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DelVal Ukrainian-Americans Hold Vigil for First Anniversary of Russian-Ukraine War

Several hundred people gathered at the Ukrainian Educational & Cultural Center in Abington Friday evening for a solemn candlelight vigil marking the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At the emotional gathering, people prayed, sang, chanted “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine), and listened to speeches, many holding small blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and tiny electric candles.

“Almost a year ago, the world’s leaders gave Ukraine only three days to survive, said Iryna Mazur, honorary consul for Ukraine in Philadelphia. “But today, we stay alive, stay strong and stay together. Ukraine’s response to Russia’s brutal invasion has received widespread international acclaim and recognition and has united millions of hearts in support of Ukraine.”

Iryna Mazur

“Like never before in my life, I see the similarities between the core values of our two nations and the American and Ukrainian people, Mazur, a Huntingdon Valley resident, said. “The ongoing nine-year war against Ukraine has lasted twice as long as World War II,” she said, counting the beginning from the Russian annexation of Crimea. “The last 300 years of Russia’s imperialism inflicted the systemic genocide of the Ukrainian nation when over 10 million Ukrainians were starved to death during artificially created famines when millions were killed in concentration camps and prisons of Siberia when for centuries Ukrainians have had to survive forceful and brutal ‘Russification’ because their language, art, and history were targeted.”

She thanked Americans and the Biden administration for their support. The U.S. had approved about $50 billion in military and other aid for Ukraine last year, with President Joe Biden announcing $500 million more in military aid on his recent trip to Kyiv. Sec. of State Anthony Blinken also announced additional sanctions against Russia as the anniversary loomed.

Eugene Luciw, master of ceremony, also spoke emotionally about what “Moscovite hordes” are doing in the ongoing war.

“They are murdering innocent civilians, they are blowing up hospitals, they are killing children, they are doing unfathomable things with our women,” Luciw said. “They are stealing our children, 260,000 of them, and placing them with families throughout Russia to disperse them. They are placing our men, women, and children in filtration camps; that’s concentration camps. Their ethnic cleansing and genocide know no measure.”

“Grief, terror, concern, worry. We cry, we suffer with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and yet, we take pride and joy in the accomplishments of our people,” he said. “So through this sadness, there is a resurrected feeling that we have finally turned the tide against this age-old enemy of Ukraine that’s tried to destroy us over centuries.”

“They tried to destroy the Ukrainian spirit, but they did not, and they will not,” he said. “They’re pushing them back, and if the assistance of the west continues, they’re going to drive them out.”

Protestant ministers and Catholic priests also spoke and led prayers in English and Ukrainian.

The Very Rev. Father Roman Pitula, the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, said Ukrainians are strong and united.

Philadelphia residents Olena and Shadvyi Vladyslav escaped the war in Ukraine six months ago.

“We stand on the side of the good and we fight against the evil,” he said. “Don’t cease to pray but pray to cease the war.”

Pastors Pavlo Nemesh of the First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church of Philadelphia said, “One of the things we discovered in our church and our community was the Book of Psalms. We sang a lot of psalms, and we read a lot of them, and they offered comfort and hope for us. I want to urge all of you to attend your churches, your parishes and pray, sing, and continue to ask God to send peace.”

Before the event, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer spoke to the Delaware Valley Journal about his Ukrainian roots. His maternal grandparents were Ukrainians who were captured by the Germans during World War II and forced into slave labor camps. His grandmother worked on an assembly line making V-2 rockets. The Germans compelled his grandfather to clean tanks returning from the battlefields. They were liberated by American soldiers, whom his grandmother said were the first soldiers who were kind to her. After six years of living hand to mouth on the streets of Europe, they immigrated to the U.S.

“This is an important day for every one of us of Ukrainian descent, said Stollsteimer. “We are so proud of the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for freedom. The Ukrainian love of freedom is more powerful than the Russian repression.

The Soloveyky (nightingale) Children’s Choir sang the Ukrainian national anthem and “God Bless America.”

And the Prometheus Ukrainian Male Chorus of Philadelphia sang a rousing Ukrainian folk song. The group then chanted in support of Ukraine.

“Let’s get it done!” said Luciw. “Let’s beat back that snake in Moscow!”

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Counterpoint: U.S. Should Turn Ukraine War Over to Its European Allies

For an alternate view see: “Point: How Should We Define This War?”

Instead of a quick Russian victory, Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine seems to be settling into a drawn-out slugfest. After Ukrainian soldiers surprisingly thwarted Russia’s offensive on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city, the gleeful United States rallied NATO nations to provide the Ukrainians with tens of billions in weapons technology.

After some Ukrainian battlefield successes in throwing back the Russians in the east and south of Ukraine, which gained back some Russian-occupied territory, the United States and its allies gradually succumbed to the vision of decisively handing the Russian Bear with a stinging military defeat.

