One year ago, at this exact moment, I published a piece all but resigned to the destruction of the Ukrainian state and the death of President Volodymyr Zelensky, using the same video clip above. So concentrated was I writing it that I missed Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s order to begin the “special military operation” in Ukraine – Jack published the article on that just two minutes later.

I was far from alone thinking the Ukrainians were fucked. The Russians had steamrolled Georgia in 2008, taken Crimea in 2014, and had pushed into the Donbas. They had Ukraine outmanned, outgunned, and surrounded on three sides. The few fanboys who believed the Biden Administration wasn’t just making shit up were giddy that the country they had always viewed with suspicion and derision after the impeachment shitshow in 2019 their dude Vlad was going to kick some ass.

How wrong we all were. The invasion has gone horrifically bad for Russia, tens of thousands of troops dead, billions in military hardware wrecked (or worse, seized by Ukrainians), their economy in even worse shape than it was beforehand, and no more goddamned McDonald’s for them. Putin’s military might was a Potemkin Village, an army hollowed out by corruption, neglect, and thievery.

But that’s only half the story. The better half is the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people, fighting for their very existence against a genocidal enemy that has wrought such cruelty and suffering upon them. They could have rolled over and left the vulnerabilities in the Russians’ fighting capacity unexposed. Volodymyr Zelensky could have fled just like that pussy Afghan president did when the Taliban were at the gates of Kabul. He stayed and rallied his people to defend their country and their freedom to chose their own leadership.

“I need ammunition, not a ride,” said the former comedic actor with no political or military experience before getting elected on what was basically a stunt candidacy of life imitating art, now wielding the tip of the spear in the global fight against ultranationalist authoritarianism. The hour is still dark, but the morning looks closer. That’s when the sunflowers will bloom.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