Feb 26, 2024 2 min read

I recently submitted a comment on Ukraine to Congressman Guy Reschenthaler using his congressional website. I would like to share these thoughts with the readers of the Observer-Reporter.

Like many of Reschenthaler’s constituents I am a fellow military veteran. After high school, I enlisted during the Vietnam War. It is worth noting in that war the North Vietnamese were supplied and supported by what was then the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Putin has openly stated his love for the former Soviet system and his desire to reestablish it. In that effort he has invaded Ukraine, a country working to become a true democracy. Putin has proven his desire to reclaim the Soviet empire by other actions, like placing Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas on a list of people wanted on unspecified criminal charges.

Her crime? Removing Soviet monuments.

His suppression of any opposition is also demonstrated by the recent death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony just like in the days of Joseph Stalin.

It is sad that so many Americans have no knowledge or understanding of the facts and history surrounding Vladimir Putin and the danger he presents to freedom for us and around the globe. I’m sure Reschenthaler must understand the danger and I’m extremely concerned by his lack of action to support Ukraine.

Isolationist policies of the past have ended in disaster. Investing in Ukrainian freedom is a small price to pay to stop Putin’s vicious aggression.

Donald Fitch

Amity