“The choice we face is simple,  We continue fighting and lose the best of the best or we let them turn this country into Bucha,  Now is not the time for mourning,” he said. “It’s a time for hate.”

—Yevhen Mahda, a Ukrainian political scientist

Bucha is the suburb of Kyiv where last spring, Russian troops killed hundreds of civilians in cruel, barbaric ways.

Published in the New York Times on Feb 20th a piece written by Pulitzer prize writer Jeffrey Gettleman moved me.  Gettleman tells the story of Taras and Ohla Melster a married couple aged 31 who died side by side in a muddy trench surrounded by a pine forest.  They were married six and a half years ago.

Here is a sample of Gettleman’s vivid rendering of the story:  (Vitalii Bilous is a friend of Taras who signed up with him)

None of the other soldiers, including the commander, thought it was a great idea for Taras and Olha to be together but they all said they didn’t have the heart to separate them.

Mr. Bilous said: “When I asked Taras about this once, he said: ‘Vitalii, don’t bring it up again. We’ve made our decision. I’d be worried about her if I wasn’t with her. And she’d be worried about me.’”

In quiet moments, the two lay together in the pine trees. They weren’t overwhelmingly affectionate in public, soldiers said. Maybe they’d kiss on the cheek.

On June 21, the first day of summer, a clear blue sky stretched over Sievierodonetsk. Olha arrived at 10 a.m. and joined Taras and Mr. Bilous in the trench. The Russians fired a few shells as they always did. Everyone took cover.

But the shelling intensified. Trees around them were blasted apart, Mr. Bilous said. The smell of smoke and split pine filled the forest.

Mr. Bilous doesn’t remember exactly what happened next.

He said he heard a deafening explosion and felt the earth rising up around him. He felt weightless. He felt blood sticking to his face. He didn’t know if it was his.

Something was lying on top of him in the trench. He groped through the dirt. He found the bodies of Taras and Olha next to each other, ripped apart. Then he passed out.

The complete New York Times story can be found below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/world/asia/ukraine-russia-war-death.htm

---

On Monday President Biden made a “surprise” visit to Kyiv.  Was the visit mainly a photo op exercise?  Words of support are important, and many displays of support have come from our politicians and nearly every NATO country.  Weapons are more important than words in war.  War is a zero sum event, one side wins and lives, and the other loses, when enough of its people have died.  Russian cities must be struck, devastated it seems to me, without reticence on account of civilian casualties.  The alternative will be the meat grinder of attrition which Ukraine is bound to lose.  Why has not our President acceded to Ukraine’s request for long range missiles, for fighter jets?   For what reason has the response been: No?