From RFE/RL (standing for “Radio Free Europe” and “Radio Liberty”):
A Ukrainian man in the liberated city of Izyum said 62 people hid in a basement used as a bomb shelter during World War II. A woman said that for much of the occupation, people stayed hidden underground as Russian troops went door-to-door with lists of people they were hunting.
(Go here.)
You can imagine the terror in Ukraine — or we can try to.
• “Izyum” should be a name, like “Bucha” and “Mariupol,” that evokes horror, long into the future. Even today, the name “Lidice” sends a shiver down some spines.
The discovery of a mass burial site and evidence of torture in Izyum days after the city was retaken from Russian forces during Ukraine’s successful offensive in early September shocked Ukrainians and the international community.
Article here.
Said an official, “Some bodies have ropes on the necks, tied hands, broken limbs, and burn wounds. Several men had their genitals cut off.”
Many years ago, Elie Kedourie, the great Baghdad-born scholar, had some advice for David Pryce-Jones: “Keep your eye on the corpses.” This will tell you a lot, about a given situation.
• You have heard that Russian forces are staging “referenda” in Ukrainian cities and towns. On Twitter, Oleksandra Matviichuk circulates a video and says,
Try to imagine yourself in the place of these people. Their cities were occupied by a foreign army and now people with guns come to their apartments and demand to vote for joining Russia.
A key phrase: “try to imagine.”
• Last year, Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Maria Ressa, of the Philippines. They are both exceptionally brave journalists. Muratov, a Russian, is the editor of Novaya Gazeta. Six of his colleagues have been murdered.
“Ukraine will never forgive Russia,” said Muratov, according to this Reuters report.
Muratov said that modern technology had brought the horrors of the war home to people . . .
“You many want to forgive everything, but you click in the search engine: Mariupol, Irpin or Bucha. And you can’t forgive a goddamn thing anymore,” Muratov said. “Every step of this war, every crime and every shot, every torn scrotum will now remain forever.”
Some more:
Muratov said he has no intention of leaving Russia.
“We have 82 people staying here and naturally I am staying with them. And we are going to work here,” Muratov said, referring to the newspaper’s employees.
“We will work here until the cold gun barrel touches our hot foreheads.”
Can you imagine? What a contrast, between Muratov and his colleagues, and those who type in the Free West, cheering or making excuses for the Kremlin.
• From Matthew Luxmoore, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal:
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in his Sunday sermon that Russian soldiers who die in Ukraine will be absolved of all sins, and compared them to Jesus Christ sacrificing himself for others.
(Go here.)
I think of a phrase: “spiritual wickedness in high places.”
• Here is something to know — from Jake Cordell, a reporter for Reuters in Russia:
Fight breaks out in the city of Omsk among men who’ve been drafted and local police forcing them onto buses. Draftees called on the police to come die with them in the trenches.
(Go here.)
Moving.
• And this, from Luxmoore:
Spoke to a Russian reservist who fled to Kazakhstan this weekend. He spoke of enormous lines, and said the Russian train he took to the border was packed with young Russian men. “I can tell you honestly those leaving are decent men, smart, educated, leaving wives and kids behind.”
• The partnership between Putin and Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, is important. As RFE/RL notes, “Lukashenko has allowed Putin to use Belarusian territory to stage attacks on Ukraine since the Kremlin launched its invasion on February 24.”
• From the Associated Press:
Russia on Monday granted citizenship to former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after he revealed highly classified U.S. surveillance programs to capture communications and data from around the world.
(Article here.)
Can you think of other Americans who, in a sense, have earned Russian citizenship? Or, more specifically, have earned Putin’s favor?
• Dan Bishop is a Republican congressman from North Carolina. A tweet from him yesterday summed up a mindset:
$12 billion for Ukraine’s border, while our own border is wide open. The definition of America Last.
Ukraine is struggling to hold on to its nationhood, its independence, its right to exist. Ukrainians are struggling for their very lives. A dictator, once more, is trying to redraw European borders by force. This has implications for all of us.
And note the congressman’s words: “for Ukraine’s border.” That’s all: “for Ukraine’s border.” Note, too, “America Last.” That phrase, that notion, seems to be making the rounds.
Earlier this year, Heritage Action put out a press release headed “Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last.”
This is the spirit of America First — or America asinine. Will this mentality win out, in the end? If so, America will be much the worse for it, and so will others, if they matter.