To The Editor:
A few days ago, our first big winter storm of the season arrived, leaving some of us temporarily without power for several hours. Meanwhile we have Vladimir Putin working overtime with his relentless missile attacks to see that the power goes out in Ukraine for the entire winter! He seems to have forgotten the battle of Stalingrad in WWII where there were approximately 1.9 million combined casualties (1.1 million suffered by the Russian defenders of the city). German forces laid siege for six months from August 1942 to February 1943. Massive air raids reduced the city to rubble killing roughly 40,000 civilians, there was close-quarter urban warfare in the streets accompanied by starvation and lack of medical supplies, and a harsh winter eventually set in. Nonetheless the Russians doggedly fought on until the Germans were finally forced to admit defeat.
Today what makes Putin believe that the Ukrainians will not similarly fight to the death for their homeland? And why would anyone want to become part of Russia after being treated so cruelly? Ukraine is a “Brave Little State” if there ever was one.
Let’s not forget or abandon them in the coming year.
Paul Hanke
Warren, VT
