Central & East European Coalition Statement on the Fourth Anniversary of Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
This February marks four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and one year since US and Russian delegates met in Saudi Arabia to begin talking about a way to end the war.
One year later, there is no end in sight. In fact, more people are dying, more children are being kidnapped, and a kholodomor, “death by cold”, is taking place in Ukraine.
The war will end only when the threat from Russia is neutralized. That means making it clear to Putin that he will lose. After a year of appeasing Putin, it is time to substantially increase the pressure on him.
US aid to Ukraine must be restored. This, together with European aid, will be a formidable military obstacle for the Kremlin. Europeans have already increased their support for Ukraine in the last year to triple the total amount of aid the United States has provided to Ukraine.
Ukraine is an exceptionally strong ally that has been constantly underestimated since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian troops alone, with no allied troop support, have fought a coalition that has totaled to millions of troops from Russia, North Korea, and global mercenaries, who have advanced slower than a snail’s pace for years.
Because he has been thwarted on the military front, Putin has turned to attacking civilians. Ukrainian civilian casualties in 2025 rose 31% from 2024 to 2,514 deaths, numbers nearing American losses during 9/11. During the round of peace talks in the UAE in early February, Putin launched the largest assault of Russian drones in Ukraine since the beginning of the 2022 full-scale invasion. Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure so forcefully that throughout the country, Ukrainians are enduring weeks of frigid winter with no electricity, water, or heat.
There are an estimated 35,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped from their homes and families by Russia, about as many American troops that died in the Korean War. There should be no ambiguity that these children need to be brought home immediately.
The Russian Federation continues to systemically persecute Christians. Reports of Russians murdering, abducting, and/or torturing clergy and parishioners, deporting them, obstructing worship services, seizing church buildings and property, and imposing fines for missionary activity over the last year are well-documented.
However, when polled, the vast majority of Ukrainians oppose giving in to Putin’s demands to end the war. A negotiated peace that gives Putin what he asks for will not work, for the Ukrainian people will not accept it. And it would signal to Putin that he can proceed with new aggressions.
Putin is already testing Western resolve through incursions into NATO countries, sending drones to disrupt air traffic in many countries, and fighter jets into Baltic air space. These are precursors to Putin’s achieving his next goal - destroying the NATO Alliance. If he succeeds in Ukraine, he counts on encountering little resistance in the future.
One can look to Georgia as an example of what happens with his expanding influence. Citizens have gathered every day over the last year to protest the Moscow-aligned “Georgian Dream” Party’s policies and actions replacing Western aspirations and partnerships with Chinese and Iranian associations. The Party responded by dispersing the demonstrations with water, gas, and hazardous chemicals, arbitrarily and violently detaining peaceful protesters, freezing protester bank accounts, and restricting freedom of speech.
The Trump Administration has recently taken some welcome steps. We applaud the pressure on India to reduce Russian energy imports. Pressure worked, and India will stop buying Russian oil, reducing Russia’s income. In Russia’s close ally Belarus, the Trump Administration has admirably secured the release of some political prisoners, including the release of political opposition leader Sergei Tsikhanovsky in June. However, many are still imprisoned, and Belarus continues to support Russia.
Secretary Rubio said during the recent Munich Security Conference, “the alliance that we want is one that is not paralyzed into inaction by fear.” We urge the Trump Administration to show its robust support for its allies by giving Congress the green light to pass the bipartisan Sanctioning Russia Act, which has 84 senate co-sponsors and bipartisan support in the House. Republican-sponsored REPO Acts in the House and Senate, which would use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, also need Trump Administration support.
The United States cannot be complicit in Putin’s crimes. Now is the time to put the pressure on Putin to beg for peace.
Alianta • American Hungarian Federation • American Latvian Association • Armenian Assembly of America • Belarusian-American Association • Washington Chapter Czechoslovak National Council of America • Estonian American National Council • Georgian Association in the USA • Hungarian American Coalition • Joint Baltic American National Committee • Lithuanian American Council • Lithuanian American Community • National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation • Polish American Congress • Slovak League of America • Ukrainian Congress Committee of America • Ukrainian National Association
ceecadvocacy.org * ceecoalition@gmail.com