” the countries’ foreign ministers said ahead of the meeting due in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Thursday and Friday. Ukraine also announced it won’t take part.

According to an interview with Bloomberg, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said earlier that the OSCE risks becoming “brain dead” as US and European allies bend to russia’s will by negotiating with Moscow over top jobs and which country will chair the organization. The body has offered Malta to take over as chair in a compromise after Moscow pushed back against Estonia, he said.

“We’re dancing to a fiddle that’s being played by Russians and I don’t agree with that,” Landsbergis said. “If there is an organization that could be called actually brain dead, we will very much have a chance to see the OSCE becoming this.”

A historic flashback. When then soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev agreed to Western countries’ requests for the inclusion of human rights provisions into what has become known as the Helsinki Accords, little did he realize how much trouble that would later cause for him. Up until then, human, religious, and national rights advocates in the Soviet Union based their demands on the United Nations Charter, the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the Soviet Constitution. The signing of the Helsinki Accords on August 1, 1975, produced a modern document, in which 35 countries, including the Soviet Union, reaffirmed their commitments to human rights. Incorporated into this new treaty were principles of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and national self-determination, among others.

Dissidents, human and national rights activists in the Evil Empire saw this document as an opportunity to present proof of repression of soviet russian authorities rather than a sell out to the kremlin.

This latest recommitment to human rights then became a bible of dissidents in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. While not altogether abandoning references to U.N. treaties or the Soviet Constitution, in which human rights activists in the USSR have lost faith, dissidents behind the Iron Curtain began to use the Helsinki Accords as the basis of their conduct. The first meeting to review compliance with the Helsinki Accords was set for late 1977 and early 1978.

That preceding spring and summer delegates from the 35 countries had already begun to assemble to discuss the ground rules for reports and discussions later that year. Signatory governments were preparing lists of their countries' implementations of the Helsinki Accords and complaints against other states, which, they claimed, did not live up to the Accords. Besides governments, individual citizens and organizations also were busy collecting documented material on their government's violations of the human rights provisions of the Accords. With the possibility of publicly airing violations of basic rights at the CSCE talks, human rights advocates in the Soviet Union took advantage of this and formed what has become known as Helsinki monitoring groups. They hoped that the material they collected would be presented at the CSCE or would at least be made public around the world.

In late 1976 and early 1977, five public groups to promote the implementation of the Helsinki Accords were formed in five republics of the Soviet Union — Moscow, Russia; Kyiv, Ukraine; Tbilisi, Georgia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and in Armenia. Each public group earnestly began collecting documentation on the Kremlin's violations of the Helsinki Accords and established contacts with the West to relay their information to the free world. This, they hoped, would bring public pressure to bear down on the Soviet government, which would force it to cease denying its citizens their rights. Each group was and continues to be interested in human rights generally, but individually their objectives differed. The Moscow group, for instance, focused on civil and religious rights. The Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Georgian and Armenian groups also sought civil and religious rights, but they but they also advocated the implementation of the principle of national self-determination.

The document that has been studying russian violations of a broad range of rights is now on the verge of being corrupted by the presence of a high-level russian delegation, which has never changed its criminal approach to governance.

And now, in the joint statement, the Baltic nations said lavrov’s attendance at the meeting “risks legitimizing aggressor russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations, trivializing the atrocious crimes russia has been committing, and putting up with russia’s blatant violation and contempt of the OSCE.”

Ukraine said it will skip the session because russia “systemically” blocks consensus on key issues and turned the organization into “a hostage of its whims and aggression,” according to a statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Separately, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, wrote in a statement on Facebook that the Ukrainian delegation would not take part in the meeting.

Nikolenko said Russia had abused the rules of consensus in the organization, resorted to “blackmail and open threats” and had also been holding three Ukrainian OSCE representatives in prison for 500 days.

“In such conditions, the presence of a Russian delegation … at minister-level for the first time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine will only deepen the crisis into which Russia has driven the OSCE,” Nikolenko said.

“For the past two years we have witnessed how one OSCE participating state has actively and brutally tried to annihilate another,” the Baltic foreign ministers said in their statement. “Let us be very clear: russia’s war of aggression and atrocities against its sovereign and peaceful neighbor Ukraine blatantly violate international law.”