Yet, Russia still has some advantages. By essentially invading Crimea and parts of industrialized eastern Ukraine in 2014 and combining this conquered territory with that of its initial gains in the east and south in the 2022 invasion, the Russians have given the Ukrainians a Herculean task to recapture such a large land area against a more significant and sometimes well-dug-in occupying force.

Unless the reported low morale of the Russian force causes it to suddenly collapse— as German troops did in 1918 during World War I — the war likely will turn into a long, bloody slog.

Although the West has emotionally rallied to Ukraine’s colors against a more formidable aggressor by providing tens of billions in military, economic and humanitarian aid, the United States now must make a hard-nosed analysis of whether its security requires a clear-cut Ukrainian victory, whether that’s even a realistic possibility, and if not, what a settlement of lands between the two countries would look like to create the best chance for a peaceful solution to the conflict that would endure.

The answer to the first question is that U.S. security does not require a resounding Ukrainian victory. When the underdog Ukrainians initially thwarted a quick Russian victory by throwing back the invaders short of Kyiv, Russia had already lost the war politically. Furthermore, the war to date has demonstrated that Russia’s military is hollow, grossly corrupt and incompetent, thus significantly lessening its threat to the faraway United States.

Thus, any remaining Russian threat outside the nuclear realm is mainly to Europe, not the United States. Yet even here, Russia’s economy is less than the size of tiny Italy’s, thus allowing a prosperous Europe to more than support the military capability needed to deal with a demonstrably stoppable Russian force, which after its debacle in Ukraine would be certifiably crazy to invade any country in Europe, including Moldova, soon.

Most wars in history are concluded by negotiated settlements, not swashbuckling triumphs. This war will likely end no differently — but only when both sides are exhausted, which could take some time because Ukraine understandably wants to recover all its territory and Vladimir Putin, insulated somewhat from domestic pressure, wants to salvage something he can claim as a victory. And if America’s wealthy European allies — their combined economies are larger than that of the United States — feel that an overwhelming Ukrainian victory is needed for their security, they can completely take over funding the war from the United States.

Currently, the United States provides more military aid to Ukraine than all other countries combined. If the Europeans lack some of the weapons needed by Ukraine, they can buy them from the United States and send them on. Through several recent presidential administrations, the U.S. military establishment has been trying to “pivot to Asia” to deal with the much bigger threat of a rising China, but the strategically overstretched United States — U.S. national debt has reached $31.5 trillion — has repeatedly been diverted from this objective by self-inflicted quagmires in the Middle East and providing tens of billions of aid to Ukraine.

Second, the Russian fighting force has been shown to be a paper tiger, despite its large mass alone likely being able to lock up the war with Ukraine in stalemate for perhaps years — much like Russia’s other foreign conflicts.

Third, a better solution would be to reach a settlement that gives both countries a face-saving way out and creates the best chance for long-term stability — that is, the absence of future wars over the same ground.

In the longer term, the two exhausted parties might agree to hold a referendum, or referendums, in Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine to let the people decide whether to be part of Russia, Ukraine or even a newly independent country. Such self-determination can often help settle conflicts based on ethnic or religious strife.

Instead of a quick Russian victory, Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine seems to be settling into a drawn-out slugfest. After Ukrainian soldiers surprisingly thwarted Russia’s offensive on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city, the gleeful United States rallied NATO nations to provide the Ukrainians with tens of billions in weapons technology.

After some Ukrainian battlefield successes in throwing back the Russians in the east and south of Ukraine, which gained back some Russian-occupied territory, the United States and its allies gradually succumbed to the vision of decisively handing the Russian Bear with a stinging military defeat.

Yet, Russia still has some advantages. By essentially invading Crimea and parts of industrialized eastern Ukraine in 2014 and combining this conquered territory with that of its initial gains in the east and south in the 2022 invasion, the Russians have given the Ukrainians a Herculean task to recapture such a large land area against a more significant and sometimes well-dug-in occupying force.

Unless the reported low morale of the Russian force causes it to suddenly collapse— as German troops did in 1918 during World War I — the war likely will turn into a long, bloody slog.

Although the West has emotionally rallied to Ukraine’s colors against a more formidable aggressor by providing tens of billions in military, economic and humanitarian aid, the United States now must make a hard-nosed analysis of whether its security requires a clear-cut Ukrainian victory, whether that’s even a realistic possibility, and if not, what a settlement of lands between the two countries would look like to create the best chance for a peaceful solution to the conflict that would endure.

The answer to the first question is that U.S. security does not require a resounding Ukrainian victory. When the underdog Ukrainians initially thwarted a quick Russian victory by throwing back the invaders short of Kyiv, Russia had already lost the war politically. Furthermore, the war to date has demonstrated that Russia’s military is hollow, grossly corrupt and incompetent, thus significantly lessening its threat to the faraway United States.

Thus, any remaining Russian threat outside the nuclear realm is mainly to Europe, not the United States. Yet even here, Russia’s economy is less than the size of tiny Italy’s, thus allowing a prosperous Europe to more than support the military capability needed to deal with a demonstrably stoppable Russian force, which after its debacle in Ukraine would be certifiably crazy to invade any country in Europe, including Moldova, soon.

