Vladimir Putin’s civilian casualties appall us, but there will be more

The Reality of War. Across the country, another six-year-old, Sofia Fedko, her little brother Ivan and her mother and father were killed outside of Kherson when Ukrainian forces attacked their cars in what has been described as a mix-up. A photo of the child in happier times shows her holding a snowball in a gloved hand in a pink ski coat, smiling for the photographer.

In any conflict with a growing death toll, society always runs the risk of lumping them all together under the dehumanizing term of “civilian casualties”. But every once in a while, a face like that of a little girl causes a burning sensation in the soul that would stop anyone, like a slow-motion horror movie that none of us can stop at home with a pause button. It’s always the ordinary people who suffer.

Easy? Absolutely, although as a viewer it’s impossible not to let emotion encompass rational thinking on the subject as you watch Babies in bomb shelters and buildings on the streets reduced to rubble.

And that brings us to Vladimir Putin, in whose name this illegal invasion began and who is now defying his oxen in blood. Because it is Putin, for whatever reason and whatever history, decided that he would take Ukraine at all costs. This does not mean NATO and its eastward expansion is not blameless – rarely does conflict ignite from the airwaves – but the decision to invade Ukraine, a sovereign country, rests with the Russian ruler, as does the responsibility.

At Oliver Stone the Putin interviews, the Russian head of state comes across as highly intelligent, thoughtful, an expert on world history and a master at quietly articulating propaganda. He is polite even when under pressure. The only sign of his frustration at a question is an occasional twitch of his right hand on the arm of his chair.

Without looking at such footage, it would be easy to form a one-dimensional picture of someone who is the epitome of the paradox of being fed spin and counter-spin for decades.

With any kind of conflict, there is a risk that the protagonist will immediately be dismissed as crazy, evil or dangerous. This is a mistake, because it would underestimate the calculated steps that such a man of power (and they are almost always men) would be willing to take to defend his position at all costs. The Western portrayal of a dictator who lost the plan falls far short of a proper confrontation with Putin.

The reality is much, much worse. Putin is not upset. Cold, calculating and methodical, he has been plotting to invade Ukraine as revenge for years.

Addressing Stone, Putin said: “I often hear criticism directed at me that I regret the collapse of the Soviet Union. First of all, the most important thing is that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, 25 million Russians ended up abroad in one night, and this is the biggest catastrophe of the 20th century.”

Putin is taking back what is rightfully his, and his illegal methods are the greatest disaster of the 21st century to date, causing more than a million people to flee for their lives in just one week. If he conquers Ukraine, which he likely will, millions more will find themselves under an authoritarian regime they did not ask to rule.

Never underestimate a small man seated at a very large table – an appendage second only to his ego, necessitating the sending of dozens of young men to their deaths for a cause most didn’t even know was they fought for it.

In a conflict that has been brewing for decades, although it was sparked quickly, people seek someone to believe in and naturally gravitate towards the outsider, Volodymyr Zelensky, creating a caricature: politician-turned-actor , once the voice of Paddington Bear, now arms the Teeth and leads his people in a death duel.

It’s hard to imagine that one of the world’s leaders, comfortable in suits, sympathy and sanctions from afar, would ever put himself in such a situation. Instead, they are content to let Ukrainians fight the West’s war by proxy, like lambs to slaughter.

And so it’s not hard to feel sympathy for the Ukrainians, winning the propaganda war and fighting one hell of a fight on the ground — getting them to succeed in a world nervous about the threat of nuclear war.

Putin claims Russia is fighting Nazis in Ukraine. During the week Russia bombed Babyn Yar, the site of a memorial to the Nazi massacre of 100,000 Jews, Soviets, communists, Ukrainian nationalists and Roma. Zelenskyy countered, “You are killing Holocaust victims for the second time…You have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all.” It is hard to imagine a more sinister statement.

There will be more victims. More mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. More soldiers, barely out of childhood, more city sieges, more hunger, more cruelty, more people passing their children on like precious packages to take them across borders to safety.

war crimes. Inhumanity. ethnic cleansing.

More inexcusable destructive orders from the little man at his big table, dragging the world into decades of repercussions.

And more six-year-olds, like the little girl in the unicorn pants, who had her whole life ahead of her last week and can’t be brought back from the dead.