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Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former state senator believes Ukraine can still end the war, if given right weapons
Former State Sen. Tom Brewer and Don Hutchens, a former head of the Nebraska Corn Board, survey a combine, provided by the Howard Buffett Foundation, that was destroyed by a Russian missile in Rivne, Ukraine. (Courtesy of John Grinvalds) LINCOLN — After his fifth goodwill and fact-finding trip to war-torn Ukraine, a former Nebraska state legislator and decorated veteran still feels that Ukraine can prevail in its war with Russia if given the right weapons. And former State Sen. Tom Brewer, who represented north-central Nebraska, said he sees a possible reckoning ahead for President Donald Trump in his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, he said, has never been truthful in his negotiations over the war, and his latest flirtations with peace talks may turn out to just be a delaying tactic to allow Russian forces to get organized for a summer offensive. 'There's a huge game of chess that's being played right now,' Brewer said in a recent interview. 'I think the next month will bring to light that Putin is not serious about negotiations, he's just buying time.' 'If you look at history, the Russians have never been honest about any of the negotiating they've done,' he added. 'Why would they start now?' Brewer, now 66, is at an age when most veterans are working on their golf game or heading out on a fishing trip. He's had more than 70 surgeries to repair war wounds and a bad back. The trip by plane, train, bus and eventually Toyota 4Runners in the dark of night is long and grueling, over roads pock-marked by missile strikes. But he keeps going back to Ukraine in part because he admires their freedom-loving spirit and in part because he feels his military experience — six tours of duty in Afghanistan and experience with artillery and helicopters — could help their war effort. Eventually, he believes he could also help the reconstruction of a country known as the 'bread basket of Europe.' On this latest trip he was accompanied by Don Hutchens, a retired head of the Nebraska Corn Board and a veteran of foreign trade missions. They set up a video meeting with University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold and Ukraine's ministers of agriculture and intelligence to lay the groundwork for possible collaboration in rebuilding Ukraine's crop production. Ukraine has lost more than 20% of its farmland since the Russians invaded, according to Alliance Magazine, and an estimated 139,000 square kilometers of land — almost twice the size of Nebraska — are suspected to hold land mines. Brewer said that in areas where the Russians had occupied, anything of value was taken and farm machinery not taken was disabled. Farmers are left using old equipment in hopes of growing a crop, he said. During his trip, Brewer visited associates of Howard Buffett, the son of Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett, who is on track to pass a total of $1 billion in private aid this year given to Ukraine to remove mines and provide new combines, planters and tractors. '(Buffett) has a really good team over there that is well-organized,' he said. 'He's probably more highly thought of than anyone else in the country. If he wanted to run for president he could beat out (Ukraine President Volodymyr) Zelinskyy.' Brewer also visited an orphanage under construction near Kyiv that has been supported by Ukrainian-Americans as well as a hospital where wounded soldiers are fitted for prosthetic limbs. An estimated 52,000 Ukrainians have lost parts of arms and legs in the war, he said, which has left possibly 18,000 children orphaned. Some U.S. military aid is still reaching troops in Ukraine, he said, but the elimination of the USAID agency has meant an end of food shipments to those living in a 'no-man's land' near the front. Despite the pull back of some American aid, the Ukrainians provided a warm welcome back, Brewer said. As after past trips, the former legislator will provide a trip report to the Nebraska delegation in Congress in hopes that makes a difference. On this trip, Brewer watched young Ukrainian soldiers, fueled by Red Bull and vape pens, guiding attack drones and was impressed by the capability of an artillery team unit that got only three week's training on guns the U.S. Army provides months of training to operate. He said that if he was 'king for a day,' the U.S. would provide more long-range missiles so that Russian forces could be moved farther away from the Ukrainian border to deter drone attacks and dropping of unguided 'glide bombs.' Tougher sanctions, Brewer added, could help squeeze the Russian economy to the point that they would give up. The former senator said he is sometimes 'astounded' about how long it took the U.S. to provide the weaponry that is needed. The sounds of drones buzzing overhead is a constant near the front, Brewer said, and the glide bombs, which cannot be detected by anti-missile batteries, have exacted a horrible toll. He said that this war could completely reshape Europe and the future of democracy, and it's important to stop Putin now, or else he will be emboldened to invade more countries. Brewer said he 'hates' the idea that Ukraine would have to give up valuable territory to end the war. 'The only way to defeat (the Russians) is to defeat them on the battlefield,' he said, 'and the only way to do that is give (Ukraine) the right weapons to do it.' 'Even though they've been through three years of war, and even though they've lost an estimated 100,000 civilian and military lives, their spirit is still passionate about staying free,' Brewer said. 'You're not going to see the Ukrainian people say, 'We've had enough.' I think they'll fight until they have nothing left to fight with.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Nebraska state senator heads back to Ukraine to show support
