Holding On

A headline in the New York Times, from December 29, reads, “Russia Pounds Ukrainian Cities in One of the Largest Air Attacks of the War.” Here is the subheading: “The missile and drone attacks killed at least 30 people and damaged critical industrial and military infrastructure, part of a wintertime campaign that Ukraine had been dreading.”

Yes. Now, an excerpt from the article:

Thanks to its powerful air defense systems, Ukraine has often been able to shoot down most, if not all, Russian weapons targeting cities in recent months. But on Friday the Ukrainian military said it had shot down only 114 missiles and drones out of a total of 158.

Forty-four missiles and drones, not shot down — they can do a lot of damage. Kill a lot of people.

Some more quoting:

President Biden said in a statement that Friday’s attack — which he called the “largest aerial assault on Ukraine since this war began” — showed that after nearly two years of relentless fighting and huge numbers of casualties on both sides, President Vladimir Putin’s objectives in the war remain the same.

And they are? Said Biden, “He seeks to obliterate Ukraine and subjugate its people.” Yes. Also: “He must be stopped.”

He must indeed. But the American people — who are important in this terrible drama — are far from united. In fact, they are sharply divided.

• A word from Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal:

Yes. It’s plain to all.

• Since February 2022, I and others have noted that Russian forces like to target civilians as they are attempting to flee. War crime after war crime. As here:

(To read a Reuters report about this, go here.)

• Another bulletin from Maria Avdeeva:

Those Shahed missiles, of course, come from Iran. There is an axis at work.

• Day after day, Ukrainian forces exhibit great daring, imagination, and, of course, bravery. People all over the world are in awe of them. The Ukrainians have many opponents, to be sure — including a great many in the Free World. But they have supporters, too, as they fight to keep their country free and independent.

Here is a report from the Associated Press: “How Ukrainian special forces secured a critical Dnipro River crossing in southern Ukraine.”

• From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, this: “Ukrainian Military Unit Says Russians Committed War Crime When They Killed POWs.”

• A report from the New York Times makes for hard reading — but necessary reading: “Ukraine’s Stolen Children.” A couple of words:

From the start of the invasion, the Russian authorities purposefully removed children from Ukraine, aiming to turn them against their homeland.

Some have returned to tell their stories. Thousands of others have not been as lucky.

It is hard for people to imagine evil — evil on a massive, unrelenting, uninhibited scale. But Ukrainians are facing it. Israelis are, from Hamas. Uyghurs and others are. Many reporters are taking considerable risks to gather and relay information on all this. Honor and thanks are due them.