And Now For Something Completely Difficult

Among those covering Russian atrocities — such an insufficient word — in Ukraine is Illia Ponomarenko, defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent, who on Saturday summed up the carnage:

Just fucking imagine how many people they have executed in Mariupol. In my Volnovakha, and all those cities and towns Russia razed to the ground.

One giant insane bloodbath, WWII-scale, for the sake of sick fantasies of “denazification” leaving thousands of dead bodies behind.

Everything we had been hearing about the invasion until yesterday was statistical or specific: Missiles launched, civilian buildings and homes destroyed, shelters targeted, even villages razed. But mass street executions — mob-style, the victims’ hands tied behind their backs as they’re shot in the head — introduces a specificity that cannot be forgotten.

Which is why we were surprised Sunday morning when Ponomarenko tweeted a series of photos of cats and a dog with Ukrainian soldiers.

We are a kindred soul to that tweet. The horrors of the world we live in cannot — must not — be denied or ignored. But sometimes we all just need a fucking break.