Several years ago, IMLA went to Ukraine as part of a program through an organization fostering democracy in former Eastern Bloc states. Ben Griffith and I participated with Taras Mazar in an extern program developed by Taras following Taras' internship with IMLA. We spoke with groups in Kyiv and Lviv and also learned quite a bit about the developing democratic institutions in Ukraine, its history and its battles against corruption and the rule of oligarchs. As part of this history we learned that in the 1930's Stalin forcibly starved Ukrainians to force collectivism in the Soviet system in what is called the Holodomor. A NYT columnist Walter Duranty received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for journalism for articles that lied about the Holodomor and of the starvation of the Russian people in an effort to bolster the communist vision and to ingratiate himself with Stalin. During WWII, Stalin conscripted Ukrainians to fight but sent them to the front without weapons. The loss of life in Ukraine during the Stalin years has been difficult to calculate but likely exceeds 10 million. Among the many stark reminders of the Soviet occupation of Ukraine that Ben and I saw were the resilience of the churches that had been destroyed or repurposed to atheistic uses and the architectural revival from Soviet monoliths to buildings of beauty. I know all of us at IMLA hope that the people of Ukraine will overcome the Russian invasion and that Taras and his family are safe. Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips.

Chuck, thanks for sharing this. It is a fascinating summary of the history of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. It is a terrible situation. Best, Tony Anthony Nowak tony@smithphillips.com<mailto:tony@smithphillips.com> Smith, Phillips, Mitchell Scott & Nowak, LLP 2545 Caffey Street P.O. Box 346 Hernando, MS 38632 662-429-7888 (fax) 662-429-0107 www.smithphillips.com<http://www.smithphillips.com/> The information contained in this email transmission is legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the individual(s) named above. If you, the reader of this message, are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you should not further disseminate, distribute, or forward this email transmission message. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify the sender. From: Chuck Thompson <cthompson@imla.org> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2022 10:14 AM To: cityattorneys@lists.imla.org; Federal Law List Serve <federal@lists.imla.org>; counties@lists.imla.org; IN-IMLA Listserve (IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org) <IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org>; OAMA luistserv (OAMA@lists.imla.org) <oama@lists.imla.org>; omaa@lists.imla.org Subject: [Counties] News of the Day - Several years ago, IMLA went to Ukraine as part of a program through an organization fostering democracy in former Eastern Bloc states. Ben Griffith and I participated with Taras Mazar in an extern program developed by Taras following Taras' internship with IMLA. We spoke with groups in Kyiv and Lviv and also learned quite a bit about the developing democratic institutions in Ukraine, its history and its battles against corruption and the rule of oligarchs. As part of this history we learned that in the 1930's Stalin forcibly starved Ukrainians to force collectivism in the Soviet system in what is called the Holodomor. A NYT columnist Walter Duranty received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for journalism for articles that lied about the Holodomor and of the starvation of the Russian people in an effort to bolster the communist vision and to ingratiate himself with Stalin. During WWII, Stalin conscripted Ukrainians to fight but sent them to the front without weapons. The loss of life in Ukraine during the Stalin years has been difficult to calculate but likely exceeds 10 million. Among the many stark reminders of the Soviet occupation of Ukraine that Ben and I saw were the resilience of the churches that had been destroyed or repurposed to atheistic uses and the architectural revival from Soviet monoliths to buildings of beauty. I know all of us at IMLA hope that the people of Ukraine will overcome the Russian invasion and that Taras and his family are safe. Charles W. 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