What happens in Ukraine affects all of us
To the editor:
Greetings and Happy New Year! I would like to relay several updates to our community regarding the war in Ukraine and its ongoing affects on both Ukrainians and Americans:
First, I would like to say thank you to my community for donating to Commander Yuri’s campaign. I touched base this week with Commander whose unit continues defensive battle, and the funds we raised are currently being utilized to repair the unit’s damaged equipment.
I will continue to update you on Commander as we make progress on equipment deliveries.
Third is a personal note. After defending disabled American workers and veterans for almost 15 years, my husband, attorney Mark Zakhvatayev of Ukraine, has finalized his decades-long immigration journey to become an American citizen. We hope that Ukraine will approve their latest dual citizenship law, as many foreigners, especially Americans, have gone to Ukraine to fight, and also deserve to become a member of the country they defended… and quite frankly, these are some of the greatest countrymen out there, and our nation can’t stand to lose them.
But also, for the Ukrainians who have fled their war-torn country and sought refuge in the U.S., many of whom are now my friends.
Though Rome was not built in a day, it did indeed fall. Ukraine is not the only democracy at risk. This is why we must urgently seek to enable opportunities for people to participate in the privileges of citizenship, as nations of the free world now pivot toward an existential era.
Mark and I started dating eight years ago after meeting at his law office, and since then I have joined his family legacy of promoting democratic freedoms. Before the fall of the Iron Curtain, his father Vladimir Zakhvatayev, a jurisdoctor and esteemed academic of Kyiv, Ukraine, was one of the first Ukrainian law students to acquire a U.S. legal education. The 1989 Washington Post article titled “The Soviets’ Cram Course In Freedom” documented a quote from Father’s journal upon coming to America:”We see the situation when old men with old minds and old inclinations are trying to solve new problems: spoiled men, spoiled minds, spoiled decisions.”
Who would have imagined that after 35 years, those words can still ring true in both our own country and in Ukraine, where the state of our nations are far worse off than during the Cold War. In a matter of only three years, millions of lives have succumbed to Russia’s despotism as American leaders have stood by and watched with empty promises to defend our values on the global stage.
Today, in our world embroiled by war, terrorism, and enemy attacks that have returned to our soil, what we decide next for our national security, for our allies, for our country, will be decisive in whether the will of our people can prevail over that of a tyrant dictator and his axis of malign interests who threaten to destroy the free world solely for their own oppressive self-aggrandizement… “spoiled men, spoiled minds, spoiled decisions.”
Ahead of this admin shift, I am taking the initiative to provide a social opportunity for members of our public to freely discuss the state of our national security interests, both at home and abroad, with an emphasis on military. On Sunday, Jan. 12, I will be present at the Starbucks on 2390 Surfside Blvd in Cape Coral from noon to 2 p.m. to engage in open dialogue and share ideas on the direction of the security of our country, our allies, and the world as we know it.
Alexandra Zakhvatayev
Cape Coral