Our part in helping Ukraine and Ukrainians
Now a week into Russias invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine, the sovereign nation of some 44 million people and its leaders have shown remarkable resilience and defiance, but at great cost to lives and property and with mounting uncertainty over how Russian President Vladimir Putin might escalate a man-made disaster in the face of Ukraines determination to remain independent.
The United Nations has recorded the deaths of at least 130 Ukrainians, including 13 children, from shelling and rocket attacks, but warns that the toll is almost certainly far higher. As well, as Ukrainian military and civilian efforts and Russian logistical errors have reportedly bogged down a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and military units lined up to enter the capital of Kyiv from the north, Russian forces may be shifting their tactics to wage lengthy sieges against Ukrainian cities, increasing the likelihood of civilian deaths and deprivation of food and medical supplies. Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border, is reportedly surrounded and has endured nights of airstrikes and firefights from Russian paratroopers.
The worldwide response has been and will be key to hopes to convince Putin to seek an exit to this atrocity. Military assistance, short of armed troops, has been pledged and delivered from the U.S. and across Europe. And financial sanctions against Russia some of them aimed at Putin himself and his oligarch cronies are hoped to add nonlethal pressure, as are the decisions by international corporations and individuals from oil and energy giants to the cancellation of Russian tourism packages by Rick Steves Edmonds-based travel company to break ties with Russia and add to the economic pain.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-our-part-in-helping-ukraine-and-ukrainians/