Most wars in history are concluded by negotiated settlements, not swashbuckling triumphs. This war will likely end no differently — but only when both sides are exhausted, which could take some time because Ukraine understandably wants to recover all its territory and Vladimir Putin, insulated somewhat from domestic pressure, wants to salvage something he can claim as a victory. And if America’s wealthy European allies — their combined economies are larger than that of the United States — feel that an overwhelming Ukrainian victory is needed for their security, they can completely take over funding the war from the United States.

Currently, the United States provides more military aid to Ukraine than all other countries combined. If the Europeans lack some of the weapons needed by Ukraine, they can buy them from the United States and send them on. Through several recent presidential administrations, the U.S. military establishment has been trying to “pivot to Asia” to deal with the much bigger threat of a rising China, but the strategically overstretched United States — U.S. national debt has reached $31.5 trillion — has repeatedly been diverted from this objective by self-inflicted quagmires in the Middle East and providing tens of billions of aid to Ukraine.

Second, the Russian fighting force has been shown to be a paper tiger, despite its large mass alone likely being able to lock up the war with Ukraine in stalemate for perhaps years — much like Russia’s other foreign conflicts.

Third, a better solution would be to reach a settlement that gives both countries a face-saving way out and creates the best chance for long-term stability — that is, the absence of future wars over the same ground.

In the longer term, the two exhausted parties might agree to hold a referendum, or referendums, in Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine to let the people decide whether to be part of Russia, Ukraine or even a newly independent country. Such self-determination can often help settle conflicts based on ethnic or religious strife.

DelVal Ukrainian Community to Mark One-Year Anniversary of War With Russia

As the Russian war against Ukraine hits a year mark on Feb. 24, Delaware Valley Ukrainian community members are taking action to encourage America’s continued support to their beleaguered homeland.

Eugene Luciw, a Towamencin resident, is the son of Ukrainian immigrants. He is also president of the Philadelphia branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and director of external relations for the Ukrainian Sports Center and Ukrainian National Soccer Club in Horsham.

He said he is thankful America and Western Europe have been helping Ukraine with military aid to stave off the Russian army. And, he said, it is “extremely important” that assistance continues. The war continues relentlessly as neither Russia nor Ukraine shows signs of surrendering.

Congress has approved $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The tanks that the U.S., Britain, and France recently approved for Ukraine will help with an offensive action to “push them off Ukrainian soil,” Luciw said.

“That is the objective. We cannot allow any Ukrainian soil to be kept in the hands of the Russians because they’ve proven themselves to be genocidal. They are clearing those areas and trying to eliminate Ukrainian nationalism. More than 260,000 Ukrainian children have been deported into Russia.”

Millions of Ukrainians are imprisoned in Russia’s “filtration camps,” he said.

“We’re happy President Biden is supporting us,” he said. “And our friends in Europe are now imposing additional sanctions. They are beginning to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

Helping Ukraine is morally right, he said.

“Americans are great protectors of democracy and peace around the world,” said Luciw. “So it’s our obligation,” he said. “On the other hand, all Americans are practical. I can guarantee that an investment in Ukraine will produce abundant dividends. After Ukraine wins the war and pushes the Russians out, the Western world, led by the United States, not unlike the Marshall Plan, will rebuild and restore Ukraine. And Ukraine will restore itself. It’s a place of abundant resources.”

“Ukraine is going to be a powerhouse in Europe,” he said. “It’s an investment in our economic future.”

And as for Vladimir Putin threatening nuclear war, that is just “saber rattling,” he said. He believes Putin will not risk the response from western countries if he used nuclear weapons.

“Our Ukrainian American community will be solemnly commemorating this gruesome milestone date with a series of events,” he said.

The Ukrainian Educational & Cultural Center is inviting the public to their ‘Stand with Ukraine Candlelight Vigil – One Year of War’ Event on February 24 at 6 p.m. at the UECC, 700 N. Cedar Road, Jenkintown.

“Since the beginning of the war, the UECC has become the hub for the Ukrainian American community in the Philadelphia area, as it was envisioned to be when established 42 years ago. On behalf of the Ukrainian community of the Delaware Valley, the Board of Directors thanks our supporters for their generosity and aid for the people of our ancestral homeland,” stated Natalie Firko, president of the board of directors of the UECC. ”We invite all who support our war-torn Ukraine to gather on this day.”

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, buses will carry people to Washington, D.C., for a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in support of Ukraine. Tickets can be ordered here.

On Sun., Feb 26, joint prayers will be at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 830 N. Franklin Street in Philadelphia, followed by a rally at 12:30 p.m.  Supporters will march from the Cathedral to the Liberty Bell. Also, on Sunday at 3 p.m., a musical performance, “The 365th of February,” Music of the Unbroken, organized by the Ukrainian Library, will be held at the UECC.

Other places around the world will also observe the war’s anniversary. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) declared February 24 a day of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving will be held in all dioceses and exarchates of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church throughout the world.

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