Native Cpeaker

Highway of Death and a cockfight

William L Brown — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:14:57 GMT

Happy Independence Day to Ukraine!

Catching you up on my news-art illustrations. I have been drawing as usual the past few weeks but my main writing focus was the recent article Socialism = Fascism. I don’t know whether to be sad or glad that it didn’t get much reader response. I’d like to think that’s because it was so persuasive, but I doubt it.

Ukraine’s strategy this summer has been to use long-range drones and missiles to cut off Russian resupply routes to occupied Crimea and to cripple Russia’s economy and weapon-production.

The one road from Russia to Crimea is so well covered by Ukraine’s killer and observer drones that is is called The Highway of Death. Approaches across the Azov and Black Seas are also deadly due to Ukrainian marine and aerial drones.

Increasingly long-range Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil-refineries, weapon-production and launching sites, and the supply-chain hub Wildberries warehouses have not only cut Russian profits on oil sales, but caused gasoline shortages, and forced them to import oil. The situation is so alarming to Russian citizens that dictator Putin was forced to mention the Wildberries attacks in a public speech.

The Russian summer offensive has likewise focused on Ukraine’s economy. Russia has attacked and threatened steel and grain shipments from the port of Odesa. Ukraine responded by sending shipments overland to ports in neighboring Moldova. Last week, Russia bombed the border crossing site. Ukraine is a major mining and steel-processing center and is well known as the agricultural “bread-basket” for Europe and the global south. This could result in global food shortages and high prices in regions that can ill afford them.

Russia continues to escalate attacks on Ukraine military, civilian and infrastructure targets using drones, glide bombs and missiles of various kinds including cruise, ballistic and hypersonic. Some of these are hard to intercept.

Ukraine asked it’s western allies to help them by closing the sky to Russian attacks in 2022, but the US and western powers rejected it as too provocative.

It was left to Ukraine to protect it’s own skies, and it did a good job with the weapons it was provided – until it began to run out of US-produced Patriot missiles.

Twenty-two ballistic missiles hit Kyiv last night within a five minute span. Ukraine is out of Patriot missile interceptors. It used about 600 in the first three years of the war. The US and our allies in the Gulf used 943 in the first three days of the February 28 attack on Iran.
Ukraine has developed the technology and the tactics to deal with drone and missile swarms. They US and our allies in the Gulf have not and have made poor use of Patriots, which are expensive and take two years to manufacture.

The quote is from Steven Moore’s publication Tales from WWIII, August 19.

As reported in a Kyiv Independent article by Yulia Taradiuk, Russia killed and injured more Ukrainian civilians this July since March 2022. Figures were compiled by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

At least 437 civilians in Ukraine were killed and 2,610 injured in July alone, the monitoring group said on Aug. 13. This represents a 30% increase from June, which previously held the record for the deadliest month since April 2022.

Just yesterday, five died and 44 were injured. Last week at attack on Kyiv killed 17, wounding dozens more. A children’s hospital was damaged.

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Two days ago a “double-tap” attack using jet-powered drones hit a shopping center in the city of Kryvyi Rihi, killing 16 people and injuring 130 others, including 23 children. A “double-tap” strike is two strikes on one target, the second strike timed to hit soon after emergency response workers have had arrived on the scene. This is a common Russian tactic.

Writer 5_minutes_with reported in her Substack journal about the fear and rumors this attack on an ordinary shopping area causes.

The terror does work. Two days ago russians hit the shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih. Some bodies cannot be recovered because they evaporate in explosion. There were two rockets. The second one was aiming at the rescue effort. Today in the morning I realised that I am scared to go to the mall near my place. The rumors are that they all are planned to be attacked. I am afraid to be evaporated by some russians. Terror works. But I am determined to defeat russians. Not to live under the threat again. I know I cannot defeat them all by myself. I am not crazy. But I am willing to contribute as much as I can.

Domestically, Ukrainian politics are bubbling like a boiling kettle. President Zelensky dismissed the popular young Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov, who had been in the position only about six months. Inter-cabinet squabbles became public. Fedorov had been clashing with Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Zelensky sided with the Commander-in-Chief.

The public sided with Fedorov, reviving the Cardboard Revolution, so named for the protest signs written on plain cardboard, carried by mostly young civilians. The first Cardboard Revolution came earlier this year when Zelensky tried to place Ukraine’s two anti-corruption investigation agencies under presidential control. The agencies are independent to keep them free of political influence. This time the protests called on the president to reinstate Fedorov and oust Syrskyi.

Zelensky, pushed by public opinion, replaced Syrskyi, but did not bring back Fedorov. Late last week, however, Fedorov called for presidential elections, a bold challenge. Too bold for most of the public. There are several good reasons not to hold elections during wartime. Top of the list are: it’s against the law, the legitimacy of such a vote could be legitimately challenged, and it’s not safe.

The cardboard protest leaders called off the protests.

Readers, I hope you can enjoy the dog-days of August despite the record-breaking summer temperatures and droughts.

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Socialism = Fascism

William L Brown — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:13:15 GMT

This is Captive Nations Week, as first decreed in 1959.

The Captive Nations display was a road-side feature on Route 4 in Epsom, NH. It was built around 1959-60, as the McCarthy era, a period of rigid conformity and right-wing paranoia, gave way to the Kennedy era, a period of relative modernity and liberalism.

The Captive Nations display was homemade, hokey and a metaphorical mishmash: captivity, graves and the Trojan Horse. Small crosses, each named for a nation under socialist domination, were laid out next to a twelve-foot tall Trojan horse on wooden wheels. A placard on the horse read “Get the US out of the UN.”

The mock graveyard and horse, located on the grounds of the Sherwood Inn, a hotel associated with the reactionary John Birch Society, was not so much a memorial to people suffering under socialist dictatorship, it was a prop for the anti-UN message.

This sort of right-wing fear-mongering about socialism is why we don’t have decent health care in the US.

They redefine as “socialism” everything they don’t like: taxes, public parks, libraries, schools, aid to the poor and disadvantaged, public transportation and universal health care. None of these are socialism.

Socialism is a 19th-century political-economic ideology that proposes solving all problems through government control of the economy. It was invented by males, so of course, it fails to take into account human nature and other realities.

Social programs and mutual aid have been feature of human culture since before we climbed out of the trees. We’re social animals, that doesn’t make us socialists.

Young people may be more receptive to the word socialism, but that’s only because right-wingers constantly use that word to smear policies that have nothing to do with real socialism — i.e., government ownership of the means of production.

The quote, and the following one is from Paul Krugman’s essay “There Are Very Few Socialists in America.”

Paul Krugman

There Are Very Few Socialists in America

He was trying to stop Medicare…

2 months ago · 3694 likes · 986 comments · Paul Krugman

Why, then, does it look as if socialism is on the rise? Mainly because right-wing propagandists continually smear social democratic policies as socialist, trying to make popular, mainstream policy ideas sound extreme. And some Americans who are basically social democrats in effect respond by saying, “Well, if that’s socialism, I guess I’m OK with socialism.”

That’s the effect fear-mongering, such as the Captive Nations/Trojan Horse display, had on my youthful self. It was a cringe-worthy disservice to the actual captive nations. My response, similar to the one Krugman voices, was “Well, are they really ‘captive,’ or is that BS too? The Cubans say they are liberated.”

Judging by the popularity of Che Guevara’s likeness in the 60s and 70s, I was not the only doubter pushed to the other extreme.

As a result of the right’s ham-fisted propaganda, many on the left dismissed the experience of billions of other people who suffered under socialism, millions of whom were killed by it. Instead, left-leaning westerners focused mainly on their own country’s shortcomings.

Westerners found fault with capitalism, its enablers: imperialism and colonialism, its foundations: racism and sexism, and its monsters-under-the-bed nationalism and fascism. Oblivious to the same or worse flaws in the socialist reality playing out in other countries, they prescribed socialism as the remedy.

Anastasia Lebedenko, a Ukrainian whose parents and grandparents endured Soviet rule writes about encounters with Europeans.

During the discussion with the group of young people, I mention the horrific impact USSR and its communist regime had on my country, Ukraine. Someone in the group rushes to interrupt me: “Oh, yeah, but that wasn’t really communism.”

A Personal War

"But that was not real communism/socialism”. Oh, really?

Frame 1…

5 months ago · 51 likes · 14 comments

Anastasia quotes Lea Ypi, an Albanian author who grew up in Soviet times and came of age as the Soviet Union collapsed. She studied in Italy, where other students would get immediately triggered when she talked about life under socialism: “What you had was not really socialism.”

Ypi writes about such conversations in her memoir, Free: Coming of Age at the End of History (recommended!)

The Soviet Union, China, the German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, Cuba—there was nothing Socialist about them either. They were seen as the deserving losers of a historical battle that the real, authentic bearers of that title had yet to join... My friends’ socialism was clear, bright, and in the future. Mine was messy, bloody, and of the past… To my surprise, they treated this as an unfortunate coincidence.

Anastasia Lebedenko comments in her essay.

If capitalism is the ultimate villain, then there’s no the need to analyze the potential shortcomings of the opposite end of economic order.

Socialism, i.e. countries with a socialist ruling party, or socialist constitution, or with the word “socialist” in the name – killed millions, and forced billions more to live under dictatorship. Death estimates vary, 100 or 50 million: civilians, prisoners of war, dissidents, followers of other ideologies, followers of regime ideology who were too popular, religionists, nationalists and artists.

Nazism killed six to seven million in the Holocaust, and possibly that many civilians and prisoners of war. It’s a smaller number, but Hitler only had a dozen years, the Soviets had seventy. China is still going.

For all of their fears about the west slipping into fascism, the left has a strange disassociation with socialism.

Democrats Consider Socialism, ©2017-2026 William L. Brown. “Does this make me look too tyrannical?”

Would you vote for a democratic fascist? Could you even stomach their presence? Would you listen if they assured you that those notoriously evil fascist countries were not really fascist. And if you’d studied fascism instead of only listening to propaganda, you’d know that fascism is a legitimate economic program that has never been properly implemented?

“Democratic socialism” is exactly the same. Progressives and social Democrats should stop using the term, not only because it demonstrates insensitivity to those who suffered under socialism, but because it makes them look, at best, naive, and at worst, dangerous.

