Latest news with #TomBrewer
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
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crunch time for Republicans on Ukraine, says ex-US State Senator
The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell sits down with retired U.S. Army officer and former Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer in the front-line city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, to discuss U.S.-Ukraine relations under the Trump administration, why Nebraska is interested in Ukraine's post-war recovery and why it's important for U.S. politicians to visit Ukraine to counter myths by Russian propaganda. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
