This commentary is by Anya Tynio, a resident of West Charleston.
Since the invasion last month, many people are hearing for the first time about the Ukrainian people’s fight against Russian tyranny. They are realizing for the first time how the Ukrainians refuse to be subjected to Communist control of their nation.
However, this is hardly the first time that the Ukrainian people have had to fight for their freedom.
Since 1917, Ukraine has resisted Communist Russia, suffering immensely under the crippling oppression of the Soviet Union. After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Russia continued to meddle in Ukrainian politics and work against its prosperity.
Russia has always wanted to keep Ukraine under its control due to the natural resources and warm-water ports that exist within the Ukrainian borders. It really boils down to the fact that Ukraine has valuable property that the Russians want. As is the classic Communist way, Russia wants to take those valuables by force.
As an American of Ukrainian ancestry, I grew up listening to my relatives talk about how the Ukrainians suffered under Russian control. How they starved and froze, of the atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers. How members of my own family were murdered for resisting the Communists.
My great-grandparents immigrated to the United States to start a better life. They learned to speak English, got jobs in the coal mines and began farming. They became American citizens and fully embraced America.
Many of my relatives served and continue to serve in the American armed forces. Their choice to come to America has created a better life for our family than would have been possible otherwise and I am extremely grateful for that. I also understand how hard it was for them to watch the decades of continued suffering in Ukraine. They never forgot where they came from or how valuable freedom was.
They instilled in me an understanding of what living under Communism was like and I fully understand the Ukrainian people’s refusal to return to such horror.
It was a great benefit for me to hear about history from those who had lived it. While much of history is now changed to fit a political agenda, I was able to learn about it from firsthand accounts. Through this I recognized the neosocialist movement in America and Europe was not new at all. It was the same exact ideology and tactics that had oppressed millions of people for decades. It is out of respect for my heritage and my love for America that I have and always will stand against the socialism in our nation.
It is incomprehensible that both Biden and Harris have stated that the United States will not support Ukraine militarily, but would do so for our allies. Similarly, NATO has chosen not to offer assistance, allowing the continuous shelling of civilians.
In both thought and action, Ukraine has allied itself with the free world and we could ask for no better a nation to stand with. The lackluster response of Western politicians to a nation’s plight for sovereignty and freedom is shockingly shortsighted. The world has an opportunity to provide substantial support for the Ukrainians in this fight and better enable them to do a job that benefits all of us.
Russia has threatened world aggression for decades and has now acted on those threats. Strength is the only response that will be successful. It is the only response Russia will respect. A Ukrainian victory would change the course of history as it pertains to Russia and such a change would be well worth our efforts.
In a time when liberty is being threatened, the Ukrainian people have reminded all of us how valuable it really is. Despite government response, people around the world now relate to Ukraine. They recognize the age-old story of good against evil, of freedom against oppression being played out yet again.
As it is, I join hundreds of thousand others in prayer for a Ukrainian victory in this David vs. Goliath fight. By the will of God, as it was in the Bible, they’ll be successful.
