The Free World Must Stand With Ukraine
By Sen. John Thune
As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to escalate, you may have seen the wrenching picture of a Ukrainian family killed by Russian shelling – a mom and her two innocent children, struck down as they attempted to flee along a main evacuation route – an evacuation route that Russia intentionally attacked. Or you may have seen the pictures of the devastation after a maternity hospital fell victim to a Russian airstrike. These pictures and videos are heartbreaking, and the people of Ukraine are in my thoughts and prayers. I know they’re in yours, too.
The scenes in Ukraine are unreal. They are scenes that we thought had finally been left behind in the dust of European history, and in two short weeks, Vladimir Putin has wrought an unimaginable amount of devastation. The damage he has done will take years, if not decades, to rebuild. More than 2 million people have fled their homes and their communities, making this the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. These have been dark days for Ukraine, but the devastation has been met with remarkable determination.
This is Ukrainians’ fight, and they are not shrinking from it. The Washington Post recently reported that more than 66,000 Ukrainians who were outside the country have returned to answer President Zelensky’s call to arms. That’s 66,000 Ukrainians who could have sat in safety outside Ukraine who have returned to help defend their country. Outnumbered as they are, the Ukrainian people are standing fast, and they are slowing down and, in many places, holding off the Russians. Soldiers and civilians alike have taken up arms to defend their nation, and it’s clear that the spirit of Ukraine, now roused, will not be extinguished.
But, no matter the resolve of the Ukrainian people, Ukraine cannot hold out alone. Without military, intelligence, and humanitarian support from other free nations, Ukraine may fall. We can’t sit by and let that happen. While I believe the Biden administration was too slow to send aid to Ukraine and sanction Putin in the lead-up to Russia’s attack, significant military resources are now flowing to Ukraine from the United States and NATO partners, and Ukraine is imposing a heavy cost on its invaders.
The United States did the right thing by banning American imports of Russian energy. Every dollar we send to Russia is a dollar that it can use to prosecute its war in Ukraine. Now we need to focus on developing our energy resources here at home – all of them, both conventional and alternative – to ensure that our nation never again has to depend on countries like Russia for essential energy supplies.
I recently heard directly from President Zelensky on a Zoom call, and he made a powerful appeal for help from the West.
We need to do everything we can to keep Ukraine in this fight – including helping to pave the way for Ukraine to get the air defense resources it needs.
After all that Ukraine has managed to do, it would be a tragedy to see the country lose its fight because the United States and other NATO countries could not agree on how to get the Ukrainians the defensive equipment they need. And, while we should be cautious about what Putin may choose to do as his losses grow and his off-ramps dwindle, the United States and NATO cannot allow Moscow to dictate our actions. To do would not only be to surrender Ukraine, but to give the green light to despotic governments the world over, from China to Iran.
Ukrainians are fighting to be a free people in a free country, and I think their fight is very close to the hearts of the American people. We must do whatever we can to support them.
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You John Thune are a warmongering puppet of the Deep State.
No American has ANY interest in Ukraine. The Obama Administration sponsored the coup there in 2014. Are you now supporting the Obama administration? Why do you call yourself a Republican while trying to protect Biden and family from being exposed by the in power Ukrainian puppets? They have the goods on Hunter and Joe.
To propose WWIII is reckless and irresponsible. You did just that with your call for escalation.
Americans are not falling for it.
I propose you and your family go to the front lines of the Ukraine and take up arms. We will see how fast your resolve melts.
Good to know you’re a supporter of Vladimir Putin and autocracy, and you want the democracy of Ukraine and the innocent people in that country to die.
Did you miss the flight out of Sioux Falls to the Ukraine? I am sure they are looking for volunteers to man the front line.
I never saw him say anything whether or not he supports Putin or not.
He spoke on the fact that John Thune has become part of the establishment in D.C
Is the U.S.A so innocent in this Ukrainian issue? No. The U.S has been building Missle Silohs along with their Western Allies for years in order to instigate Russia into starting a war, and it has been the several policies of NATO that has exxaggerated the truth of what is really going on in Ukraine today.
Just listen to Putin speak in this hour-long video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APPjVlUA-gs and you see many instances where Putin has tried to use diplomacy to settle the issues regarding Ukraine. Putin also has begged the U.S to be partners in the Middle East in combating terriorism in the past, but yet, we claim he is an enemy of the U.S.A
The Ukraine was once part of Russia, which explains Putin has so much support among civilians from Southeastern part of the Ukraine. Much of the land that makes up the eastern half of the country was part of Russia prior to 1917 when the Bolshivics rose to power, and surrendering, or transferring tons of land to the European powers in exchange for peace at the close of WW1.
