Invasion Day +43 We let the letters lead today as they are powerful and provide an insight into the terrible threat we find ourselves in right now. A huge thank you to all our correspondents both here in the UK and most of all in Ukraine. Please keep writing. Especially we would like to hear how people are individually responding to Dr Landau's call for how to personally cope with the Machiavellian Putin. The war goes on: the people flee the Donbas as the storm beckons. Ukraine will fight for every inch of her soil and we stand with them in their brave and heroic fight for our freedom. Whatever it takes. Slava Ukraini!
Today's Letters
From the Rt Hon Sir Robert Goodwill MP The House of Commons Westminster Dear Hoggy,
Why We Must Continue to Support Ukraine
Thank you very much indeed for your e-mail of 25th March regarding the situation in Ukraine. My office in London is in regular contact with people in Ukraine including one elderly relative currently behind the Russian lines in a village close to the Belarus Border, as well as a family in Kyiv who are currently staying but of course might need to evacuate if the situation changes. It is good news that the Russian forces are being pushed back from Kyiv but of course Russia have declared their intention to concentrate their efforts in the East of the country in the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts.
It was gratifying to hear President Volodymyr Zelenskyy particularly praise the support that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had given to Ukraine, which is in marked contrast to criticism recently levelled at Germany and France.
The missiles produced in Belfast have had a significant effect in destroying Russian vehicles, including tanks and helicopters, and I am very proud that the Thales factory in Belfast are predominantly producing these weapons which are being made available.
More recently of course we have seen the horrible activities of the Russians in towns they have retreated from, where it is obvious civilians have been murdered or executed and all sorts of dreadful atrocities carried out by the Russians.
We must continue to support Ukraine. However, of course, we are not really able to deploy our own forces on Ukrainian territory or in the air as that would constitute a direct state of war between Russia, which is a nuclear power, and the United Kingdom, which is a member of NATO.
I very much hope that the Ukrainians continue their valiant fight and that, together with the economic sanctions that the UK has taken a lead in, we can return to a situation of peace in the region.
Yours sincerely,
Dear Sir Robert,
Thank you for your response to which we offer you our best wishes for your relative and contacts in Ukraine, we hope they will all be safe and stay safe.
We will publish your letter in our peace blog for Ukraine today and know that it will be both an insight and a reassurance to our Ukrainian correspondents.
I hope you will feel able to visit the site (www.hoggytheyimp.com) which has received many letters from around the world and is providing one small voice of hope amongst the many.
We will continue to fight for peace for as long as we are able.
Thank you again and we offer you our best wishes for all your work both locally and at Westminster.
Your sincerely,
Hoggy
From Emily Ward, Birmingham City University
Dear Hoggy,
The Genocide at Bucha: How History Repeats Itself
Firstly, I would like to say thank you for reading, posting, and responding to my previous letter.
Although my previous writing was for the Russians who do not know, this is about the horrific atrocities that have now come to light within Bucha and other areas. I am horrified that is happening again to the Ukrainian people.
My first hearing of Russian brutality comes from my great-grandad Osyp Makaryk, who at just 16 years old in 1939 was taken by train from his home in Turka, Ukraine, along with his entire family by the Russians. Thankfully he and one cousin escaped what could have happened to him, but he never saw or heard from any of his family again. Once he escaped, he had a choice to join the Russian army, but as he told my grandma ‘The Russian nurses do not carry first aid kits, they carry guns.’
I felt the need to write again as this time as I can only briefly understand through stories from my great-grandma that my great-grandad had told her, and only very little stories as it was surely very hurtful to speak about.
I cannot even imagine what the current Ukrainian families are feeling at this time, and my heart truly goes out to those who are suffering. Looking through the media about what has been discovered and how the west should react to this is all too slow. I greatly understand the implications of the west becoming involved with this war but how can they just ‘take note’ of what is happening for future war crime investigations.
Even just sitting in my home I feel the need to do something, I feel my roots from Ukraine even stronger than ever. Strong people having to live next to a government so harmful. We are all people, and we all have our ideas of right and wrong but how can my views of the Russian soldiers go from ‘they’re just young boys who have been forced into this’ to ‘they are monsters.’
My mind has been shaken by this, and although I do still feel for the Russian people who are against the war, loosing McDonald’s is nothing compared to what is currently happening within Ukraine.
There appears to be an indiscriminate view from the remaining Russian soldiers. Targeting anyone and everyone. We have seen it with the airstrikes of schools and shelters, we have seen it now with the genocide of the people within Bucha. One of the mass graves to have been found had around 280 Ukrainian people within. The soldiers even took the time to separate Russian dead from Ukrainian, almost showing that they are different.
Although I have previously had mixed views of Zelenskyy, he is currently trying to do the most for his country and the photo of him touring Bucha almost broke me. On Zelensky’s twitter page it is so often seen him thanking other countries for getting in touch, showing their support, and their plans for more sanctions against Russia but that is almost like a token gesture.
Many countries have stepped up to supply food, military weapons, and shelter for refugees, but unfortunately, he and the Ukrainian people are still on their own, with a lot of outside onlookers.
Thank you again,
Emily
Emily Ward
West Midlands
Dear Emily,
You write so powerfully and incisively about the history of your Ukrainian family and we hope you will continue to do so: these are vital insights of great help to our readers and correspondents alike. Thank you for writing so well.
