Ukraine is indeed a geopolitically diverse nation. There is much history and understandable thirst for true freedom and servant leadership. Ukrainians haven’t had much of that kind of leadership. Consider the Holodomor in 1932–1933 when Stalin starved millions to death in Ukraine over a squabble with Ukraine’s farmers; the many more millions who died in World War II, their own Holocaust, and the deaths caused by not only Hitler but by Stalin; and Stalin deporting the Crimean Tatars en masse to Central Asia after World War II and Russians put in Crimea in their place. The list goes on and on.

It is a tribute to the human spirit and to Ukrainians that they stand strong to try to unify their country, whether Ukraine-centric or Russian-centric, in achieving true freedom. Allegiances can be mixed, but desire for freedom will triumph. Last November, their President, Viktor Yanukovych, was anticipated to sign an agreement to a path to joining the European Union. However, when he arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania for the meeting, it all changed when he declined to sign the EU membership agreement. That reversal and decision instead to accept a $15 billion loan promise and 30 percent reduction in natural gas costs extended by Russian President Vladimir Putin is what set off the current mass protests at the Maidan  (a rallying site in downtown Kyiv for protesters) and in other cities in central and western Ukraine. Many in Ukraine resist the notion of becoming a modern-day version of a Soviet republic.

The degree to which President Yanukovych and his son and their friends have plundered Ukraine’s limited wealth and used it for themselves is astounding. Regardless of what else might happen, we should all hope and pray that Ukraine achieves true freedom and finds true servant leaders. It deserves nothing less.

A Complex and Dangerous Situation

As this is written, Putin is occupying Crimea with some 18,000 troops and many armaments. The average Ukrainian is very worried about Putin’s ambition and aggressiveness, according to Sergei Bolyukh, MD, a friend and general surgeon in Vinnytsa, Ukraine. There is fear that Putin will move even further into Ukraine under the pretense of protecting Russian-centric Ukrainians from the temporary Ukrainian government appointed by the Rada (parliament) upon former President Yanukovych’s departure from Kyiv to Russia. There is, per Sergei and the international media, no evidence that the Russian-centric Ukrainians are in any peril of any kind. In fact, with the call for a new presidential election to take place May 25, the hope of the majority of Ukrainians is to continue a path to true freedom and unity. Unity is stressed and is key to Sergei and to Ukraine. This is not to the exclusion of a peaceful relationship with neighboring Russia but specifically to include that relationship, but in a way that respects established internationally recognized borders.

When Sergei and I spoke on Feb. 20, and he told me that his son, a neurosurgeon, had been manning a medical tent at the Maidan and that his son was in tears, I knew things had really worsened … To hear Sergei ask for my prayers and those of my family …well, I cried, too.

It is understood that Putin is keen to maintain the Russian Black Sea fleet in Russia’s only warm seaport, Sevastopol, which Russia has leased until 2042. Ukraine may need to extend that indefinitely as part of any accord moving forward. However, the blunt truth, per Sergei and others in Ukraine with whom I have spoken, is that they feel like Putin is being allowed to “rape us.” They feel the EU and the United States are being too slow and not harsh enough with sanctions and in isolating Putin. The Russian people in Russia have a long tradition of powerful leaders who they seldom stand up to, even if they are unsure of their leader’s wisdom. At this moment, Ukrainians live in fear for their future as a free country.