Outside the small progressive bubble, most American voters understand the truth about socialism. Certainly all the Americans with roots in countries that suffered under it, and those who are too smart of be swayed by ideology, even if, like me, it takes a few years.

Just because the truth about socialism came from the right-wing, who framed it to suit their purposes, doesn’t make it untrue.

It’s a free country. Anyone can call themselves a socialist if they want. I hope those that do come to understand it makes them look foolish and arrogant. I urge them to talk to people who lived under socialism, or seek out their accounts.

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Cardboard Heart

William L Brown — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:11:25 GMT

News of Ukraine’s cabinet shuffle started with a report that Ukraine’s ambassador to the US was stepping down for personal reasons. According to a government insider, Ambassador Olha Stefanishyna is under investigation for illegal income in a transaction involving an apartment or car.

At the same time came news of the prime minister’s resignation, which in effect dissolved the cabinet. One of them, presumably the prime minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, was to be named ambassador to the US. Spotless, competent diplomatic relations are vital to Ukraine, but dissolving the cabinet to get the best candidate seemed a bit drastic.

A cabinet-shuffle was due to happen in the fall, anyway, said journalists who follow Ukraine’s government.

But surely, said commentators and the public, the cabinet reshuffle would not include Fedorov, the popular young Minister of Defense, only six months into the position, but responsible for many exciting reforms and new approaches that seemed to be at least partially responsible for Ukraine’s advances in the war?

Yes, it did, After wavering a couple of days, on July 15 Zelensky indicated Mykhailo Fedorov would go.

Rumors and reports flew. It’s hard to trust any of them. Little is on the record about interagency disputes, and inside sources have their own interests and biases. Federov was treading on toes, some say, cancelling overly-favorable contracts with defense manufacturers who happen to have ministry friends. Others say Fedeoov was big on innovation, small on the basics–like providing ammunition to the troops.

Fedorov went on the record July 16 criticizing 60-year old Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

But we found ourselves in a situation where every initiative we put forward began to be blocked. Syrskyi is not willing to discuss problems face-to-face. He is willing to attend meetings in person, to engage in intrigues and to assume that someone ordered a media campaign against him, rather than acknowledge that the problem lies in what is actually happening. This ultimately led to a situation in which, in effect, he issued an ultimatum.
Instead of figuring out how to defeat Russia asymmetrically, he figured out how to split the country.

Zelensky spoke up on this rift between Fedorov and Syrskyi, saying he tried to get them to work together.

And when we talk about issues relating to the battlefield, military operations, the situation in the brigades, military enlistment offices and forced mobilisation practices, all of which exist, we have to acknowledge what we are doing right, and what is wrong and a disgrace. These problems need to be solved. I am not saying which of the two sides should solve them. I believe they should do it together.

Many people are dismayed by Fedorov’s dismissal and the cabinet reshuffling. For two days large crowds have protested in Kyiv and other cities. They carry cardboard signs, reminiscent of last July’s Cardboard Revolution, a youth-led protest movement that succeeded in reversing Zelensky’s decision to seize control of Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigation agencies*.

These protests show Ukraine’s soul. The people are determined to live free in an uncorrupt country. They’ve been protesting shady presidents since the country gained independence. The protests have turned into revolutions more than once: the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity in 2014.

The prevalence of young people in these protests is significant. Since before the Soviet Union collapsed Ukrainians wanted the advantages of a western-style economy and political system. That goal has been just out of reach for thirty years, largely due to Russia trying to stop them by every means including war.

Steering their country to the west is desperately important to their immediate futures. They want to be free, and to have a good jobs, decent products, consumer protections, safe infrastructure, good schools and medical care.

Fedorov gets credit for successes in the Crimea campaign. Arial and naval drone have made resupply to the peninsula, occupied by Russia since 2014, very difficult. That, and increasing numbers of attacks on Russia’s oil refineries, have created gas and electricity shortages.

Cardboard is not just for protest signs, Low-cost cardboard drones were developed in Australia, sent to Ukraine in 2023 and are now used routinely in the war effort.

5_minutes_with

Though the media focus has been on the government drama and on Ukraine’s sucesses in Crimea and Russia, Russia continues to inch forward in Donetsk, trying to occupy that oblast to the administrative borders, which it has already claimed as its own, but has failed to occupy.

I recommend following 5_minutes_with, who writes from the city of Dnipro, and sees steady, worrisome encroachment in that direction.

5_minutes_with

Dnipro war vlog. July 12 update

Hello, my dear…

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2 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · 5_minutes_with

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*Independent anti-corruption investigation agencies – imagine that!

Enough of war

William L Brown — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:52:15 GMT

Peace Talks Proposed. ©2026 William L. Brown

The legendary letter to the sultan, memorialized in a brilliant Repin painting, is a hard act to follow, but President Zelensky comes close. The seventeenth century correspondence from a Kozak military leader to an Ottoman sultan who ordered the Kozaks to surrender, but instead got course taunts and challenges, is part of Ukraine’s origin story.

Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, by Ukrainian-born Russian artist Ilya Repin. It hangs in the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, where I had the pleasure of studying it in person in 1980. It’s a kitsch masterwork.

Today, we have a letter from President Zelensky to Putin, who calls himself the president of Russia, but it is a meaningless title. He’s a dictator.

He convened a meeting of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum—SPIEF this morning in St Petersburg, Russia. The forum is characterized as the Russia’s Davos Forum.. Attendees were greeted by the sight of Ukrainian drones striking an oil terminal and naval base,, and the smoke of it’s burning. Zelensky refers to this in the letter. The timing and target of the attack were not coincidental.

A delegation of Americans is there. They claim to be unofficial, though one of them is a Trump appointee, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the US Commission of Fine Arts, overseer of the controversial White House ballroom project. With him is right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, and Pro-Russian American actor Steven Seagal.

Candace Owens is scheduled to be on a “family values” panel with British-American social media influencers Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan.

At the event a Russian trade official announced that a deal was struck to build a tunnel from Alaska to Russia.

With no further remarks, other than “glory to the heroes,” here is the entirety of President Zelensky’s letter.

4 June 2026 - 21:20

Open Letter

To the President of the Russian Federation

From the President of Ukraine

When you came to power in Russia more than 26 years ago, many people in Ukraine viewed you positively. That is how it was. But that is now in the past.

Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers. As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.

For 26 years, your time in power has completely changed the agenda of relations between Ukraine and Russia. From discussions about trade and other civilian matters, our nations have moved to talking almost exclusively about strikes and losses.

You have spent nearly half of your 26 years in power in Russia waging war against Ukraine.

Whatever you may say about NATO, geopolitics, or the Russian language, this war is your personal choice — a war without a real cause. That is how history will remember it.

Those years could have been very different.

We often hear that you are comfortable with this war. Of course, not in those cases when it comes to the security of your residence in Valdai or your parade in Moscow. Your own life is valuable to you.

But now we can all see that Russians are finally becoming less comfortable with this reality — with the fact that the war is bringing more and more negative consequences to Russia.

They do not like our drones and missiles.

They do not like gasoline shortages and constantly rising prices.

They do not like constant restrictions.

They do not like your intention to launch a second wave of mobilization in order to expand the war into another direction in Ukraine or to use it against other countries neighboring Russia.

They do not like the fact that there is no end in sight to your war.

Yes, you can still force Russians to exist this way. But your resources are shrinking significantly.

You will not have enough money or political capital to keep buying the loyalty of Russians the way you have for the past 26 years.

And we will do everything we can to ensure that the world helps bring that moment closer.

As you yourself like to say, “we need to run the numbers.”

Yesterday, I received a report on the losses of your army on the front in Ukraine during May. Once again, the number exceeded 30,000 Russian soldiers killed and seriously wounded. We have been maintaining that level month after month, and we have video confirmation of every one of your losses — these are not empty claims.

We know that 63 percent of your battlefield losses are killed, while only 37 percent are wounded. In the 21st century, no army can afford such a ratio. And the share of those killed will continue to grow.

It is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.

But I do care about Ukrainians.

We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us. Even when the ratio of Ukrainian losses to Russian losses is one to five or one to six, it still matters greatly.

It also matters that you regularly postpone, every few months, your own deadlines for capturing our regions — especially the Donetsk region. And you will not capture it this year either.

But we in Ukraine do not want a permanent war. We know very well that life without war is infinitely better. And we want to achieve that.

I am convinced that the majority of Russians would respond positively to this as well — and you know it.

Many did not believe that Ukraine would be able to hold out for so long. You did not believe it. And those who advised you did not believe it either. That was a mistake.

You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine, and you did not foresee that things would go this far. Yet here we all are — in the fifth year of this full-scale war.

Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now.

Ukraine has preserved its independence. And it will preserve it. Despite all predictions to the contrary.

We have united many around the world to stand with Ukraine and against you. We found the weapons and the financing we needed.

We receive support. You receive sanctions. And this will continue until there is justice for Ukraine — the justice we seek and the justice that can be achieved.

We will not allow those who are trying to convince you that sanctions against Russia will be significantly eased, and that support for Ukraine will be significantly reduced, without any meaningful change in your position toward Ukraine, to succeed. The example of Orban shows how those who choose to help Russia in its war against us end in disgrace.

Ukraine has endured harsh winters while you tried to destroy our energy system. We held firm — and even in darkness, the resilience of Ukrainians remained intact.

We brought the war onto your territory, and you would not have been able to cope with it without North Korea’s help. You are the first ruler of Russia to turn to Pyongyang for assistance.

And today you are fully dependent on China — also for the first time in Russia’s history.

You believed Ukrainians would not have the strength to defend themselves. Yet today, our people are helping our partners in the Middle East and the Gulf build their own defenses.

You hoped for internal unrest in Ukraine. Instead, it was your own military formations that staged a mutiny against you. June 23 will mark another anniversary of that event, and silence will not erase this fact from history.

And now it is you whom your own officials, businessmen, and propagandists look at with obvious fatigue. The world can see it.

The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia — even among those in the wider world who help you bypass sanctions and keep your economy afloat.

You cannot fail to notice it. After 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll. And with time, the fatigue with you will only grow.