They also accused russia of “obstructive behavior within the OSCE itself,” citing russia’s prevention of an OSCE presence in Ukraine and the blocking of Estonia’s chairmanship of the organization in 2024. They also accused russia of “obstructive behavior within the OSCE itself,” citing russia’s prevention of an OSCE presence in Ukraine and the blocking of Estonia’s chairmanship of the organization in 2024. lavrov’s attendance at the Skopje meeting “risks legitimizing aggressor russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations, trivializing the atrocious crimes russia has been committing,” they added.

Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, said he believed that he would be meeting Lavrov in Skopje. “Lavrov is not coming to Skopje, in a way. Lavrov is coming to the OSCE just as he went to (the) U.N. in New York a few months ago,” Osmani said. “I won’t be meeting him as the foreign minister of North Macedonia, but as the OSCE chairman in office.”

643 days of the latest russian war against Ukraine, at least, have demonstrated that russia doesn’t belong not only in the OCSE but also the United Nations. Self-respecting national leaders should not extend their hand to the kremlin’s killers and rapists.

If the murderous hoodlums from moscow are granted access to the 30th Session of the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe, then we might as well turn out the lights and close the door behind us. Its useful contributions to the global community are history.

Yes, Virginia; Yes, Liuda, Believe in Santa

T’is the season … so when I read stories about naughty or nice kids writing to Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Kris Kringel or Sviatyi Mykolay, I think about Virginia and other boys and girls who hope and pray for extraordinary gifts.

You remember the factual Christmas story of eight-year-old Virginia who was caught in a quandary about whether or not Santa Claus exists. So, what did the youngster do? She did what any other young American girl would do. She wrote to the editor of her local newspaper for confirmation.

She informed the editor that her playmates have confused her by telling her that he doesn’t exist. However, the wise editor set her straight.

Francis P. Church, an editor of The Sun, wrote an answer to Virginia that was printed in the newspaper on September 21, 1897.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished,” Church elaborated. “Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.”

“No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

I was inspired to write about this by a kindred spirit who posted on LinkedIn a Ukrainian child’s letter to Sviatyi Mykolay, requesting an extraordinary gift. Her name is Liuda who is also eight years old. She doesn’t live in New York City but rather in a war-ravaged region of Ukraine. Evidently all children around the world live by hope; hope for gifts and for a better tomorrow. This hope is heightened in youngsters in war-torn countries.

Liuda tells Mykolay that she has been a good girl, she helps her mother, she loves to draw and sing.

“Please grant me a new school because the rashists burned down my school. If this can’t be done then please give the children of soldiers a lot of tasty treats,” Liuba innocently implores the heavenly bringer of gifts, concluding “I offer you a talisman against evil.”

Her letter features a picture of her school with the blue and yellow flag on the roof and a joyfully illustrated bomb shelter.

Liuda, your childlike hope for a Mykolay is as sincere as Virginia’s and thank God for that! Your and all Ukrainian children’s belief in Mykolay are justified. Your belief in the beauty, joy, generosity, love, and devotion of Mykolay, as well as his protection of Ukrainian children will certainly help you and your classmates survive the rashists’ destruction of Ukraine and bloodshed of Ukrainians.

This honest conviction will not only assure that your school is rebuilt but that all of Ukraine is restored after the rashists are defeated and expelled.

Holodomor Remembrance by Biden

 In Holodomor Remembrance, Biden Likens Stalin’s Famine Murder of Ukrainians to Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

Statement by President Biden in Remembrance of Holodomor issued on November 25, 2023.

We mark the solemn anniversary of the Holodomor as the brave people of Ukraine continue to defend their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty against Russia’s brutal war of aggression.  Ninety years ago, the inhumane polices of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime created the “death by hunger.”  Millions of Ukrainians—men, women, and children—suffered and starved to death between 1932-1933 because of a manmade famine.  Stalin and his regime systematically seized Ukraine’s grain and farms and transferred Ukrainian grain to other parts of the USSR as a tactic to repress Ukraine’s national identity. 

Today, Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure is once more being deliberately targeted—this time by Vladimir Putin as part of his drive for conquest and power.  Russian forces seek to destroy Ukraine’s economy and independence, deliberately damaging fields and destroying Ukraine’s grain storage facilities and ports.  It is not just an attack on Ukraine’s economic security, it is a cynical assault on food security everywhere.  Putin is hurting the world’s most vulnerable communities, for Russia’s profit.

