"In Russia, the state is the power; in Ukraine the people are the power"
Plus: Victoria Nuland, Donald Trump, and Russell Brand
“We are ready. We don’t know what we are ready for but we are ready.”
“We all feel anxious but we know why we are here. Liberty.”
“Joe Biden—his visit, it’s a point of no return. After 20 hours on a Ukrainian train coming to Kyiv in the war, he will stand with us, the west will stand with us.
—people in Kharkiv tonight, 22 February, expecting Russia to do something wicked soon
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Joe Lindsley reporting from KHARKIV, UKRAINE, with a team from throughout the country …
Brave Kharkiv Kids Laugh in the Face of Russian Missiles
by Joe Lindsley
As I left my usual coffeeshop in central Kharkiv today in bright 20 degree weather, I heard that awful thud—the Russians were firing missiles again. Today was at least four, with minor injuries, hitting infrastructure. A friend was walking his dog in the park, quite close to the scene. I saw a video recorded by kids when one of the missiles hit. “There’ll be another in a few seconds.” And there it was, sure enough.
And then another kid said, in Ukrainian, but using a Russian swear word because Ukraine doesn’t have proper swear words, “We don’t give sh*t.” And in the face of that evil the kids laughed.
It’s not easy, it's terrible, but it’s that fierce spirit, the laughter of kids in the face of S-300 missiles, that can beat evil—that can put the putin-devil back in the lowest, iciest pit of hell, where, as Dante wrote, he can’t even cry because his sick sad tears are frozen.
And yea they should be in shelter or far away from this. But can you live in a shelter all day every day? This is what Russia hopes: to wear down free people. But President Joe Biden's extraordinary visit to Kyiv this week made it clear: after a year of Russia's war, support for free Ukraine, support for freedom everywhere from brutal tyranny, is stronger than ever, and getting stronger. And maybe even those who live in quieter tyrannies, will take courage from the laughter of these Kharkiv kids.
Russia’s attacks on Kharkiv this morning underscore a key point: As long as Washington and the West won’t allow Ukraine to use weapons to fight back on Russian territory, places like Kharkiv so close, 30 miles, to the Russian border, are sitting ducks.
Nevertheless, many here in Ukraine believe that Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv signals a sea-change: that the support for Ukraine will soon become more profound. Meanwhile, with the anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion just two days away, the feeling is anxious here—anxious but, after a year of war, and after that fresh visit from Biden, spirited.
FROM THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Ukraine war will be a long haul: Joseph Lindsley’s reports on WGN radio help Chicagoans empathize with protracted, far-off conflict.
From the first hours of Russia’s invasion, the entire war has been a time of people around the world, including many who have never met, collaborating. I’m grateful that today the Chicago Sun-Times honored the work of Bob Sirott’s WGN Radio team, with whom I have spoken each weekday of Russia’s big war on Ukraine:
Here’s an excerpt from Neil Steinberg’s column:
'Lindsley has provided something rare in our world of corporate, automated radio: regular, real humanity.'“Joe’s reports go beyond the numbers of casualties and the structures that are bombed so we hear the emotions of the people who are there and what daily life is like,” said Sirott.
'Last week Lindsley was checking in from Kharkiv after a night of cruise missile attacks. Sirott said listeners are concerned that Lindsley is being worn down.
'“I’ve noticed it a little bit in your voice,” Sirott said. “How are you feeling?”
“The weight is heavy,” Lindsley replied ...
...
'This is still WGN radio, and as someone who remembers Wally Phillips and Bob Collins, I admire how the station’s traditional pie-cooling-on-a-sill neighborliness is wedded to international crisis. Sirott was giving away Ukrainian flags, and listeners then started sending in photos of those flags on display, prompting Sirott to name-check them on on air, completing the circuit — hey to Beverly in St. John, Indiana, and Marie, who draped hers on her deck, and Debbie from Malden, an hour north of Peoria ...
"Journalism requires radical empathy,” [says Lindsley”
‘So does being an American citizen. As a supposed democracy, we have common cause, in theory, with other democracies. We know if we don’t defend the freedom of others, we risk losing our own.”
You can read Neil Steinberg’s story here.
Putin, Demons, Victoria Nuland, Donald Trump, etc.: Here’s a view of what’s going on, as Russian missiles fall upon Kharkiv
Kharkiv, 13:00, Wednesday 22 February—I write as Russian missiles rain down upon this Russian-speaking and fiercely free Ukrainian city. I hadn't heard that awful thud in almost a week.
