National & Minnesota Report
Vladimir Putin’s War in Ukraine is an affront to all Western democracies and a threat to their very existence. The support for Ukraine, neither a member of NATO nor the European Union is significant because of the proximity to both with Ukraine as a buffer country.
The war and the defense of a fledgling democracy, a former Soviet Bloc country reflects a proxy war for democracies worldwide. If Ukraine were to fall, it would embolden other dictatorship’s ability to take land by force and disrespect other nations recognized boundaries. Which is exactly what Putin did when he annexed Crimea in 2014.
Now, the counter-offensive by Ukraine, the internal attack by the Wagner Group, and the resulting response from the Russian people will make their own determinations. With the next NATO Summit set for July 11-12 in Vilnius, Lithuania another former Soviet Bloc nation, and one of the three Baltic nations, including Estonia and Latvia, to break from the Soviet Union and join NATO in 2004, it creates another mote in Putin’s eye.