On this anniversary, we remember and honor all those, both past and present, who have endured such hardship and who continue still to fight against tyranny.  We also recommit ourselves to preventing suffering, protecting fundamental freedoms, and responding to human rights abuses whenever and wherever they occur.  We stand united with Ukraine.

German Think Tank Expects Russian War with NATO in 6 Years – if Ukraine Loses

Let’s examine what some on Capitol Hill are saying about refusing to provide Ukraine with a wide range of military equipment in its fateful, existential war with Russia. Yes, for the most part this disheartened group of legislators is composed of Republicans, descendants of the GOP that stood up in defense of the captive nations of russian aggression during the long reign of the Evil Empire.

Basically, this gaggle of lawmakers preaches that this first major war in Europe since the end of World War II is some 5,000 miles from the United States; it’s Ukraine’s war not America’s; it doesn’t affect America; we don’t want American soldiers fighting on the Ukrainian steppes; the war is already too costly; russia won’t expand the war beyond Ukraine’s borders; who cares; and so on and so forth.

On the other hand, the White House, NATO, the former captive nations and, of course, Ukraine, believe that Ukraine’s future is not only at stake. Ukraine is fighting russian aggression not only to defend its sovereignty and independence, but also the freedom of the western world. If Ukraine were to succumb to russian aggression again, the world would truly face Armageddon.

The German Council on Foreign Relation (GCFR), among others, believes that if Ukraine were to be defeated by moscow, its age-old, unquenched territorial ambitions would turn russia’s guns against NATO and the free world.

“With its imperial ambitions, russia represents the greatest and most ­urgent threat to NATO countries. Once intensive fighting will have ended in Ukraine, the regime in moscow may need as little as six to 10 years to reconstitute its armed forces. Within that timeframe, Germany and NATO must enable their armed forces to deter and, if necessary, fight against russia. Only then will they be in a position to reduce the risk of another war breaking out in Europe,” the council said in a recent analysis.

Actually, the council said that a Ukrainian defeat is not necessary for russian tanks to roll over Europe. It believes that even if the full-scale war it unleashed against Ukraine is frozen, moscow would have enough cause to launch a military campaign against NATO. The German think tank’s line of thinking substantiates the notion that russia regardless of the adjectives that define its socio-political governance has always been imperialistic, militaristic, and aggressive. These characteristics have been engrained into its national DNA.

“Russia has consistently shown its aggressive motivation over two decades. President Vladimir putin and kremlin elites and intelligentsia have long cherished the ambition to restore russia’s powerful empire and push back the influence of NATO and the EU. The historical categories in which they think are based on analogies with the tsarist empire and the ­soviet union. In their thinking, russia exists well beyond its current borders (a concept called ‘rusky mir’) – it extends to any place where russians have ever lived in or where the russian empire or the soviet union have ever ruled. Putin does not consider the borders established after the break-up of the soviet union to be binding. Countries belonging to NATO today include the Baltic States, which used to be part of russia and the soviet union,” the German study noted.

According to the analysis, it is moscow that determines the timing, combining long-held motivation with a military buildup, and the window for a possible invasion will open “as soon as russia believes that an attack, for instance on the Baltic states, could meet with success.”

The GCFR indicated “Putin’s ideology and interpretation of history ­already motivated the wars in Chechnya and Georgia. ­Russia’s constitution includes a provision to reintegrate ­belarus into the russian state; this is currently being implemented. In 2014, putin started the war in Ukraine. Despite having failed to achieve even one of its war goals to date, moscow has escalated the conflict into Europe’s largest war in 75 years.”

The experts pointed out that during its war against Ukraine, russia has put its arms industry on a war footing. The basis for calculating the period of time for NATO to prevent a possible war by strengthening its deterrence potential is the assumption that the kremlin will manage to freeze the war against Ukraine. Thus, moscow would have time to rebuild its ground forces.

“Any troops or systems that NATO countries deploy only a short time before russia’s reconstitution is achieved will not impact russia’s considerations,” the analysts wrote. “russia would underestimate NATO’s combat readiness and could be tempted to start a war.”

The analysts place the hope of the free world on Germany, which must deliver “a quantum leap” – “Within the shortest time ­possible, it must build up the Bundeswehr in terms of personnel, expand arms production, and improve resilience. This will only be possible if there is a change of mentality in society.”

