Perseverance amid Terror

It is natural to want to turn away from such things, but I think we should at least be aware — simply aware:

A little bit more — just to be aware, or reminded, of what Ukrainians face day after day:

Names and faces are important — otherwise, the victims are simply abstractions, or statistics:

• Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, gave an interview to Bild. In a discussion of Putin, Orbán was asked, “Is he a war criminal for you?” Orbán answered, “For me not.” For me, yes. For Ukrainians, yes. For reality, yes.

• Today, June 28, is Ukraine’s Constitution Day. Our ambassador — the American ambassador — delivered a message:

Many of us are pleased and gratified that the United States is supporting the Ukrainians, allowing them to take a stand against a horrific invader bent on re-subjugating them.

Obviously, not all Americans feel this way.

She is a “conservative influencer” with 257,000 Twitter followers. Here is her “profile” at Turning Point USA. I cite her because the views she expresses are very, very common. You can see them, and hear them, in many publications, on many podcasts, in any number of “comments” sections, and so on.

(For a piece I wrote last year on Ukraine and the American Right, go here.)

• Some more reality, from Ukraine:

• And here is some reality from Russia: A lawyer, Irina Gak, fled the country when her client, Anatoly Beryozikov, was tortured to death in custody.

• Here is a report from the photojournalist Lynsey Addario. It lets you know “what it’s like.” It is a valuable contribution to our understanding of this conflict, this horror. “A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines: In a Ukrainian town, an 11-year-old navigates a childhood transformed by war.”

• Another glimpse:

Ukrainians are not lying down and dying. Many are dying, of course — being killed. But they are not surrendering. They are fighting for their independence, their country, their lives. This ought to inspire admiration in all freedom-loving people.

For many, the Ukrainians are an inconvenience. Well — tough.

• The Balts can afford no illusions about the Kremlin and its malevolence. The West is full of illusions. The Balts don’t have the luxury.

As you can read here, Lithuania is purchasing air-defense systems from a Norwegian company in order to give them to the Ukrainians. “They will be delivered to Ukraine at the nearest possible time,” said President Gitanas Nausėda.

Meanwhile, this news:

I am reminded of what Radek Sikorski said in 2011. He was speaking in Berlin. “I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity.”

(And this was three years before Russia invaded Ukraine.)

• Along with others, I have written from time to time about Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He worked for the KGB in the ’70s. Now he is at Putin’s right hand, blessing the war on Ukraine. But there are other priests — many others — and they must not be forgotten.