BRATTLEBORO-As the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, stories about the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II are rarely seen in daily news reports in U.S. media.
But, for one night in Brattleboro, people remembered this fight that began Feb. 24, 2022, and why it matters.
“There is a certain amount of ‘war fatigue’ in the U.S. and Europe,” said Gediminas Varvuolis, ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United States.
But Brattleboro, he said, is a place “that cares a lot about justice and truth. The fact that you are all here really symbolizes that there are still a lot of dedicated people in the United States in places like this.”
Varvuolis came to Brattleboro to speak to some 80 people at a Feb. 5 fundraiser for Ukraine co-hosted by the Windham World Affairs Council, Saxtons Distillery, and Kerry Secrest, honorary consul of Lithuania to Vermont.
“This is our fourth fundraiser we’ve had to do because, ultimately, it is necessary,” said Christian Stromberg, the distillery’s founder and owner. “It’s a nice reminder to those who are fighting for an independent Ukraine that, at least this little town in Vermont, we haven’t forgotten.”
“When given the opportunity, people show up for what is really important,” said Secrest.
Varvuolis said the people of Ukraine, after four years of all-out Russian aggression, “they have been defending themselves so bravely and courageously.”
They have also been defending the people of Europe and “all of us, in the free world,” he said.
“They understand what it is to fight for freedom,” Varvuolis said. “All of our values are based on freedom and democracy. And, in Lithuania, we have a strong feeling for what’s going on in Ukraine.”
Lithuania and its Baltic Sea neighbors Estonia and Latvia were under Russian control from the end of World War II in 1945 to the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Varvuolis said Russia still holds a grudge against Ukraine and the Baltic states turning away from them and turning toward Europe and becoming independent, prosperous, and more democratic countries in the process.
“For us, it’s a very internal matter.” he said. “Ukraine is resisting, and we, as Lithuanians, are to trying support them.”
Stepping up
With its support amounting to nearly $1.9 billion, Lithuania is among the top five European Union (EU) countries in terms of contributions.
The country has delivered more than 300 generators and more than 700 transformers to Ukraine since the start of the war. This includes two powerful autotransformers capable of supplying energy to hundreds of thousands of households to help make up for the energy infrastructure that has been destroyed in Russian aerial attacks.
Varvuolis said Lithuania has also become a major trans-shipment point for liquified natural gas (LNG) from the United States. These tankers have become critically important, since Russia has destroyed 60% of Ukraine’s gas production capacity in the past year.
“The energy sector is under huge strain,” Varvuolis said. “The most terrible thing is that these [Russian] attacks are deliberate. They know that after what they do that people will freeze. People will suffer.
“I don’t know what you can have on your mind if you adopt this kind of tactic — that if you cannot win on the front line, you hit the rear so people suffer and you feel like you’ve achieved something,” Varvuolis said. “I don’t know how you would qualify this mentality.”
Varvuolis also cautioned that Russia’s aggression is not confined to Ukraine and that it is actively “testing the boundaries and preparedness of other countries in the region” through hybrid attacks ranging from random drone incursions to sabotage attempts to disruptions of cyber infrastructure.
“We’ve been dealing with this for a long time,” he said.
The butcher’s bill
The human cost of this war has been considerable. According to figures by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense, more than 1.2 million Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded over the past four years, with an additional 60,000 missing.
The AFU does not release its official casualty figures, and they are in dispute. The Wall Street Journal reported last fall that about 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and around 400,000 have been wounded. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has disputed those statistics, claiming in February that 46,000 soldiers have perished in the war and that 390,000 have been wounded.
As for civilian deaths, figures from the United Nations show about 15,000 Ukrainians and around 400 Russians have been killed. Nearly 41,000 Ukrainians have been wounded in Russian attacks, with another 16,000 held captive, according to the Ukrainian government.
“Sooner or later, the active phase of the war will stop, there will be some kind of truce, and then we need [to help] rebuild the country,” Varvuolis said. “The extent of damage that has been inflicted on Ukraine is beyond imagination.”
While he described Ukrainians as a resilient people and said that they’ve managed to keep their economy afloat during the invasion, it will take a massive effort by the EU to get Ukraine back to where it was before 2022.
‘You need partners and allies’
Varvuolis said Lithuania strongly supports Ukraine joining the EU “sooner rather than later, hopefully by 2030.” He also hopes to see Ukraine have the same type of security arranged that Lithuania has with the U.S. through NATO.
Lithuania has hosted U.S. troops since it joined NATO, and Varvuolis said that “it’s a nice deal.”
“We are happy to host them and offer whatever they need. Having them is truly, truly essential,” he said. “One reason why Russia will never dare to cross the NATO line is because of the presence of U.S. troops in the countries that border Russia. This is the best guarantee that there will be no hot war between NATO and Russia.”
At the same time, Varvuolis said his country realizes that all European nations have to take on greater responsibility and upgrade its military capabilities, especially given the increasing sentiment by the current U.S. administration that it can go it alone.
“There has to be honest burden sharing,” he said.
“It’s important for NATO to stay united and for this transatlantic bond to continue,” Varvuolis said. “It is not in the benefit of the United States to go it alone. The United States will need allies. The world is so interconnected, and you need partners and allies.”
However, if the U.S. were to walk away from NATO, Varvuolis said that “NATO would no longer exist. It’s that simple.” At the same, he said he believes that it would never happen.
He also believes that the war will end only if there are security guarantees for Ukraine that are backed by Western allies, and he also suspects that Russia can’t be relied upon to keep its word.
“You can’t get guarantees from your torturer and occupier,” Varvuolis said.
When asked what gives him hope for Ukraine, he said it was “the Ukrainian people. Young Ukrainians. Brave Ukrainians. The level of resilience of Ukrainian society.”
“If human beings can overcome such strains as Ukrainians are doing these days and still function, this gives me hope — that human nature can go far if it has a purpose,” Varvuolis said. “And they have a purpose. They are fighting for freedom and independence.”
Care packages for the troops
Immediately after the talk, siblings Secrest and Stromberg hosted a solidarity cocktail hour and bonfire called “Warmth in the Cold: An Evening for Ukraine.”
Together, they hoped to raise $10,000 to send 200 winter care packages to Ukrainian soldiers through Blue/Yellow USA, a nonprofit initiative to provide aid to Ukraine.
Those packages will include essentials, requested by frontline troops, including mini cookstoves, rechargeable hand warmers, wool socks, and fleece mittens and gloves, along with instant coffee and snacks like protein bars and beef jerky.
And, Secrest said, “because a touch of sweetness can lift the spirit, each package also includes a piece of Vermont maple candy — a taste of Vermont kindness from our community to theirs.”
A message of encouragement will also be printed and included in the package, so a phone translation app can bring those words to life.
Monetary donations for winter care packages can be made through the end of March at bit.ly/851-ukraine, or lithuaniavermont.com.
“When we talk about soldiers in Ukraine, you need to remember that two-thirds to three-fourths of them were civilians like you and me before the war,” said Secrest. “Imagine you were a teacher and now you’re sitting in a cold, single trench on the front line in –20 degree weather.”
The packages will be “filled with essentials to keep them alive and give them a little bit of hope,” she said.
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.