The question for NATO and Germany no longer is whether they will ever need to be able to fight a war against another country, the report stated, but only when. In its new strategic concept, NATO describes russia as the greatest and most urgent threat to the security of its 31 allies and for peace and stability in the Euro-­Atlantic area. In contrast to earlier analyses, the ­alliance no longer rules out a Russian attack.

One redeeming option for the alliance would be to integrate Ukraine into the European Defense Sector.

“Europe should immediately begin to work with Ukraine to plan and implement the country’s long-term integration into Western defense and armaments. Ukraine is already part of the Western defense system. The announced membership in EU and NATO will further strengthen this connection. Given that the conflict with russia is likely to continue for decades, Ukraine’s location on the border to russia and ­belarus means that the country will continue to be of outstanding geostrategic importance to Europe’s security,” the council said.

The recalcitrant American lawmakers should study well the topic of russian imperialism and the russo-Ukraine War and understand that not only Ukraine’s fate but also the destinies of America and the free world hang in the balance of their faulty pro-russian policies.

Biden Administration Announces New Security Assistance for Ukraine

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today, December 20, additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This announcement is the Biden Administration’s 51st tranche of equipment to be provided from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, according to the department’s website announcement. This package includes additional air defense capabilities, artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons, and other equipment to help Ukraine defend its sovereign territory and fight for its freedom from Russia's ongoing war of aggression.
This package utilizes assistance previously authorized for Ukraine during prior fiscal years under Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) that remained after the PDA revaluation process.
The capabilities in this package, valued at up to $100 million, include:

● Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;

● One High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and additional ammunition;

● 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;

● Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;

● Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;

● More than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition;

● Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing;

● Cold weather gear; and

● Spare parts, maintenance, and other ancillary equipment.

The DoD announcement also stated: “The United States remains committed to working with the coalition the United States has built of some 50 Allies and partners who are providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to defend itself now and deter Russian aggression well into the future. Our allies and partners have stepped up to provide approximately $36 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. Under the leadership of the United States, this global coalition has enabled Ukraine's courageous forces to successfully defend Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, win critical battles that repelled Russian forces, and take back more than half of the territory seized by Russian invaders.

“Security assistance for Ukraine is a smart investment in our national security. It helps to prevent a larger conflict in the region and deter potential aggression elsewhere, while strengthening our defense industrial base and creating highly skilled jobs for the American people in dozens of states across the country. It is critical that Congress take action to support Ukraine by passing the President's supplemental funding request.”

You Can’t Deal with a Dishonorable, Evil Country like russia

After more than 630 days of russia’s war against Ukraine, many around the world have become bored by moscow’s brutality and killings of innocent civilians. The war has even been downgraded by many news networks. People don’t understand it; they don’t want to comprehend it; it’s inconceivable. This group also includes U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Consequently, there are calls for talks, negotiations, settlements, or surrender regardless of the immorality of any submission to aggressor russia. Afterall, as Israel’s Gold Meir pointed out, you can’t negotiate with someone who wants to kill you: “To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.” 

To those who have missed at least previous 30 years, here is a shortlist of the results of negotiations with russia that it never respected compiled by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and posted on his social media pages:

1. The Budapest Memorandum of 1994. Russia agreed to “respect independence, sovereignty, and the existing borders of Ukraine” as well as “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.” Breached by Russia invading Crimea in 2014.

2. The Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty of 1997. Russia agreed to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and “reaffirmed the inviolability of the borders” between the two countries. Russia breached it in 2014.

3. The OSCE Istanbul Summit in 1999. Russia committed to withdrawing its troops from Moldova’s Transdnistrian region and Georgia until the end of 2002. That never happened.

4. The 2008 Georgia ceasefire agreement following Russian aggression against the country. Russia agreed that “Russian military forces must withdraw to the lines prior to the start of hostilities.” That never happened.

5. The Ilovaysk “Green Corridor” in August 2014 and other “humanitarian” death corridors. Russia pledged to let Ukrainian forces leave the encircled town of Ilovaysk in the east of Ukraine, but instead opened fire and killed 366 Ukrainian troops. In the following years, Russia attacked numerous humanitarian corridors in Syria.

