America saved the lives of Ukrainians like me in World War II. I need help again.

Exactly 80 years ago, in March 1944, I returned to my hometown of Kiev. Kiev had just been liberated from three years of German occupation. My city is in ruins, most of its inhabitants have disappeared in the darkness of war, and the victims of the Babin Yar massacre cry out for revenge.

I was only 10 years old at the time, but I already knew that I survived thanks to American food aid. The school had a lively trade in American products such as chewing gum, biscuits, stew, Camel cigarettes, and small plastic models of fighter planes.

In the summer of 1944, real American fighter planes, B-17s, B-24 Flying Fortresses, and Mustang fighters, were regularly flying back and forth to the U.S. Air Force base in Poltava, east-central Ukraine, as part of Operation Frantic. I did not know. . After bombing German targets, more than 100 bombers and 70 U.S. fighters returned to Ukrainian soil to rest, refuel and repair their planes, and restock their bombs.

The brave American didn’t just relax and fall in love with a Ukrainian girl. Many of them lost their lives in German air raids. My people will always be grateful to these heroes.

I longed for America in 1944. He was a distant but close friend and savior of mine. American movies, jazz music, Studebaker cars and Willys Jeeps, aspirin, the clothes and food that saved us from starvation, all of this will remain in my heart forever.

Of course, I could never have imagined that in 1994 God and fate would bring me to Washington as Ambassador of an Independent Ukraine so that I could know and love this great country even more.

I am Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, George W. Bush, James Baker, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, William Perry, Robert Gates, I had the opportunity to get to know famous Americans like Madeline. Albright, Condoleezza Rice, etc. I learned a lot about statesmanship and democracy from them.

I am proud to have participated in the drafting of the first strategic partnership agreement between Ukraine and the United States.

Today, when Ukraine is in the midst of Russia’s genocidal war, killing thousands of men, women and children every day and destroying hospitals, schools, theaters, museums and homes, I am witnessing it in my hometown of Kiev. It reminds me of the consequences of the Nazi invasion. Once again, my eyes turn to America with gratitude and hope.

I would like to thank the United States for the assistance it has provided to our country and look forward to the continuation of this important assistance.

No, I do not want or expect Americans to die in Ukraine today as their grandfathers did in 1944.

But I also believe that Hitler’s protégé Vladimir Putin destroyed Ukraine, annihilated its people, then expanded into Europe and created the security that America took great pains to build and maintain after World War II. , does not want to destroy the free, democratic Euro-Atlantic space. World war.

Americans need to understand that President Putin hates America as much as he hates Ukraine. He despises America’s liberal democratic ideology, its spirit of individual freedom, and its adherence to the fundamental values ​​that underlie its foundation. If Russia crushes Ukraine and then tests the NATO alliance and the United States, the seeds of his hatred could germinate in the dark harvest of a nuclear attack.

By helping Ukraine protect our land, our children, and our freedom, Americans are protecting our land, our children, and our freedom. . Because the sons and daughters of Ukraine are fighting for the principles that motivated the first American patriots to take up arms against the greatest empire of their time.

I am convinced that along with the physical laws of conservation of matter and energy, there are eternal laws of conservation of freedom. When America was founded on the principles of freedom, it had to fight a long war of liberation against its colonial masters. Victory in this struggle was ensured with French aid. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, serves as a symbol and reminder of this fight for liberty and freedom.

The United States, born with the declaration that all men are created equal and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is the world’s leading guarantor of this law. In supporting Ukraine, America is not only fulfilling its obligation, but also fulfilling its own destiny.

Yuri Sherbak served as Ukraine’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States (1994-1998) and as Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Canada, and Mexico.