Nolan Peterson, a longtime reporter in Ukraine, tweeted the following: “Only hours after a Russian missile attack against the city, Ukrainians have gathered on Sophia’s Square in central Kyiv to celebrate New Year’s Eve.” He included a photo, with his tweet. The morale of a people is so critically important — critical to survival.
• On New Year’s Eve Day, I e-mailed a Ukrainian friend of mine. At the end, I felt impelled to say, “Glory to Ukraine.” At the end of her reply, she wrote, “Glory to our friends who support us!” I found that very touching. The Ukrainians need their friends. Their attackers have plenty — all too many.
• Ukrainians from all walks of life are taking up arms to keep their country alive. Often, they are dying in the process. Here is a note from Euromaidan Press. It’s about a young woman named Vlada Chernykh, who had been a Ph.D. student. She was killed while evacuating wounded soldiers. In an interview, she had said, “At one point I just realized that I needed to be there.”
Here is a note from RFE/RL (our combination of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty):
Volodymyr Yezhov was killed defending the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on December 22. He was one of the developers behind the successful video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, which was released in 2008. One of the game’s characters, Loki, was based on his face.
So many of Ukraine’s best are dying in the effort to keep their country. I admire these people, I really do.
• “Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags on.” That is a report from the Associated Press. It is difficult to read, like all such reports. But no one should bury his head in the sand.
• Another such report, from the New York Times: “Bucha, a Final Rampage Served as a Coda to a Month of Atrocities.” Reality must be stared in the face.
• Another AP report begins,
Russian missiles hit Ukraine Thursday in the biggest wave of strikes in weeks, damaging power stations and other critical infrastructure during freezing winter weather.
People were killed and wounded in those strikes too. Russia is a terror-state, which is plain to anyone who cares to see.
We are so accustomed to thinking that black-and-white is simplistic, that the world is just infinite shades of gray. But some situations are, in fact, black-and-white.
• Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of Estonia, wrote,
While Russia wants to make the world believe it seeks peace, in reality it continues its massive war crimes against Ukrainians. The way to peace is to help Ukraine win and scale up military aid.
That, in my view, is realism.
• From The Economist, a report to note: “Ukraine’s women snipers take the fight to Putin: ‘If a woman sniper is captured, she will be raped, humiliated, tortured — and then executed.’”
• Here is a report from RFE/RL on a speech that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, gave to the Ukrainian parliament on December 28. I doubt that any Ukrainian complained about Zelensky’s clothes.
In the course of his speech, Zelensky said, “In any country, on any continent, when you see blue and yellow, you know it’s about freedom.” In my travels, I have seen Ukrainian flags in many cities and towns. A lot of people gag on this. They are irked by it. They say it’s “virtue-signaling” and all this — whatever the current jargon is. Plus: Why can’t you support your own country? Traitor!
As I see it, the display of a Ukrainian flag is a natural and right expression of human solidarity. And if other people don’t like it — well, tough.
• Here is a video of the Russian army chief, Valery Gerasimov, talking about how the Ukrainians are Nazis, etc. Something occurred to me the other day: In the mouths of Kremlin propagandists — and their echoers in the West — the Ukrainians are either Nazis or wokesters. Kind of interesting.
Paul Hollander, David Pryce-Jones, and others have discussed the similarities between antisemitism and anti-Americanism. A Jew is whatever the antisemite needs him to be: a rapacious capitalist; a revolutionary Marxist. An American is whatever the anti-American needs him to be: a provincial, an isolationist, with no interest in acquiring a passport; no, he is actually all over the world, throwing his weight and his dollars around, blighting every foreign port.
So typical, so human, so awful.
• From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a very interesting story: “Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s secret call to Mitch McConnell puts squeeze on oligarchs: His plea to the top Republican pushes law to crack down on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.”
McConnell is like a ghost from the Republican past. I welcome such ghosts.
• In Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen is extending conscription and demanding that people learn how to defend the homeland. Taiwanese are looking at Ukraine and preparing. A picture may not be worth a thousand words — but the one seen here says a lot.
• A headline from Reuters: “U.S. concerned by China’s ties with Russia, State Dept says after Putin-Xi call.” No doubt, no doubt. (Article here.)
• A column by George F. Will is headed “How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine altered the world in 2022.” He does a remarkable job of painting a big picture with telling details.
• An article by Tunku Varadarajan, in the Wall Street Journal, reminded me of Vladimir Bukovsky. The article is headed “The Patriarch Behind Vladimir Putin.” Its subheading reads, “The Ukraine war is inspired and sustained by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, says his former secretary.” Highly interesting.
I went to see Bukovsky — the great Soviet-era dissident — in 2019, not long before he died. Let me paste an excerpt from my write-up:
He talks about the Russian government, up to its old tricks (so many of them — so many tricks). They claim to be “encircled” by the West . . . They always have to pretend that a Western wolf is at the door, so as to keep the masses riled up and distracted.
And they spout this nonsense that “Russia is spiritually different from the West, and it is the spiritual that binds us together.” Bukovsky notes that they (the Kremlin) are “trying to promote the Orthodox Church into an ideological leader of Russia.” He remembers, with a sardonic laugh, “That church was singing hymns to Stalin! Half of them were KGB agents!”
Oh, yeah.
(I wrote up my visit with Bukovsky in four parts. I have quoted from the last part, here.)
• Radek Sikorski, the Polish statesman and writer (who was once a foreign correspondent for National Review), made a statement that I found arresting:
The key question of 2023 is how many Russians need to die before a critical mass of them understand what other Europeans have concluded before them: that imperial illusions are not worth it.
• A long report by a Washington Post team tells you a great, great deal: “Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war.” About the Ukraine war, there has been much excellent reporting, from many quarters.
• The AP reported on the Christmas message delivered by Pope Francis. I will highlight one section of the report:
“Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by 10 months of war,” the pontiff said as he gestured toward those in the crowd waving small Ukrainian flags.
To be continued . . .