Russia, Putin show true colours, residents say
Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis says the flags in Harmony Square will be lit blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine after Russia’s “unprovoked military aggression.”
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“As a community, we stand with the brave people of Ukraine,” Davis said in a statement posted Thursday on social media. “We think about the members of our community with Ukraine heritage and family.”
He called Russia’s attack a “violation of international law, including the charter of the United Nations” that puts countless civilian lives at risk.
Davis urged global leaders to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable and to impose severe economic and political consequences.
Brant Mayor David Bailey also issued a statement in support of the Ukrainian community.
“On behalf of myself and council, the County of Brant stands in support of the Ukrainian community and condemns the unprovoked and tragic attack on this independent and peaceful country,” Bailey said.
“Ukraine is known for its beautiful landscape and well-preserved culture and tradition. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine.”
To Brantford author Marsha Skrypuch, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is heart-wrenching but not surprising.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen this before,” said Skrypuch, who writes historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people growing up during a time of war. “It may be a different dictator but it is the same playbook.
She said Putin is trying to take over the territories lost with the breakup of the Soviet Union. “And he isn’t going to stop with Ukraine.”
She said Joseph Stalin, who governed the former Soviet Union from 1922 to his death 1953, perpetrated a famine genocide of Ukrainian people in 1932-33. The Holodomor, which means “death by hunger,” claimed the lives of millions, she said.
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In 2008, Skrypuch was bestowed with the Order of Princess Olha by the Ukrainian president in recognition of her children’s book, Enough, which described the Ukrainian famine.
Skrypuch’s social media page features a Ukrainian flag with the words: “I Stand With Ukraine” and “#IstandWithUkraine.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy, or diocese, of Toronto and Eastern Canada has asked everyone to pray for the homeland.
“This is pretty outrageous,” Rev. Andrew Onuferko, vicar general of the eparchy, said Thursday in an interview. “Anyone who was paying attention knew this was coming. This was a multi-pronged, highly co-ordinated attack involving armies not only from Russia but Belarus and the breakaway region of Moldova.
“It’s tragic. It’s appealing. At the same time, the Ukrainian leadership – both religious and civil society – is calling for calm; to not panic because that is what this campaign is meant to do. We must pray for peace. But if we can’t have peace, we must pray for victory.”
Some local residents of Ukrainian descent report a sleepless night Wednesday as they fretted about the possibility of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine. Their worst fears came to pass around 5 am local time Thursday as land, air and artillery attacks were unleashed on Ukraine from the north, south and east.
Some cities in Ukraine – population 41 million – were reported surrounded Thursday afternoon reports of bitter fighting. There are fears the capital Kyiv and the country’s democratically elected government could fall.
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“We hoped it wouldn’t happen, but it did,” Oksana Fito of Port Dover, a native of west Ukraine who has lived in Norfolk County for two years, said Thursday at Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Waterford.
“Our people are on our own land and are resisting,” she said.
“We don’t attack. It will be very hard. Our military is not so strong. But Ukrainian people, we are proud to be an independent people and we will resist. The whole country will try to stop this crazy man.”
The man she is referring to is Putin, who has expressed concern over the past 10 years that the NATO alliance is creeping ever closer to Russia’s sphere-of-influence.
Not only did Warsaw Pact nations in eastern Europe join the NATO alliance following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, so have former republics of the Soviet Union – Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania among them. Putin has reacted badly in recent years to speculation that Ukraine too might join NATO.
Putin has said on numerous occasions and as recently as this week that allowing the Soviet Union to fragment was among the biggest blunders in Russia’s long history. Putin is also fond of saying that the Russian and Ukrainian people are one and belong together, something Mike Mula of Waterford, a native of west Ukraine who moved to Canada 24 years ago, said is untrue.
“Everything about us is different,” Mula said. “Our language, our culture, our religion.”
Mary Sitko of Waterford, also a member of the Sacred Heart congregation, said the world has seen the real Vladimir Putin now that the Russian bear has made its move.
“Everyone now understands that everything Putin says is a lie,” Sitko said.
Census figures from 2016 show 3,480 Brantford residents reported their ethnic origin as Ukrainian, while the figure was 1,090 in Brant County, 2,545 in Norfolk County and 1,770 in Haldimand County.