The front-line of a military group in Donetsk, Ukraine, shelters from artillery. State Sen. Tom Brewer joins them in the bottom left. (Courtesy of Noah Philson) LINCOLN – A former state senator and decorated U.S. Army veteran is headed again to Ukraine in hopes of providing reassurance that Americans still support the country's fight for freedom against Russia. This month, former Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon is making his fifth trip to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022, and he feels it might be the most precarious. The war, he said, has morphed from a battle at the front of artillery and tanks, into an exchange of cheap but dangerous drones and Russian 'glide bombs' that can't be detected by air defense systems. 'It's a difficult place to go right now,' Brewer told the Examiner. 'We want to see [Ukraine] win this war, and we want to do everything we can to boost their morale. I think they're struggling right now.' An additional goal of the latest trip, he said, is to make connections with agricultural officials in Ukraine. Nebraska, with its farm building and equipment sector, could play an important role in rebuilding the country, according to Brewer. 'If we don't do anything until the war ends, we'll lose that opportunity,' he said. Don Hutchens, a retired head of the Nebraska Corn Board, is among those traveling to Ukraine this time. A Lincoln-based television reporter, John Grinvalds, is coming again to document the trip. Brewer, an expert sniper who was wounded twice during six tours of duty in Afghanistan, used his previous trips to Ukraine to serve as an unofficial representative of the U.S. and as a military observer who relayed information gleaned from officials and soldiers at the front to the Nebraska delegation in Congress and the State Department. The information included the effectiveness of American aid, ammunition and weapons and what else the Ukrainians might need to repel the invasion. But this trip — a year after the last one — will be different because of the dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward Ukraine after President Donald Trump took office. Trump suspended $1 billion in American aid to Ukraine, and, in a combative White House meeting last month, scolded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over his insistence that Russia could not be trusted. Trump, later, stated that Zelenskyy was 'not ready for peace.' Meanwhile, negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin have failed to result in a complete cease fire or peace deal. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine before he took office or within 24 hours of becoming president. The Associated Press recently reported that Trump has admitted those boasts were a 'little bit sarcastic,' though the president was also quoted that he was optimistic that he could broker an end to the war. Brewer, in an interview Friday, said the contentious White House exchange between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance was unfortunate. 'That's something that needs to happen in a back room,' Brewer said of the heated debate before cameras. That exchange, the senator said, helped boost Zelenskyy's popularity ratings, but has put America in 'a different light' across Europe and in Ukraine. During his past visits, Brewer said that when people saw the United States flag on his shoulder, they would come up and express thanks and provide hugs. 'You were always thought of in a pretty good light as an American…,' he said. 'A good guy, who's always going to be there.' 'We're kind of in a precarious place right now. A lot of Europe is scratching their head and not seeing us as the same ally as they had before.' Brewer said he hopes his latest visit will help assure the Ukrainians that 'no one is abandoning them.' 'There's a new president in the White House, and they have a little different look at this war,' he added. 'It doesn't change that what they're doing is commendable.' Despite the suspension of U.S. aid and armaments, Brewer believes that the Ukrainians are 'winning' in some areas, inflicting heavy casualties, while bracing for an offensive from Russia later this month. The war, he said, is now being fought with low-cost drones and glide bombs that avoid detection because they have no engines to produce a heat signature. Poisonous gases accompany some Russian missiles, Brewer said, and Ukraine has been forced to become more choosy when deploying expensive anti-missile systems. While the Russian territory captured by Ukraine has largely been reclaimed by Putin's army, it has come at a heavy cost of perhaps 50,000 Russian soldiers lost in the past month, according to Brewer. 'They're losing as many people in a day as we lost in Afghanistan in 20 years,' Brewer said. Help is coming from Europe, he said. F-16 fighter jets recently arrived from The Netherlands, as have gas masks from Britain, Brewer said. Germany has been asked to provide missiles to replace the American Tomahawks. If those are provided, it could be a 'game changer,' he said. Can there be peace? Brewer said he doesn't see it soon, given that Russia is gearing up for a huge offensive push. But by this fall, if Ukraine can hang on, he said that most observers believe that Russia will have exhausted its military assets, and leaders will be ready to strike a peace deal. Brewer said he doesn't see any quit in the Ukrainian soldiers he's met at the front, some of whom are 50 years old or older. 'It's all because they grew up in communism, and they know the consequences of giving up,' he said. 'They'd rather die than see their kids and grandkids grow up in that system.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
