A year ago today Russia illegally started to invade Ukraine. The cowardly criminal Putin foolishly thought that (1) his forces were far superior than they really were and (2) the Ukrainians would immediate fold and their current President, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, would cut and run. We all know how that’s turned out: Russia started and continues to loose horribly on the battlefield, both in terms of troops and equipment, while all Ukrainians doubled down to resist with everything, including their lives, the Russians. And Zelenskyy is still in Ukraine and still their President.

I am amazed by the spirit and resolve of the Ukrainian people, especially in light of all they’ve suffered at the hands of the Russians over the decades, especially the Hododomor, or Terror Famine, inflicted on Ukraine by Joseph Stalin in the early 1930s ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor ). The Russians are just as brutal today as they’ve ever been, especially the Russian Wagner Group. The following photos are some of what I collected in the early days of the war. These images seem to have effected me the most, although anything coming out of Ukraine documenting the death and suffering of the Ukrainians always brings me to a moment of prayer for the heroic Ukrainian people.