He was previously a comedian, best known for playing the president of Ukraine on a TV show.
So many stories of unbelievable, unimaginable heroism. That’s what’s keeping Ukraine together, delivering fierce resistance despite being outgunned. Heroism builds upon heroic acts. No one wants their countrymen’s sacrifices to be in vain. (Something we took too long to learn in Afghanistan.)
Rudik is a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the leader of a political party. No one is sitting this out.
Heartbreaking, that they face this fight alone.
I saw a woman somewhere, in the sea of Ukraine tweets and stories, of a woman on the Ukrainian side of the Donbas trenches. She was old, around this guy’s age. She had a rusty old rifle and said she was ready to fight and die, if even only to force Russians to waste some bullets on her.
There’s a “to the last Ukrainian” feel to this story, which is the last thing Russia needed. And remember, with everyone carrying cell phones, including combatants on both sides, no one can control the flow of information. Russian troops are seeing this too, and they don’t have skin in Putin’s game.
I grew up in El Salvador during the Civil War. My family had means, and we got out when things got hot. But I saw enough that I didn’t even know I carried until recently, when it all emerged during a guided psychedelic healing session. My war trauma had been affecting me without me even realizing it.
Fuck Putin for hurting kids—both in Ukraine, and the Russians who will soon find themselves without fathers.
You’ve seen the Sunflower Babushka, right? If you haven’t:
The transcript is poetry:
WOMAN: Who are you?
SOLDIER: We have exercises here. Please go this way.
WOMAN: What kind of exercises? Are you Russian?
SOLDIER: Yes.
WOMAN: So what the fuck are you doing here?
SOLDIER: Right now, our discussion will lead to nothing.
WOMAN: You’re occupants, you’re fascists! What the fuck are you doing on our land with these guns? Take these seeds and put them in your pocket, so at least sunflowers [Ukranian national flower] will grow when you all lie down here.
SOLDIER: Right now, our discussion will lead nowhere. Let’s not escalate this situation, please.
WOMAN: What situation? Guys, guys. Put the sunflower seeds in your pockets, please. You will lie down here with the seeds. You came to my land. Do you understand? You are occupiers. You are enemies.
SOLDIER: Yes.
WOMAN: And from this moment, you are cursed. I’m telling you.
SOLDIER: Now listen to me—
WOMAN: I’ve heard you.
SOLDIER: Let’s not escalate the situation. Please go this way.
WOMAN: How can it be further escalated? You fucking came here uninvited. Pieces of shit.
Not just Ukrainians.
The Georgian government, currently led by pro-Russian party, has refused to join the sanctions regime. Georgians aren’t happy about that, or about Russia itself. In addition to harming its reputation in western nations, Putin may very well be turning some of his ethnic-religious allies against him. The same thing happened in Donbas, where Russian governance created an economic basket case, turning ethnic Russians into avid defenders of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Go Dallas!
International solidarity is beautiful. It would be even more beautiful with tons of weapons and equipment shipments into Ukrainian defenders. Remember that with women and children escaping westward or cowering in bunkers, and with all men mobilized to fight, there is no longer an economy in Ukraine.
This is Munich. The Ukrainian flag symbolized fields of wheat and the blue sky. Having learned that, I appreciate the flag that much more. Beautiful in its abstract simplicity.
New York:
Belgium:
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, which feels hollow given German resistance to booting Russia from the SWIFT financial system. The latest reports have German opposition softening.
Out of death, comes life.
Tokyo is the world’s third-largest economy and a participant in the Russian sanctions regime. What a beautiful gesture from its ambassador in Kyiv.