Another Morning Walk Through the Apocalypse

Take a long, hard look at this photo.

This is what a morning walk looks like when your city is being used as a ballistic missile testing ground. A bloke in a t-shirt and shorts, carrying one spaniel and walking another, navigating his way through shattered glass, ripped insulation, and the gutted remains of what used to be a functioning neighborhood.

The dogs don’t care about geopolitics. They don’t care about interceptor shortages. They just need a walk, and so you put on your backpack, step over the twisted metal, and you take them out. This is the grotesque, entirely normalized reality of life in Kyiv today.

About last night

If you were sleeping soundly last night, here is what you missed in Ukraine:

• The Barrage: Overnight into Monday, Russia unleashed yet another massive, multi-wave swarm of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles across Ukraine, with Kyiv and Odesa taking the brunt of it.
• The Toll: At least 21 people were murdered in their sleep. Dozens more are injured or still being dug out from under the collapsed rubble of residential high-rises in the Darnytsia and Podilskyi districts.
• The Vulnerability: According to the Ukrainian air force, not a single one of the 23 ballistic or hypersonic missiles fired by Russia was intercepted.

Why? Because the Patriot missile batteries that actually stand a chance of stopping these things are running dry. The West’s supply of interceptors is lagging, and the Russians know it. They are exploiting the gap with ruthless, calculated efficiency.

Thoughts and Prayers from the Waiting Room

Later this week, world leaders will gather in Ankara for a NATO summit. There will be lots of handshakes. There will be deeply concerned faces. There will be meticulously drafted press releases reaffirming “unwavering support” and “ironclad solidarity” with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, back in Ukraine, guys like the one in this photo are hoping they don’t step on shrapnel while taking the pets out to do their business.

President Zelensky will be at that summit doing exactly what he has to do: asking for more Patriot interceptors. Not because he wants to play the role of the beggar, but because without them, the airspace above Kyiv is wide open for whatever high-explosive payload Moscow decides to drop on a Sunday night.

We can send all the “thoughts and prayers” we want, but thoughts don’t intercept ballistic missiles, and prayers don’t pull families out of collapsed apartment blocks. Only air defense does that.

Until the West realizes that rationing air defense is just signing civilian death warrants on an installment plan, we will keep waking up to scenes exactly like this one.

Just another Monday in Ukraine. Keep walking the dog.