BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE NEWS streaming from Ukraine show the courageous resistance and the unity of Ukrainians to resist the power of the almighty Russian army of Vladimir Putin, the tyrant dictator ruling Russia as an autocracy. This is an immoral war, the killing and indiscriminate bombing of civilians denounced already by Pope Francis and world leaders. Nothing can justify it. While the fighting men of the Ukrainian army are on the front line, holding back the advancing tanks in a David and Goliath confrontation, the power of the women of Ukraine is seen working too.
Women worldwide are a power unto themselves and must be celebrated and admired for their talents, intelligence, and courageous action for justice and resisting evil. The Ukrainian women are doing this and a million are saving the children from cruel Russian bombs and bullets.
The greatest weakness of a portion of the male population of the human race has been underestimating and refusing to acknowledge the power, influence, and importance of women in shaping and guiding society, and in some nations, ruling with wisdom. It is the women of the world that ensure the survival of the human species, not only through their unique nature and willingness, and ability to bear children and nurture them but also through their great contributions to many fields of education, law, and science. For many, they are the strength of the family and agents of social change in society.
They battle for their rights because weak and depraved males prey upon them and abuse and exploit women. Millions of women suffer violence, physical, psychological and sexual abuse and are exploited in many unjust ways. They bravely resist, fight back and speak out against the powerful abusers and hold them to account by the #MeToo movement whereby their voices are heard, amplified and listened to. Many abusers have been brought to justice including corrupt royals for abusing them as minors.
The Ukrainian women are showing the strength of the power of women to overcome the hardship of war and many have joined the Ukrainian resistance. They are learning to use weapons and others are in basements making camouflage nets and Molotov cocktails. These are petrol bombs in a bottle with soap powder mixed in and a petrol-soaked cloth on the top. They are moving from the kitchen to the frontline.
When a Russian tank passes below an apartment window, that Russian tank can expect brave, valiant Ukrainian women to light the cloth and throw it down on the tank close to the engine. That’s the most vulnerable spot where the soap powder makes the flames stick to the metal and they are sucked into the engine air intake and it ignites the fuel. Imagine a tank taken out with a few bottles of petrol and sticky soap. The Russians fear urban warfare and street fighting.
The war has stagnated near the capital Kyiv due to a huge strategic mistake by Putin. Like Hitler, he wants to direct the war personally. He imagined the war would be a swift tank and bombing attack, swarms of Russian troops all over the cities in a few days and the Ukrainian government would surrender. Then, he would install his puppet government and rule from Moscow. It has not happened. (To be continued)/PN
