Guest Commentary: Ukraine should be able to get weapons from US, others

John F. Floyd is wrong from beginning to the end of his opinion piece that appeared on The Gadsden Times’ website.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, now in its 11^th month, was unprovoked by Ukraine and follows several other aggressive actions committed by Russia and ordered by its president, Vladimir Putin.

There was the occupation of Crimea, a part of Ukraine since 1954, when the territory was consigned to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic by Nikita Khrushchev, then first secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR. Lacking an army, Ukraine could do little to defend its sovereign territory.

That was followed by the invasion of Ukraine’s eastern most provinces by men and equipment who crossed the border from Russia. They wore Russian military uniforms that bore no unit affiliation insignia, rank badges or names. Invaders in the past who engaged in this type of activity were called free-booters or buccaneers, and they were criminals.

Heads of state in the West issued statements of outrage, protest and a few managed lukewarm economic sanctions against Russia. Nothing much happened when the freebooters used a Russian missile to shoot down a Malaysian commercial airliner, instantly killing nearly 300 passengers and crew.

The occupiers of the area and their Russian supporters in Moscow refused to permit international investigators access to the scene of the massacre. The mobile missile carrier was also traced returning to Russia, one of its launch tubes empty. Of course, the Trump Administration years later did nothing in response except to block more than $320 million in military aid to Ukraine – the authorization already passed by Congress. We know what that was about.

Let’s face an ugly truth: Most Americans know nothing about Ukraine and its relationship with Russia. Putin insists to the world that Ukraine is not a sovereign country. That is a lie. Ukraine has for more than a thousand years has been independent, and has been fought over and occupied.

Since it declared its independence from the collapsed USSR in December 1991, it was quickly recognized by the United Nations and other countries as a sovereign country. The United States, Russia and the UN negotiated with Ukraine as an equal, completing several major treaties. Most notable was the treaty by which Ukraine relinquished control of four dozen nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles. In a letter of understanding, the U.S. pledged to guarantee Ukraine’s independence.

Ukraine has been around since the year 962. No, there are no missing digits: it’s 962, more than a thousand years ago. Even when occupied by Russians, Poles, the Ottomans, the Lithuanians, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mongols and Germans, Ukrainians have always had a strong independent streak. They fought those who invaded, several of whom tried to abolish use of the Ukrainian language.

Ukraine is not “Little Russia,” nor is its language a dialect of Russian. Ukrainian leaders petitioned the Paris Peace Conference n 1918 to be recognized as independent and not be consigned to Russia. It was the same after World War I. It’s obvious that few in the West were listening.

As I write, Russians are attacking cities throughout Ukraine with missiles and jet aircraft lunched from inside Russia. Thus far, the U.S., EU and NATO have provided military aid to Ukraine on a piecemeal basis, albeit with one restriction: Those weapons cannot be used on targets inside Russia.

Now, let’s face it — that’s giving Kyiv permission to fight, but with one arm tied behind its back. I must say that the Ukrainians have adapted, making advances on the battlefield and largely holding the Russians at bay. This is remarkable. The border between Ukraine and Russia is much like that of the U.S.-Canadian boundary — an imaginary line.

A powerful country should not get a “pass” from the international community to invade and occupy a sovereign neighbor. An occupied country should be able to ask for, and get, weapons to fight off these aggressors.

I am amused that Russia seems to have learned little from its debacle in Afghanistan — its invasion in 1979 and a 10-year occupation. Putin is using Adolf Hitler’s playbook from the late 1930s, annexing portions of France, Czechoslovakia, invading Poland and splitting that country with Stalin.

Putin seems to share Joseph Stalin’s hatred of all things Ukrainian. Stalin was directly responsible in the mid-1930s of artificially engineering a famine in Ukraine that killed between 3 million and 5 million.

To make it worse, he sent the KGB and Soviet military into the country to confiscate farmers’ food, seed and implements. At the same time, he directed his security forces to arrest and dispose of the entire knowledge class of Ukraine, its writers, artists, teachers, professors, government officials and workers.

Doing a “wink, wink, nod, nod” at Putin’s aggression and war crimes is just another form of appeasement. We know that did not work in 1938. A year later, the second World War began. The Munich agreement became covered with the blood of millions. Maybe Mr. Floyd wants us to join those ready to strand Ukraine as it fights off invasion. I do not.

Bill Browning is a Gadsden resident. The opinions reflected are his own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Guest columnist offers defense of US military support for Ukraine