"Look at what is happening in Ukraine right now, at this very moment." Ex-President Yushchenko addressed Trump with an open letter

"I decided to write this letter without unnecessary diplomatic etiquette and high-flown words — simply as one person to another, as a president to a president who cares about the fate of freedom and human dignity.

Freedom for a Ukrainian is not just a word from political declarations. It is our deep genetic code, passed down from ancient Cossack times, from our great-grandfathers, who valued freedom and their God-given land above all else.

We are a nation of farmers, whose identity grows from love for their own home, for their own field, and for their native sky. We have never encroached on what belongs to others, but we have also not learned to give away what is ours.

Look at what is happening in Ukraine right now, at this very moment. Our cities are shaken daily and nightly by Russian ballistic missiles and heavy air bombs.

And they don't strike military targets — the enemy deliberately destroys civilians, trying to burn out our freedom. They strike ordinary residential buildings in ancient Kyiv, sleeping quarters in Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Dnipro, and Kharkiv region. A fresh example: as soon as you started talking about the possibility of some "concessions" or agreements with Putin, the Kremlin immediately "thanked" you for it with more bloody strikes on our families.

How much unspeakable pain flows through the heart when you see mothers burying their innocent children, and little ones left orphans amidst smoke and ruins! This is not just dry statistics or a "conflict somewhere far away" — it is the unbearable, living pain of millions of families who daily pass through the true hellish crucible of this war.

And against this backdrop, it seems wild and painful when calls are made for Ukraine to "stop," when we are lectured on whom to choose and how to live, or when a green light is given to trade Russian diesel. Every dollar from this diesel is a missile bought that will fly into our homes tomorrow. Trading with an aggressor during such a massacre means fueling its war machine.

Mr. Trump, recall the events of more than thirty years ago, when the Soviet Union was collapsing.

Ukraine then possessed the third largest nuclear potential in the world. We voluntarily renounced these weapons for the sake of peace on the planet, believing the words and signatures of great powers. In 1994, the United States of America, together with its partners, signed the Budapest Memorandum, giving Ukraine official guarantees of security, sovereignty, and the inviolability of our borders. America took on a moral and legal obligation to be our shield and defender. So can we really forget today, when a vile enemy has attacked us, the signature of Great America under this document?!

And remember the history of the United States itself! In the 1930s, Washington also believed that trading oil with Imperial Japan would help maintain "stability."

The USA sold them fuel for years, trying to buy its way out of war. How did that end? With the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, when Japanese planes, powered by American fuel, bombed your fleet.

And remember who always stood by your side when freedom needed to be defended.

In the legendary photo over Iwo Jima, the US flag was raised by a Ukrainian boy from Lemkivshchyna — Sergeant Mykhailo Strenk, who gave his life for America. And on April 25, 1945, on the destroyed bridge in Torgau on the Elbe, the first to embrace American Lieutenant William Robertson was a Ukrainian boy from Cherkashchyna — Oleksandr Silvashko. Our peoples have already shed common blood for freedom in the fight against tyranny.

And that is why, in conclusion, I want to say the most important thing — what the whole world and you personally, Mr. President, must understand.

Ukrainian identity is invincibility. We are a people with deep roots, bound to our land by love, work, and the spirit of freedom. We will never, do you hear, never and to no one will we give up our Land. This is our home, given to us by God under this high sun. We were here, we are here, and we always will be! We cannot be intimidated by missiles, and we cannot be forced to surrender, because the blood of free people flows in our veins. You don't negotiate with tyrants — you stop them!

With faith in Truth, freedom, and the honor of the free world, Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine from 2005-2010," the politician wrote.

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