We have seen intelligence reports showing that you are now considering plans to continue the war into 2027 and 2028. We also know that you hope ballistic missiles will achieve for you what everything else has failed to achieve. You want to draw Belarus even deeper into this war, and we are now forced to prepare for that as well. We see that you are trying to orchestrate something around Transnistria. Your propagandists threaten, in one way or another, every country neighboring Russia. Do you really want to go through all of this?

The choice is yours now.

Enough of war.

Ukraine proposes to end this war.

This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited.

We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.

Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you.

I am proposing a meeting.

Everyone heard your representatives, smiling, say that I could supposedly come to Moscow. But after these 26 years, there is nothing for a Ukrainian leader to do in your capital — just as there is nothing for a Russian leader to do in Kyiv.

There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting.

It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be.

I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting.

We have heard that you were promised in Alaska the resolution of certain issues concerning Ukraine and Europe. But you can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage.

Other agreed participants could join the bilateral track to be established between us.

Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors.

We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation.

We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world.

We’ve already experienced many agreements with Russia, including the Minsk agreements, that ultimately failed. That is why we must first find direct answers between us to the questions that remain, and not hide from difficult issues behind formulas, technical working groups, or endless time lost in shuttle diplomacy.

Your war has permanently set Ukraine and Russia apart.

The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin.

Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want.

You know that the United States has the capability to monitor a ceasefire along the line where hostilities stop.

Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war.

Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war.

We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us.

If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us.

But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes.

We can work toward that fatigue.

You can stop your war.

Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by this war.

Glory to Ukraine!

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Bombing the Heart

William L Brown — Sat, 30 May 2026 22:10:21 GMT

Last week’s missile and drone attack on Kyiv, was upsetting. Russian missiles and drones hit historical and culturally beloved areas May 24, one of them my old neighborhood

It’s embarrassing that it affects me more than the May 14 attack in which 24 people died. In that barrage a missile collapsed a multi-story apartment house. The dead include three children. At least 48 people were injured. The May 24 casualties were fewer, but in terms of destruction in Kyiv it was the worst of the war so far.

Friend and sister-Substack-writer Larissa Babij had a similar reaction to the May 24 bombardment because of her affection for many of the sites damaged or destroyed. She describes walking to many of the sites the next day in her publication A Kind of Refugee.

a Kind of Refugee

24.05.2026 / Fine

My plan was to write today…

3 months ago · 20 likes · 3 comments · Larissa Babij

The Russians struck my block in Podil, the historic neighborhood I lived in for most of 2020. That was at the start of the COVID pandemic during the most severe travel and social restrictions. So, my recreation, entertainment, and socializing consisted of walking around the neighborhood, admiring the buildings and streetscapes.

I couldn’t have asked for a prettier, more interesting location. The opera theater, official title: Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre for Children and Youth, was two doors down, visible from my balcony. I often heard singers practicing, their voices joining a chorus with the swallows swooping over the opera house dome.. Across the street were buildings of the prestigious Kyiv-Mohyla Academy University: a church built around 1612 and the university library, which also suffered damage May 24.

In this video, you can see the opera house, the library tower is to the right. There are glimpses of the square and even colorful Saint Andrew’s church on top of the distant hill.

The opera and university face Kontraktova Ploscha (Contractors Square), the heart of Podil, Kyiv’s historic district, featuring a metro stop, a trolley-bus hub, scores of cafes, restaurants, coffee-shops, bars, art galleries, museums and ancient churches on, it seems, every corner, street musicians, food stands, A statue of Samson abusing a lion, electric cars driven by children, and a Ferris wheel strategically placed against a backdrop of quaint pastel-painted historical buildings. Every visitor to Kyiv has at least one photo of themself at the Ferris wheel scene.

Streets set diagonally to the city grid tend to be picturesque. There is one of these on the other side of the Opera building just off the square. It features an historic fire station with several bays for fire vehicles — originally horse-drawn. The fire-watch tower stands attentively.

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The fire station now houses the Chornobyl Museum. When I lived a block away, there were Chornobyl emergency vehicles and excursion busses parked outside. It was the excursion bus departure point until the pandemic temporarily closed it down. The museum survived and expanded. The grand opening of the new, improved museum was held on the 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, April 26.

Less than a month later the museum contents were destroyed in the May 24 attack.

Facing the intersection of the diagonal street, and flanking the opera house, there is a fine Art Noveau apartment building, now damaged. This is the site of a new cafe, opened just the previous day. The owner rushed to the site following the attack and found everything damanged except the coffee machine. He started up the machine and through the smashed windows handed out free coffee to the emergency-response people swarming the area. Social media attention drew hundreds of people to queue up for coffee.

The worst damage occurred around the Lukianivska Metro. The long-standing neighborhood marketplace next to the metro entrance was charred to ashes. A more modern shopping mall on the other side is now a burnt, blackened shell.

Ukrainian market-places look much like western markets: fresh vegetables, dairy products, meat, honey and flowers sold by farmers, butchers, bee-keepers and small-time merchants, but unlike the west, the prices are lower than in supermarkets. The same for the adjacent bazaars selling household goods. Malls and supermarkets (except maybe the cut-rate supermarkets like ATB) are more expensive.

Here’s a report on the market venders’ resurgence.

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

Russia can’t bomb this market away

Featured Subscriber Comment…

3 months ago · 143 likes · 12 comments · Anastasiia Lutsenko

Other Kyiv cultural landmarks, such as the National Art Museum, and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine were hit.

National Art Museum, photos taken 2021. The front entrance was not open at the time, so the photo features the side entrance, not the facade.

A particularly poignant and newly-relevant triptych at the National Art Gallery on display in 2021. Love. Family. Return, by Fedir Krychevski, 1925-1927, tempera on canvas.

Of course, it is not just the historic buildings or my memories that I’m worried about, it’s the people there, Larissa and all the other Ukraine-based writers I follow, friends, my students and their families, my colleagues at the agency I work for, and acquaintances such as the family who owns the Airb&b apartment I ended up renting for months due to the pandemic lockdown, the barista around the corner who was working on her linguistics Ph’D, and the friendly guy who sold apples at the market.

I fear for them, for their homes and businesses, and, yes, for the buildings, because those are the community framework. People need community, that’s why they create it. Destroying a community damages the souls of those in it.

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Small Efforts

William L Brown — Tue, 19 May 2026 20:21:15 GMT

A child prepares to affix a small teddy-bear to an installation calling for the return of an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. The installation of 20,000 teddy-bears was constructed on the National Mall in view of the Capitol. A press conference at which Congress-members spoke was held April 23, 2026. Photo: Jonathan Brook.

Defying the President the and Speaker of the House, 218 Congress-members signed a petition forcing a vote on the Ukraine Support Act. The 218th signature, the last one needed, was added by Californian Independent Congressman Kevin Kiley May 13.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, following President Trump’s directives, has delayed voting on pro-Ukrainian bills, referring them to committee or just not scheduling them for a vote. The petition, called a discharge petition, forces a vote.

We did that. If you called or wrote to your Congress=person, or expressed your pro-Ukraine opinion in any way: flying a flag, writing a letter to the editor, posting on social media, talking to your friends and family, it all contributed to convincing Congress-members that supporting Ukraine is important to their constituents.

As I told a Substack author who was feeling like their efforts were having little or no effect, we’re all small drops of water in the wave.

Arount forty Congress-members stepped up to co-sponsor pro-Ukraine legislative bills in the days following a three-day intense lobbying effort last month called the Ukraine Action Summit. I’m pleased to say I was part of it.

We may have helped influence scoring the final discharge petition signatures, too.

All good news. But ….

The bad news is that the vote on that one bill could still be scuttled. Trump might bully Republicans co-signers into voting against it. Also, a House vote is not the final step. It also needs to pass the Senate. So, don’t furl that Ukrainian flag in your window, our work is not done, yet.

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Most of the NH delegation: Curtis Register, a Durham town representative and aid activist (Cars for Ukraine, NH Battalion), three Dartmouth students from Ukraine: Kyrylo Fomin, Marta Hulievska and Sasha God’dina, and myself. We were fortunate to have the three students, who were very sharp on all the important details and could expertly discuss legislative points and strategy with Congressional staffers. All I had to do was smile and nod. Photo by Curtis Register.

Over 700 people attended the Ukraine Action Summit. Every state plus Puerto Rico was represented.

Congressional office buildings are a scene: serious, surreal and sometimes silly. The halls and cafeterias bustle with professional and volunteer lobbyists, office staff, and elected officials en route to pre-arranged half-hour meeting. These meetings happen in whatever space is available. Often it is a room in a Congress-member’s office, but it might be in the reception area, the hallway, or a cafeteria table.

Lobby groups set up office in the cafeterias, conferring over coffee or lunch between meetings. Like our group, they are at the Capitol to see multiple politicians, so they could be there for a whole work-day or more. They bump elbows with advocates of every conceivable cause, some of them directly opposed to each other.

The NH delegation talks to US. Representative Maggie Goodlander (in white jacket) and staff-person Libby (on far left) outside the representative’s office. NH Delegate Leader Marcia Amadon (n blue) stands next to Goodlander, who showed how supportive she was by meeting us in person, and in her subsequent co-sponsorship. Photo by Curtis Register.

Not only do they roam the Congressional office building hallways, they can be observed all over Capitol Hill in hotels, restaurants, meeting and conference spaces, coffee-shops, and bars. They hold press conferences featuring Congress-member speeches with the Capitol in the background. The lobbyist trade, especially the high-end, high-stakes corporate and wealthy interest-group sector, is one reason hotel, restaurant, meeting room and office-space prices are so high in Washington DC, much to the disadvantage of tourists and locals.

Most advocates wear formal business-attire, but some wear ethnic, regional, work or military clothing. Many in our group wore Ukrainian traditional embroidery. Another group all wore cowboy hats. Group identity is shown by matching color-coded lanyards and literature, bags, scarves, patches, buttons and other accessories.

What are they advocating about? I didn’t ask. It’s my sixth Summit. The first time I asked a tired-looking advocate from another group sitting on a bench outside the Cannon office building what she was there for. I got her entire speech. I don’t ask any more.

