Support for Ukraine is right thing to do in the face of Putin’s criminal act

By Arnie D. Fielkow

I have never been so proud of my country and my president, Joe Biden. I write these words after just returning from a whirlwind trip to central Europe in order to lead an initiative helping Ukrainian youth, to try to get one of my daughters’ sisters out of Ukraine, and to enjoy my truly favorite part of the world.

So why such gratitude and pride? Because we in America — as well as our NATO allies — continue to do the absolutely right thing in supporting Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, including the recent decision to supply much-needed new tanks and ammunition to combat the criminal activities of Russia and its evil leader, Vladimir Putin. These tanks will allow the Ukrainian military to fight back against Russian aggression, and hopefully re-capture Ukrainian land wrongly taken by Russia over this past year as well as previously with regards to the Crimea.

Despite being a much larger country with supposed military superiority, Russia continues to face huge challenges on the battlefield given the courage and “unwillingness to lose” attitude exhibited by ordinary Ukrainian citizens forced to fight for their own land and to stand up for global democracy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who even had time this week to root out corruption within his own cabinet, will go down in history as one of the most heroic figures our world has ever seen.

America and our Western allies — as they were 80 years ago — are on the right side of history. During my trip I was a mere 75 miles from the Ukrainian border (I so wanted to go into the country and help my family evacuate!) and it was heart-breaking to still see (as I had witnessed last April) Ukrainian mothers and children having to flee their country and live elsewhere, while their husbands and sons continue to protect their homeland. Putin continues to literally destroy Ukrainian schools and hospitals, kill innocent Ukrainian citizens, knock out energy infrastructure (causing many Ukrainians to keep warm through wood stoves), and commit war crimes of murder and rape wherever Russian forces go. Indeed, there should be no doubt America is on the right side of history!

It was fortuitous I ended my trip in Germany, where there was admittedly much angst about sending German tanks to Ukraine. Optically, it was a bit unnerving to see the German iron cross on tanks again heading east to fight Russian soldiers, as eight decades ago such an image invoked fear and disgust. Today I applaud Germany, England and a host of other countries in standing up to autocracy and not allowing Russia to change a world order which has seen peace in Europe since World War II.

It is also ironic that, as I write this, it is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, where we memorialize the loss of over 6 million Jews and other innocents at the murderous and inhumane hands of Nazi fascism. The lesson to be learned is that inaction and silence in the face of evil can no longer be accepted, whether it be in Ukraine, on the streets of Tehran, or elsewhere where the voices of freedom and democracy are stifled.

Putin frequently contends that he is again fighting Nazism in Ukraine, despite facts to the contrary, including that today Ukraine is led by a Jewish president and the current war was initiated by Putin’s Russia. The real fascists in the current conflict reside in Moscow, and no idle threats of nu-