By Peter Somssich and Imre Somssich

We both left our homeland Hungary during the 1956 Revolution at the age five and six year. At the time Hungary was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The fight for Hungarian freedom was brutally put down. For various reasons, our family faced a grim future, even possible arrest. We had the good fortune to be sponsored by an American company and were allowed to emigrate to the United States.

It was not until the fall of the Berlin Wall that the Soviets and western nations finally signed an actual peace treaty ending the Cold War (and World War  II, remarkably).  That treaty stipulated national boundaries, including Ukraine’s.

Now Putin claims that Ukraine belongs to Russia, and has hinted that Poland and Hungary might also. Ukraine has asked NATO and the European Union for aid and weapons to defend their sovereignty. Ukrainians are the people  dying, suffering greatly, and fighting bravely and effectively.

To date, both the United States and Europe have committed billions  in military and economic aid. Europe has taken in more than three million Ukrainian refugees, costing over 60 billion. NATO allies in Europe have pledged additional billions in additional military and economic aid.

Until early this year, additional requisite military support was stalled in congress.  The benefits of the end of that log jam are manifest. Significant political support remains for shortsighted isolationist sentiment,  which is cheered in Moscow, and is one of several important questions to be perhaps decisively addressed by US voters November 5th.

It is important to understand why support for Ukraine is the interest of the United States, as well as anyone who is or wants to live in peace and freedom.

Thanks to countries such as Canada, Germany, the US, and others, the NATO alliance was formed after World War II to prevent any further  war in any NATO state. Through all of the tension of the Cold War, this was successful  until 2014, when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea, and then launched a brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia is now threatening NATO countries as well, and the US could be pulled into the conflict because of treaty commitment to defend any NATO nation that is attacked. America’s best interest  is served by a strong NATO, that prevents need for  military intervention, while supporting the brave Ukrainians fighting for our common democratic values.

We sincerely ask all fair-minded Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – to contact their congressional representatives and insist on continued support for Ukraine.

• Peter Somssich, Ph.D,  is a retired physicist and former NH state representative. He lives in Portsmouth. His brother, Imre Somssich, Ph.D, is a retired Research group Leader of  the Max plank Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne, Germany.