Advocate activity: a press conference on the Capitol grounds, advocate-group in cowboy hats, lobbyists/advocates in the security-check line to enter the Cannon Congressional Office Building, the pile of plastic bottles discarded by advocates/ lobbyists because they are not allowed to take them into the building. Photos by William L. Brown.

Every advocate in the room has a brain primed and loaded with a brief personal introduction, talking points, intricate details of specific legislative bills, their congress-member’s voting record, and “the ask.” The ask in our case was to co-sponsor three legislative bills.

One is the sanctions bill discussed above. Another comes down on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of cargo vessels used to illegally transport sanctioned goods. The third calls for the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Sometimes it feels like an exercise in futility. All of these bills, with the exception of the sanctions bill, will be held back by House Leader Johnson under Trump’s direction.

But then, actions sometimes pay off - as with the discharge petition. As with Ukraine’s armed forces, all their combined efforts seemed futile against a bigger, solid foe. But, then cracks appear, such as in today’s announced collapse of a Russian line in Zaporizhia Oblast. It’s small, it may be temporary, but the foe is not invincible. Even the smallest effort helps make those cracks.

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It Starts When You're Always Afraid

William L Brown — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:06:39 GMT

Putin is dead. Putin is dying. Putin will be overthrown by Russian elites, or by the mob….any day now. The same rumors for years and years. Add a grain of salt to your daily Russian-news diet.

That said, there are more of these rumors than usual this spring, and some have appeared in legitimate media sources, along with facts that suggest Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is deeply worried about assassination and coups.

He apparently spent most of the last few months living in bunkers. This started around the time the US military snatched Venezuelan President Maduro, and assassinated the Iranian ayatollah and other Iranian government and military officials. It was also around the time Ukrainian drones and missiles started regularly reaching targets deep within Russia with greater accuracy and increasing frequency.

There are also reports of Russians openly complaining about conditions in Russia: rising prices, shortages, social media bans and even internet shutdowns. Similar to the west, internet connectivity is the backbone of Russia’s economy. Also mentioned in these complaints is the war. As the body count rises, more Russians are personally affected. It is no longer just the far provinces taking the brunt of the losses.

Don’t place any bets on Putin’s removal or demise. This could be nothing more than giddy wishful thinking. It’s spring and we all yearn for renewal and a satisfying end to Putin’s twelve-year-long winter.

*Paranoia strikes deep,
Into your life it will creep,
It starts when you’re always afraid,
You step out of line,
the man come and take you away.
Lyrics from Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth.

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That's the Way the Rooskie Crumbles

William L Brown — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:30:04 GMT

Though he keeps waging war on Ukraine, making maximalist demands in peace negotiations and posing as a superpower, Vladimir Putin’s regime is facing serious challenges.

Putin’s pet gadfly Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary lost his re-election bid last week, no longer able to sabotage NATO and the EU from the inside on Putin’s behalf. Putin’s Russia has also lost important income sources, Venezuela and Cuba. Iran, now embroiled in war with the US and Israel, was an important client too.

However, Russia earned billions when US President Trump temporarily waived sanctions against Russia, allowing them to sell oil. The administration also waived an embargo on Russia selling oil to Cuba, a waiver that was renewed April 17.

Fourteen US military deaths have been reported so far in Trump’s war on Iran.

Iran’s Taliban rulers are oppressive and deadly. They massacred protestors, apparently by the thousands. They sadistically repress women, who are not allowed to even show their face or speak in public. Iran’s insistence on developing a nuclear bomb makes it a danger to the region and the world. So, why oppose a war against this regime that would remove the threat to the world and possibly free the Iranian people?

It’s not the “why,” it’s the “how.”

One of the reasons to Ukraine is that the Ukrainians do the right thing. They follow the Geneva Conventions, the rules of engagement, and international law. Unlike the Russian invaders, they don’t torture, starve, or kill their prisoners of war, they don’t bomb civilian targets, and they avoid civilian casualties. That’s their policy and for the most part they have held to it. The Russians do the opposite, that’s their policy and their strategy to win: terrorize, rape, murder, torture, bomb civilian infrastructure and homes. Easy to pick a side!

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Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s preferred policy is “No stupid rules of engagement.” President Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure, a war crime. He threatened to end their civilization, which would also be a war crime. Their Israeli allies routinely bomb civilian infrastructure and residences, under the suspicious excuse that it’s impossible to attack an enemy in the midst of civilians without collateral damage. Suspicious because “second-world” Ukraine manages to do this daily using their own drone technology, and outdated “first-world” weapons supplied by allies.

The UK government denounced Russian “nefarious activity” around underwater fiber-optic cables.

On land, Russia is bedeviled by Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, which are increasing in frequency and distance. The Ukrainians are methodically weakening Russian air-defenses around military targets, then striking those targets. The targets include drone and other weapons manufacturing or storage facilities, oil processing plants (source of funding for the war),

Russia was steadily increasing the number of drones launched at Ukraine per week, up to 2000 droves a week nine months ago, 90% of which were intercepted. It was feared that if the rate continued to increase, that percentage would drop significantly. However, the rate has remained steady and the number of drones has decreased. Speculation is that this is due to destruction of drones on the ground. Russia has released no nformation what would confirm this, of course.

In contrast, the Russian rate of air-defense interception in a recent attack was 27%, as calculated by the hosts of the Ukraine: the Latest podcast.

Mentioning Ukrainian President Zelensky’s name sends Trump into a fury. Trump went into such a fury when Zelensky offered to provide drone interceptors to Middle East allies. The US failed to anticipate Iranian drone attacks when they bombed Iran.

Yes, the red spot is pre-Imperial Russia in the fifteenth century, before it began it’s territorial conquests and colonization across Europe and Asia. It spans eleven time zones and contains 190 subjugated ethnic groups. Russia’s eastern expansion roughly parallels European/United States westward expansion. Like America, Russia is stolen land, but calling it that in Russia can get you imprisoned.

Russia’s imperialistic past is, by law, above reproach. In Russia, unlike the West, there is no soul-searching, official apology, reparation or even discussion about the imperialistic/colonialist past.

Oddly, anti-imperialists in the west and elsewhere have a huge blind spot over Russia. They take to the streets over Gaza, statues, holidays and parks named after ancient colonialists, but ignore the biggest imperialist power on the planet actively waging war to expand its empire and influence. Що? (What?)

You can get this image on a sweatshirt! Royalties go to Ukrainian aid programs.

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Below: Consigning my skeetches of Viktor Orbán to the recycling bin of history!

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Viktor Loser

William L Brown — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:35:51 GMT

We may soon have one less cartoon-villain world leader. Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister, may be voted out of office this weekend.

Viktor got into that office as the Fidesz party candidate in 2010. He’d served previously as prime minister 1998 - 2002.

The Fidesz party, which he assumed leadership of in 2003, is a Christian-nationalist group. Over his past five terms Orbán embraced hard-right ideology, and dog-whistles such as “replacement theory” and advocacy of “illiberal democracy.” In 2015, stirring hatred and fear, he was a thorn in the EU’s side as it tried to deal with a flood of Syrian refugees.

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His anti-immigrant, racist, Christian-nationalist, pro-Russian policies, and his method of undermining and politicizing democratic institutions from within made him a favorite of the global hard-right. He was invited to speak at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), )and he hosted their 2023 conference in Hungary.

US President Trump and Vice President JD Vance praise Orbán, holding up his far-right, anti-immigrant, racial-purity programs as an example for the rest of Europe to follow. The biggest threat to Europe, they said, were liberal leaders who oppose the suprematist-right.

Not Russia. They didn’t mention Russia as a threat.

Orbán is a big fan of Russian President Putin. His has been the main pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine dissenter in NATO and the EU. He openly sabotaged many deals in these organizations—organizations which require consensus agreement—to support Ukraine and to sanction Russia.

Right now, he’s refusing to approve a €90 million EU loan to Ukraine. Ukraine, which needs this money desperately and celebrates Easter this Sunday, will have their own resurrection if Orbán loses the election that day.

The polls say Orbán and his Fidesz party don’t have the support to win this election.
He and his party’s slide into corruption and kleptocracy has turned voters against them.

His importance to both Trump and Putin, however, raises the possibility that there will be foul-play. Putin has expressed concern that the outcome will be affected by Western interference. Ironically, the most blatant interference comes from JD Vance, speaking in Hungary at a campaign rally April 7 where he urged Hungarians to vote for Orbán,

And we want you to make a decision about your future with no outside forces pressuring you or telling you what to do.
I’m not telling you exactly who to vote for. But what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels — those people should not be listened to. You should listen to your hearts, listen to your souls, and listen to the sovereignty of the Hungarian people…..

Will you stand against the bureaucrats in Brussels? Will you stand for sovereignty and democracy? Will you stand for Western civilization? Will you stand for freedom, for truth, and for the God of our fathers? Then my friends, go to the polls this weekend, stand with Viktor Orbán, because he stands for you and he stands for all these things. God bless Hungary and God bless the United States of America.

He patched Trump into the speech, via a phone call to the American president/ Trump’s comments were broadcast to the crowd.

…I love Hungary, and I love that Viktor. I’ll tell you, he’s a fantastic man. We’ve had a tremendous relationship, and he does a job. Remember this, he didn’t allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have and ruin their countries, frankly. He’s kept your country good. He’s kept Hungarian people in your country, and he’s done a fantastic job.

You can follow the result on Politico. Note their warning that the calculations are complex, and there has been recent redistricting in favor of Orbán’s party.

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Powerful Worry

William L Brown — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:47:07 GMT

March 28 marks forty-seven years since the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US.

I’m on the mailing list of an anti-nuke group commemorating that anniversary, protesting the Trump administration’s “Nuclear Renaissance” plan to build more nuclear power plants.

Their announcement failed to mention some other relevant anniversaries which, I thought, made additional compelling points.

I present them here. This article is based on a couple of letters to the editor I sent this week to newspapers in New Hampshire where the NH Republican governor is pushing for more nuclear power. This is a bit off the usual topic, I realize, and some of my readers and friends may not agree with me on this issue. I hope they at least give credence to the concerns raised about long-term planning in the face of world instability.

Four years ago in early March Russia attacked and occupied two Ukrainian nuclear power facilities. One of them was the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. April 26 marks the fortieth year since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, the worst nuclear energy accident in history.

