Letters

Shame and disgrace on the Republican-led House of Representatives on its recent refusal to provide funding for military support to Ukraine. They must be reminded of a few inconvenient — for them — truths:

The Republican Party could always depend on strong support from the post-World War II Ukrainian community. They never forgot or forgave FDR for handing Ukraine and Eastern Europe to Joseph Stalin in appeasement. I remember, in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and George Bush arriving for fundraisers at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Warren, Michigan, while a crowd, in the parking lot of the Ukrainian church across the street, waited to cheer for them.

The Trilateral Statement (1/14/94: U.S., Ukraine, Russia) and the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 (12/5/94: U.S., Ukraine, Russia, U.K.) have not been abrogated, just overlooked. In the political instability of the post-Soviet Union, there were fears that the security of nuclear warheads in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan would be compromised. These documents gave security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for the surrender of their nuclear weapons to Russia.

The Budapest document spells out these security obligations: defense of Ukraine in the face of aggression. It appears that the U.K. is the only one really serious about its commitment.

Ukraine joined the U.S. military coalition in Iraq (2003-08). It was the third-largest force in the coalition. While the Ukrainian forces were in a peacekeeping role, they did see combat. In the five years participating in the coalition, 5,000-plus Ukrainian soldiers served in Iraq, and 18 were killed.

While sending troops to Iraq was not popular in Ukraine, the government stood with its allies. Ukraine had “boots on the ground” in Iraq — now they need our financial and military resources to effectively and successfully fight their own battles.

Ukraine has a democratically elected government, which the Russian regime is trying to dismantle and install a subservient government as autocratic and corrupt as its own.

In a recent interview with The Southampton Press, Father Alex Karloutsis commented on the Russian atrocities committed against the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine and the retaliations meted out by the Russian Orthodox hierarchy to its own priests for speaking out against the war in Ukraine [“Father Alex Karloutsos From the Greek Orthodox Church Speaks About Ukraine and a Divided America,” 27east.com, August 29]. If men of good conscience cannot speak the truth within their own church without punishment, can Ukrainian society hope for better treatment should Russia be successful in its aggression against Ukraine?

The U.S. and all legitimate democracies must support Ukraine in its existential struggle to remain a sovereign, independent nation. They are bravely fighting our fight. We must stand with Ukraine with moral and military support — anything less would be to our shame and disgrace.

V. Rev. Abraham A.J. Miller

Hampton Bays

Miller is a retired Ukrainian Greco-Catholic pastor — Ed.