Why the U.S. Has a Stake in Ukraine’s Victory

By Andriy Yermak

Friday, May 06, 2022

 

It is frequently said that, while history may not repeat itself, it often rhymes. And while no two nations experience the same struggles, and no two battles are the same, some inevitably draw parallels. In the fight for freedom against tyranny, two battles stand out: the Alamo and the battle for Mariupol.

 

In the dramas of a frontier stronghold and a seaside port, we see two heroic fights for freedom and the free choice of a sovereign future, both against all odds.

 

San Antonio, Texas, in 1836 and Mariupol, Ukraine, in 2022 are separated by time and geography: one a small Catholic mission, the other an industrial giant. In each battle, heroes defied a dictator’s brutal, deadly invasion meant to overcome the call to freedom.

 

Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol, like the Texans at the Alamo, were lacking in numbers and, most important, weapons. The Texans withstood the siege of a better-equipped force ten times larger than their own. Ukrainian forces have held out for two months against superior Russian weapons and numbers of men, despite the prediction that the city would fall in a week.

 

To the Mexican dictator who besieged the Alamo, the Texans were rebels who refused to submit. For Putin, Ukrainians are the renegades who overthrew the Soviet empire. Tyranny is always afraid of the spirit of freedom; obedience is its lifeblood.

 

And look what tyranny sows. Just like the Texans then, the people of Mariupol today could hardly imagine that their Russian neighbors could fire upon them with such absolute cruelty and intent to destroy. At least the army of Santa Anna, the Mexican tyrant, released women and children. The Russians are not only disrupting the evacuation of civilians — many women and children among them — but are systematically torturing, raping, and murdering them.

 

The defenders of the Alamo knew they were sacrificing themselves for freedom. So do the defenders of Mariupol, even if they could not imagine how cruelly Russian forces would take things out on civilians. And every day of the siege is an additional day to train new soldiers and equip them with the increasingly powerful weapons now being provided to Ukraine. Just as the Texans held out long enough to build an army of sufficient strength to liberate them, the defenders of Mariupol are holding out for the same epoch-making mission.

 

The brave Ukrainians fighting for Mariupol — fighting for freedom over tyranny — may be facing the Russians alone, but they do so with the strength of Ukraine’s allies and partners behind them. Ukraine is grateful for all who have recognized the importance of this battle and who have outfitted Ukraine’s soldiers with the military-technical assistance that is allowing them to resist the Russian occupation forces.

 

But they cannot hold out without additional heavy weaponry. The defenders of freedom in Mariupol are paying with blood. Ukraine and its allies can still save those of them who remain alive by acting together through more unified diplomacy, strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities, and ratcheting up the sanctions regime against Russia.

 

Just like the Alamo became its epoch’s rally cry for freedom, this epoch needs the heroes of Mariupol to survive and prevail — for history to remember their sacrifices and as a clear lesson to future aggressors.

 

We thought the 20th century had delivered tyranny to the dustbin of history. But with the battle of Mariupol, the history of the Alamo and similar battles before it has returned. Ukrainians know that Mariupol must mark a turning point in this history.

 

That’s why Ukraine fights. Ukraine must stand. Mariupol must stand. It is here that the future of the world is being decided.

 

We cannot allow the sacrifice of Mariupol to be in vain. If Mariupol falls, if Ukraine loses, it will not only be a loss for Ukrainians. All the world’s democracies will lose. Despotism will triumph. And its triumph will not be confined to the countries of the former Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. Tyranny doesn’t have boundaries. This is why Ukraine’s victory in its fight for liberty will be the victory of democracies around the world.

 

The call to “Remember the Alamo!” was for generations of American heroes more than words. It captured the spirit of the West fighting for dignity, freedom, and democracy. In this epoch, on the other side of the globe, another nation cries out for all the world to hear: “Protect Mariupol!” and with it freedom for generations to come.