Russian invasion of Ukraine holds implications for us all

Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe by land area, after Russia, and seventh largest by population, after Russia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.

It covers 233,000 square miles, roughly equivalent to the three Pacific Northwest states. That makes it larger than California but not as large as Texas.

It has been inhabited by modern man since 32,000 B.C., and was inhabited by Neanderthal predecessors for 13,000 years before that. The prevailing language and heritage of its 40 million-odd residents runs 4-1 Ukrainian over Russian, and its most recent run as an independent state dates back to 1991.  

But since the sacking of the capital of Kiev by Mongol invaders in 1240, Ukraine has been attacked, invaded and/or subjugated by successive waves of Huns, Goths, Tatars, Cossacks, Byzantines, Bulgars and so forth. In recent centuries, it has been absorbed by turn into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Third Reich and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Besides, it remains one of the poorest countries on the European continent, and suffers from some of the continent’s lowest rates of literacy and life expectancy. What’s more, it lies almost 6,000 miles east of Oregon — quite a distance by any standard.

So why should we feel such grief and outrage over last month’s invasion by Russian troops? Aside from the natural human revulsion to gross injustice, wanton bullying and unprovoked aggression — simulcast in vivid color for all the world to see, thanks to modern technology — two reasons come foremost to mind: 

n Like it or not, the world is engaged in a cataclysmic battle between the forces of autocracy and democracy. And despite our own near-fatal flirtation with autocracy during the reign of Donald Trump, whose minions invaded the Capitol in an abortive attempt to return him to power, we continue to lead the democratic camp.

Russia’s savage and ruthless campaign to re-annex Ukraine threatens to destroy a NATO partner where democracy was successfully introduced several decades ago. It also threatens to position one of the world’s most powerful and dangerous autocracies hundreds of miles closer to Western Europe, a key ally in our devotion to democratic principles.

What’s more, naked aggression against the sovereignty of any independent nation threatens a delicately balanced world order at a time when nuclear proliferation makes such threats potentially cataclysmic.

n Then there are the shared human ties, which are vastly more extensive in the modern era of wide-open trade, travel and immigration.

Here at home, we have Linfield scholar Dawn Nowacki, who holds a degree in Russian and has studied, worked and traveled extensively in Russia and Ukraine, bemoaning, “It’s like attacking your own family.”

And then we have Moscow-born music prof Anton Belov, whose mother fled Ukraine to escape the clutches of Adolf Hitler. It’s equally personal for him — to the point where he’s been organizing Ukrainian benefit concerts in McMinnville and Portland. After all, he said, “I’m a child of a survivor.”

The international ties reach beyond the campus and into the larger community as well. Among others, they extend to:

n Natalia Anesashvili, who still harbors vivid childhood memories of Russia’s brutal invasion of her homeland of Georgia, lying to the south of Ukraine. Now an exchange student at Mac High, a Russian bombing campaign forced her family to pack up and flee when she was 4. “I feel so bad,” she said.

She bristles when her accent is mistaken for Russian. “I don’t want to be called Russian,” she said. “It’s not a joke.”

n Anne Falla, a victim assistance advocate with the Grand Ronde Tribe, who spent three years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine.

She worries about the many friends she made there — “just regular people who are standing in front of tanks,” she said. “I’m getting videos of dead bodies,” she lamented, noting the village where she worked had been overrun early on by invading troops pushing north from Crimea.

Like Belov, Falla has been engaging in direct action. She has been working in concert with other former Peace Corps volunteers to help Ukrainians find safe havens abroad. She’s also been writing letters to public officials, including the Yamhill County commissioners, seeking support.

In addition, the Yamhill Valley Peacemakers have been holding rallies from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday at Second and Adams, by the library and police station. The Salvation Army is soliciting relief funds at https://sawso.org/sawso/ukraine-disaster-and-refugee-relief. And Musicians United for Ukraine has a benefit concert set for 8 p.m. Saturday in the Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave. in Portland.

It’s a worthy cause on all counts.