Nadia Dobrianska: It's striking to see an Irish person advocating the partition of Ukraine

Human rights activists like Sabina Higgins should be focussing on Russian war crimes and the human suffering they are causing

Sabina Higgins at the recent official opening the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Picture: Brian Lawless

The controversy over the letter by Sabina Higgins to the Irish Times ‘War in Ukraine: a moment of moral choice’ (27 July 2022) is receding after An Taoiseach Micheál Martin offered reassurance that Ireland’s position is that Russia must withdraw from the territory of Ukraine. The whole situation highlighted the glaring gap between what Sabina Higgins thinks will stop human suffering and Ukrainian understanding of the steps necessary to achieve the same.

Sabina Higgins wrote that a peace settlement with Russia will save lives, lessen suffering and enable reconstruction. Although she did not suggest what the subject of peace negotiations should be, she recommended an article by Geoffrey Roberts in the Irish Times ('Ukraine must grasp peace from jaws of unwinnable war').