6. The “Minsk” agreements of 2014 and 2015. Russia agreed to cease the fire in the east of Ukraine. There had been 200 rounds of talks and 20 attempts to enforce a ceasefire, all of which the Russian side promptly violated. On February 24th, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

7. The 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative. Russia pledged to “provide maximum assurances regarding a safe and secure environment for all vessels engaged in this initiative.” It then hindered the initiative’s operation for months before withdrawing unilaterally a year later.

NB: Kuleba explained that he only focused on deals made with Russia to address specific issues and conflicts. He said he did not mention almost 400 international treaties that Russia has breached since 2014. There are no conclusions to be drawn here, Kuleba wrote, except that no one can seriously use the words “Russia” and “negotiations” in the same phrase. Putin is a habitual liar who promised international leaders that he would not attack Ukraine days before his invasion in February 2022.

Why would anyone genuinely believe that Russia in 2023 is any different from Russia in 1994, 1997, 1999, 2008, 2014, 2015, and 2022; or on November 2, 1708, when Russian troops under the command of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov captured and destroyed Ukrainian Hetman Mazepa’s capital of Baturyn, killing 9,000-15,000 civilians; or March 8-12, 1169, when prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal, the precursor of russia sacked Kyiv a Ukrainian metropolis that in the 12^th century rivalled European capitals.

Russia’s tactics have remained consistent in its many wars since time immemorial: kill, grab, imprison, lie, and deny. Stand with Ukraine! Defeat russia!

Schumer at Holodomor Observance: Never Abandon Ukraine!

 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine now as well as in the days of its subjugation, assured Ukrainian Americans gathered yesterday for the 90th Holodomor remembrance in New York City that he will never allow Ukraine to be abandoned by the United States.

“I pledge that as long as I am the majority leader in the US Senate, I will never allow America to abandon Ukraine,” promised Schumer, an annual speaker at these commemorative events.

The yearly remembrance of the murder by starvation of 7-10 million Ukrainian men, women, and children at the hands of russia is regularly organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America at the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Echoing the motto “Holodomor then; Genocide now; Justice when,” Schumer stated that nine decades ago Stalin failed in his twisted desire to annihilate Ukrainians by starving them to death while 90 years later russia invaded Ukraine to continue its diabolical plan to destroy the people and country.

“But just like stalin failed so too will putin fail,” Schumer said loudly to the crowd that filled the cathedral.

Schumer like other speakers at the observance equated crimes by Stalin and soviet russia with putin and contemporary russia. The kremlin’s mission is to erase everything Ukrainian from the face of the earth. Stalin weaponized food in 1932-33 just as putin is using food as a weapon today by sealing Ukraine’s grain ports.

Turning to russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Schumer pointed out that Ukraine is not demanding that American soldiers fight their battles. All Ukrainians want, he said, are weapons so that they can keep russia from rebuilding its empire. He said America must give Ukraine everything it needs without any conditions on aid.

“Today Ukraine is fighting for Poland and Eastern Europe and it’s fighting for America as well,” he declared. “By supporting Ukraine, we are supporting freedom and democracy.”

The ecumenical Moleben and Requiem was concelebrated by the Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Greek-Catholic Church, Archbishop Antony, Archbishop Daniel Zelinsky and Archbishop Borys Gudziak, and clergy. Archbishop-Cardinal Timothy Dolan welcomed the attendees. The assemblage was also addressed by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ambassador Elisabeth Mallard, acting US representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, UCCA President Andrij Futey, and Michael Sawkiw, chairman of the US Committee for Ukrainian Holodomor Genocide Awareness and director of the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS). The New York City “Dumka” chorus conducted by Vasyl Hrechynsky sang the religious responses.

The observance began with a procession from St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church on East Seventh Street and concluded with the attendees, led by Ukrainian diplomats, escorting a long blue and yellow banner from the cathedral's entrance to the altar.

90th Anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine

Each year Ukrainians around the world add another chronological notch in the timeline of their historical record of subjugation, death and now finally independence.

 

This year Ukrainians are commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the heinous, genocidal famine, the Holodomor, that russia inflicted upon their nation that brutally took the lives of 7-10 million men, women and children.

 

Reading about the Holodomor, you may wonder how a human being dies of starvation, especially when there is no chance of self-preservation, when death is inevitable for yourself and your spouse and children.

