MANCHESTER, N.H. – Ukraine is thousands of miles away from the Granite State, but that didn’t stop a group of Ukrainian legislators from bringing an up-close perspective on the current conflict in their homeland to a group at the Residence Inn on Friday, Sept. 26.
Hosted by the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire (WACNH), the panel discussion was one part of a multi-day tour for the legislators as they sought to meet Americans and express the need for more support in the invasion of their country by the Russian Federation.
Much like other members of the Ukrainian parliament who attended a WACNH forum in Manchester last year, members of the Friday panel urged members of the audience to continue contacting their elected officials in Washington about the geopolitical importance of supporting the Ukrainian nation and the geopolitical importance the people of New Hampshire have.
Ukrainian Member of Parliament Sviatoslav Yurash, who also goes by the nickname “Sweet Love” after meeting people in India who could not pronounce Sviatoslav, reminded the crowd of this importance they possess and asked them to continue contacting their leaders in Washington as a constant reminder of Russia’s threats to global peace given that many world leaders seem to waver on their views regarding approaching Russia.
“My frustration is not toward ordinary people who have many things going on in their lives, my frustration is toward leaders who try and think they can forget about the world. The world does not forget about them,” he said. “Russia is a bully and we need to remind this to the world. Peace through strength is what destroyed the Soviet Union and peace through strength is what will stop Russia’s imperialistic ambitions.”
Yurash and his colleagues told the audience that any attempts at diplomacy made by Russia are worthless given its recent history of breaking diplomatic agreements and the stated views of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Ukrainian nation is not ethnically separate from Russia and the country of Ukraine should not exist.
Given this existential crisis, the legislators said that there is a sense of solidarity among the people of Ukraine toward continued opposition to Russia’s aggression and the need for martial law in respect to that emergency.
“For the people of New Hampshire, ‘live free or die’ is a slogan, but for us it is a fact of life,” said Yurash. “Ukrainians know that if Russia is not stopped, Russia will destroy their way of life and occupy the entire country given what we’ve seen in the parts of the country it controls now.”
Video of the event and more information on WACNH’s programs can be found on its website.