Dear Speaker Johnson: Please visit Ukraine
Speaker Johnson, I urge you to visit Ukraine. Meet with President Zelenskyy. Talk with the Ukrainian people. It is an amazing freedom loving nation. It is the place where the future of democracy in Europe will live or die. This past month Ukraine marked the 10th year of fighting Russian aggression and two years since Putin’s full-scale invasion has met failure. Yes, I said failure. Vastly outnumbered by Russian soldiers with its ability to conscribe new fighters, Ukraine has miraculously stood its ground against one of the strongest military machines in human history. Two years ago, at the beginning of the expanded war, Russia had 350,000 soldiers under arms. That number is close to the number of Russians who have been killed or wounded (315,000) by the Ukrainian armed forces since February 2022. Against all odds, Ukrainians have been successfully defending their country. It is indeed a David and Goliath story, and we all know how that ended.
President Zelenskyy and his brave citizens recognize that their ability to preserve their democracy and withstand the onslaught of Russia, rests with the freedom loving nations in NATO, led by the United States. We have stood by Ukraine in its greatest hour of need providing the weapons to engage its enemy. Without those weapons many Ukrainians will continue to die on the battlefield and their liberties and freedom will die as well.
As Ukrainians fight and die, they ask only for our weapons— not our soldiers. Yet if we abandon Ukraine now, American soldiers may end up fighting in NATO countries. If Russia wins in Ukraine, it will be emboldened to invade further.
You have been Speaker in the House of Representatives now for four months and have denied your colleagues in the House the right to vote on continued aid for Ukraine. I was the elected Democratic Whip in the House and served for eleven years. I know something about counting votes. So, I know that you know there are 300 votes in the House for Ukrainian aid. But only if you bring it to a vote. You also know that 70 U.S. senators recently voted for aid to Ukraine, including 22 Republicans and the GOP leader in the Senate. Most elected representatives have grasped the significance of their historic opportunity and responsibility to preserve the democratic process in Ukraine against a brutal Russian dictatorship. A Russian dictatorship that:
• Murders its own citizens.
• Kidnaps Ukrainian children to perpetrate genocide.
• Arrests unsuspecting U.S. citizens to be used for bargaining chips.
•Jails protesters in Arctic prisons because they dared raise their voices in opposition to the war criminal, Putin.
This past month saw the 86th anniversary of the resignation of Britain’s Foreign Minister, Sir Anthony Eden. He resigned his position in protest to his own Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler. We all know what that led to — the Second World War.
Mr. Speaker, I and many others believe that your undemocratic intransigence is taking us down the same catastrophic road that will expand and lengthen war. You may not believe in aid for Ukraine, but almost half of your party’s elected representatives have the opposite view. Let them express themselves on this most urgent question. Mr. Speaker, democracy is a verb. We should practice our democracy by exercising one of its most cherished principles, the right to vote in a fair and democratic fashion.
In April, I am leading a group of religious and mental health practitioners back to Ukraine to collaborate with mental health workers, and other activists in Ukraine. Just this past week the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a report that the war has had devastating consequences for children’s mental health. Those children living in frontline areas “have been forced to spend between 3,000 and 5,000 hours—the equivalent of four to seven months — sheltering in basements and underground metro stations.”
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said, “The war in Ukraine has shattered childhoods and wreaked havoc on children’s mental health and ability to learn. Children have experienced two years of violence, isolation, separation from families, loss of loved ones, displacement and disrupted schooling and healthcare. They need this nightmare to end.”
Since February 2022 and Russia’s full-scale invasion, relentless attacks have resulted in 3,500 air raid alerts on the front in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, and nearly 6,200 air raid alerts in the Donetsk region. In areas near the front lines nearly 50% of the children are unable to access education.
Mr. Speaker, I have read that your life centers around your family, your wife and four children. In addition, you have said, your religion and your relationship with God is a significant life force. That sounds like a solid foundation upon which to build a life.
In Ukraine, Putin is ripping lives apart. Russia has kidnapped over 20,000 Ukrainian children and in doing so has broken families. Russia has also destroyed over 500 churches and other houses of worship. This number includes over 170 evangelical sites of which 74 are Pentecostal churches, and 49 are Baptist churches.
“Russian soldiers have repeatedly threatened to destroy evangelical Christians in Ukraine, calling them ‘American spies,’ ‘sectarians,’ and ‘enemies of the Orthodox people,’ said Valentyn Siniy, rector of the Kherson-based Tavriski Institute—one of the scores of damaged sites belonging to evangelical groups.”
Mr. Speaker, in the name of children, family, and religion, please allow the House to vote its will before it’s too late.
David Bonior is a retired Macomb County congressman who held office from 1977 through 2002, representing Michigan’s 10th District.