As Russian troops invade Ukraine, local Ukrainians are praying for peace and Connecticut politicians are parsing the implications of the invasion.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, said in a statement Thursday that the international community would respond harshly to Russia’s actions.

“Vladimir Putin and his ruling clique will pay a bitter price for his unjustified attack on the sovereign state of Ukraine and its people,” Courtney said. “Ukraine defense forces are better equipped, better trained and more determined than in 2014, when Putin forcibly seized Crimea. In addition, the U.S., NATO, EU and G7 countries are united to punish this invasion with increasing sanctions, effectively isolating Russia’s economy and society. Every democracy has a stake in protecting the international rule of law and supporting the brave people of Ukraine.”

Putin has claimed there is a “genocide” in Ukraine, a claim the U.S. and its allies have rejected as disinformation. Some foreign policy experts believe Putin is attempting to sabotage Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's regime. But Putin’s real motivations remain unclear. President Joe Biden said in a statement that Ukraine is suffering “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, was not available to comment Thursday but has been active on Twitter since Russia’s invasion was announced on Wednesday.

“Putin’s decision to invade is an evil, panicked move of weakness and will be his defining mistake,” Murphy tweeted Wednesday night. “The Ukrainian people will fight for as long as it takes to secure their nation from this foreign tyrant, and the United States will stand with them in this fight.”

Murphy said Putin’s decision to invade puts “the entire post World War international order ... on a knife edge” and that U.S. security is at risk “if Putin does not pay a devastating price.” The senator proposed levying “crippling sanctions” on Russia, adding, “And we must cut off Putin and his cronies from the global economy.”

“And we must remember that Putin has plans for us too,” Murphy continued. “He and his agents will use the crisis to try to divide Americans from each other and to separate America from our allies. In this, we must remain vigilant and united.”

On Thursday, Murphy defended the U.S. foreign policy response to the crisis in the weeks leading up to the invasion.

“It’s always easy to simply claim your way would have worked better, but there’s really no evidence to suggest that the posited alternative (unilateral U.S. sanctions, without Europe, applied a few weeks earlier) would have resulted in any different outcome,” Murphy said.

His office sent out a statement from the senator early Thursday evening, as well.

“I applaud the president’s decision to exact a heavy price on the Russian government and economy, and the fact that he did this together with our allies makes the blow more impactful,” Murphy said. “I will be working with my colleagues in Congress in a bipartisan way to provide continued assistance to Ukraine in its hour of need — as well as taking steps to reassure our vulnerable eastern flank NATO allies.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal held a news conference in Hartford on Thursday, in which he urged U.S. allies to join together in imposing heavy sanctions against Russia and cutting it off from the world financial system known as SWIFT. He said Putin’s invasion “is an inhumane critical atrocity” and an assault on world order we haven’t seen since WWII.” He noted that “innocent civilians are dying right now” as he spoke from Hartford.

Blumenthal said he was in Ukraine five weeks ago.

“I came away from that trip so impressed and inspired by how resolute and resilient the people of Ukraine are. They’re facing this threat of death and dictatorship with a kind of quiet courage,” he said. “What I saw personally was a courage and resilience that I think will stand them in good stead as they begin the fight.”

Blumenthal said he’s maintained for months that sanctions against Russia should have come sooner. He also said the U.S. will not be sending its troops to Ukraine.

“Putin is a thug. All he understands is economic force or military resistance, and he will see both. The cost to Putin is going to be enormous, unfortunately the people of Russia will pay a price,” the Democratic senator said. “We are not sending troops to Ukraine, we are not putting our men and women into combat. We would do so if a NATO ally were attacked.”

Gov. Ned Lamont also weighed in on the conflict with a statement.

“I condemn the unjustified, unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is abhorrent,” Lamont said. “The people of Connecticut stand in solidarity with the citizens of Ukraine and pray for their safety as they endure this assault on their freedom. I commend President Biden for leading the free world in sanctioning and punishing Russia for their aggression against a sovereign, democratic and peaceful nation.”

Local reaction

St. Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Colchester is holding a “Prayer Vigil for Peace” at the church Thursday night at 7 p.m. All are welcome to come.

“Come pray tonight with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters at St. Mary Church in Colchester for peace in Ukraine and the world,” a release from the church reads.

The church’s Father Cyril Manolev, who is leading the vigil, told The Day he didn’t want to comment on the geopolitics of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict but instead on the Ukrainian people, who are now being subjected to military maneuvering they have nothing to do with.

“We are praying, we are going to pray, and we will keep praying for all the poor people, especially the young ones and the children, who will be suffering,” Manolev said. “Tonight we are going to pray for this to end. We are going to ask for God’s intervention to somehow help all those people out there and to stop this craziness.”

Dimitri Tolchinski of Old Lyme was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1940. He said his history and his country’s history are tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — he’s been thinking about how, when he was 15 months old in 1941, World War II was beginning and bombs were going off in his home city.

Tolchinski commented on how the dynamic between Russian and Ukrainian people has changed in the past 75 years.

“When I was 18 years of age I was drafted into the army, and Russian people and Ukrainian people were like brothers. We respected each other like family,” Tolchinski said. “I am amazed at what Putin is doing now. I think he’s going to leave a scar on Russia, and Ukrainian people will start hating Russian people as a result.”

Tolchinski asserted Ukraine’s independence, noting its distinct language and culture. He said Putin and Russia’s presence will not be taken too kindly by Ukrainians.

“If they kill the Ukrainian president, that would be awful,” Tolchinski said. “It wouldn’t be easy for Putin to hold Ukraine under his foot. I don’t think it’s going to be possible. There will always be a position among Ukrainian people that it’s their own state.”

In the weeks leading up to the invasion as well as in recent days, Tolchinski has been keeping in touch with people in Ukraine.

“I have close friends in Ukraine, I’m helping them financially. I called them this morning and couldn’t get through,” he said. “Some of my friends have family in Kyiv and they say that an airport was bombed. Another friend has a mother in Kyiv. They talked to her and she said it’s not bad, but it’s becoming scary. This is amazing, it is a big surprise for this to happen.”

s.spinella@theday.com