Putin, in his long state of nation speech yesterday, tried to make himself sound like the victim, like he’s the guy being attacked by Nato, etc.
Putin’s reason for invading Ukraine has nothing to do with Nato. Nato exists because the world has Russia, a country that unable to build a good healthy society can only exist by destroying others. This is what gives Putin purpose. This is the mentality that Dostoevsky chronicled in his book Demons in the 19th century: an isolated, sick, dilapidated society that can only destroy.
Putin is coming after Ukraine because nine years ago this week, the Ukrainian people stood in the streets, refusing to leave, until the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, voted out the corrupt pro-Putin puppet regime. When the abusive regime realized the people would not be neither slave or victim, that regime fled home to Moscow.
Suddenly Putin could not control Ukraine. No one could. The United States tried. You can hear it in that famous leaked recording of Victoria Nuland: Contrary to what Donald Trump and Russell Brand and Tucker Carlson say, she, a single United States diplomat, wasn’t planning the Revolution of Dignity. No bureaucrat, American or otherwise, could plan such a society-wide transformation, when Ukrainians reclaimed their language, culture, heritage that soviet and imperial Moscow had so long tried to destroy.
Yes, Nuland was trying to manage the fallout, you know, to make sure Ukraine didn't choose someone too radical, like, say, an actor as prime minister.
But there is no "Kyiv regime,” and the Ukrainian people refused to be managed. As my friend Yevhen Filyak said not long ago, echoing most everyone I know here, “In Russia, the country is the power, here the people are.”
That’s why in 2019 the Ukrainians elected an actor. They don’t want tyrants and oligarchs controlling their lives. But for the Russian mindset, tyranny, l'etat, c'est (ras)Putin, is the only option.
And we saw that ideology on full display in Putin's speech, especially in this telling, chilling line: Sounding quite like Hitler, he said that “the single higher right [is] the right of russia to be strong.”
That’s it. The highest thing is for Russia to be strong. Imagine, you get one shot on life on the amazing planet earth, but you are born in Russia where that whole life has to be devoted not to your own pursuit of happiness but to the state of Putin or whichever Smeagol or Winnie the Pooh (ahem, Beijing) is currently in charge.
Ukrainians, and free people everywhere, hate and resist that idea—and many are willing to give everything in order to resist that evil view of human life on earth.
In response to Putin’s speech yestreday, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said Russia "has summoned the worst demons of 20th century imperialism, colonialism and nationalism.”
I just watched a video of one of the Russian strikes on Kharkiv, filmed by some kids. You can see it below. As the strikes are on-going, the kids laugh, and one of them says, “we don’t give a shit” and they keep walking outside.
It’s not easy but it’s that fierce spirit, the laughter of kids in the face of S-300 missiles, that can beat evil—that can put the devil back in the lowest, iciest pit of hell, where, as Dante wrote, he can’t even cry because his sick sad tears are frozen.
But to reach that point, tools are needed: As long as Ukraine doesn't have long-range weapons, how will they stop Russians from hitting cities like Kharkiv, so close to the border?
Yesterday we shared a photo of President Biden on a Ukrainian train. Here’s a better and more meaningful one, one which has been very popular among Ukrainians today, for reasons I explain below:
Here's a photo of President Biden on the train from Poland to Kyiv, Ukraine. It's remarkable for many reasons: When has the U.S. president traveled in vehicles that are not his own? Besides the Queen's Land Rover, probably never. But he took a train, the safest way to war-time Kyiv, for 20 hours round trip! That does say something.
And note the icon of the Virgin Mary, above the doorway, in this special Ukrainian train Biden took. Ukrainian is civilization and culture. Russia, despite all the blah-blah of Putin's speech today, is a manaical sick society hellbent on destruction.
I've long appreciated the Ukrainian trains, whether traveling through the gentle Carpathian mountains or the wild steppes. You can economically book a private first class room--and enjoy a journey through Europe's largest country. In war-time there's tape on the windows to reduce shatter in case of missile.
here's my perspective about Biden's visit to Ukraine from the Spectator: https://thespectator.com/.../will-bidens-ukraine-visit.../ .
War Verifies: Which Side Are You On?
An American, a Pole, and a Ukrainian Talk About the Fight for Freedom
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ABOUT US: Ukrainian Freedom News: The wild story—so far—of free people standing for democracy, faith, dignity
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American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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