I recently read Erik Larson's superb The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, virtually a day-by-day account of the shattered British homefront, 1940, and Prime Minister Churchill's magnificent leadership throughout.
The book's alternating theme is Hitler's sinister determination to demoralize "the enemy" via the Luftwaffe's air campaign, and then sue for peace. What the Nazi dictator failed to weigh was the superior determination of Britain's prime minister and England's citizenry.
The contemporary comparison of President Zelensky, the Ukrainian people, and dictator Putin has been made many times. And the similarities become more striking by the day. The one major difference is that while Hitler was unable to launch an invasion of the isles — "Operation Sea Lion" — Putin commenced his Ukrainian campaign with a ground assault. That, having miscarried, has since transformed into an air campaign against the Ukrainian citizenry.
This week, Russia has let loose an extraordinary assault from the sky on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, just as Hitler tried to bomb Britain's capital, London, into submission.
Kyiv's air-raid alarms have sounded throughout the day, "sending parents racing to get their children to safety and hospital workers to take cover in bomb shelters," reports The NY Times. "Powerful explosions echoed around the city within minutes, as Ukrainian air defenses sprung into action. Children wearing backpacks started to run and scream when booms resounded on one Kyiv street."
Kyiv. Morning after sleepless night under fire. Anxiety once again...
— Олена Зеленська (@ZelenskaUA) May 29, 2023
Children running and screaming for shelter to the sounds of explosions. But it should not be like this - anywhere and never. Fear cannot be turned off – but we do not stop, we act. Ukraine continues to fight 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/wTKS3sv6qi
Daytime attacks have followed nighttime attacks. In one, Russia fired 40 cruise missiles and sent 38 Iranian-made drones into Kyiv. Thanks to U.S. assistance — which was deep in the works against despotic aggression in 1940, as well — 36 of the missiles and 30 drones were shot down. Today, Kyiv was again attacked, this time by 20 drones.
During the Blitz and the Battle of Britain, Churchill decided to repay Hitler with aerial assaults on Germany, including Berlin. Likewise, Zelensky's special operation forces, or possibly his intelligence units, struck Moscow today with "at least eight drones," writes the Times — "the first attack to hit civilian areas in the Russian capital and a potent sign that the war is increasingly reaching the heart of Russia."
In yet another display of breathtakingly transcendent, hypocritical arrogance, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of having launched a "terrorist attack" on Moscow.
Today's blockbuster news, however, is that President Zelensky says he has now approved the date for Ukraine's D-Day counteroffensive. "The decisions have been made," he said last night in an address to the nation. The offensive is likely to feature firepower — some of it, already in progress — principally in the south of Ukraine, as its forces attempt to interrupt Russia's east-to-west supply line, from Mariupol to Kherson.
The Russian dictator's attacks on Kyiv and other cities “bring us and the whole world to an obvious conclusion: Russia wants to follow the path of evil to the end," said Zelensky. No more vivid comparison could be made to Nazi Germany's dictator, or Ukraine's leader to Winston Churchill.