On Monday, July 11, Paul Zalucky addressed a overflow capacity crowd at the Southport Town Hall as guest speaker for the Southport Island Association’s (SIA) 2022 speaker series. His powerful talk on Putin’s war on Ukraine to a standing room only audience left listeners wanting more.

Said the president of SIA, Alice Mutch, “Paul, you and your wife, Carole, exemplify your Ukrainian people - courageous, loving, fearless, visionary, entrepreneurial and self-reliant. We are so lucky to have you as our neighbors on Southport Island.”

Paul spent 28 years overseas in the CIA retiring from its executive ranks in 2008. He served in Moscow and was also a senior representative in Kyiv and Ukraine. He remained in the region following his retirement to pursue business interests focused on the defense and technology sector and is now well placed with an extensive network throughout Eastern Europe to assist with defense and security issues and lend support to humanitarian initiatives.

From his unique perch, Paul is able to offer a knowledgeable assessment of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and why it matters to us all.

Key to take away from his talk is the fact that Ukraine is fighting on behalf of the Western world to preserve freedom and democracy. Ukraine is on the front line of a valiant battle against Russian efforts to not only annihilate the sovereign nation of Ukraine but to impose a new world order that will have devastating implications for generations to come.

Putin’s war represents the largest invasion on the European continent since Hitler and Stalin in World War II. The economic and humanitarian toll on Ukraine will reverberate throughout the region and the world for many future decades. It is important that Ukraine will regain control of its southern tier to maintain access to the Black Sea which is key to their economic viability in the world market. This will only be possible with military support from the West.

Ukraine will ultimately be effective in disarming Russian aggression but it will take stepped up and robust military and humanitarian support from Europe and the U.S.

Donate: www.helpukraine22.org – This is recommended as the most reliable means of donating to the cause.

Many thanks to the SIA leaders who brought you this event: Carol Allison, Laura Blake, Janet Duchaine, Sharma Schacknow and Sandra Seifert.