A People, Terrorized, Persevering

Putin’s Russia is a terror-state. Day after day, it unleashes waves of terror on the Ukrainian people. Here is a headline from this morning: “Missile and Drone Attacks Across Ukraine Kill at Least 7 in Lviv.” (Article here.) It’s important to know some names and faces. Otherwise, the dead are mere statistics.

Here, again, is Yaryna:

• In Poltava, Russian forces killed more than 50. For a news report on this assault — this particular one — go here. Below is a comment from the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. (At the time, the death toll was only 47.)

And here is a comment from Daria Kaleniuk. (At the time, the death toll was 41.) She also has a question — a good one.

• Then there is the orphanage in Sumy. For a news report, go here. And here is some video:

• Kharkiv? For a news report, go here. Here is some video:

Some more:

We ought to have at least one name, one face:

An article begins as follows:

At the opening of an art exhibition in Kharkiv’s Yermoliv Center on Aug. 29, 18-year-old artist Veronika Kozhushko, also known as Nika, could be seen jumping on a small trampoline before she landed on her feet with a breathless smile.

The following day, Russia killed her.

• By many, many people, I am told that Vladimir Putin is a “defender of Christian civilization.” I can only ask: Where’s the “Christian”? Where’s the “civilization”? He is a destroyer of that which is good. His dictatorship is what ought to be destroyed.

He is “anti-woke,” people say — free people in the West, I mean. They are all around us. What Putin is, is anti-life, anti-freedom, anti-independence. A curse on humanity.

• Here is the foreign minister of Lithuania, with an important “but”:

• Take note of a minor story (a relatively minor one — it is major for the two men involved). Two Colombians, Alexander Ante and José Aron Medina, “joined a foreign legion in Ukraine” in the summer of 2023. They were returning home via Caracas. The Maduro government arrested them — and sent them to Putin.

Putin’s allies are: China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Hamas, Hezbollah . . . Westerners who sympathize with Putin tend not to sympathize with those other dictatorships and terror groups. A curious exemption, he has.

• The West, full of dopes (and dupes), is in dire need of non-dopes (and non-dupes). Ben Wallace is the type of man we need. He was Britain’s defense minister from 2019 to 2023, and he has written a piece for the Telegraph: “Putin will soon turn his war machine on Britain.” The subheading of that piece reads, “The Kremlin holds us responsible for its failures and will, at some point, attempt to exact its revenge.”

I recommend Wallace’s article: here.

• As usual, some of the noblest, bravest, most admirable people on earth are Russian. Do you know who Pavel Kushnir is? Was? The BBC has published a report on him, headed “The lonely death of a jailed Russian pianist who opposed war.”

• This is from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty:

A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant on August 26 for Aleksandra Frolova, a self-exiled member of late opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s team. Three days earlier, the same court issued a warrant for Nina Volokhonskaya, a self-exiled producer at the Navalny LIVE YouTube channel.

That story continues,

In mid-August, Frolova and Volokhonskaya were added to Russia’s wanted list for allegedly taking part in the activities of an extremist group. Navalny’s organizations and projects were labeled extremist and banned in Russia in June 2021. If arrested and convicted, the two women face up to six years in prison.

Oh, they would be killed, like Navalny.

• There is a Twitter parodist named “Darth Putin” — very clever guy, or gal. You recall a line from Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Well, “Darth” landed on something important — clever, funny, but utterly serious, too:

• Ukrainian children and youth, like other children and youth all over the world, are going back to school. The president of the country made a statement:

I admire the Ukrainians: their resilience; their determination not to die; their sacrifice, their patriotism. I hope they win. I hope they keep their country, and their freedom — their right to exist. I hope their enemies, everywhere, lose.