U.S. should encourage peace talks in Ukraine

Russia was wrong to invade Ukraine. This war is too costly and dangerous to continue, so the U.S. should encourage Ukraine and Russia to negotiate peace.

The United States should stop sending more and more weapons to Ukraine because of the threat of nuclear war, because of how many people are being killed, shortages of food and rising energy prices.

Putin is dreaming of bringing back the Russian Empire. On February 24, 2022, one year ago, Russia started their unjustified attack, killing hundreds of Ukrainians on the streets. The West has imposed sanctions and sent missiles in an attempt to stop Putin. This has only made Putin more mad and is only encouraging him to keep fighting.

In mid-september, Russian bombers flew within 63 miles of Alaska’s coast and 46 miles of Canada’s coast causing Canadian jets to fly out and meet them. Russia sent troops across the border to cut off natural gas supplies which Ukraine relies heavily on. Nearly 100,000 people have been killed so far. Putin has shown signs of moving on from conventional weapons to nuclear ones, which could lead to World War III. Nuclear war could kill millions of people and destroy much of the world.

War is also very expensive. Rather than spend lots of money on endless war, we should give it to the unhoused, as well as spend it on renewable energy, schools, teachers, health care, hospitals, doctors, jobs, shelters, environmental cleanup and Ukrainian and other refugees.

In addition, the military is a big part of what is causing climate change. For example, a nonnuclear aircraft carrier consumes 5,621 gallons of oil per hour and wars can last many years making the changes in our climate more and more intense.

— Seldron Yeh, fifth grade,

Boulder