MANCHESTER, N.H. – Can the Russian invasion of Ukraine be stopped and turned back? According to some Ukrainian leaders visiting the Granite State on Thursday, it is possible if help from the international community continues.
Four members of the Ukrainian Parliament were in the Millyard on Thursday afternoon as part of a panel discussion hosted by the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire (WACNH). The trip was part of a larger tour across the United States where these Ukrainian officials sought support from various American leaders to defend Ukraine against Russia.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Yehor Cherniev and National Anti-Corruption Policy Councilor Anastasia Radina both say that Russian attacks have damaged Ukrainian infrastructure to the point where some areas only have a few hours of electricity each day.
Just as U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) alluded a few weeks earlier at another WACNH event, Cherniev and Radina hope to obtain foreign military aid that will allow Ukraine to strike airfields on Russian soil hosting aircraft and guided bombs responsible for most of the destruction.
To this point, Western countries have been reticent to provide military aid allowing the Ukrainians to attack Russia for fear of nuclear escalation in the conflict.
“The only thing we can do to protect our cities is to bring down planes concentrated in airfields on the western border of Russia, which we are not allowed yet to attack,” said Radina.
Although some commentators in the West feel that continued support of Ukraine is futile given the entrenchment of Russian forces in portions of Ukraine they have occupied, both Radina and Cherniev note that experts expected Ukraine to fall within just a few days after the initial Russian invasion and yet years later, the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people have ground one of the world’s leading militaries to a stalemate.
Given that patriotism and new conscription laws, they believe that Ukraine can remove Russian forces from their territory if they receive continued international assistance.
“The expectation was that Ukraine would stand for two weeks and then we’d have to create a government-in-exile, but the courage of the Ukrainian people made it so we have been able to successfully combat the second-most powerful army in the world,” said Radina. “We have the manpower, we’re just waiting for more weapons.”
“People have a wrong perception about the Russian army, saying that the Russians were able to stop Napoleon and stop Hitler, but people forget that Ukrainians were a big part of those armies,” said Cherniev. “With enough resources, we can fight anywhere. This is about the soul of Ukraine and the will of Ukrainian soldiers.”
Cherniev also hopes that the international community can do more to impose tighter sanctions on the Russian economy, as Russia has been able to divert sales of its oil and gas into countries such as North Korea and China. Radina also believes that negotiation with Russian President Vladimir Putin is not productive given his continued aggression after the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
“The conflict in Ukraine is not only about Putin, it’s about dictators around the world,” said Radina. “They’re watching and they need to receive a lesson that aggression will not bring the results they desire and they will not be allowed to get away with taking the territory of another sovereign country.”
A video of the panel can be seen here.