Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 as part of what Putin called a "special military operation". Ever since then they have been bombarding towns and cities thereby killing men, women and children indiscriminately. NATO and 'the West' have sent arms and ammunition to Ukraine but have refrained from putting boots on the ground, or planes in the air, for fear of starting World War III. Whether 'we' will get dragged into the conflict, either by weight of public horror at what is happening, or by some trigger-happy Russian accidently shooting down one of the reconnaisance planes constantly patrolling the Poland/Ukraine border, or even as a result of the madman in the Kremlin launching either nuclear or chemical weapons, remains to be seen.
Almost everybody in the world is praying for peace, and an end to the barbaric slaughter of innocent people. Humanitarian aid is being offered to the millions of Ukrainian women and children who are leaving their country to seek refuge in one of the countries bordering Ukraine. All of those countries are now struggling to cope with the sheer weight of numbers looking for food and shelter.
Naturally, everbody wants to do something to help Ukraine in its hour of need. I have offered my services, as a very old Russian interpreter, to the UK MOD. I'm reasonably sure they won't call for me unless or until they are scraping the bottom of the barrel but British military Russian speakers are thin on the ground and you can't just pluck somebody off the street and turn him/her overnight into a soldier with military skills and with the ability to speak Russian. As the old Russian saying goes "На безрыбье и рак - рыба" (literally where there are no fish, even a crab is a fish, or, in other words, in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.) So, I've dusted off my old uniform and, somewhat surprisingly, discovered it still fits.
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To change the subject to one more palatable, yesterday was the vernal equinox, the day when the Northern Hemisphere starts to tilt towards the sun and the days become longer and sunnier. Here are the daffodils in my garden. Welcome to Spring everybody! Relax with Vivaldi's Spring.
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