Democracy must prevail: American City & County stands with Ukraine

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, has traded in his suit jacket and pen for a flak jacket and rifle.  

“I don’t have another choice. I have to do that. I would fight,” said Klitschko, 50, in an interview with ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” on Thursday. Klitschko, who won numerous world heavyweight boxing championships, was elected mayor of Kyiv a year after his retirement in June of 2014, having placed second in the same mayoral race in 2006, and has continuously served since then. 

Earlier Thursday morning, Russian troops rolled across Ukraine’s border, launching a direct attack from multiple sides—and with it, an assault on global democracy itself. The socioeconomic reasons for the ongoing war are complex; but the Ukranian response so far has been resolute and unfaltering: no surrender.  

Globally, the implications of Russia’s unprovoked aggression are terrifying. Not since World War II have world powers clashed in such epic form. Not since the Cold War ended has nuclear war felt like it could become a reality. 

As a publication that closely follows developments in American government, writing for an audience of public servants and administrators, we intimately understand the difficult, unglamourous and oftentimes tedious daily processes that’s required to support democracy.  

Six-hour-long planning board meetings and months-long budget debates, town halls that stretch out over several days and heated council meetings aren’t exactly enjoyable. But holding up the cause of freedom, even though it can be disheartening and frustrating at times, is a privilege as much as it is a calling. 

Every public servant knows that freedom has a cost and must be protected. 

That’s why Thursday’s development was so concerning. Watching Russian troops launch a massive assault on a free society, throwing Ukraine’s peaceful society into chaos, is heartbreaking. Ukranian Americans are an integral fabric of our cities and counties, adding their culture’s strength and vibrancy to our communities. As Americans, it’s easy to relate to the Ukranian construction workers, schoolteachers, lawyers and municipal leaders like Klitschko—a retired Hall of Fame boxer who easily could have used his influence to flee to safety—who, in the face of a brutal dictator, are right now taking up arms to defend their country.  

As Russian forces close in on Kyiv, a municipal and cultural center of 2.8 million people, American City & County stands with Ukraine’s local government leaders, all its cities, regions and its people.