Category: Ukraine

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Let Us Live to Make All Free

This is a closing post  tracing the impact of America’s revolution on our political and moral priorities today.  The focus is on freedom in  its many meanings in America and around the world.

The Battle Hym of the Republic is sung at virtually all patriotic celebrations.

The text was by abolitionist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe. The music is from   an 1850s camp-meeting song with the title “Say, Brother, Will You Meet Us?” The tune was also used for the song “John Brown’s Body,” with text about the raid on Harper’s Ferry.

The poetic words include righteous anger, “He (God) is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”  The final stanza is a call to moral action by those hearing the words now.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
While God is marching on.

A Timeless Example for those Yearning to be Free

America’s history of constant, unending endeavors  for a more perfect union has inspired individuals around the world.  One of the most dramatic situations today is Ukraine’s fight for independence after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

A Ukrainian writer thanked Americans in his  Independence Day greeting.    Viktor Kravchuk living in Kyiv has approximately 40,000 US readers in all states .  He expresses  what America and her people mean to him.

I know many of you are worried about your own country. Since today is your birthday, I need to tell you what I have seen.

I have seen Americans stand with Ukraine when they did not have to. I have seen Americans treat the survival of people thousands of miles away as part of their own moral life.

That is why I respect you.

You, the people of the United States who have stood with us, have my respect. You have the respect of this Ukrainian, and I am absolutely sure you have the respect of many people here who will never know your names, but live under a sky you helped us defend.

A promise can be damaged and still carried forward by ordinary people.

You carried it all the way to Ukraine.

Freedom needs friends, and this country found many of them in you.

Happy Independence Day, America.

Victor’s  Latest Post

My wife Lyubov is the one who treats impossible things as a small inconvenience. So for America’s 250th, she arranged a meeting between two women who had only heard of each other. (drawing below)

One brought a torch, one brought a shield.

To many years more, my friends. Thank you for your friendship, and I will never stop celebrating those who deserve it.

 

 

This is how Ukraine dressed up its Motherland statue to honor  America.

 

Living to make all free.   A role every American can fill.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAqNe-m0a8s)

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The Joy of Freedom

In America we  live lives in much freedom even if we may disagree with certain specific leaders or political agendas..

So  familiar is America’s circumstance that it is easy to forget freedom’s universal human appeal.

The following brief excerpt is how freedom sounds, looks and feels when it is regained in individual lives.  No words are needed.

When was the last time you felt this deep sense of intense, overwhelming emotion to be alive, again?

(click X to go beyond the Facebook login page, and turn on sound at athe top of the video)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1333307288675719

 

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An Historic Example of Democratic Leadership in War

Rarely would I ask readers to view a 30-minute video not directly about credit. unions. This is worth your time.

Two days ago President Zelenskyy who has led Ukraine in an all-out four year war for survival made a speech to the British Parliament.

While English is his third language, he eloquently presented what is at stake for his people and the world.  He shared  past and present events to describe the future consequences of this conflict.

Instant, Real Time War Analysis

What is most remarkable is the last 6 minutes of his talk, He shows how the country’s leaders and citizens follow every drone and missile attack and Russian ground advance –in real time– on a laptop.

This unparalleled, instant communications capability gives civilians warnings on their phones.  It provides immediate responses by Ukraine’s  counter drone and missile interceptors as well as ground force protection.

Today Ukraine’s drone warfare capabilities lead the world, including the US.  Ukraine has deployed its experts to the Middle East in the current  conflict even with its own country under daily attack.  It has entered into joint production agreements with allies around the world.

Wartime leadership does not create character.  It reveals it.

How will history remember Ukraine’s leader?  How will Trump’s conduct in his war with Iran be assessed?

Listen to this speech.  Americans should be grateful for Zelenskyy’s example of the power of democracy to persevere even in the most extreme circumstances.

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi3bGMay_pw)

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Ukraine’s Finest Hour

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a war that is now longer than America’s participation in WW II.  Or  Russia’s fight against Nazi Germany in the war.

