The Fight of Their Lives

In the weeks before February 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale assault on Ukraine, there were articles about “go bags.” What’s a go bag? A bag that you have at the ready, packed with necessities, for when it’s time to flee, quickly. The articles said that some Ukrainians had their go bags packed. Others were undecided about whether to prepare them. Others had no intention of doing so at all.

When Putin launched, the Ukrainians stayed. What’s more, they returned — returned from working abroad (in Poland, chiefly). They took up arms in defense of hearth and home. In defense of their country, against a monstrous invader, intent on subjugating them.

This surprised Putin, evidently. It surprised many in the West. It surprised some Ukrainians themselves. I am impressed that they are still standing, after all this time. I admire their determination and sacrifice. I think they are setting an example for the rest of the world: an example of patriotism, an example of standing up to tyranny.

They have many enemies, of course (and not just the Russian military). Their perseverance — their very existence — is resented. Many people around the world are itching to get back to business-as-usual with Putin.

But the Ukrainians have their admirers, and their supporters, too.

• What is a typical day in Ukraine? Something like this:

A Russian missile attack killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother Friday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials said. . . .

Associated Press reporters saw emergency crews pulling the boy’s body from the rubble of a building after the early morning attack. He was wearing pajamas with a Spider-Man design.

The strike also killed the boy’s grandmother and wounded an 11-month-old child . . .

For that AP report, go here.

Another day:

Six people have been killed and at least 14 injured in a Russian missile attack that hit a postal distribution centre in the war-devastated northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.

For that report, from Reuters, go here.

Ukrainians are facing a terror-state. And, to a degree, facing that state down.

• An AP report filed on October 17 begins,

The United States has quietly delivered a small number of long-range ballistic missiles that Ukraine said it urgently needed and that President Joe Biden promised last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Tuesday, saying they were used on the battlefield against Russia and “executed very accurately.”

”Today I express special gratitude to the United States,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address, adding that the missiles “have proven themselves.”

I think that Americans can take satisfaction in the aid they are rendering to Ukraine. It helps the Ukrainians, of course — helps them stay alive and repel the invader. It helps us Americans, too.

If people think that aid to Ukraine is expensive — a Putin victory would be far more expensive. Today, we are paying in money and matériel, with no American or NATO blood. Tomorrow?

This is something to weigh.

• A report in Politico says, “Biden linked the fresh fight in Israel to the invasion of Ukraine, trying to revive fading support for a war that has dragged on for more than a year and a half.”

I would like to make a point about the words “support for a war.” Those of us who favor aid to Ukraine do not support a war. Civilized people hate war. Many opponents of Ukraine, and of aid to Ukraine, fancy themselves “anti-war.” But they are not more anti-war than the Ukrainians. This war, this assault, was visited on them by Putin. And they are resisting. Resisting an evil dictatorship that is trying to recover lost empire.

Nationalists, in particular, should understand.

I sometimes quote Kossuth, the 19th-century Hungarian leader: “I am a man of peace — God knows how I love peace. But I hope I shall never be such a coward as to mistake oppression for peace.”

• As I mentioned in a prior post, the current Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, met with Putin in Beijing last week. They reaffirmed their relationship. They talked about energy deals. This nauseated Oleksandra Matviichuk, who is a Ukrainian human-rights lawyer. (The organization she heads, the Center for Civil Liberties, shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.) Given what she and other Ukrainians have seen, and experienced, you can understand her disgust:

• Orbán is a darling of the American Right — CPAC, Heritage, Turning Point, and so on — and, of course, a favorite of Donald Trump. Here was Trump yesterday:

An easy mistake to make, I suppose. (Last summer, Orbán was, once more, the only EU leader to attend an Erdogan inauguration.)

• Margarita Simonyan is the head of RT and, naturally, one of the most vile of Kremlin mouthpieces. As you can see, she wears a cross around her neck. In my experience, some of the worst people on earth do — which compounds their vileness.

• I could cite you a hundred examples. You could do the same, I bet. For many Americans, Israel is the “good war” (for now) while Ukraine is the “bad war.” People who are gung-ho on Israel (again, for now) are mum on Ukraine, or worse. Yet both countries face annihilationist evil from barbaric enemies. Those enemies are enemies of the United States and the rest of the Free World, too. I hope our policymakers, and our voters, are wise.