Elkhart resident Nelya Novachenko told The Goshen News she had been calling her mother “pretty much every couple of hours” since Russian forces invaded her native Ukraine.
At the other end of the state, Southern Indiana resident Alexander Kovalevsky told the Jeffersonville News and Tribune a similar story. He said he, too, had been in regular contact with friends and family in his homeland of Ukraine.
“Ukrainians, they are very unique people,” said Kovalevsky, who is a U.S. citizen and a Hoosier since 2001. “There’s a lot of talented people in Ukraine. And Russians, they are amazing people: talented, gifted, very smart.”
Ukraine needs our support. The majority of Ukrainians want a country free of Russian dominance. They want to choose their leaders, walk in the streets without fear of attack and raise their children with the hope of a better tomorrow.
Ukrainians are their own people, but they are also our people. According to Mission to Ukraine, there are as many as 19,000 Ukrainians residing in Indiana. From Elkhart to Jeffersonville, Ukrainians are our brothers and sisters.
They are Hoosiers, and Hoosiers help each other when challenges arise.
We can support Ukrainians by denouncing Vladimir Putin’s aggression and calling for peace. We can get behind our elected leaders as they make tough decisions to hold Putin and others responsible for the bloodshed.
We can donate to worthy causes and listen to the concerns of the Ukrainians, those who are neighbors here in Indiana and those who are huddled in bomb shelters praying for the violence to stop.
We can also show support by accepting the fact that our gas prices are going to rise, as might the cost of our food and other supplies. Before we complain about paying a little more at the pump or at the grocery, let us think about the horror facing Ukrainians as a result of Russian aggression.
Let us be thankful that literally the only price we have been asked to pay is a financial one. There are Ukrainians running for their lives who would gladly trade places with us.
But let us also not overlook the last part of Kovalevsky’s statement. There are also Russian natives living here who need our support. Many came to this country to share in the freedom Americans take for granted, freedom those remaining in Russia do not enjoy.’ Despite that, thousands of Russians have risked arrest or have been detained for protesting this war. They deserve our admiration.
This war is likely to continue for some time. It will be bloody and expensive.
Let’s be grateful for our freedom, and support those who are suffering. Let us also be reminded of how ugly and brutal war is, and seek to avoid it whenever possible.
The News and Tribune
Jeffersonville & New Albany
