To the editor: Myroslav Shkandrij shows us the long history of Ukraine’s struggle for independence and freedom from Russian domination.
For more than two weeks, we have watched as a brutal Russian dictator has waged an increasingly cruel, unprovoked war against Ukraine. We see ordinary civilians bombed out of their homes, fleeing with their children to an unknown exile, murdered in the streets by Russian bombs
All of this to bolster the dictator’s fragile self-esteem. He lies to his own people and prevents them from seeing the truth.
Must we continue to stand by as this atrocity continues? Is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization so powerless in the face of the hollow threats of the Russian bully? Can we not aid the Ukrainian struggle against a brutal aggressor?
Yes, sending weapons and imposing heavy economic sanctions are important, but innocents are being murdered. Can we not join with our allies for a robust military defense to assist the heroic Ukrainians?
Donald Broder, Studio City
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To the editor: So, Russian leader Vladimir Putin believes Ukrainians are Russian, whether they want to be or not, so he conducts a “special military operation” against them to beat them into submission, and he asserts the Ukrainians are doing it to themselves.
Wow. In this day and age, it isn’t that hard to see who’s doing what. And yet, we have media personalities as well as some of our elected officials praising him. Those same people are calling Democrats communists.
I say, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Jennifer Roberts, San Diego
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To the editor: Shkandrij’s op-ed article on modern Ukrainian history was most informative in understanding that country’s quest for independence. But as Oliver Cromwell is believed to have said while sitting for a portrait, “Paint me as I am, warts and all.”
So here are the Ukrainian warts: virulent antisemitism for hundreds of years, many greeting the Nazi invasion with enthusiasm (in the hope of being freed from Russian oppression), and many joining Nazi murder squads to eradicate the Jewish population.
Erwin Diller, Playa Vista
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To the editor: What Putin is doing, we did more than a century ago when we invaded Mexico and came away with California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming.
Someone needs to tell Putin: What you are doing is not done anymore. Times have changed.
Gaston Serrato, Rowland Heights
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
