Here are the latest Russian combat losses from the Telegram channel The Center for Countering Disinformation. Numbers in black show previous day’s totals, red are those added for yesterday. The Ukrainian military is superior in every way to that of Russia, except of course in the sheer numbers of bodies it can throw into the war to be killed. But that is apparently not a concern for Russia.
Russian combat losses as of 04 April, 2022
How to Help
Jim Hicks in his book Lessons From Sarajevo, A War Stories Primer speaks about how war is presented to those not present in it. He addresses the relationship between victim, aggressor, and observer, and how the media so easily inserts the observer into the equation using images, words, and video to elicit a “proper” response, such response dependent on agenda of the outlet of course. Hicks tells us this is nothing new; he cites Walt Whitman’s writing about the Civil War in the United States, and of course there are many earlier examples; we most often label them propaganda. What is new is how quickly we become party to the action, with information shared instantly and constantly, and most importantly the fact that we can take action and not merely maintain the attitude of the observer.
Being an observer, sitting on the sidelines and feeling sorry for the victims is the position most of us take. There are feelings of sympathy, pity, compassion, and shock which perhaps get us to anger, shame, and frustration. We arrive finally at helplessness as a spectator. But we can all become actors. The simplest way is to help feed the survivors of Russian aggression.
The World Central Kitchen posted a video yesterday showing some of the damage in the places they are now reaching inside Ukraine – yes, they are helping to feed people in devastated areas of the country. Donations to the World Central Kitchen help feed Ukrainians who have been under siege for many weeks- this is a positive action that we can all be part of, no matter where we are, or how helpless we feel.
At Five AM 