If you haven't seen it yet, I'd like to steer your attention to a Washington Post story this morning profiling seven Ukrainian men, most of them in their early 20s, and who had decidedly non-combat lives before their country was invaded, who were among the last to try to defend Avdiivka before it fell. Each profile is accompanied by a portrait-style photograph. Stare deeply into their faces, their eyes. These guys have seen things that have forever transformed them.
Here's a taste of a. couple of their stories:
Major had just arrived in Avdiivka in the second week of February and set up in an old, two-story student dorm when waves of Russian troops began crashing against his unit’s position.
Eventually, a group of well-trained Russian soldiers hit them with a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and were soon fighting their way through the building.
Russian troops backed Major into the corner of a room and screamed at him to surrender. He played along and begged them not to shoot as he frantically looked for a way out.
Other Ukrainian troops came to his rescue with an assault of their own and in the ensuing chaos, he scrambled out of a second-floor window to safety.
By the time his unit retreated, he was in charge. So many soldiers had been wounded that there was “nobody more senior left,” the 21-year-old said.
His unit was then assigned to a tree line along the evacuation routes — one of the last lines of defense — to cover the troops pulling out. Soon the Russians were “raining down very targeted artillery fire on us,” he said.
If there were more troops, artillery and air cover, Ukrainian forces could have held on to the position, he said, adding, “We just needed something to fight with.”
When his group finally left the city entirely, he watched the convoy in front of him erupt into fire as artillery took them out. “It was just a convoy of people. A convoy of the best men ever. And in front of our eyes, this convoy was destroyed by artillery. People of my age, between 20 and 30.”
“This was the road of death,” he said, “the very last one out of Avdiivka.”
And
Shved, a marksman, was constantly moving between positions in Avdiivka, shooting so many Russian troops he said he “lost count after 10.”
Setting up in abandoned civilian homes, he had to get creative to find firing positions. At one point, he said, he perched on top of a wardrobe to get a better shot. “I learned everything I needed to know about unstable positions in Avdiivka,” he said.
The skill levels of Russian troops were not “really consistent,” he said. There were some with little more than uniforms and basic rifles while others had more advanced equipment. He had several close calls and after three concussions, his commander consulted a medic and suggested it might be time to leave.
By then, he said, it felt like “someone put a pan over my head, hit me with a baseball bat, and then punched and kicked me.”
He agreed to evacuate, but while being driven out with three other wounded men, a drone hit their vehicle, damaging it and giving him his fourth concussion. They all survived.
Now, I'd like to steer you to a piece Gary Kasparov posted on Facebook about the current situation:
Russia is currently deploying six times the number of shells that Ukraine is, helping to propel it to victories like the recent recapturing of the eastern city of Avdiivka. And, shortly after the opening of the conference, attendees received news of the devastating murder of Aleksei Navalny, the most prominent opposition leader remaining in Putin’s Russia. The energetic mood of last year’s conference gave way, this time, to weariness and resignation.To see such a concentration of power, money, and influence in one place, and yet no political will, was truly shocking to me. The subtext of what I heard can be summed up as follows: “We understand that the reason Ukraine is struggling in its fight to maintain its independence is because the West is failing to provide it adequate support. But, we are not willing to undertake any risks, to make any uncomfortable sacrifices, in our effort to help. Ukraine is our dear friend, of course, and our GDP is twenty-five times greater*, but, unfortunately—there isn’t anything else we can do.”Even promises already made are not being kept. Days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to supply $1 billion in arms; two years later, his government is still negotiating with major arms manufacturer Rheinmetall over a multiyear contract that would allow the company to increase its manufacturing capacity.
The vacuum looming in these European deliberations is the lack of resolve on the part of the Untied States. The dynamic does not favor decisive action:
[Nikki Haley] likes to say “the world is on fire,” with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and brewing problems elsewhere. She advocates more military aid for Ukraine and argues against Trump’s “America First” worldview. Her argument, shared by others, is that a retreat by the United States from a leadership role in the world leaves both this country and the world at large less safe in the face of threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
She harks back to a different Republican Party, a party that has been in retreat since Trump first ran for president. She wins votes — 20 percent or 30 percent or even 40 percent in states where she has competed — but she is not winning the argument.
If the next round of primaries goes as expected, with Trump triumphant, Haley will face more calls to withdraw. She has been defiant in resisting those calls to date, marching to the beat of her own drum. But to what end? For there is little to suggest that she can now or in the near future arrest the inward turn within her party.
And, while much can transpire over the next several months, the current dynamic between the parties suggests that this inward turn has the momentum.
Encouraging developments are hard to come by, but this one is worth noting:
A pro-Ukraine House Republican is preparing an effort to go around House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to get aid to Ukraine passed.
Why it matters: It's a rare break with House GOP leadership, which has resisted holding a Ukraine aid vote due to strong opposition from the right.
- "We have to get something done," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, who is leading the push.
- "It's existential, it's time sensitive. Whether that's our product or somebody else's, we've just got to get the money out the door to them," he said.
What's happening: Fitzpatrick told reporters he is preparing what is known as a discharge petition, which can force a House vote if it gets 218 signatures.
- Such a petition would therefore require support from a handful of Republicans, assuming it gets signatures from most House Democrats.
- The maneuver also requires a certain amount of time – 30 days in which the House is in session – before it can be forced to the floor.
What he's saying: Fitzpatrick said the petition will be ready for signatures by early March and signaled he expects it to garner some Republican signatures.
- Asked about the depth of Republican support, he told reporters, "more than you think ... a lot of people who know it's the right thing to do."
- One House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Axios they will sign on "if [there's] no other progress."
- But Fitzpatrick also stressed that the discharge petition mainly serves to "apply a pressure point to get something done soon."
Fitzpatrick is doing his career no favors, but he understands that that's not the important thing here.
And Argentinian president Javier Milei continues to confound preconceived notions. He's initiating a rallying of the global south of a sort we ought to applaud:
Argentina's President Javier Milei has announced his intention to convene a summit aimed at bolstering Latin American support for Ukraine, as revealed in a Financial Times interview on Feb. 28.
This move marks a clear divergence from the more neutral stances of other regional leaders like Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
So there are developments that, with encouragement, could reverse what looks increasingly inevitable. But it's going to require vigor and courage.
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