To the Editor:

I am writing to my friends in the Capital District about the direct impacts the current actions from Washington are having on our Ukrainian neighbors.

I became directly involved in supporting our local Ukrainians when I noticed a Guilderland business I frequent collecting donations for those being impacted by the war with Russia. My mom had recently passed, so I offered some of her clothing to help those in need, which was readily accepted. In fact, in appreciation, I was sent a very powerful photo of how my donation helped several individuals.

Although my Ukrainian friend is no longer able to send items overseas due to the cost, I know financial contributions are still appreciated.

I am writing because I think it is important for us to understand the direct impact Vladimir Putin’s aggression is having on those Ukrainians who have moved to Albany County to escape the war. My friend sponsored three families that fled the war to come to the United States through the Uniting for Ukraine Temporary Protected Status program.

One was drafted and injured serving in the war, which began in 2014 when Putin invaded Crimea, and now with the 2022 invasion of the Donbass region, these families’ homes were totally destroyed.

These families fled the war a year ago and are now fully employed, have purchased houses, and have children in college. However, it has been reported that Donald Trump is planning to revoke their legal Temporary Protected Status and is preparing to deport the 240,000 Ukrainians who have come to the U.S. to flee war with Russia.

Needless to say, these families are devastated. They simply have nothing to go back to in Ukraine.

I am writing in hopes that people will stand up for our local Ukrainian neighbors by voicing their opposition to the president’s threats.

Some of my Republican friends say to stop the war, Ukraine should just cede the occupied territories to Putin, and make him promise to never invade again. The fallacy is, as research shows, that, since annexing Crimea in 2014, when Putin violated his 1994 agreement to guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty, he has broken as many as 25 ceasefires, and violated his agreements of 2015 to not attack Ukraine again hundreds of times.

Then in 2022, he launched his full-blown attack. Needless to say, Putin simply can’t be trusted.

Some others have said, in essence, that the areas Putin has invaded are Russian people anyway, so why not just let them return to Russia. In truth, research shows that a high percentage of Ukrainians, over 80 percent including those of Russian descent, are opposed to Russian control.

I suggest reading Alexei Navalny’s memoir “Patriot” to better understand what it is like to live under Putin’s regime, and why people who have experienced democracy would not want to return to a country governed by an authoritarian dictatorship.

So please, I hope people will contact their Congressional representatives and strongly express their opposition to Trump’s ending the Temporary Protected Status program for Ukrainians and his threatened deportations. These people are our friends and neighbors, and my heart goes out to them.

Kristin Casey

Altamont