Ukraine is defending itself, its European democratic neighbors, and all who believe in freely chosen political leadership.  Winston Churchill said it best during Great Britain’s “finest hour” when that country stood alone after Germany had subdued the entire European continent: “We are fighting by ourselves alone, but we are not fighting for ourselves alone.”

A local Ukrainian support group in Bethesda, MD sent packages of excess Halloween candy to Ukraine for school children’s gifts at Christmas.  Here is one report and a picture:

Our Halloween candy was distributed in Christmas gift bags.  Comments from teachers  indicate that sometimes small children often don’t know what to make of these gifts.  Seeing photos,  I couldn’t understand why so many of the kids weren’t beaming with unbridled joy. 

Then, I realized how many have had to adapt to a life of sleepless nights in shelters, with wailing sirens. Now, many also have to contend with the constant cold in sub zero temperatures.  This is the 4th winter in these conditions for these children.   They often just stare at the Christmas candy bag and ask hesitantly “I can have this?  This is for me?”   

Trains as Warming Centers

Amid a prolonged, harsh cold snap (low of -16C/high of -10C) and lack of heating, Ukrainian Railways has deployed “resilience carriages” in powerless parts of Kyiv region. Inside, they offer a place to warm up, charge gadgets, use Starlink. Plus tea, coloring books & cartoons for kids, food/water for pets.

They’ve been heroes in the eyes of the Ukrainian people since the start of the war – literally a lifesaver during the country’s darkest times. In the Kyiv region, more than 1,000 buildings are still without heat for 3rd day after massive Russian attacks.  Source: January 11, World Briefing

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The Power of People in Community

Last Sunday evening Joan and I attended a fund raising dinner for Ukraine hosted by St. John’s Episcopal Norwood in Bethesda. The meal was prepared and served by the women of St.  Andrew’s Ukrainian Orthodox church in Silver Spring.

Over 60 people attended with table centerpieces in yellow and blue bouquets and small Ukrainian flags.

These periodic events are led by two St. John members who formed  a Ukrainian support group years earlier after Russia’s invasion.  They share information on the country’s trials of war.  They have raised funds for replacing a neo-natal unit in a children’s hospital, tourniquets for civilian casualties, microscopes for high school science classes as well as sending surplus Halloween candy  to be delivered by Christmas.

As official US government support has waxed and waned, these people to people efforts have remained constant.

This evening’s focus was to raise money to help purchase an evacuation ambulance, especially equipped for rapid response of civilians and soldiers injured in war.  The vehicle would be assigned to the Medical Unit, 12rh special forces Azov Brigade.

The Azov brigade became known for its stand during the months long siege at the Mariupol Azovstal steel plant in 2022,  The evening’s theme:

“We cannot bring back the fallen. But we can honor theirmemory by saving and protecting the living.”

A New Lifeline via Community

To buy and equip an all-terrain ambulance in Ukraine would cost $14,000.  Yesterday the St. John’s leader Sandie emailed the group that the entire amount had been raised with more for medical supplies.

This was the response from Olena who organized the women of St . Andrews, who brought the dinner, when she heard the outcome:

This is truly groundbreaking! 

This vehicle will mean life; it will be equipped and is meant to go to the darkest and most hopeless places of war to bring back survivors. It will bring a mother back home, reunite a son with his parents, it will work hard to make sure families are reunited.  

Having received so much feedback from Ukraine about someone’s last words over the radio knowing they would not be rescued and were going to die, we can honestly say this is a new lifeline for some. This will mean fewer cases of the last words to the loved ones over the radio.

We thank you, Ukraine thanks you, families and children thank you. We are the kind strangers that carry out this mission and once again we made this happen, as a community. 

A Sunday evening meal shared with people committed to doing good for another country that many may never visit.  It is a reminder that when giving, we often receive much ourselves.

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Putin’s Pimp

(Interupting my vacation from blogging to comment on an event today)

The most prominent leader of the free world where the country’s elected President stands up for and believes in democracy will be at the White House today.

That person is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  His people have fought the second largest army in the world to a standstill.   Today he is on the front lines fighting for liberty from authoritarian rule.  A cause that Americans honor on July 4 or recall from personal experiences of WW II.

