At Last, Hope for a Plundered Ukraine
Re “Passion Led American on Road to Kiev,” Dec. 29: Thanks for Johanna Neuman’s concise story on Ukraine’s fighting first lady, Kateryna Chumachenko, wife of Viktor Yushchenko. Freedom at last? Ukraine has been plundered since the fall of communism, billions of dollars laundered away to countries such as Switzerland and Israel. And according to Amnesty International, over a 10-year period 100,000 women from Ukraine fell victim to the transnational sex trade.
Hundreds of rights activists and at least 11 journalists have been murdered for asking too many questions. Criminal oligarchs who took the place of communists facilitated a devastation I thought might never be reversed. Until now.
Ukrainian nationalists who died fighting for freedom would be proud. Thanks too to the West -- this is not just about money, it is about Western civilization.
Peter B. Hrycenko
Allentown, Pa.
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