By DOUGLAS REILLY
Los Alamos

The Los Alamos Daily Post published a Senate News item, Sen. Heinrich Cosponsors Resolution Calling For Putin And Regime To Be Held Accountable For War Crimes.

We’ve all seen the news of Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine; Putin doesn’t call it war. I’ve been to Ukraine seven times in the early 2000s to present a two-week course on the Treaty on Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at a research center about 30 minutes from Kyiv (Kiev). This gave me the opportunity to visit Kyiv and areas around it.

Ukraine is a beautiful country, with beautiful and friendly people. It’s a modern city with stores, buildings, churches, monuments, and cars and roads very similar to ours. Ukraine was considered The Bread Basket of the Soviet Union, and agricultural exports are still an important part of its economy. This snippet regarding Ukrainian history will help explain why Putin says, ‘Ukraine isn’t a real independent nation’ or ‘Russia and Ukraine are one nation’.

Beginning in the 9th century A.D. there was the Kievan-Rus’ Empire, which included much of what we now consider eastern Europe. Later, Ukraine was part of the Lithuanian-Polish Empire. Three present European states; Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine consider the origin of their cultures, languages, and Orthodox-Catholic faith to be in Ukraine. Belarus and Russia show this in their names. Belarus, earlier Byelorussia (literally White Russia), and Russia speak the same language. Ukrainian, while similar to Russian, is a distinctly different language. Most Ukrainians speak both.

Of course, this intimate relationship doesn’t justify what we see happening today. I have colleagues and friends there, whom I worry must endure the Russian invasion. On TV I see buildings I recognize from before they were trashed. Unfortunately, the pillage increases daily. Opinion writers, and Putin himself, begin to talk about nuclear war. I consider Russia’s actions illegal, scary, and insane.