Russia also attacked and occupied the Zaphorizha Nuclear Power Plant. They damaged it, occupied it, forced the operating staff to work for them, and threatened to destroy it. These actions could result in massive destruction and the release of deadly nuclear radiation capable of contaminating the region, and any place around the globe that air and water currents take it. Chernobyl radiation got into soil, food and water as far away as the US. The Russians are using this threat as a bargaining chip.

Note that the Ukrainian power plants were built by Russia, which now threatens them. The builders could not imagine such a situation. The situations we can’t imagine now for American nuclear power plants in the future are infinite. Who wants to live near or downstream from a such a potential target?

After the last decade does anyone think US will be safe from terror attacks or that world stability can be maintained for hundreds of years? For the next three years?

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Proponents say new technology makes nuclear plants safer. There will never be another Chernobyl, Three Mile Island or Fukushima accident.

Maybe, but new technology can’t prevent terrorist attacks. It can’t prevent change and instability for centuries. That’s how long radioactive contamination lingers. A gas, coal, solar or other type of plant could be the subject of a terror attack, but none have this long-lasting threat.

Nuclear safety requires more than good technology, it requires stable governments, infrastructure, and world order. These do not exist.

Look at the seventy years since nuclear power plants were first built. A superpower collapsed, its nuclear power plants were suddenly in different countries. Around the world new countries and governments emerged, wars broke out, new dictators took power, violent terrorist groups formed, and the old world order crumbled.

This month, the US attacked Iran, source of terrorism and drone weapons. So far, Iran has not surrendered. It has struck back. Apparently the US failed to correctly assess Iran’s resilience and drone capacity. Have they correctly assessed Iran’s ability to stage terror attacks on US soil?

Last week Iran targeted a nuclear facility in Israel, a terrorist act. As long as Iran keeps lobbing drones and missiles around the region, that threat remains.

America may not be suffering any attacks or violent domestic disturbances now, but experience shows that can change in a heart-beat. The current president’s aim is to shed America’s role as leader of the free world, and take on a new “multi-polar” world order in which might makes right and our only interest is financial. The US is posturing as strong, but in fact it is weakened. This can be seen in Iran. Trump expected to win a war in a few days without allies and without a solid plan. He failed. How long before a counter attack on US soil?

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It isn’t just the danger of accidents or terrorist incidents, there is also radioactive waste disposal. Waste must be safely transported, stored, and left undisturbed for centuries. Again, looking at the changes of the last 70 years there is no realistic safety guarantee.

Four years ago Russian troops seized Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear complex. In 1986 the plant and surrounding region were contaminated in the world’s worst nuclear accident. Despite warning signs, Russian soldiers dug trenches in 2022 and raised road dust. They were there less than a month but had to be treated for radiation sickness. At least one died.

Humans can’t even learn not to mess with a contaminated site within living memory of a world-famous disaster there. What hope is there that they leave waste sites undisturbed for several generations?

In a world with constant unpredictable change, there can be no guarantee of nuclear power safety. It would be much wiser to invest in less dangerous power sources.

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Four Years!

William L Brown — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:12:18 GMT

I’ve dumped a whole lot of text and photos on my dear readers over the last few days. I’ve felt driven to share the experiences and images from events four year ago leading up the full-scale invasion. Fear not, I can’t keep up that pace!

Four years ago Native Cpeaker was focused on Ukrainian friends and students, many of whom were in great peril. I also wrote about the refugee drama around me. New readers who are interested can go back to my posts from that time.

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It's Ukraine

William L Brown — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:01 GMT

Four years ago in eastern Ukraine, shelling across the “frozen” battle line by Russian proxy-forces intensified, as hundreds of thousands of regular Russian troops waited across the border. The shelling was a provocation. The Ukrainian military held back, not even sending more troops to back up those already there. If the Ukrainians responded, Russia would have an excuse to send in the waiting army.

A not-very-clever false-flag incident occurred in occupied territory—a Russian-proxy official blew up his own car and claimed it was the Ukrainian’s doing. The Russians bombed a kindergarten in Ukrainian held-territory and blamed Ukraine for it. Russian social media misinformation went into overdrive.

Putin announced the recognition of occupied territories as independent February 21, and the next day Russian troops began moving into those territories as “peacekeepers.” Tanks began to roll across the border.

Feb 20, 2022 email to my cousin: [lightly edited excerpts]

I have friends, and family and friends of friends, in harm’s way. The first casualty - a soldier killed in the shelling a couple days ago - was the father of three. Tens of thousands of such young people are deployed on the border and potential battle zones. I suppose I should also feel concerned for the young Russian conscripts facing them. But, certainly not for the notoriously ruthless Chechen brigades just deployed or the Wagner mercenaries who are probably already in Ukraine preparing something nasty.
I continue to hope that Russia will not attack, despite all the signs to the contrary. We’ve been to what seemed like the brink several times and as threatening as he remains, he hasn’t moved an inch past the border.
In my opinion, the threat would evaporate if the west would send troops, or threaten to. It might even get Russia to move back to internationally-recognized boundaries.
Absolutely no idea what my summer plans are. Lol.
All I know is I have rented this place for 3 more weeks in Lviv. If all has blown over, I return to Kyiv. If not … no idea.
Much love,

Feb 21, 2022, letter to my children:

Hello!
I’m still in Lviv and aware that things may get serious tomorrow, or maybe not. It’s the pattern that’s been driving everyone mad for months. Who knows?
You may or may not recall that I sent myself a box of belongings that were too heavy to carry to Lviv. Now I need to deal with it again. My plan is to ship it tomorrow to [a friend in Austria]. Then, with a light load on my back I can go anywhere, any time. Budapest, Hungary is looking attractive.
I’m fairly certain Lviv will be safe for awhile, but, if tomorrow goes badly - and I can deal with my box successfully, I’ll make arrangements to get out. Even if I have to leave the box. Grr!
Love you!

Shipping that box from Kyiv to Lviv had been a triumph, the release of a burden, a neat, fast solution to a problem. Now it sat oppressively in my Lviv Airbnb, re-accumulating the burden ten-fold as it became clear I was going to leave the country and so had to deal with the box immediately or leave it there.

I also added items from my backpack, which I had overstuffed for the trip from Kyiv. So, now I had two boxes. Because it was an international shipment I had to submit a list of specific items. Personally, I am interested in such telling and evocative historical details such as a list of belongings a displaced person chooses to take with them, then choose to either ship ahead or abandon. But not everyone else enjoys this, so the list is a footnote1.

February 22 I dealt with international shipping. I Ubered to and from a store that sold cardboard boxes, and “scotch” (adhesive tape) because the shipper didn’t sell them. I packed the boxes, filled out the forms and carried them on foot to the shipping office. Once again, the feeling of relief, and sore muscles.

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I described the intense, frantic and stressful 48 hours leading up to my departure from Lviv and Ukraine to my friend Jim V. Here it is, edited and with added detail.

I took what turned out to be one of the last flights out of Ukraine at 11:45 pm February 23. I made the decision and reservations - plane and accommodations - two days prior. That barely gave me enough time to get all the required documentation.

I was spurred by the events earlier in the week, particularly by the US embassy staff spending the nights in Poland, not Lviv. Also Putin’s speech announcing recognition of the occupied regions as independent

I originally wanted to cross the border into Poland by train, but could not figure out how to get tickets. The official website just wouldn’t give me that option.

I saw social media that an expat I knew had just driven into Hungary, and another expat posted about being in Budapest. I texted both of them and got advice, found a plane ticket for the following night and grabbed it. One of the expats helped me secure a room reservation at his Budapest hotel.

I had less than 48 hours to get documentation: a PCR Covid test printout and a PRINTED boarding pass. I could not enter the airport or take the flight without these, I was told.

Photo ©2022 William L. Brown, Lviv’s Halytskyi renok (market)

The PCR testing laboratory was outside of Lviv. I took an Uber. They were able to do the test soon after I arrived, but I had to pay extra to get the results in time for my flight that evening. Even so, it would take a few hours. And, the required result-printout would not be available at the lab, but from a bar, the Pravda Beer Pub in Lviv city center. Its the sort of arrangement one can only smile about and say “it’s Ukraine.”

While waiting for the test result, I packed and contacted my Lviv Airbnb landlord who could not grasp why I wanted to return the apartment key three weeks early, yet keep the 4-week reservation. The complex explanation that I was going to Budapest for a week, hoped to return to Lviv, but didn’t want to take the key because there was no certainty I’d be able to return was too difficult to translate.

“So, you check out?”

As if this this was not stressful enough, I also decided to ship my old laptop to a Ukrainian friend. I no longer needed it and I don’t want to carry the weight. It was too valuable to leave in Kyiv, so I took it to Lviv. I intended to give it to my friend when I saw her in the spring, but that was no longer an option.

This required erasing the disc and reinstalling the OS. Erasing was easy. But, after several tries (each about 30 minutes) it was clear I could not do it myself. Apple, of course, cuts no breaks to old computers, they only upload the latest OS, which was too much for my 2015 MacBook Pro. So, I had to take it to a shop. The second shop was able to do it that day, but I had to return for it later. I took the time to exchange my pile of Ukrainian cash for Hungarian currency. I’d kept a big wad of Ukrainian money at hand in case the banks were rendered inoperable. I went to three Bureau de Changes but nobody had Hungarian money. I gave up, and returned to the repair shop, thinking I’d exchange the cash when I got to Budapest. I SHOULD have exchanged for Euros, I didn’t know Hungarian exchange markets don’t buy hryvnia

The repair shop charged about $10 for the fix. Yup, that’s right, and for same-day service. It’s Ukraine. I then took the laptop to Nova Poshta (private mail company) to pack it up and mail. They have, it turns out, strict regulations about shipping laptops. I had to affirm it was operational, turn it on for them, and give them all the details such as serial number. I was glad to be relieved of the weight, it was worth the time, which was getting short.

Photo ©2022 William L. Brown

That’s when I tried to do an online check-in on my Ryanair ticket. After I filled in my name, the form requested “nationality,” which had to be filled in before I could progress.I could not key it in, I had to choose from a list, a long list of every country, organized by EU and non-EU catagories. United States was not an option. A note referred me to the call center. I searched, but there is no call center in Ukraine. I tried the chat assistance. I got a robot which gave me lengthy but useless answers based on a key word I’d used. Finally it offered me a chance to chat with a human. The human told me to open the website using a combination of key-strokes. “I’m using the phone app” I said.

