Sixty years ago, our Ukranian Catholic Church hosted a Russian bishop who was visiting churches trying to raise funds to keep the faith alive in the old country. Most of the parishioners stayed in the church basement because they refused to hear mass said by a Russian priest.
We are not Russians, and most Ukranians see Russia as oppressors. Had my grandparents not come to this country in the 20s, my son might be fighting on the front lines near Kyiv.
Tucker Carlson claims that Ukraine is not really a country. To an extent, this is true. The Ukranian people have been been ruled by the Russians as well as Poland. My grandmother had a Polish passport. But they always saw themselves as a people separate from their conquerors.
Why would Ukrainians want to be part of Russia? They managed to starve a large number of them during the ’30s. They killed priests, Ukranian Catholic priests, because they wouldn’t collaborate. Our cardinal was imprisoned and was forced to end his days in Rome because he could not return to his own country. People died for the faith in the Ukraine and do not need missions to save their souls. Most Ukranians are part of the Catholic church with their own customs and priests and bishops. We are separate from Russia in history, religion, language and belief in our country.
Thirty years ago, I was happy to see that my homeland was now the independent country we all knew it was and I am proud of its effort at creating a true democracy. I wish the West would give the Ukraine more support, though I am not sure what that all should be. I am afraid that the only thing Putin will respect is actual Western troops on the ground. And Russia has nuclear bombs and he threatens to use it. Thirty years ago, I thought we had made it, but now the Ukraine is being conquered again.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letter: I wish the West would do more for Ukraine