His host is President Trump.  Last Friday Trump gave the literal red-carpet treatment to a dictator who has been indicted for war crimes from killings in Bucha to the bombing of a building in Mariupol protecting hundreds of children.  And the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to convert them to Russian citizens.

In the prelude to their Friday  meeting Trump set the public goal as an immediate ceasefire, or in his words, there would be immediate, severe consequences.  Instead, Trump was transformed into Putin’s messenger to convince Zelenskyy  to give up territory to an aggressor who wants to destroy Ukrain’s identity as a people and country.

I am ashamed by this act of political betrayal of America’s most basic political and moral values.  Trump wants to get a peace prize by brokering Ukraine’s surrender.

No matter the public announcements from today’s discussions, the war will continue.  There will be more talk of further meetings.  As long as Trump believes words and threats will change Putin’s goals, there will be no cessation of hostilities.

Putin positioned Trump  to force Zelenskyy to accept an outcome the two crafted without his presence.  Trump’s pimping for Putin will fail.

Ukraine will persevere, because they know what it takes to be truly free, a spirit and cause Americans used to honor—and fight for.

 

 

 

 

 

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Faces of a Community Honoring Their Members

When was the last time you saw an entire  community kneel in respect? Or prayer? Or love? Or shared grief?

There is little to add to this moment, but much to learn.

Relatives and community members react as they kneel before the funeral procession of 12 Ukrainian servicemembers and prisoners of war (POWs) who died in Russian captivity, during a ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine on July 25, 2025. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)

Community is where we fulfill purpose and make our lives whole.

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July 4th, 2025: The Act of Freedom

Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society. 

—John Lewis, Across That Bridge

Honoring Those Who Took Action

Citizens marching in Bunker Hill, Massachusetts on Independence Day 2025

Remembering the  Minute Men’s Call to Action

The 4th of July, 2025 Kyiv Ukraine

People take shelter overnight in an underground metro station during Russian missile strikes. 

An American Who Answered Freedom’s call in Ukraine

A portrait of fallen U.S. volunteer fighters and flags among Ukrainian ones at a makeshift memorial to Ukrainian servicemen and international volunteers killed in action on Independence Square in central Kyiv on July 2, 2025.

From the Kyiv Independent July 3, 2025: As Russia ramps up missile attacks, US halts promised air defense shipments to Ukraine.  Kremlin welcomes reported pause in US arms shipments to Ukraine, says it brings war’s end closer.  

Celebrating Liberty in Ukraine

The largest prisoner exchange shows the joy of freedom regained.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64J55YzwI5s)

An Anthem Sung Around the World Honoring Today’s Independence Fighters

On this 4th of July, all freedom loving people will stand at the national anthem for one country.  Its people are on the front lines defending the right of all persons to determine their political destiny.

Listen as this anthem is sung from the New York Island to the Baltic Sea by the largest choir in the world.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUfwy3f3R4s)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4INYnx5e5JI)

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Ukraine: What Elon Musk Should Learn from Yevgeny Prigozhin

Before our July 4th patriotic celebrations, I want to pesent a cautionary note about the insecurities of those who wield great power.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has many lessons for America. I want to suggest a moment of political parallel  in Russia’s conduct with an evolving situation  in America.  In both cases a senior, powerful  wealthy political insider decides to oppose the leader who gave him national standing.

Elon Musk is an intelligent, driven, iconoclastic person capable of great business innovations and disruptive technology accomplishments.

In 2024  he decided to go all in on the presidential  race. He became the leading donar to Trump’s campaign, at an estimated amount of nearly $300 million.  For this contribution and other practical benefits, Trump appointed Musk as the anointed but unconfirmed leader for DOGE’s radical government downsizing.

Musk’s team wielded a wrecking ball across all government. He gave political cover for  the persons confirmed by the Senate who were theoretically in charge of  individual agencies.  They could now fire people and shut down programs at will.  For example, the Agency for International Development’s (AID) closure and transfer of any minor leftover functions to the Rubio-led State Department

The Parting of Ways

Elon’s service certainly benefitted his several companies with government and foreign contracts. These include  expanded agreements with Space X, Tesla and the Starlink satellite communication system, especially from new country signups during trade talks with the US.

