To my countrymen:
I hear a lot of discussion about whether the United States and its allies should be continuing to provide financial and military aid to Ukraine.
Let me be absolutely clear:
Aid to Ukraine is not a gift.
It is not charity.
It is a repayment, a small fraction of the debt we owe to Ukraine.
Vladimir P*tin’s ambitions do not stop with Ukraine. Had Russian soldiers rolled through, and captured all of Ukraine, all of Eastern Europe would have been in jeopardy, and American soldiers would now be dying to defend the freedom and the sovereignty of our NATO allies.
But instead, Ukraine held the line. Her young men have fought and died to defend their homes and their liberty, and in so doing, they have shielded the western world, and also exposed the ineptitude, corruption and cruelty of the Russian military. (The photo above is one I took of Russian rockets and cluster munitions that a farmer pulled from his field)
I know this. I pass the cemetery here in Kharkiv often, and see the graves of our fallen heroes. A field of waving blue and yellow flags that represent a generation of sons, fathers, mother and daughters cut down by a madman’s vendetta against “the west”.
I live in a city scarred by Russian rockets. A city where coffee shops and playgrounds are bombed, and where children go to school in bunkers. Where air alarms sound ten times a day.
Military aid to Ukraine IS humanitarian aid. The Russian army leaves behind it swaths of destruction. Destroyed civilian infrastructure and murdered civilians.
So before you say the price is too high, and that Ukraine should negotiate, please, stop and think about the alternative.
Above all, remember, your freedom, peace and safety right now is being paid for in Ukrainian blood.
Я думаю про всі інструменти, які я мав в Америці. Я там працював механіком 15 років. Я витратив тисячі доларів на інструменти. І залишив їх усіх позаду. Але через деякий час я розумію - усі вони мені були не потрібні. І зараз… Я займаю своє місце Як український механік!
