On the right is russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova who today met with a smiling Putin to inform him that she had “adopted” a Ukrainian child from Mariupol (at gunpoint to be more correct). “All thanks to you, Vladimir Vladimirovich!” she beamed. Under their leadership russia has abducted thousands of Ukrainian children ranging in age from mere babies to 17 year olds. Thousands upon thousands are held in a network of camps running from the Black Sea to the Pacific – for russian “reeducation”. In russia evil is good and rewarded. It is a morally sick country. The next time a Western politician, scholar, or military leader argues that Ukrainians must engage in “negotiations” with russia, ask these proponents direct questions: how many Ukrainian children should russia be allowed to kidnap and persecute? Would they be willing to voluntarily surrender a loved one to Putin’s goons and terrorists for life? One has to be direct. Don’t let any proponent of some “negotiated settlement” with russia hide behind bromides and euphemisms. We are speaking about real people, real suffering, and real evil and, make no mistake, russia is evil and a threat, not just to Ukraine but to the world. It needs to be vanquished, not negotiated with it.
