Ukraine: the war freedom and democracy cannot lose

Two years since bombs and missiles started raining down on Ukraine and we are still waking up to reports of yet another bombardment of Ukrainian cities. People talk about the western democracies wearying as the war enters its third year. Think about how the people of Ukraine feel, both those still in their country – perhaps on the frontline – and those who have sought refuge elsewhere. They cannot afford the luxury of questioning the stubborn resistance to the Russian invasion: it is their country, their way of life, their culture that is a stake. 

We have much at stake too. Democracy, freedom and the right of nations to determine their own future free from the threat of tyranny and repression. These are the values that are the foundations of western democracy. If we weary of standing by Ukraine and its people as it defends those values then we put our own way of life at risk, if not by way of brutal physical assault but through a degradation of everything good we stand for.

For some in our European family the threats are more physical and they know it. Look at the defensive lines the Baltic states are building along their borders if you want proof of the fear that stalks Europe as the spectre of Russian brutality casts its darkening shadow across our continent.

This is a European war and one that Europe may have to learn to fight alone, without the military might of the United States. Just when it is needed, America is becoming an unreliable ally, in danger of lurching back to the isolationism of the 1930s that Nazi Germany saw as a green light to invade its neighbours. Under a Trump presidency it could be even worse. He has already cast himself as Putin’s cheerleader. Far from being great again, America will be reviled by western democracies if it abandons them as Trump urges.

We are remembering Ukraine today because it is an anniversary but with the appalling conflict in Gaza hogging the headlines it has become easy to forget the suffering of the people of Ukraine. We must not let that happen.

• I was privileged to be part of a special Vespers for Ukraine at Brentwood Cathedral last night to pray for peace in Ukraine. It is a small contribution to supporting those, mainly mothers and children, displaced by the war and now part of our community, but one that is important nevertheless.

There were many Ukrainians in the congregation, some of whom read and said prayers in Ukrainian. We included several Ukrainian pieces of music in the service and the Ukrainians afterwards paid us the great compliment of saying we sounded like a true Ukrainian choir, mastering the sounds of their language and the deep feeling that the music embraces. I hope that gave them comfort in their fragmented lives far from home.

Photo: Graham Hillman

Slava Ukraini