Russia Ukraine war, page-239840

Nobel Prize Winner: Ukraine Must Be Able to Defend Itself | Opinion

By Oleksandra Matviichuk

To protect the human rights of Ukrainians, we must stop Moscow's extreme aggression. And to do that, we must give Ukraine the means to protect its civilians and strike back.

Russia is assaulting Ukrainian civil society by targeting civilian infrastructure with strikes launched more than 100 miles from the border. To block these attacks and protect innocent civilians, Ukraine needs air defense systems and long-range weapons. We need permission to launch strategic, cross-border strikes on military targets to diminish Russia's ability to kill Ukrainians

When I look at these unspeakable crimes against humanity that Russia has inflicted on the Ukrainian people, I see a concerted effort to wipe out our entire culture, our entire nationality, and our entire history. Nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia. Some of these children are even forced to take on new names to erase their Ukrainian identity and placed in Russian schools that ban the Ukrainian language and history. The Russian version of victory would see Ukraine as we know it cease to exist. It would put democracy at risk around the entire world by demonstrating a lack of resolve in defending its most important principles.