Trump’s support for Russia over Ukraine stands in stark contrast to the outpouring of support and generosity exhibited by the Ukrainian-American community.
On this, the third anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, I’m reminded of those first fateful days when bombs fell on cities and towns, forcing Ukrainians to shelter in subway tunnels and makeshift bunkers.
We saw parents and children huddled together, carrying only what they could grab at a moment’s notice and wearing looks of fright on their ashen faces.
Yet, amid the abject horror of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked attack came a lone voice I’ll never forget.
It wasn’t the rallying cry of the Ukrainian president thrust into the role of wartime leader but that of a small girl who sought to calm her fellow war victims with a rendition of her favorite song from the movie “Frozen,” sung in her native Ukrainian.
Then 8-year-old Amelia Anisovych made eyes well up around the world and helped rally the caring among us to do something, anything, to aid the Ukrainian community.
Ukrainian Americans in cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere organized relief supplies drives and began finding ways to house those fortunate enough to escape to neighboring countries before making the long journey to America.
It felt like the American government and most Americans understood the gravity of the largest military provocation in Europe since World War II.
We were doing the right thing by aiding in their fight until the grave injustice carried out by a wicked Russian dictator was repelled.
Now, just three years later, America, once again led by Putin’s ardent ally, a president who attempts to gaslight the world into believing Ukraine started the war, wants the victims to give up a large swath of their country as a condition for ending the fighting.
Meanwhile, Europe, which has borne the brunt of the defense spending and the refugee crisis, is preparing for a future when Trump pulls American support, forcing them to go it alone.
“In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake,” wrote Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. “It’s Europe’s destiny.”
Ukrainians flee the fighting across a bombed-out bridge. Photo by Martin Kuz for Postindustrial
Postindustrial contributor and seasoned Ukraine reporter Martin Kuz agrees, saying that it is time for Europe to rise to the occasion as America contemplates a cowardly and cruel withdrawal from the fight.
“The time has come for Europe to recognize Ukraine as one of its own as much as Poland, Romania, or any other country once trapped behind the Iron Curtain. The time has come, in other words, for a new guiding principle: Nothing about Europe without Ukraine.”
And while Europe rallies to bolster its efforts in Ukraine, even contemplating sending troops to the country, a move that would bring the world one step closer to multinational conflict on the continent akin to the last two World Wars, our hearts in America are torn in two directions.
The cruel among us are misled by the Trump White House’s support for Putin’s ambitions, while others reaffirm their commitment to the Ukrainian people.
At a Ukrainian church in the Northeast Ohio city of Parma, Bishop Bohdan Danylo noted that Ukrainians forced to flee their homeland have found refuge in America among those whose hearts remain open to those in need.
“Northeast Ohio became one of the larger centers [for Ukrainian refugees], and it’s thanks to our community, both Ukrainian, but especially the loving community of Northeast Ohio,” said Danylo.
Like the Europeans, it looks like the Ukrainian American community will have to forge ahead in its support for Ukrainians as our leaders side with their tormentors.
If only anyone in the Trump administration had a heart that could be moved by the suffering of the Ukrainian people and the sweet voice of that little girl, then perhaps they wouldn’t turn away from Ukrainians so easily.
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