KYIV, Ukraine – As evening falls, the streets are mostly dark in Ukraine’s capital. Russia has been systematically destroying the country’s national power grid as Western allies have dawdled over providing promised air defense systems. The whir of generators has become the new night music for the restaurants, hotels and homes that can afford to hold back the gloom.
Trudy Rubin
The damage caused by the six-month congressional holdup of U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine is raised in every conversation I have had – the lives lost and morale lowered, all while allowing Russia to go on the offensive. In the wee hours of the night recently, five air-raid warnings for Kyiv lighted up my cellphone on the country’s Air Alert app. Dozens of alerts buzzed for other cities that have much less protection.
The good news: New Western supplies of missile interceptors have finally arrived. On the recent night of alerts, they shot down the entire barrage of Russian missiles and killer drones over Kyiv, and nearly all of those unleashed on other parts of the country.
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But what has cheered me up early in my trip – and bolstered my faith in Ukraine’s future – is that the civilian volunteers who rose up after Russia invaded are still actively involved, helping other Ukrainians escape the fighting or getting them medical care after terrible wounds.
They are not waiting for U.S. government aid to act.
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