They said I had to use a laptop. So I got out my laptop. Same problem. The human told me to open a window in stealth-mode. I did and found “American” listed this time, and was able to finish check-in, whereas I read, that I must download and PRINT my boarding card or I would not be allowed past the gate. It was about 5:45 pm the evening of the flight. Of course, I have no printer. Hardly anyone owns a printer in UA. Probably about the same number who own laundry driers.

I found a print shop using google search, it was in the opposite direction of the Pravda Beer Bar, where my test result would be available at 6. but walkable. In the rain.

At the Pravda Beer Bar they had no idea what I was talking about. “Result?” Finally one of the staff, standing in front of a white canvas screen said “go out the front door, turn left and you will see the sign for Unilab. I exited and looked left, there was a door with a small Unilab sign on it, and a woman wearing a green medical smock huddled in a tiny space big enough for a chair, table, and printer. Touching her back was the other side of the white canvas screen. So, she was actually in the bar space, but with her own little door and a screen separating her from the bar room. The staff member who gave me directions had been standing directly behind her. It’s Ukraine.

So, now I had to pack, and the landlady’s maid was coming to collect the key at 7:30 pm, When I asked her to come at 8:30 the landlady seemed to have a problem with it, so, I agreed to 7:30. I figured I wouldn’t mind sitting at the airport for another hour. I finished packing, cleaning, preparing a sandwich to take, making a pile of food to give to the maid so it wouldn’t go bad (I was still thinking I’d be back in a week). The maid showed up at 8:00 and we had a long conversation, using Google translate to exchange statements and questions/answers. I disabused her of the idea that I was checking out for good or that I wanted a refund.

When she understood I was leaving because I believed invasion was imminent she was dismayed. She asked if I really thought it would happen. I told her I was not certain, that I had no secret knowledge, but the situation was bad. She shed a tear.

I told her I’d pay for the four weeks, regardless, hoping to return. But, I said, if Lviv became full of refugees in the next few weeks please use the apartment. Apparently, she did, as the Airbnb review she gave me says:

Unfortunately, he could not stay with us for the full duration of the reservation, but he helped other people to live in the apartment that he booked for himself.
Thank you very much!

Generosity is contagious.

As for handing over the key, she said I could leave when I was ready, and put the key in the “secret place” - a prominent utility panel just outside the door, the first place I’d look if I were a burglar. She would collect it in the morning.

She left, I did a final look-round, then called Uber. The Uber-app told me my bank card had insufficient funds. I looked up the card on my bank-app, and it had plenty of funds. I found a work-around using Applepay, and ordered the Uber, The 2 minute wait time evaporated, was replaced by “looking for driver” and said it found one with a 10 minute wait. Of course. It was getting a bit last-minute-y for my liking.

The Uber came, the timing was tight but not too tight. All was well until I got to the airport where the Ryanair desk person told me I could take both my bags on board. I said, “no, I paid extra to check the bag.” They said no, a priority ticket didn’t pay for checking a bag, it paid for carrying two bags onto the plane. I said I was carrying scissors and containers with liquids that wouldn’t pass the screening. They sent me to the main desk at the other side of the airport to pay an extra 35 EUR for checking luggage. I was livid. I was already paying the premium of around 120 EUR - base price was around 50 EUR. With Ryan you pay for every extra such as a carry-on bag, or drink of water. Then mid-flight, the prettiest flight attendant announces the sale of “charity sticker packs for our children’s charity partners. Buy three for the price of two! For the children!”

I will never set foot on a Ryanair flight again!

By the way, I did not need either my printed boarding pass or my Covid test printout.

The laptop was due to be delivered February 24 to Dnipro, the day of the full scale invasion when rockets and missiles fell on on major cities. I figured it would be lost in the chaos, probably plundered. No, it was delivered on time in perfect condition. Its Ukraine.

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Small box
3 pair of jeans (pants)
3 folders with papers
1 binder with papers
Plastic box of Ear plugs
Flip-flops (slippers)
2 shoe anti-ice attachments
1 tshirt
1 underpants
1 flat cap

Big Box
Sweatshirt (hoodie)
Men’s bathing suit
Swimming goggles
Swim cap
Men’s 3-piece suit: vest, jacket, trousers
Snow pants
2 pair gym shorts
Sweatpants - grey
1 sportsjacket- black
Socks 4.
Thermal underwear 2 pieces
Tee-shirts 1
Leather belt
Ties - 2
Gaiters (boot covers) - 2
Binoculars
6 small notebooks
Flag
Shirt

Casablanca vibes

William L Brown — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 02:05:31 GMT

Photos of Lviv February 15-21, 2022

Continuing the account of my gradual dislocation as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine loomed in the immediate future. The first installment in here.

All photos: ©2022, William L. Brown

The name of this this accessory shop underscores Lviv’s “Casablanca” vibes. The famous film of that era takes place in a city thronged with European refugees fleeing WWII. There was no Rick’s Cafe, but I did meet with a group of ex-pats who had relocated from Kyiv at a pub owned by an American. There was a Fox News reporter and crew there, chatting up the group and the staff, mining our experiences about life in Ukraine,

I had a quiet, even fun, few days in Lviv before the last-minute, tense departure. But, I was thinking ahead, preparing if needed o ship my heaviest items to friends in Austria. I did not want to repeat the travel experience of teetering under the mass of the biggest back-pack ever seen - as my friend Jim described it. So, I repacked, removing all but essentials, and made shipping plans. I also made plans to ship my old laptop to a friend in Dnipro. I had plans to visit there in the spring so I was holding onto it until I could hand it over in person. I didn’t want to leave it in Kyiv to be looted by Russians, so I had it with me.

Wooden stairs! Their presence suggests my Lviv Airbnb apartment dates at least to pre-Revolution (1918) times, probably older. I never saw another such apartment building staircase in Ukraine in my three years there.

A view of the courtyard from the second floor. The building design with exterior apartment doors on a common terrace is not typical of Ukraine. I was to encounter similar designs in Hungary over the next few weeks.

This building is on a narrow side street just off the Opera House square in Lviv’s city center, a prime location. Looming invasion or not I had work, shopping and exploring to do.

My lesson plans that week focused on the online Wordle game, a recent social-media rage. Students enjoyed it, and the lessons included a statistical breakdown of English consonant clusters (sc, dr, gh, cl, etc) to help in their puzzle-solving. Those lessons were eventually all cancelled as war-tension rose. Students were getting out of Kyiv or out of Ukraine. Some of them I never heard from again.

Lviv’s outdoor bazar was big, filling a couple of streets. It featured clothing more than anything else.

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I found the fruit and vegetable section closer to the indoor market.

The Soviet-era “renok” indoor marketplace. This room was not in use at the time, possibly due to Covid restrictions.

This is the meat section. A sign says “Please, wear a mask.” Only a couple of people are wearing masks — technically, with nose or nose-and-mouth exposed. Covid protocols had largely broken down in the two years of pandemic. There were no US or EU government support programs for people or businesses put out of work by shutdowns. It was a choice of risking exposure at work, or having no income.

A significant number of people did not believe COVID was real. This was due in part to skepticism following a half-century of the Soviet health system: unreliable government information, deaths from a botched vaccination campaign, and corruption. It was also due to a current Russian misinformation campaign that planted fears and encouraged conspiracy theories. My manicurist friend and her boyfriend did not believe they were being told the truth about COVID, and thought that the vaccine would reduce fertility in women.

The sign says “Our Store” and “produce.”

A city-center neighborhood. The building at the end of the street has a more Austro-Hungarian architectural style than the others. Note the cobblestone streets - a Lviv feature.

This coffee-point was one of the few apparent signs of military preparedness, other than seeing more people in uniform on the streets than usual. The Military Coffee chain was founded by veterans, a powerful force in Ukrainian politics and society.

The war started in 2014. Many Ukrainians who volunteered were Revolution of Dignity protestors. As protestors they fought to keep Ukraine free of Russian influence, desiring a join the Western economy and political system. As soldiers they fought to keep Ukraine free of Russian invaders. So national sovereignty and political and economic freedom and independence are important to these veterans. They get strong social respect, but like veterans everywhere they don’t get the kind of post-service support or benefits they feel they need.

The package contains a seed-bar, a popular Ukrainian snack-food. I frequently bought such seed bars from the bulk aisle at the supermarket.

This storefront is for rent. There were several empty properties due to economic hardships during the COVID shutdowns. I took photos of many to send to a friend in Kyiv. She was panicking. She could not keep up the rent payments for her little manicure shop because all of her customers had fled the city, many to Lviv. I suggested she follow her customers. I hoped she and her boyfriend would at least come to visit while I was there.

I came upon the temporary US Embassy in Liviv near the city center, but this is not it. I did not take a photo for security reasons. The Astoria Hotel in the photo was at the far end of my street. Perhaps they were hoping US embassy personnel would be lured to them by the flag.

The embassy moved from Kyiv to Lviv the same day I did, Feb. 14th. However, as Russia ramped up military preparations on the border and stepped up attacks and provocations near occupied areas, the embassy staff left Lviv at night to sleep in nearby Poland. Just before the Feb.. 24 invasion, the embassy completely relocated to Poland.

My students gave me suggestions for restaurants to try in Lviv. I was particularly urged to go to the one with a gold coffee machine. However, I got a stomach bug as soon as I got there, and could only deal with simple foods. So, I ended up cooking most of my meals - such as this borsch.

Thank you for reading! More to come….

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No Means No

William L Brown — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 18:48:16 GMT

The drawing is still relevant. Russia still yearns to take Ukraine, Ukraine still says “NO!”

Four years ago I left Kyiv on Valentine’s Day for Lviv. I didn’t know it, but it was the my displacement’s gentle start. It was a privileged displacement compared to most Ukrainians—the apartment I rented, not owned, the apartment I abandoned, Ukraine is not my childhood home, I had more personal means and resources than almost all of the refugees around me. Still my life and the lives of those dear to me were irrecoverably overturned. My community of friends and students was disbursed and traumatized.

