Word from the battlegrounds in Ukraine is scattered and cannot always be confirmed, but some credible accounts give every indication that Putin may have blundered and faces a stronger defense than he (or the Biden administration) imagined possible. The bravery of a former comedian elected the Ukrainian President and a multimillionaire former boxing champion, now the mayor of Kyiv, who refused flight and stayed to defend their homeland at great risk of their lives, is part of the story. But to my mind, the memory of the Holodomor in which Russia’s Stalin starved to death millions of Ukrainians plays an even greater role and explains why so many ordinary citizens are taking up arms, making makeshift weapons and using every means at their disposal to turn Putin’s incursion into a fight on quicksand. It’s such a welcome surprise to see Europeans defending themselves and even getting support from their neighbors in the fight.
The situation on the ground remains fluid, but here are some of the reports on which my opinion is based.
The Spirit of the Ukrainians
President Volodymyr Zelensky was offered a way out by the United States (which stopped him from negotiating directly with Putin), but gave the State Department the back of his hand: “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.” He stayed even though he is well aware of the Russian plan to decapitate the leadership. Certainly, he knows that’s the plan. This was the tactic Russia used in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Indeed, it’s been reported that Putin had dispatched troops from Chechnya with playing cards picturing the top Ukrainian leaders with orders to kill them.
Zelensky’s bravery and spirit is not unique. One Ukrainian marine sacrificed himself to blow up a bridge and slow the advance of Russian troops. One woman approached a Russian soldier and offered him sunflower seeds, saying that when he was killed the seeds would sprout to mark his resting place.
Well, Putin’s reign of going on what now 20 years is hardly Democratic, and his propaganda campaign and pandering to his electorate is not unlike what Trump wishes he could navigate and create for himself here. In neither case are we talking about Democracies or mere politicians but delusional egomaniacal Autocrats that proffer no service to the people or their Nations but their business interests and the illusions of POWER and grandiosity.