 

According to experts, as starvation progresses, the physical symptoms set in. The timing of these symptoms depends on age, size, and overall health. It usually takes days to weeks, and includes weakness, fast heart rate, shallow breaths that are slowed, thirst, and constipation. There may also be diarrhea in some cases. The eyes begin to sink in and glass over. The muscles begin to shrink and muscle wasting sets in. Tiredness and dizziness also commonly occur, especially from any physical task. The skin is often overly pale. One prominent sign in children is a swollen belly. Skin loosens and turns pale in color, and there may be swelling of the feet and ankles. If a person is dying from starvation, they may experience heart problems as well. Pain is not only determined by medical conditions that cause pain, like cancer or lung disease, but also by factors such as emotional distress, interpersonal conflicts, and the non-acceptance of one’s own premature, impending death.

 

But what do the experts know? Those who died of starvation never described their experiences, they don’t leave a record. They couldn’t even compare it with fasting for a few hours or days.

 

But the effect was undeniably catastrophic not only for the existing generation of Ukrainians but for subsequent ones as well. The birthrate, fertility and population were premeditatively decimated by russia because the kremlin rulers, stalin and others, couldn’t force the nation to succumb to their will.

 

Among the many writers who detailed the Holodomor was Nicholas Prychodko, an eyewitness. One of his articles on this and other topics of russian subjugation of Ukraine appeared on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of the famine in the 1953 edition of The Ukrainian Quarterly. Here are a few salient passages of what he saw:

“In 1941, when Germans invaded Ukraine, they found in the Academy of Sciences in Kyiv the true statistics of the crops harvested in 1932. These figures proved that the yield was sufficient to feed the Ukrainian population for two years and four months and to seed all the fields. There was no natural cause for the famine. It was purposely created to break the resistance of the farmers to collectivization and to the russian colonial domination of Ukraine…

“Helpless, despairing, they died by thousands, by tens of thousands, by millions. The statistical bureaus were ordered to register the deaths as resulting from prevalent digestive ailments…

“Through the streets of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and other cities, the miserable hulks of humanity dragged themselves on swollen feet, begging for crusts of bread or searching for scraps on garbage heaps, frozen and filthy. Each morning wagons rolled through the streets collecting the bodies. Often even the undershirt had been stripped from the body to be exchanged for a piece of bread…

“At this time, a friend of mine worked as an assistant in the October Revolution Hospital. After completing his medical studies in 1931 he worked in the surgical department. One evening he invited me to visit him in the hospital and promised me an unusual spectacle. When I arrived, he gave me a doctor’s white smock to put on and took me to a large garage in the yard. A guard unlocked the door and we entered. My friend switched on the light, and I beheld an unforgettable picture of horror.

“Piled like cordwood against the walls, layer upon layer, were the frozen corpses of the victims picked off the streets that morning. Some of the bodies, I later learned, were used for dissection and experiments in the laboratories. The rest were simply buried in the pits at midnight in nearby ravines out of sight of the people.

“This,” my friend whispered softly, “is the fate of our villages.”

“I was too unnerved to utter a word. With unbelieving eyes, I could only stare at hundreds of outstretched frozen hands which still seemed to be begging for bread; begging for life.

“My friend turned out the lights and we left without a word. The guard slammed the door shut and locked it behind us. Slowly we walked home, speechless and shaken, but with a mutual understanding between us…

“My son, my darling. Where will I bury you and where shall I find my own grave?

“In this way 1933 brought death to the villages of Ukraine. Many places which had formerly boasted of populations from 2,500 to 3,000 now counted but 200 to 300 inhabitants. Later the government brought colonies of russians to these villages to occupy the vacant homes and to this day they plow and till the rich black soil of Ukraine.

“The tougher farmers who had somehow survived the fatal famine and lived to see the following harvest were sentenced to 10 years of Siberian slave labor if they so much as picked a handful of wheat ears to chew the half-ripened kernels for nourishment. This crime was branded, ‘theft of socialist property.’

Over seven million Ukrainians died in that artificially created famine. If the statement seems far-fetched one need only look in the ‘Small Soviet Encyclopedia,’ 1940 edition, and under the heading ‘Ukraine’ note this fact: in the 1927 census Eastern (Soviet) Ukraine had a population of 32 million; in 1939 (12 years later) it had only 28 million. Where did the 4 million disappear and where was the natural increase in population which should have numbered about 6-7 million? The answer is: the famine and Siberia.

