President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail.  And the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail. Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow, and forever.  For that is what’s at stake here: freedom. Excerpt from a February 22, 2023 President Biden speech in Poland.

The Luhansk People’s Republic has been liberated from the neo-Nazis almost completely. Fighting in the Donetsk People’s Republic continues. Over the previous eight years, the Kyiv occupation regime created a deeply echeloned line of permanent defenses. A head-on attack against them would have led to heavy losses, which is why our units, as well as the forces of the Donbas republics, are acting competently and systematically, using military equipment and saving lives, moving step by step to liberate Donbas, purge cities and towns of the neo-Nazis, and help the people whom the Kyiv regime turned into hostages and human shields. Excerpt from a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

Today I would like to praise the warriors of the 15th regiment of the National Guard who are defending the Luhansk region and not only defending our positions, but also destroying the enemy in such a way that they are really limiting the offensive capabilities of the invaders in a particular direction. Thank you, guys!..In the area of Maryinka in the Donetsk region, the warriors of the 79th separate air assault brigade are particularly effective, holding off enemy attacks every day and night. Almost half of all attacks in this area take place in that area. Our warriors stand strong. Thank you! Excerpt from a speech by President Zelenskyy on February 22, 2023.

This horrible war by Russia has been going on for over a year with no end in sight. I want to comment on the war, if for no other reason than to mark the anniversary, but what is there to say that people who know more than I do haven’t already said? This is the most documented war in history, everybody has a video camera, and hundreds, probably, thousands of people are recording their daily lives, both on and behind the front.

I do want to comment on the first sentence in the paragraph above, however, in which the most horrifying part is no end in sight. When the American Civil War started, people in the North thought it would not last very long. They thought the war’s end was just one decisive battle away, but four years later, the same people thought, “Just one more battle.” I don’t know, but I suspect that all wars seem like they will be over soon when they start. And, sometimes, that may be true, but not usually, and not in this war. Usually, the wars go on and on until both sides are exhausted, and one side is decimated, then, maybe, only six months more. The countryside is left in ruins, and the people that are left are traumatized. As much as I don’t want it to be true, the Ukrainian war will be no different.

When Ukraine stopped the initial Russian attack, a year ago, and then drove several Russian elite units back across the border, it seemed to me that the war would be over soon, just like the Northerners before the Civil War, I thought that with just one more decisive battle, the war might be over. The needless terrorizing of random Ukrainians might stop. In early May, with the Battle of Kharkiv, then again in September with the Russian rout, it seemed an Ukrainian victory was just around the corner. Now, a year after it started, it looks like this war will go on forever. It seems everybody is digging in for the long term, and the killing will go on.

All this butchery because of a violent sociopath who is intent on destroying the whole of Ukraine rather than what? being wrong? being embarrassed? Pretty much all Putin has left is to push untrained, poorly led, and under-equipped troops into the Killing Zone, where tens of thousands are being slaughtered by the better-trained and superbly led Ukrainian Army. According to David Petraeus, former CIA director and US Army general, Putin thinks that Russia can out suffer the West. Of course he is not the one suffering. Don’t get me wrong, Putin is still scary and what makes him scary is that he seems to believe his own bullshit.

He is wrong, however. Ukraine will out suffer Russia. I have no doubt about this. Ukrainians have no choice but to take all the suffering that Russia can deal out; they have nowhere to go. However, that is not the only reason Ukraine will win; they are killing Russians at a much higher rate than Russia is killing them; Ukrainians are much more motivated, and the Ukrainians have higher morale. Russia is stuck in the past, refighting WWII and Ukraine is the future. Slava Ukraini!