If you have time amidst your studies and can let us know any more about your family history in Ukraine, we would be honoured to publish it here as such stories make an important contribution to the preservation of the cultural history of a nation and should be heard.
You will see the government response to our letter of the 25th of March in ‘Today’s Letters’ which was sent as a compilation of the views that you, your colleagues in Birmingham, and other writers had made. In this, the situation is laid out by the MP, Sir Robert Goodwill about the UK commitment to Ukraine.
As you rightly say there are many onlookers and the need of Ukraine, freedom and of our whole democratic way of life is under threat. If you saw the chilling interview yesterday with Ukraine’s foreign minister at Brussels at the gathering of European leaders you will have noted the harrowing plea that he gave:
‘We will continue to sacrifice our lives for your freedom, all we ask is that you supply us with the means to do so.’
This is a paraphrase but it is a humbling and chilling statement which we must not ignore. All those who wish to remain free must not be onlookers. Your words resonate.
Writing in this blog might not seem much Emily, and all your fellow students, but you are making a stand and a powerful one bringing hope to Anna, to Ina, to Rhea, to Polly, to Ora, to yesterday’s moving video diarist, Ava, all of whom we and our supporters are directly helping, both financially through ‘Hoggy’s Fund,’ and by bringing a great deal of hope through letters such as yours.
I hope you will feel that you too, as we said in yesterday’s blog, are also a foot soldier in the fight for freedom and democracy.
Thank you again and we acknowledge the stand you and all at Birmingham are making for peace and for Ukraine.
Hoggy
From Anna, Kharkiv
Dear Hoggy,
'My Parents in Kharkiv'
I just needed to write about my parents.
There is information that Russia is going to attack my hometown next and it might become another Mariupol. I have been trying to persuade them to leave. They do not want to leave and no matter how hard I try, I cannot persuade them.
You have been very supportive over this and thank you for chatting with me, I am going to try again, I might be able to persuade them.
I will let you know how I get on.
Thank you to all your writers for all your support, Hoggy, it is so precious.
Anna
Dear Anna,
Please give all our very best wishes to your parents, let us hope they can make the decision that will be safest and best for them and for you.
Thank you for your continued kind comments for our correspondents and please can you keep us informed of everything that happens with you and them?
You are all in our thoughts.
Hoggy
From Dr A. Landau, Stratford upon Avon.
Dear Hoggy,
'Hogswards for Freedom Fighters'
Thank you for publishing my previous letter concerning Putin's Machiavellian nature and what might be done about it, I look forward to reading how your correspondents are responding to this in due course?
I would like to follow up previous nominations for Hogwards on your site by highlighting the very courageous stance over many years of those within Russia who are, and have for many years, sought to challenge the atrocious plunge into chaos and disaster that Putin has driven Russia into.
High amongst those making this stand and being imprisoned for doing so, besides risking their lives on a daily basis are the following tow who I nominate for your 'Hogwards'.
Alexei Navalny
Alexei is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
In 2021, Navalny had more than six million YouTube subscribers. Through his social media channels, he publishes material about corruption in Russia, organises political demonstrations and promotes his campaigns. In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves," which became a popular epithet. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials. In March 2017, Navalny and the FBK released the documentary He Is Not Dimon to You, accusing Dmitry Medvedev, the then prime minister and former president of Russia, of corruption, leading to mass protests across the country.
In 2020 he was infamously attached and poisoned with Novichok a nerve agent and hospitalised. The attack lays at the door of Putin's state. He has since been jailed in Russia and whilst in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of subjecting him to torture. He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, while still in prison, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial. He remains one of the most powerful figures in history for his stand against the dictator Putin.
Yulia Galamina
Yulia is a Russian linguist and political activist who was arrested and detained this week again for protesting against Putin and his brutal regime's continued atrocities.
She is a member of the Yabloko political party and has been often arrested and jailed for the organization and high-profile participation in protests against Putin. In 2018, together with anthropologist Nikita Petrov, Yulia Galyamina became active helping to raise funds for the treatment of Ket folk singer Alexander Kotusov (1955–2019) when he was terminally ill and stuck in Kellog, his isolated native village. In December 2020, she received a suspended sentence of two years of corrective labour colony for repeated violations of the rules for conducting rallies and pickets. In March 2022, Galyamina was detained and held in custody pending trial, charged with violating the law on public events by trying to organize a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On 5 March, she was sentenced to 30 days in jail. She has famously said 'The price of inaction puts the survival of planet earth at stake.'
I thank Wikipedia for the details but hope you can accept these nominations Hoggy?
A. Landau (Dr)
Stratford upon Avon
Dear Dr Landau,
We certainly do accept them and thank you for the nominations: we wholeheartedly join with you in acknowledging them and keeping faith with them and their millions of supporters around the world. They know they are not alone but we add our voices to theirs. We have spread sunflower seeds for them here today and hope you will too.
And yes, we look forward to reading about our correspondent's various ways of addressing the Machiavellian menace to the world order that is Putin.
Thank you again,
Hoggy
Please keep writing everyone: we are receiving many letters, audio and video diaries and will try to publish them all in the order we receive them. Please write if you can? Thank you! Hoggy.
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