But ultimately these two men’s egos could not fit in the same room.  Elon departed in June to focus on his companies.  But he couldn’t help but take some parting and subsequent shots at Trump’s policies. He was especially outspoken on deficit spending in the reconciliation  bill which also ended much of the government’s support addressing climate change.

Musk then threaten to oppose members of Congress who supported Trump’s positions on critical legislation. At one point he  mentioned the possibility of funding a new “center” party to support his preferred policies.

Musk used X and Trump Truth Social and his presidential pulpit to clash publicly. The exchanges grew so heated  that Trump recently said his administration should “DOGE” Musk’s government contracts.  And perhaps research his citizenship application to see if he can be “denationalized” of his US citizenship and then  eligible for deportation.

The Parallel from Russian Politics

From Wikipedia: Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin[a]  (1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch. He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a rebellion in June 2023.

The Wagner group had been a major ground force fighting to help Russia conquer Ukraine.  However he gew increasingly frustrated with the Russian military leadership, openly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry for corruption and mishandling the war. He said the reasons Putin gave for invading were lies.[19] 

On 23 June 2023, he launched a rebellion against the Russian military leadership. Wagner forces captured Rostov-on-Don and advanced hunderd of miles toward Moscow.[20] The rebellion was called off the following day, and the criminal charges against Prigozhin were dropped after he agreed to relocate his forces to Belarus.[21] 

On 23 August 2023, exactly two months after the rebellion,[22] Prigozhin was killed along with nine other people when a business jet crashei jusr north of Moscow.[23] The Wall Street Journal cited sources within the US government as saying that the crash was likely caused by a bomb on board  (Source: Wikipedia in Italics)

Comparable Political Events?

Musk and Prigozhin  soared to the top of their country’s political authority with money and demonstrated success managing the critical levers of power in each society.

Prigozhin  eventually turned on Putin but appeared to have reached a truce by undertaking some of Putin’s business and military “chores” in the Middle East and Africa.  But Putin wasn’t taking any chances with this mercurial outspoken leader even when he re-pledged fealty.  He was killed despite the public appearances of a political settlement.

Trump has threatened all of Musk’s business empires if he continues to speak out. Especially should Musk support political candidates who would oppose Trump’s endorsed supporters.

When a leader’s temperament, actions and words all speak to his goal of total authority, there is no place for opposition.  Particularly when the critical words and deeds are public. And from persons who have proven political influence. If someone gets in the way of the leader’s total power, then they must go to exile, either politically or geographically,  Or be totally neutered by some means.

It took Putin just two months to end any facade of a truce with Prigozhin. Trump’s timeline and methods may be different.   But for every authoritarian leader one fact is true: uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

 

 

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Do Clothes Make the Man?

The close of the NATO Summit meeting in the Hague yesterday was characterized as a success for the future of the alliance. And its continued support for Ukraine.

Even President Trump appeared to endorse the all-for-one commitment of countries to defend each other’s territory if attacked.

Why was the meeting so successful including Zelenskyy and his team’s conversation with Trump?

The Change of Tone

One analyst has traced this relationship improvment  to what Zelenskyy wore to the NATO meetings and social events.

His suit – or lack thereof – was a central point in a blowup between the two leaders back in February.

Trump advisors asked Zelenskyy’s team multiple times that he should ditch his traditional military attire when visiting the Oval Office.  The U.S. president was irked that he didn’t wear a suit.

This point was he subject of this Instagram folk ditty by rongello:

(https://www.instagram.com/p/DGvkNuNuyB9/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email)

Zelenskyy Changes Clothes

Here is what Zelenskyy wore to the official NATO dinner on June 24, 2025 (Getty photo):

But this was only after his wife had asked that he not wear this newly designed suit instead.

Zelenskyy-ever the diplomat, shows his skill in adapting to the social realities of leadership.