It's hard to believe that in August of the year 2026, I still find myself writing in the present tense about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia that began in 2014 (with the "annexation" of Crimea) and took current full-scale form in February 2022. The fact that I haven't written much about it recently doesn't imply that I am any less concerned about the ongoing suffering of Ukrainians and their nation. Nor have my objections and concerns about many other current events that I have written about in past several years undergone any change. (Anyone who wants to know them can find my thoughts sufficiently articulated in previous posts.)
Rather, I’m devoting more of my very limited energy to further research on the “big picture” that contextualizes current problems (in Russia and elsewhere). It’s a picture with many facets that are obscured by conflicting myths engendered (in part) by the technological revolution that has simultaneously “united and divided” peoples of the world for over 150 years.
Recent images in the news give the impression that Ukraine may have turned the tide in the war they have been forced to fight in order to survive. Strategic drone strikes that reach deep into Russia are slowing down the enormous and extensive military-industrial war-making system that enables Putin to continue the aggression. The front line in Eastern Ukraine is virtually stalled, but it remains bloody and costly for both sides. Meanwhile Russian ballistic missiles continue bombing major Ukrainian cities relentlessly, with increasing intensity. Civilians continue to be killed or wounded every day. There are many painfully tragic losses, and in some cases there are people who lose their lives while courageously serving others and trying to rescue them from damage already inflicted.
The two young people I wanted to honor and remember in the above illustrations (based on photographs released post-mortum) are in a special category. Both were killed by "double-tap" Russian bombs while serving in rescue missions. 22-year-old Yehor Terekhin, a Kyiv police officer, rushed in to help those wounded from a first-bombing, and was killed by the cruel second bomb moments later. Then there was Vitalina Yarovenko, a university student and volunteer with a military medical battalion, who also died in similar circumstances while engaged in rescue work at another bomb site.
The admirable heroism of these two young people on the same night captured the attention of Ukrainians and people all over the world who follow with grave concern the bloodshed of this awful war. Though their courage is inspiring, their deaths remain poignantly tragic. Their youth is enough to take away our breath. It stands as an inescapable symbol of all the barbarism, the waste, the cruelty visited upon good, self-sacrificing people, young people, "ordinary" people, people who live their daily lives in the cities of Ukraine, people who have no intention of inflicting harm on anyone.
May those who survive this violence always honor the soldiers who have defended them at such great cost in a war they never wanted, and the heroism of all their compatriots who have sacrificed their lives to protect Ukraine, each of whom had a face and a name like Yehor and Vitalina. May the people keep this heroic inspiration in their hearts, especially the young, who — God willing — will help Ukraine in the near future to take the exemplary place it deserves in the community of nations.