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Ukrainians didn’t believe Russia would attack. Everybody knew they only maintained the frozen conflict in the eastern Donbas region to keep Ukraine out of NATO and the EU. The troop buildups on the border were a performance to encourage Western concessions, easing sanctions and pariah-hood.

But, my friends and family back in the US begged me to be prudent, just in case. I compromised. Instead of leaving the country, I relocated to the far west, near the border. I booked an apartment for a month in Lviv. I hoped to be able to return to Kyiv then, but I prepared and packed for evacuation. I shipped a box of possessions to Lviv and I carried so much weight in my backpack I had to lean at a 60° angle. Getting up and down stairs felt life-threatening.

I handed my keys over to friends, one of whom would become a refugee in ten days, and I took photos to remember.

I ran into my friend and fellow English-teacher Jim at the metro stop, he was also making arrangements to leave. At Kyiv’s train station, Vokzalna*, I saw many soldiers, traveling, I suppose, to deployment. I wonder how many are still alive.

The next two photos are from a January, 2019 trip to Lviv, same train route, same time, same Lviv station.

The apartment was in the heart of Lviv, a half-block from the Opera House plaza on a picturesque, narrow street. The apartment building was ancient, though the decor was Ukrainian-contemporary. The back-less kitchen chairs are typical Ukrainian rental apartment money-and-space-saving. The filtered water was a nice feature. It saves renters from having to buy and haul drinking/cooking water from the supermarket to the flat.

There was a guest bed, and I’d invited friends to come visit me during the month I planned to be there. It promised to be a nice trip.

Thanks for reading! To be continued….

*Vokzalna means “main train station.” There are theories why train stations seem to be named after one particular train station in London. One of the more plausible is that in 1838 a music and entertainment pavilion called Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was built at a train terminus near St. Petersburg, Russia, named in imitation of London’s Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. It became the word for “main train station.” Every city has a vokzalna, minor stations are called “stanzia.” Kyiv’s Vokzalna has a name, Kyiv Passenger, but I almost always heard it called Vokzalna. When rail infrastructure was first built, Ukraine was a Russian province, and Russia was the official language. “Vokzalna” was adopted into Russian.

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Ground Hog Day

William L Brown — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:53:58 GMT

The so-called Energy Ceasefire arranged by US President Trump seems to have held through the weekend for what it is worth. Russian bombs killed a dozen miners and wounded 16 more on a bus. Ukraine bombed a military production facility. These attacks don’t “count” for the ceasefire as the targets were not energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian civilians continue to deal with electricity, heat and water outages in below-freezing temperatures, -5°F in the wee hours of February 2. Forecasts say it will remain below freezing all this week.

Trump called for a week’s ceasefire. Putin said it would end on Sunday Feb. 1. So, Russia may soon resume attacks on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the Davos Conference January 22, 2026.

Dear friends, everyone remembers the great American film, Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray and Andy McDowell, yes, but no one would want to live like that, repeating the same thing for weeks, months, and, of course, for years.
And yet, that’s exactly how we live now. It’s our life and every Forum like this one proves it. Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words, “Europe needs to know how to defend itself.” A year has passed and nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words, but why?

New challenges emerge every year, he said, but Europe is unprepared to meet them decisively. Europe dealt with US demands to annex Greenland by “waiting for America to cool down on this topic, hoping it will pass away.”

In the Western Hemisphere, said Zelensky, the United States arrested Venezuelan president Madura and put him on trial in New York.

But in Europe Putin is not on trial, though he’s biggest war criminal on that continent since World War II. “It’s Putin who’s trying to decide how the frozen Russian assets should be used, not those who have the power to punish him for this war.” Putin stopped Europe from turning those assets over to Ukraine.

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Even though there is an agreement, said Zelensky, to establish a tribunal on Russian aggression, nothing has been done about it. “Too often in Europe, something else is always more urgent than justice.”

He thanked European countries who have stepped forward to be the Coalition of the Willing, the security force pledged to enforce peace following a ceasefire, if negotiations are successful. But, Europe’s security guarantees are toothless without US backup. Again, Europe depends on the US because it has not developed the resources to act on it's own.

But what about the ceasefire itself? Who can help make it happen? Europe loves to discuss the future, but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have. That is the problem.

Zelensky’s speech followed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s eye-opening “Rupture” speech at Davos. Carney warned that the old rules-based world order has ended, and the great powers seek to replace it with strength-based order—the strong countries boss the weaker ones. The old order was not perfect, said Carney. Strong powers could ignore the rules when it suited them.

Now, it’s up to the middle-countries, said Carney, to unite and push. Zelensky’s speech calls on the Europe to do this, to stop finding excuses to avoid action. Taking action is risky, but as Carney said, ““If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,”

The Russia military death rate in Ukraine has been averaging an estimated 1000 a day due to Russia’s “meat-grinder” battle tactics. in his Davos speech January 22, President Zelensky claimed 35,000 Russians died in December. All this for average gains of 230 feet per day on the hotly contested small city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast. NBC News cites numerous sources, not all in agreement.

Even as Russia commits daily war crimes, it presents it’s culture as superior, especially to cultures of nations the Russian Empire has subjugated, such as Ukraine. Westerners, such as this disdainful Italian, are not as attuned to this as Eastern Europeans, and are surprised and dismissive when controversies erupt over Russian theatre, ballet and music presentations, especially if they feature Russian artists.

German culture and artists earned similar criticism during WWII. American culture was reassessed during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Era. Gone With the Wind, for example. Similarly, Ukrainians find offensive attitudes in Russian arts.

It’s not just the that it is an enemy’s culture. Ukrainians’ experience is similar to Native Americans’. Russia stole their land, massacred them by the millions and tried to wipe out their language, customs, and national identity. They colonized the country with Russians, and in some cases forcibly removed entire ethnic groups such as Crimeans to far away regions.

After independence, Ukraine embarked on a large national program to “de-communize” and “de-Russify” their geography, society and minds: schools, institutions, parks, streets, squares, city and place names, all named for Soviet and Russian “heroes,” writers, musicians, artists or scientists.

The war, the weather, the dark of winter — it’s all exhausting. But, we keep moving somehow.

When drones are in the innovative hands of Ukrainians outwitting the Russians, we love them. But, we don’t love the idea of drones being used by more sinister powers. Advancement in drone technology, such as recent work in matching weaponized drones with face-recognition software, is disquieting.

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Bitter Winter

William L Brown — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 22:40:00 GMT

5_Minutes_With explains the situation in Dnipro, Ukraine in her vlog entry, January 12, 2026. She reports daily on conditions there. I recommend following her Substack account.

“This January has started in Dnipro pretty grim because starting from the beginning of the month Russians decided to bomb the energy infrastructure and the temperatures are no dropping significantly. And because of this we have a huge problem with the electricity … that when you don’t have electricity you don’t have the running water because there are no pumps. And all the pumps are electrical, and also for the same reason, if you don’t have the water, you don’t have the central heating.”
The sewage system is also working on using the specific filtration and specific pumps. Basically, when you don’t have the electricity, you don’t have anything.”

The Russians are using the colder-than-usual Ukrainian winter as a weapon. They have concentrated their drones and missiles on energy and utility infrastructure. These weapons are getting deadlier: packed with more explosives, faster, and smarter.

Ukrainians are suffering, worn out and psychologically battered, but Russia is not winning. Making their lives miserable doesn’t bring them closer to defeat, they are only angrier with Russia. They know capitulation would not bring relief. A Ukrainian interviewed on the street by BBC news said she knew that under Russian occupation, the infrastructure would never be fixed. Better to endure and fix it later themselves.

My students and friends are stressed, but they keep working. Often, work is the best place to keep warm. Generators are in wide use for businesses. But, they are not an option for the vast majority because of the exhaust. Most Ukrainians live in apartment buildings.

Instead of generators, they use car-battery-sized power banks, such as made by EcoFlow (US site), that can not only charge devices, but run computers, lights and heaters. This kind of power bank has been popular since Russia began targeting energy infrastructure in 2022. This is the Ukrainian EcoFlow website.

Ukraine is not helpless. Europe is providing defensive and offensive weapons, and supporting Ukraine in plans for a post-war security arrangement. Not that many have hopes for the current peace negotiations. It’s likely Ukraine and Western Europe are going along with the charade to keep Trump on side. Trump’s most recent comments on Ukraine were not positive. Last week he said Ukrainian president Zelensky was blocking a deal.

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Zelensky responded, “Ukraine has never been and will never be a stumbling block to peace. It is Russian missiles, Russian shaheds and Russia’s attempt to destroy Ukraine that are clear evidence that it is not agreements at all that Russia is seeking.”

Fortunately, perhaps, Trump’s attention shifted to other issues. Ukrainians watched with chagrin and envy as US military acted forcefully against Venezuela’s vote-rigging, authoritarian president Maduro. And, as Trump threatened Iran with another military strike. These are the sort of actions that we’d all love to see taken against Russia.

Then, Ukrainians noted how Trump dropped his promises like used Kleenex. Instead of installing the party that actually won Venezuela’s last election, he allowed the authoritarian government to remain because they were willing to make business deals. Under Saudi pressure, he dropped his dramatic tough-talking vow to help Iranian street protestors. Expecting a US military intervention, they died by the thousands. Trump’s Bay of Pigs.

How can Ukrainians trust Trump-brokered peace negotiations and security guarantees after that?

Laser Toy, ©2025 William L. Brown.

Meanwhile, the American president is exhausting the world population by attacking and threatening smaller countries, heedless of the diplomatic damage. Bringing down the international rules-based order seems to be the goal.

I don’t agree with the people who say Trump is a Russian asset. In my opinion, what’s happening is that Trump and Putin just happen to want the same thing. They want to replace international rules-based order with spheres of influence. In the world they are crafting might makes right, powerful countries can intervene in weaker countries if election results, policy or trade decisions don’t meet the powerful country’s interests.

The rules-based world order is not a legal system, it’s more of an agreed-upon set of conduct. Institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Association and the World Bank are seen as part of this system.