Unable to tolerate further the tragic plight of their people, two of Ukraine’s outstanding ardent communists, the writer Mykola Khvylovy and Mykola Skrypnyk, former friend of Lenin and at that time commissar of education, who had upheld the revolution with heart and soul, committed suicide. They had realized too late the falsity, the duplicity of communist ideals which they had so earnestly believed in and preached.”

Despite the efforts by russia and its lackeys in the west, such as Walter Duranty, Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, to deny the famine, in time the world learned about one of the greatest crimes against humanity – the planned annihilation of a nation.

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish scholar who coined the term “genocide” and initiated the Genocide Convention, wrote that the Holodomor “is a classic example of the soviet genocide, the longest and most extensive experiment in russification, namely the extermination of the Ukrainian nation.” According to Lemkin, the Holodomor consisted of four steps: the decimation of the Ukrainian national elites, the destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the starvation of the Ukrainian farming population, and its replacement with non-Ukrainians from the russian SFSR and elsewhere.

Lemkin estimated the losses of the Holodomor at 5 million. He considered this famine to be a step in the long sequence of genocidal events that also included forced emigration, destruction of the intellectual elite, religious persecution, and mass shootings of the people of Ukraine.

Annual rallies, requiems and resolutions are still needed to honor the memory of the millions of Ukrainians who suffered and continue to suffer under the russia’s policy of using starvation as a weapon to try to break the independent spirit and identity of the Ukrainian nation. Raising awareness about the Holodomor can help keep russian or other tyrants from repeating this ugly chapter in world history and painful chapter in Ukrainian history.

Out of the 195 countries of the world, these UN member-states and others have recognized the Holodomor as genocide on the state level: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, USA, Vatican City, Wales  as well as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Additionally, 31 US states as well as many local communities have issued proclamations recognizing the Holodomor as genocide.

With russia’s war raging in Ukraine as living proof of its genocidal policy the question persists, where are the others?

As Ukraine continues to fight today to defend its independence and sovereignty in the face of russian aggression, any resolution serves as an even more important reminder of the horrible atrocities inflicted upon Ukraine and the perseverance of nation that has proven its spirit cannot be broken.

Today, for the 90^th time we remember the victims of the famine who were killed and support the efforts of the Ukrainian nation in Ukraine and elsewhere to bring global awareness to its battle, particularly as the world confronts russian aggression on several fronts.

On Saturday, November 18, if you’re in New York City, please join for an ecclesiastical Moleben-Requiem for the victims, survivors, and families of this tragedy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 1 pm.

War in Ukraine Stagnating? Don’t Kid Yourselves

A group of congressmen sent a letter to President Biden urging him to downgrade support for Ukraine in favor of Israel because russia’s war in Ukraine has been stagnant for several months.

Those lawmakers must be influenced by russian propaganda, or they haven’t registered themselves as operatives of a foreign state – russia. Nothing could be farther from the truth about their conviction. The russian war is still raging in Ukraine but the lion’s share of coverage today is about Hamas’ brutality against Israel and its efforts to defend itself. Proponents of support or no support should take note that russia and iran figure predominantly in both wars.

Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) led seven of his colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to decouple supplemental funding for Israel from a larger package that includes additional funds for Ukraine. They argued, among other points, that Israel is more deserving because it has a 75-year track record of being America’s greatest ally. And apparently, as they say in ethnic communities, Ukraine is chopped liver.

“[T]he unique conditions present in Ukraine and in Israel are such that support for each should be considered separately and on their own merits. Israel and the United States have been allies for nearly 75 years…Furthermore, the situation in Israel is dynamic and threatens to pull the entire region into disarray whereas the fronts in Ukraine have remained largely stagnant for some months,” wrote Garcia and his colleagues in his letter of October 31.

They contend that in today’s political environment on The Hill, the President’s policy is “risking the possibility that important funding for Israel’s defense will be delayed or defeated because of opposition in the House and Senate to your ‘blank check’ strategy in Ukraine.”

While pointing out that “Israel and Ukraine must both be victorious, that much is clear,” the lawmakers, themselves, are endangering such an outcome while virtually ensuring a russian victory in both theaters of war.