From this exchange of land, you begin to see a complete overhaul of the European map, mainly the creation of the Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and more.
Then you have the ripple effects of World War Two – the creation of the U.N, NATO, the Country of Israel, and the International Monetary Fund, which all in combination of has led to more issues dividing the East versus the West.
But most importantly, you have the United States led by their Western European Allies controlling Ukraine itself, let alone the establishment of several Missile Silohs through out Ukraine, which puts them at odds with Russia, which is a free and sovereign country essentially now at the mercy of defending its own borders against the East.
Say what you want about Putin, he has never threatened the U.S, nor said he wants to go to war with us, he has many times begged the U.S Government in working together to combat Terriorism in the Middle East.
Lets also not forget the policies coming from the Obama/Biden Administration, the corrupt deals that came to light that included Joe Biden and his secret investment deals with China. You want to blame Putin for this mess, while over looking the mess that has been caused by the Western European Government’s including the United States itself in its quiet to divide the people within Ukraine.
Lets not forget for four years of the Donald Trump Presidency, we were able to work with Russia, North Korea, Syria, and Iran like no time prior to 2017, during this period, we had global peace like no time before, and Putin was kept in bay. Mostly cause the two leaders respected each others space.
The question I leave you today – is Putin targeting Hospitals and Civilians in the Ukraine today? No – he is mostly going after all of the Missle locations attemting to take out the Missile Defense System that has been set up by NATO all cause the United States broke its original “treaty agreement” in 2012. How do you think this is any different than what the U.S did in Iraq, when “WE” went after all of Iraq’s military infrastructure, while hospitals and civlians were killed in the process?
Think People – Not everything you hear on American Media is true, nor honest. There is more to the Story than meets the eye, and if you listen to Putin talk, you get a more in depth storyline of what is fully at stake here…
This is a 1,000 year CIVIL WAR in this area alone – think back to 1917 to when the Bolshivics came to power and gave up this land to Euripe, think back to the 1930’s during Stalins reign of fear where he silently went to war with the Ukrainian People thus causing a great famine, enslaving many Russian people residing there, placing them in work camps, murdering many people residign in that area – thus canceling out, let alone removing nearly 6,000,000 people from the face of the earth. What was Stalin trying to hide, let alone cover up – the fact that this land once was a part of Russia?
The Ukraine can be traced back to the Khazarian Empire way back around the year 922 – a very corrupt and power people who used finance to help cause chaos between the east and west, and that chaos still goes on today in a different form.
Do you blame Putin, or do you blame the powers at-large for creating the chaos that has engulfed the Ukrainian people today?
Russia is our adversary, not our ally.
As an American, you should not support an adversarial power growing. Being patriotic is more than attacking our nations capital and smearing feces on the walls, it is about supporting America over any other country. Protect your own interests, even if those countries loan money to certain families, the rest of the country should take a slightly higher weight of value.
Sen. Thune needs to learn the history. But politicians and pundits cannot be bothered with such. Understand UKRAINE? Prof. Mearsheimer lays out BASICS that underlie the CRISIS for which “The West is principally responsible…” THIS was over TWO YEARS AGO. Miss intro, start at 5′ mark, thru 29 min. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZVIaXFN2lU
Former US Marine Intelligence Officer on Ukraine. Must see. https://twitter.com/i/status/1502824041178185745
Former DOD Senior Advisor, Col. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY5pMXGorBM&t=234s
I’ve listened to all of this, and I’m still not convinced to support an adversary. As an American, I don’t care if it is justified or not, I don’t want Russia to grow and gain power. It may be selfish, but I am a proponent of America continuing to be the world leader. They are hostile over us, threatened the world with nuclear war, if a smaller country can take them out, good riddance. I don’t understand this acceptance of Russia, is it just because they are tied to Trump assets and loan them money? Why are many on the right trying to gain support for them by downgrading Ukraine.
We supplied Afghanistan supplies through the 80’s not because the Taliban were good, it was because they Russians were worse, and we wanted to keep them down.
Afghanistan was our biggest policy mistake, The USSR being over 40% Muslim, understood the Muslim threat long before we did. We should never have supported the terrorists/Bin Laden. Russia controlling Afghanistan would have saved us big problems. And we may have never had a 9/11.
Our biggest downfall is that most Americans seem to be of the caliber of Tony, here. “I hate Russia” is all their enfeebled minds can muster.
In Ukraine, our policy is to give Putin a black eye however many Ukrainian lives it costs. (Never mind that we created the Crisis. Listen to Mearsheimer link above. Don’t stop at 29 min). There are 3 actors here. U.S., Russia, and Ukraine, non of them good.