Sen. Shaheen joins panel to talk about continued need to support Ukraine

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, and three other panelists are voicing why the United States needs to continue to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“How could anyone with a heart and empathy not care about the fact that innocent lives are being destroyed and killed?" said Olga Sobko, whose parents are from Ukraine.

It's been over a year-and-a-half of fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

“Homes are being destroyed. Children are being kidnapped,” Sobko said.

Less than a week ago, the United States passed a stopgap bill to keep the government running, but that meant also dropping potential billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine. It’s something Shaheen doesn't agree with.

“It's important for us to support Ukraine, because it's in America’s best national security interest,” Shaheen said.

On Friday, the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire brought together Shaheen, a Ukrainian native who moved to New Hampshire last year, and Granite Staters who have delivered aid to the war-torn country to discuss why it’s still important to help Ukraine.

Nearly everyone in attendance agreed U.S. aid should continue.

“There are still millions of people who have been displaced from Ukraine, and they still have belief that they, one day, they will go back to Ukraine,” Kateryna Nazarova, who moved from Ukraine to New Hampshire in 2022, said.

The overall goal is the same — help Ukraine. However, Common Man for Ukraine wants to focus more on the children. As for Shaheen, she says she just wants to help end the war.

“One of the early things that we realized that these children are living in hell,” Alex Ray, of Common Man for Ukraine, said.

“They need to see a united front from NATO, from the Transatlantic Alliance with Europe to defeat Vladimir Putin,” Shaheen said.

To continue their humanitarian efforts, Ray and Susan Mathison of Common Man for Ukraine are going back to Ukraine in November to help orphans.