Terror and Courage

Three days ago, the Associated Press ran a report with the heading “Russian missiles kill 7 in Ukraine’s second-largest city as Moscow’s troops press offensive.” The city is Kharkiv. Yesterday, Russian forces targeted a home-improvement superstore in the same city. Hundreds were shopping. As of now, the death toll is 16 (with 43 wounded). “This is clearly terrorism,” said the city’s mayor.

Putin’s Russia is a terror-state. It has many supporters and sympathizers in the West, of course. (So did the Soviet Union.) The civilized world should do all it can to stop Putin and this terror.

• Maria Avdeeva has given just a small taste of what it’s like to be in Kharkiv right now: here. So has Kateryna Yushchenko, here. From RFE/RL, here is a video. (The organization I have referred to, as you know, is our combination of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.)

• Via social media, I expressed the view that Moscow’s attack on the superstore might mark a turning point in the war. Churchill said, “Give us the tools and we will finish the job.” Ukraine needs both: both the tools and the ability to finish the job — to fight back and repel the invasion, if at all possible.

A Ukrainian friend of mine said, in effect, “Keep dreaming.” She remembers July 17, 2014. She learned that Putin’s guys had shot down a civilian airliner — a civilian airliner — over the east of the country. “Putin is screwed now,” she thought. But, of course, nothing happened. He paid no price.

Why should he pay a price for bombing a store?

When I spoke of a turning point, I was thinking of a debate that is apparently taking place in Washington. A headline from the New York Times last Wednesday read, “Inside the White House, a Debate Over Letting Ukraine Shoot U.S. Weapons Into Russia.” The subheading read, “After a sobering trip to Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is urging the president to lift restrictions on how Ukraine can use American arms.” (Article here.)

A headline in the Economist on Friday read, “NATO’s boss wants to free Ukraine to strike hard inside Russia.” The subheading: “Jens Stoltenberg says the rules on using Western weapons should be eased.” (Article here.)

• The cases of Ukraine and Israel are not identical, but consider: There are people who chafe at any effort by Washington to restrict Israel’s freedom of action. Many of these same people want Washington to restrict Ukraine’s freedom of action — or to refuse to support the Ukrainians at all. Still others want both countries to do whatever it takes to survive: to defeat the forces that are trying to annihilate them.

• A story from Britain — from the Telegraph, in particular — begins, “A Ukraine defeat by Russia would cost the West trillions in a new Cold War, warned James Heappey, the former Armed Forces minister.”

• From the AP: “Hungary will seek to opt out of NATO efforts to support Ukraine, Orbán says.” Good, I say. Better than being an obstacle. (That AP report is here.)

• Here is a story, from the Irish Times, that is difficult to read. But it is something to be aware of all the same, in my view. The headline contains a quotation: “I don’t think the West really understands.” The rest of the headline goes, “A Ukrainian writer on his journey from torture camp to the front line.” That man is Stanislav Aseyev, who “survived nearly 1,000 days in brutal captivity.” And he is back at the front, fighting the enemy, doing what he can to keep his country free.

The heroism of some people — many people, actually — is almost beyond belief.

• From RFE/RL: “Nearly 550 Children Confirmed Killed in Ukraine Since Start of Russian Invasion.” (Article here.)

• “Russia is waging a shadow war on the West that needs a collective response, Estonian leader says.” “Russia Steps Up a Covert Sabotage Campaign Aimed at Europe.” Those articles, from the AP and the New York Times, are here and here. A very important subject.

• Some more news — wretched:

Think of how much building there is to do in Russia. Think of all the work there is to be done — to lift that country up. To relieve it from misery. To allow the country to flourish. To keep capable and ambitious people from leaving. But Putin & Co. are determined to destroy a neighboring country. They would rather do that than build Russia. This is deep and dark — sinister.

• For Meduza, Lilia Yapparova has written an amazing story. (Meduza is a Russian news organization in exile, as all independent Russian organizations are.) The story is typical — typical of today’s Russia — and amazing at the same time. Moving. “Meet Alina, the 19-year-old daughter of a Russian mercenary whose fiancé is in exile for opposing the war.” Alina’s fiancé, Vladimir, says, “Every time she’s offline, I think the FSB got her.”

• Who keeps Russia down? Who stifles Russians? “The wicked West,” says the Kremlin. Actually, no one does a better job of it than Putin and his dictatorship. I will quote a brief report from RFE/RL — but one that says a great deal:

Russian physicist Anatoly Maslov reiterated his innocence in his final statement on May 17 at his treason trial. . . . A day earlier, the prosecution asked the court to convict the scientist and sentence him to 17 years in prison. The 77-year-old Maslov was arrested in June 2022. . . . At least 12 scientists have been arrested in Russia on treason charges since 2018, mostly for activities considered a normal part of scientific work such as publishing papers internationally, collaborating with colleagues from around the world, and attending conferences outside of Russia.

• One of the bravest people in all of Russia is Ilya Yashin, a political prisoner. I wrote about him last February, here. RFE/RL tells us the following: “Yashin, who is serving an 8 1/2-year prison term for his criticism of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, has been placed in solitary confinement, just ahead of a scheduled visit by his parents.” Often, dictatorships are not only cruel and murderous but also petty.