At it’s heart is free-trade, it favors democracies and human rights. Critics say it is a kind of soft-imperialism that promotes globalism. They have a point, but given the choices: spheres of influence vs. right of self-determination, might-makes-right vs. human rights, and hegemony vs equality-among-nations, I’ll take rules-based order.

Recommended podcast:

Ukraine Without Hype. This episode goes deep into the unique history of Huliopole, a small city in Ukraine, razed to the ground by Russia’s war.

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A Christmas Cactus

William L Brown — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:41:09 GMT

Happy holidays, dear readers! From my archives, I present a seasonal piece. This was originally published in Washington DC’s comics publication Magic Bullet in 2014.

May your holidays be peaceful, with no power blackouts, and no reason to run to an air-raid shelter. God bless us, every one!

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War and Warmth

William L Brown — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 21:03:48 GMT

Frozen Assets, ©2025 William L. Brown. Russian assets will remain frozen in Belgian banks. Ukraine and its allies tried to access and use them to fund Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction, but Belgium balked at the threat of Russian lawsuits. The US also wants control of the funds, part of it’s highly-transactional “peace plan.” Instead of using the frozen assets, European allies will loan €90 billion to Ukraine, it was announced today.

The war is in drawings, the warmth is in donating, as many do this time of year. Here is a short list of groups aiding Ukraine. If you donate, you get a warm “thank you” from me too.

• The Common Man for Ukraine is a New Hampshire group. They have a well-run, well-attended series of fund-raising events and concerts. They sponsor mental-health retreats to Poland for Ukrainian youth. They also provide non-lethal aid of various kinds.

Peace Negotiations, ©2025 William L. Brown. The Trump administration makes a pretense of being an even-handed mediator in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but in reality it pressures Ukraine to capitulate to Russian demands.

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• 2025 Fearless Fourth Quarter Campaign is run by Kathy Stickel, a US veteran. I met her at a local fund-raising event. She’s the sort of person who knows everybody: people with things to donate, and people who need specific things, particularly medical equipment. The group brings to Ukraine all kinds of supplies from diapers to ambulances - whatever they can get their hands on. They use their connections in Ukraine to get it to those who need it. Kathy even helped get a group of children out of Russian captivity. Funds all go to aid, not administration costs.

Dogwhistle, ©2025 William L. Brown. Using neo-nazi “dogwhistle” phrases, Trump’s National Security Statement reversed previous US policies. Trump’s administration is not at all concerned with the Russian threat to democratic Europe. However, it was deeply concerned with “threats” to European ethnic purity, culture and religion.

• Ekaterina is a personal friend, a Ukrainian language teacher who lives in Dnipro. She is a tireless activist. She helps run the local Help Point where displaced persons from the front line areas can find food, clothing and other help. They also buy old cars and trucks, fix them and send them to the front for aid and military tasks. They don’t last long, so there’s a constant need. They are not a US registered charity, but it is guaranteed all funds go entirely to Ukraine, no overhead expenses. There is a Patreon donation link on her YouTube page, or go directly here. Alternately, you can contact her directly via YouTube, or through her Substack page, 5_minutes_with, where she posts about life in Dnipro, war-news and views.

Disarm and Loot, ©2025 William L. Brown. The 28 point plan Trump presented to Ukraine in late November was based on Russia’s capitulation demands. The plan’s additional points awarded lucrative control of Ukrainian resources and reconstruction projects to the US. Under pressure to agree to this plan, Ukrainian and European leaders met to craft a counter-proposal. That counter-proposal is currently under discussion with the Trump administration. It is highly unlikely Russia will agree to anything but it’s maximal demands, unfortunately.

• NAFO/Help99 is an organization Larissa Babij says she has worked with for several years as a translator. They buy and recondition vehicles for military, medical or aid use, then send them in convoys across Europe to Ukraine.

They also raise money for drones.

• Sternenko Community Foundation was also recommended to me by an American-Ukrainian activist. They fund many military projects such as drones and anti-drone defenses. “Invest in victory.”

US Boots, ©2025 William L. Brown. Trump’s repeated foreign policy theme is that Europe must contribute more for its own defense. It should even be prepared to defend itself without any US backing, in fact. Given past dependence on the US European allies are struggling to fill America’s boots.

• If you want to support Ukrainian journalism, the Kyiv Independent is beholden to no-one. They have some of the best coverage of the war, and are not afraid to report corruption or incompetence.

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Plan from Hell

William L Brown — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 23:14:06 GMT

Please take a moment to contact your Congress-members and ask them to support a just peace for Ukraine.

This week, the Trump administration upended everything — again — by revealing a peace-plan that amounts to Ukraine’s capitulation. The 28-point plan was concocted in secret by US and Russian negotiators without consulting Ukraine or Europe. Trump threatens to cut off military aid and intelligence info (vital for targeting incoming missiles and drones) if Ukraine does not agree to the plan by Thanksgiving.

The plan contains no concessions from Russia, but many for Ukraine and NATO. Ukraine must concede territory it currently holds in the Donbas region, must reduce its military to 600,000, give up its long-range weapons, and not join NATO. NATO itself is restricted from “expanding.”

Instead of concessions, Russia gets rewards. It would be readmitted to the G8. Sanctions would be dropped.

The US also gets rewards. $100 billion in Russian assets, most of which are held in Brussels, NOT the US, “would be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine. The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture.” That’s a cute trick to funnel billions into US control, and then take half the profit. Who gets the other half is not explained.

Lavrov, Up or Down? ©2025 William L. Brown. There has been speculation for a few weeks that Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, may be losing favor in Putin’s Kremlin. He had no apparent role in the peace plan proposal.

Trump’s scheme proposes that Europe, which had no input in this plan, will add $100 billion for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

”The remainder of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russian investment vehicle that will implement joint projects in specific areas. This fund will be aimed at strengthening relations and increasing common interests to create a strong incentive not to return to conflict.”

Doesn’t that strike you as vague? What are “specific areas?” This JUST MIGHT be a formula for Trump and Putin to line their pockets with these funds, after taking them from Brussels and making Europe pay an equal amount.

Europe is on the verge of seizing those frozen Russian assets. The next discussion about it was scheduled for December 18 to address Brussel’s liability and security concerns. Trump’s proposal may have been timed to take that discussion off the table.

Who knows? Maybe this peace plan is all about those frozen assets, a tempting cashicicle for kleptocrats.

Ukraine and Europe have not rejected the plan outright. So far reactions have been diplomatic. Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy called for a “long-lasting and just peace.”

But, Ukraine’s president Zelensky gave a somber speech to his nation.“

Right now is one of the hardest moments in our history. Right now, Ukraine is under some of the heaviest pressure yet. Right now, Ukraine may find itself facing a very tough choice. Either the loss of our dignity or the risk of losing a key partner. Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely hard winter – the hardest yet – and the dangers that follow. A life without freedom, without dignity, without justice. And that we trust someone who has already attacked us twice.

My hope is that the Europeans and Ukraine are speaking behind the scenes, coordinating a response to the US administration that might turn this around, or at least, aside.

I went to Washington, DC and all I got was this drawing

The cafeterias were not working, and most of the Congressional office building entrances were closed, but it was possible to enter and meet with Senators and Representatives, or as is usually the case, their staff.

So, despite the government shut-down, 500 or so Ukraine Action Summit delegates met October 28-29 with their elected Congress-members for the seventh time since the first summit in 2022.

The delegate’s presence was noticed.

Saying ”the American people have been raped and beaten” is hyperbole. It’s also offensive. “Raped and beaten” — as well as murdered, tortured, castrated, bombed and kidnapped — is literally what Ukrainians have suffered at the hands of Russia.

Also, the delegates were NOT asking for American money. Delegates were asking for four things: tougher sanctions, pressure on Russia to return abducted Ukrainian children, post-cease-fire security guarantees, and unfreezing Russian assets to pay for weapons and rebuilding.

This may all be irrelevant in the wake of Trump’s capitulation plan. Again, please contact your congress-members via the link above. And leave a comment on the White House website.

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Flip

William L Brown — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 14:01:26 GMT

For a crazy minute Trump was on track. He said Ukraine could win the war. He seemed to understand that Russia was the aggressor, and that Ukraine was crippling Russia’s weapons-making and the oil/gas-producing infrastructure that funded it. There was a strong hint that the US would allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons that could be decisive.

But then on the cusp of a White House meeting with Zelensky, Putin called Trump and … who knows? Offered a bribe? It was a tense meeting between Zelensky and Trump. There was shouting. There would be no long range-weapons - too escalatory.

Experienced Ukraine advocates are not surprised by the flip-flopping. They met yesterday’s news with a shrug, Trump announced sanctions against two big Russian gas producers. OK, whatever. How many days before the next flip?

Even when he does something helpful to Ukraine he continues to insist that Ukraine sacrifice territory in exchange for “peace.” Ukraine, desperate not to contradict Trump, adapts to this policy. A ceasefire that left currently occupied territories in Russian hands—which is what Trump calls for—would be a good start to negotiations that would restore occupied lands to Ukraine, says Zelensky, Trump ignores Zelensky’s point, but has implied several times that Russia somehow deserves occupied lands because they fought so hard for it.

This is appalling. The invasion and occupation were violations of international law. Authorities don’t award the spoils to lawbreakers for their admirable efforts. By Trump’s logic, the thieves who recently robbed the Louvre should, when caught, be allowed to keep the loot because they were so clever.

This is a quick post as I pack for DC to do more lobbying for Ukraine with the Ukraine Action Summit. There will be over 500 delegates representing almost every state. We’re not sure what to expect if the government is still shut down. Or what might happen if it opens while we are there. Either way, meetings with Congress-members might get cancelled.

As I’ve reported before, New Hampshire delegates have it easy. Our representatives are firmly behind Ukraine. Our main task is to thank them and remind them we’re still here. Delegates from states with hard-line GOP Congress-people have a harder job. They try to find common ground and from there use persuasion. This has been a successful tactic. There are enough GOP congress-members backing Ukraine to pass resolutions.

I’ll leave you with a seasonal drawing of my Cat-Bat demon who has made an annual Hallowe’en appearance for about four years.

You can get your very own sweatshirt with this drawing on my Zazzle store. You can use the design on other products if you wish: t-shirts, trick-or-treat bags, aprons, etc. Happy Hallowe’en!!

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