Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Two cities — one a massacre site, one under fire — reveal why Ukrainians won't trade land for peace.   By Dominic Pino The Washington Post   June 28, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. EDT Origintal aricle contains links Tetiana Popovych visits a memorial for victims of the occupation of Bucha on Oct. 9. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) (Thomas Peter / Reuters) KYIV — Traveling with a delegation of American journalists here this month, I saw the results of Russia’s brutal war up close in one city near the front. But it was a mundane town much farther from the fighting that shook me most. Bucha is a suburb of Kyiv. Aside from an occasional cookie-cutter Soviet-style apartment bloc, it looks and feels like a middle-class suburb of any Midwestern American city. Local stores and fast-food places along the main drag. Neighborhoods with sidewalks, yards and fences. People walking dogs and pushing strollers. Lots of trees. There’s a big shopping mall nearby. Bucha is also a site of atrocities . It’s where, ...

Experts said Vladimir Putin was unlikely to change course despite worsening fuel shortages and a sharp decline in the stock market. By Catherine Belton and  Natalia Abbakumova The Washington Post , "today at 5:00 A.M. EDT" Original Article contains an additional illustration The Kremlin is scrambling to respond to an intensifying campaign of Ukrainian drone attacks reaching ever deeper into Russia, hitting key arms production facilities, destroying an ever-greater share of oil-refining capacity, and causing fuel shortages across the country. This week alone, swarms of Ukrainian drones hit oil facilities across Russia as well as the VZPP-S semiconductor devices plant, a major producer of components for Russian ballistic missiles in Voronezh, the Dubna Satellite Communications Center near Moscow, and a chemical plant that is key for producing Russian ammunition in Tula. In Russia-occupied Crimea, rolling power outages were triggered across the peninsula by Ukrainian strikes, a...

Weeks of punishing strikes have disrupted water, fuel and electricity supplies across the peninsula, which Ukraine’s president has vowed to reclaim. Today (June 26) at 3:22 p.m. ED Smoke rises from the Crimean Bridge this week in a satellite image. (Vantor/Reuters) By Mary Ilyushina, The Washington Post ; see also Authorities in occupied Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed illegally from Ukraine in 2014, declared a state of emergency Friday following weeks of punishing Ukrainian drone strikes. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones overnight across 13 regions, including Crimea. The peninsula, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to reclaim, has become the centerpiece of Kyiv’s campaign to demonstrate the reach of its increasingly advancing medium-range drone capabilities. The Ukrainian military last month announced a “logistics lockdown” of Crimea, with plans to “systematically destroy Russian logistics, w...

From The Washingtonian   By Kate Corliss  Across from the Ferris wheel is a scaled-down replica of Trump’s victory arch, planned for Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery. A couple folks pose for photos in front of it, while others slump underneath for some shade.

from Quora Elena Gold Author “Russia’s Plot to Destroy America” What strategies might Russia employ to protect its oil refineries from future strikes or accidents? Putin’s strategic chance to protect his oil refineries from strikes or accidents just flew in—Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko is visiting the Russian tyrant in his Valdai residence for a private chat, after a meeting with Ukrainian representatives last week. Putin is in a bad situation, which is getting worse by the hour. Fuel shortages spread through the whole of Russia. Oil refineries keep burning. Crimea is isolated; Ukrainian drones are flying over the Kerch Bridge; there is no fuel, severe shortages of water, food, power. The chief of occupational administration announced state of emergency. Thousands of vehicles are queuing for hours to get out via Kerch Bridge. Ukraine began striking Russian power plants (that’s why there are power outages in Crimea; a plant in Novomoskovsk was also struck). Ukraine continues s...