November 15, 2023
Dear editor;
Ukraine is winning. After returning from my second trip to Ukraine this year I have a deep appreciation for the will of their people and beliefs in freedom. On my first trip during the month of May I volunteered with five organizations, chopping vegetables for meals, packing medical kits for soldiers, and helping rebuild a home destroyed in the battle of Bucha.
I was surrounded by international volunteers from many countries attempting to ease the burden of those suffering from Russia’s full-scale invasion, it’s not the Ukraine War, it’s Russia’s continued invasion that began in 2014 with the illegal usurping of Crimea.
With every interaction, there was sincere appreciation for our small contributions. Very few of the volunteers were of Ukrainian heritage, but came to the country to help their neighbor in need, in a battle of good vs., evil.
Unfortunately, I experienced the dichotomy of war and peace every day. People go about their daily lives just as we do, going to work, school, visits with family and friends, enjoying life. However, every day there were signs of the brutality of war, posters of those killed in battle, soldiers on leave saying goodbye to their loved ones, amputees (there are more than 20,000 amputees from the fighting), military funerals, and air raid alert sirens.
If my first trip to Ukraine was the equivalent to a 100 level college course, then my recent six-week journey was post graduate level. My travels throughout the country with Joe Lindsley, the brilliant American journalist who has reported from Ukraine every day of the invasion, were extraordinary.
From one end of the country to the other, from Lviv to Kharkiv, (30 miles from the Russian border), to Odesa on the Black Sea and Izmail on the Danube, back to Kyiv, the capital, we met and interviewed Ukrainians from all walks of life, politicians, musicians, clergy (including the chief rabbi of Ukraine), artists, journalists, international volunteers, soldiers and civilians, amputees, humanitarians, and many others. They love their freedom and know how to define it, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom to choose their leaders.
They proved this love of freedom in 2014, in the Revolution of Dignity, the Maidan Revolution. Many gave their lives then; many more have given their lives since to defeat evil. Ukraine is a democracy that has been invaded, just as Israel has been invaded my Hamas. This is why I will continue to support these brave and strong people. It is truly good vs. evil.
Ukrainians are extremely thankful for our country’s support, both militarily and humanitarian. I experienced this first hand a number of times, but none more memorable than from a young mother with her five-year-old son. She had just come from the first visit with her soldier husband in six months when she told me the folllowing: “Thank you and America for your incredible support, may God bless you.”
We can not turn our backs, we can not avert our eyes. What has happened is wrong. At some point in our lives we all need to stand up for something we believe in. Ukrainians have shown me the spirit of freedom and democracy. They are winning.
Note: Joe Lindsley can be heard each weekday morning on WGN Radio on the Bob Sirott show at 7:20 a.m. and Joe’s broadcasts and other information can be found on UkrainianFreedomNews.com
Jim Gamache, Aurora