I just returned from a trip to Ukraine, spending eight days in Kyiv. During that time I became acquainted with many fine Ukrainian engineers, including one who had spent two years in the Ukrainian army, fighting in several noteworthy battles, before being mustered out for wounds.

This gentleman, who asked that I refer to him by his army call sign, “Ispanets,” was in the first wave of the UA forces when they liberated the town of Bucha from Russian occupation on April 1, 2022. Riding on one of the lead vehicles of the liberating forces, Ispanets took a video with his phone, which he showed to me. Here it is. (The following contains graphic imagery.)

The scene in the video is shocking. As Ispanets’s vehicle moves into the town under light freezing rain, we see bodies littering the landscape. Bicyclists lie dead by the side of the street, apparently shot down as they were riding.

Executed civilians — shot, their hands bound behind their backs — are lying everywhere. The town is a wreck, and the only living beings that come out to greet the liberating column are some dogs.

Bucha fell to the Russian army on February 27, 2022, enduring nearly five weeks of Russian occupation, before Ispanets and his comrades took it back. Over 450 bodies of murdered Ukrainians were found, mostly thrown together in mass graves. But some, as Ispanets’s video shows, were not afforded even that dignity.

This is what the Russian occupation is like. Mass murder, with the bodies left to be eaten by dogs. Homes vandalized and looted. Children kidnapped.

This is the brutal reality of the Russian cause. This is what Putin hopes to bring to all of Ukraine, and then the Baltic states, as he seeks to re-establish what Ronald Reagan correctly named the Kremlin’s evil empire.

There is no peace to be had by submitting to such occupation, only death. Ukrainians will not go softly into this very dark night. They will fight to their last drop of blood to resist, and to liberate all of their fellow citizens who are now suffering under this iron heel. With a modest amount of help from us, they can win.

In this connection, I will mention a few more things Americans need to know.

• Ukraine is rapidly building up a defense industrial base, of a novel kind. The country has many fine engineers — Ispanets is superb — but what makes it truly unique is its military’s openness to innovation and improvisation. I’ve worked in the American aerospace industry for nearly four decades, and I have never seen anything like it. Technological innovations that would take years to implement here, they accomplish in weeks. Some of this has made the news. For example, they have turned small drones from toys into a new military arm that can outfight artillery and defeat the Russian navy. There is a lot on its way from where that came from. The Pentagon stalled delivering Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine, on the pretext that the Ukrainians would never be able to learn how to use them. But, when — after a year and a half of Pentagon stalling — the missile batteries were finally sent, the Ukrainians not only mastered their use. They improved the system, making it capable of shooting down Russia’s hypersonic missiles, which were supposed to be immune. We could learn a lot from these guys. Furthermore, we need to do so, because our defense-innovation process has become much too slow.

• If Ukraine loses, it will be solely because of the outrageous stupidity of both the Biden administration and its Trumpist opposition. The creation of Ukraine’s defense-industrial base requires security from air attack. Kyiv has this, because the Biden administration finally did send enough Patriot batteries to protect to city. The Patriots really work. During the week I was in Kyiv there were numerous air raids, but the Russians landed only one serious hit. Biden has sent only a few Patriots, however, leaving Kharkiv, Odesa, and many other important cities uncovered. In consequence, the Russians have been left free to bomb the cities at will and are blasting away at their power systems. This needs to be stopped. There are currently 483 Patriot-missile batteries deployed around the world. Four have been sent to Ukraine. We should send 40.

• As far as offensive operations are concerned, Russia can be defeated by a combination of strategic strikes, which can bankrupt the country by wrecking its highly vulnerable oil industry, and tactical use of medium-range airpower. Using their increasingly effective drone army, the Ukrainians have made a good start at the former task, only to encounter bizarre opposition from the Biden administration, which supposedly wants to stop Russian oil exports through sanctions. The second objective could readily be accomplished by sending Ukraine adequate numbers of F-16 fighter aircraft and Army Tactical Missile Systems. While opposition from Trump-allied Republicans has not been helpful in this regard, Biden could readily circumvent them by declaring a sufficient quantity of these obsolescent weapons surplus. Thus armed, Ukraine could cut off Russia’s line forces from supply, forcing their withdrawal from the country.

We can stand by Ukraine and achieve victory against an evil enemy bent on our destruction. Or we can let evil prevail, lose a worthy ally, and, by deserting a friend, lead our other friends to conclude that they might as well desert us.

The choice is ours.