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[ SAY WHAT? ](https://www.citywatchla.com/say-what)
# You Will See Our Faces
March 03 2022
Written by ABBY ZIMET.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
****
SAY WHAT? - With so much fast-moving news in Ukraine - bad, good, ambiguous - a quick update. Among Russian atrocities is ongoing heavy bombing in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, after a Russian rocket[ strike ](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelensky-calls-russias-deadly-strike-on-center-of-kharkiv-a-war-crime)on downtown's Freedom Square killed at least 11 people and wounded 35, with the death toll expected to rise. As Russia's military implausibly claimed it "takes all measures to preserve the lives and safety of civilians" by using "exclusively precision weapons (only) on military targets," President Volodymyr Zelensky got real, [**calling**](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelensky-calls-russias-deadly-strike-on-center-of-kharkiv-a-war-crime) the attack "a war crime" and "frank, undisguised terror." "Nobody will forgive," he said. "Nobody will forget." On Tuesday, even as emergency workers toiled to put out over 20 fires and disable about 70 explosive devices left behind, Ukrainian forces [**continued ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/europe/kharkiv-street-fight-russia-ukraine-intl-cmd/index.html)fighting back. It was also revealed that Russia's Monday attack on Kyiv's TV tower hit,[ ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/01/russia-ukraine-war-putin-news/#link-O2ZFXA576FFJNKKAHCQCS5UODY)among apartments and other citivilian[ ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/01/russia-ukraine-war-putin-news/#link-O2ZFXA576FFJNKKAHCQCS5UODY)sites, the Babyn Yar [**Holocaust Memorial**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/01/russia-ukraine-war-putin-news/#link-O2ZFXA576FFJNKKAHCQCS5UODY). The site marks [**one of the worst mass murders ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/26/putin-ukraine-genocide-babyn-yar/)during the Holocaust, when nearly 34,000 Jews were killed by SS troops during two bloody days in 1941, some of an estimated 100,000 ultimately [**massacred**](https://www.timesofisrael.com/newly-revealed-photos-from-1966-show-early-efforts-to-document-babi-yar-massacre/) there. [**Tweeted ](https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1498697538085568514)Zelensky, a Jew who lost many family members: "History repeating." And so much for Putin's "de-Nazifying."
There were multiple other [**reports ](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/01/ukraine-russia-latest-news-live-updates-war-vladimir-putin-kyiv-kharkiv-russian-invasion-update#block-621ebc1d8f0851056ae55310)of Russian attacks, including on apartments and a maternity clinic outside of Kyiv. Several people were also killed when homes in Zhytomyr in the north were hit by a cruise missile targeting a nearby air base, because Russian forces are evidently so inept they not only repeatedly kill civilians but do so using hopelessly outdated, [**ineffective ](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1498619303717142529.html)and unprotected[ technology.**](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2022/03/01/.%20%20https:/twitter.com/sbreakintl/status/1498619303717142529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F) In addition, their military strategy has apparently changed little since the Cold War; hence, reporting on the ground by CNN's Matthew Chance [**showed ](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1498332477076779010)the obliteration of a Russian convoy as it advanced straight ahead into fierce Ukrainian resistance near Kyiv. Ukraine’s Air Force, along with units of the army and Territorial Defense, also reportedly [**destroyed**](https://kyivindependent.com/uncategorized/ukraine-destroys-russian-column-near-mykolaiv/) a large Russian convoy near the city of Bashtanka in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region; military bloggers reported the convoy contained up to 800 vehicles. And a report in the *New Voice of Ukraine*, quoting a senior Ukraine official, said two elite Chechen death squads sent to kill President Zelensky had been "[**neutralized"**](https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3417134-kadyrov-forces-unit-aiming-to-kill-zelensky-eliminated-nsdc-secretary.html) after unnamed Russian security forces who "did not want to take part in this bloody war" handed over vital intel. The response from Ukraine forces: "We will not give our President or our country to anyone. This is our land."
Most dramatically, Russia's massive, 40-mile-long convoy that's been advancing for days toward Kyiv has reportedly[ stalled**](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/03/01/ukraine-russia-invasion-live-updates/9327835002/) about 15 miles outside the city. Various accounts say the forces - which include many young, inexperienced soldiers who were never told where they were going - are either [**running out ](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/russia-ukraine-conflict-kyiv-us-b2025988.html)of food and fuel, surrendering without a fight before Ukrainian resistance, or "self-sabotaging" by [**punching holes**](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pentagon-official-says-russian-troops-have-deliberately-punched-holes-in-their-own-gas-tanks-presumably-to-avoid-combat-as-morale-declines-report/ar-AAUu2sH) in their own gas tanks in order to avoid combat. Some observers suggest they could simply be re-grouping; most acknowledge, despite some promising turns, the Russian assault will inevitably grow more brutal in the coming days. Still, many are deeply moved by the courage and fierce defiance of Ukrainians seen via hashtags like [**\#GloryToUkraine,**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/GloryToUkraine?src=hashtag_click)[ \#FreeUkraine**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeUkraine?src=hashtag_click&f=live) and [**\#StandWithUkraine**](https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithUkriane?src=hashtag_click). People have posted[ photos ](https://twitter.com/SueSuezep/status/1498770688966025217)contrasting a villainous Putin and heroic Zelensky; they're tracking the ignoble travels of [**Russian Oligarchs' Jets; ](https://twitter.com/RUOligarchJets)they're [**celebrating ](https://lithub.com/on-the-ukrainian-poets-who-lived-and-died-under-soviet-suppression/)Ukrainian poets who've lived and died under Russian oppression; and they're sharing moments of stunning resistance, from the "Go Fuck Yourself" message[ lit up ](https://twitter.com/ianbateson/status/1498819990308462598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Adigby56%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F)outside Kyiv to the brave denizens of Melitopol [**blocking ](https://twitter.com/mjluxmoore/status/1498655849178402820)a convoy with their bodies. "When you attack us," warned Zelensky after Putin refused to meet with him, "you will see our faces. Not our backs, but our faces."
*([**Abby Zimet**](https://www.commondreams.org/author/abby-zimet) has written CD's **[Further](https://www.commondreams.org/further)** column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues.)*
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