FILE PHOTO - Keith Boehmer, historian with the Okanagan Military Museum, helps place crosses in the annual Field of Crosses memorial for Kelowna veterans.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Our current views of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are just as confusing as those of previous wars, says an Okanagan military historian.

“History shows that our current anxious view of the near future is as foggy, noisy, and confusing as it was for our elders,” including August 1914 in Sarajevo, leading to the start of the First World War, the 1938 German and Russian invasion of Poland, prompting the Second World War, the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour during the Second World War, and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, said Okanagan military museum historian Keith Boehmer, via email.

Earlier this week, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of people have fled the country. Russia’s current focus is taking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

READ MORE: Vancouver star Ryan Reynolds matching $1 million in donations for Ukrainian refugees

“Recent times have shown that fear-based reactions are dangerous (during COVID-19), that turning on each other is destructive (politics today), and that an ‘Us vs. Them’ attitude feeds extremist elements in society,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday Canada would sanction Putin, along with his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and other top Kremlin figures, holding them responsible for the "brutal, needless attack" on Ukraine.

Trudeau also said Canada would support the removal of Russia from SWIFT, the digital payment and messaging network that connects thousands of banks worldwide, which he said would make it even harder for Putin to "finance his brutalities."

READ MORE: Canada sanctions Putin, but Ukraine calls for no-fly zone against Russian bombardment

Boehmer said the sacrifices and services of past Canadians demonstrate how we as a country can face everything and rise above selfish egos.

"You wake up each morning, you see if the country still exists, but we're seeing is an absolute incredible battle for freedom," said Peter Bihun, president of Dolyna Ukrainian Cultural Society. Some of his relatives are border guards who are training people to fight.

He hasn't been able to reach relatives in Kyiv, which is currently under heavy fire from the Russian army.

"We have faith that if they can endure the next few days," Bihun said.

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