The legislators also insisted that President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explain what would happen if American investments into Ukraine cease. This question has been answered numerous times by both Presidents, US military commanders, the former captive nations on Ukraine’s border, and civic groups such as the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian National Information Service. If you don’t know the answer by now, then you don’t care to know. Without so-called US humanitarian and military aid into Ukraine, Ukraine will cease to exist, russia’s power and prestige will encircle the world, and America’s future will be perennially threatened by countries large and small.

The naysaying congressmen naively maintain that Biden and Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy must provide Congress with a win strategy and its price tag. Russia’s war against Ukraine is still ongoing and perhaps less fluid than in the past. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are scoring major victories against russian cutthroats in uniform on land, air and sea even though the invaders continue to slaughter innocent Ukrainian civilians. Furthermore, how can lawmakers demand a price tag for victory without considering the price tag of defeat?

The letter was also signed by Republican congressmen Tom McClintock (CA), Doug LaMalfa (CA), Ralph Norman (SC), Brad R. Wenstrup (OH), Adrian Smith (NE), C. Scott Franklin (FL), and Dan Meuser (PA).

The prevarications by opponents can only prolong the agony of russia’s war, kill more innocent civilians and children, raise global tensions, and contribute to Ukraine’s defeat and moscow’s victory.

As for the so-called stagnation, Moscow fired millions of shells on cities, towns and villages yesterday – more than on any single day so far this year – reducing some to rubble across the eastern and southern parts of the country. This probably means that russia received a new delivery of iranian drones and missiles. In the past 24 hours, russians shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions. This latest barrage came as President Zelenskyy criticized the world’s expectations of a speedy victory on the battlefield.

In response to growing criticism of Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Zelenskyy said: “The modern world is set up in such a way that it becomes accustomed to success quickly. When the full-scale aggression began, many in the world did not think Ukraine would endure.”

If you dig into your favorite news outlet, you’ll spot stories about greater or lesser russian missile attacks against Ukrainian non-military targets. But fresh stories about the war in Israel appear ahead of the 21-month long russian war against Ukraine.

Nonetheless russian killers in Ukraine don’t only conduct widescale attacks. The other day the media reported that the invaders killed a Ukrainian family of nine while sleeping, including two young children, because they refused to turn over their home to russian soldiers. Photos of blood-splattered rooms appeared with the stories.

The United Nations also underscored the lack of stagnation or a lull in the war. The UN pointed out earlier this week that Russian strikes are inflicting unimaginable suffering on Ukrainians and more than 40% of them need humanitarian assistance, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination in the UN humanitarian office, said thousands of civilians have been killed in strikes on homes, schools, fields and markets since russia’s invasion in February 2022. The UN human rights office has formally verified 9,900 civilians killed, but he said, “the actual number is certainly higher.”

Ukrainian civilians are suffering “horrendous humanitarian consequences” and “unimaginable levels of suffering” from the russian strikes, Rajasingham said. About 18 million Ukrainians — more than 40% of the population — need some form of humanitarian assistance, and as winter approaches “needs will be magnified,” he said.

Rajasingham said considerable damage and destruction of critical infrastructure continues to severely impact civilian access to electricity, heating, water, and telecommunications, “a particular concern as winter fast approaches,” which will put the elderly, disabled and displaced most at risk.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ), a staunch supporter of the Ukrainian nation since the days of subjugation, lambasted Republicans on Capitol Hill for their manipulation of the issues. “There is no issue, not even an international catastrophe, that House Republicans will not manipulate,” said Pascrell. “Advancing a partisan bill now is a disgrace and will not help Israelis. The bill will also not help Palestinians, it will not help Ukrainians and it will harm regular Americans. This proposal is a toxic political document designed to use the situation in the Middle East to cut taxes for the rich. And by the way: Republicans would add to the deficit by helping destroy IRS tax enforcement. I cannot say I am surprised, but I am still almost speechless by the audacity. There is no bottom for House Republicans.”

In reality, the only end game in this bloody catastrophe is the total and unconditional surrender or defeat of russia. It’s belligerent behavior toward Ukraine has been going on too long for a ceasefire, truce or armistice to save Ukrainian lives, safeguard the infrastructure and ensure the longevity of Ukrainian independent statehood.

American support and firepower while the Ukrainian nation – officials, armed forces and civilians – vanquishes the russian invaders will ensure that conclusion.

Call your congressman/woman about importance of supporting Ukraine or else russians will spread confusion on Capitol Hill.