Ukrainian lives hung in balance as Trump held up aid

Critical weapons, training held hostage by monthslong freeze on funds

On June 6, Russian-allied forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region fired a volley of artillery shells on Ukrainian soldiers based in a rural area, even though Moscow had signed a ceasefire agreement the day before.

Two young Ukrainian soldiers — 28-year-old Dmytro Pryhlo and 23-year-old Maksym Oleksiuk — were killed in their dugout by that shelling in the settlement of Novoluhanske, Ukrainian commanders said at the time. Eight other Ukrainian soldiers suffered concussions and other injuries.

Pryhlo and Oleksiuk were just two men. But the day before, the Russians had killed another Ukrainian soldier. The day before that, they had killed two others. And in the nearly five-plus years before that, thousands more had fallen.

View the complete October 24 article by John M. Donnelly on The Roll Call website here.