Thursday, July 27, 2017

Ukrainian Americans Respond To Disinformation Campaign

New York, NY – Earlier this month, a false narrative about Ukraine began being repeated by several U.S. media outlets, so-called political experts, and a few government officials. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the nation’s largest representative body of Americans of Ukrainian descent, has issued a statement decrying the false comparison of the United States’ strategic ally, Ukraine, with the criminal aggressor state, Russia, and urging fellow supporters of Ukraine to set the record straight when confronted by these fanciful stories.

Stating that these “false accusations, levelled by Russian propagandists,” slander Ukraine’s government and its people, the organization’s statement decries the omission of Ukraine’s real and lasting ties with the United States, and presents a compilation of examples. Listing a series of bilateral agreements and structures binding the two nations, including the 2008 U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership, the UCCA further stresses that these false statements, laced with the “Whataboutism originating in Russia,” particularly pain the Ukrainian American community coming “after Russia’s bloodiest attempted advance in 2017 took the lives of 17 Ukrainian heroes, which left dozens more injured.” As a reminder, since the beginning of 2017, there have been some 2,000 recorded attacks by Russian forces across the 'ceasefire' line in Ukraine, with dozens of civilians killed this year alone.

In contrast to the misleading narrative of Ukraine as anything but a longtime and committed partner of the United States, the UCCA also issued a statement hailing the remarks of Ambassador Kurt Volker following his visit to Ukraine. Newly appointed as the United States’ Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, the former United States’ Ambassador to NATO publically stated that Russian “aggression” is to blame for violence in eastern Ukraine, and that the United States is considering sending lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to help Ukraine "defend itself if Russia were to take further steps against Ukrainian territory.” As the only non-NATO partner nation to have contributed actively to all NATO-led operations and missions for the past 20 years, Ukraine is a natural ally of the United States, sharing the belief “that democracy is the chief guarantor of security, prosperity and freedom” (U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership, 2008). Emphasizing this point, Ukraine once again partnered with the United States just this month to co-lead 17 navies from around the world in the biggest and most involved maritime training exercise ever in the Black Sea.

Statements posted online here and here

Source:  The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

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