The War In Ukraine

Written by Charles Busch, Executive Director

As Russian armed forces invade Ukraine, we urge U.S. leaders and other nations to respond nonviolently to achieve a peaceful, longterm settlement.

Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine. We pray for the children whose lives are now threatened by bombs and bullets, and for the mothers and fathers who hold them. We also pray for the soldiers on both sides. They are young and believe they are on the right side. They do not yet know that war itself is the enemy.

We condemn the Russian government for this attack, just as we condemned our own President for the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. We hold accountable NATO leaders who promised at the end of the Cold War not to put missiles on Russian borders and have done so in Poland and Romania.

In modern war, for every 1 combatant killed, 9 civilians are killed, the majority of them children. This is well documented. War has become the killing of children. This is happening today in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Donetsk, Luhansk, and other Ukrainian cities. Support our mission at FieldsofPeace.org.

Please join us in stopping the killing of children in wars. Begin by making A Promise to Our Children. By saying aloud:

I will not be a part of the killing of any child,
no matter how lofty the reason.
Not my neighbor’s child. Not my child.
Not the enemy’s child. Not by bomb.
Not by bullet, Not by looking the other way.
I will be the power that is peace.

This handful of words may seem slight set against the machinery of war. But words hold the power of creation. To say the Promise is to speak what conscience demands. It commits to systemic change through nonviolent action. It serves notice to our leaders, “No to war, any war.”

To say the Promise out loud is to be heard.

Others will join. And as a chorus, nation-by-nation, we will stop the killing of children in wars⏤stop war!

Make your Promise today.  >