Yevhen Matveyev was the mayor of Dniproprudne, in Ukraine. When the Russians occupied, they took him captive. He has now been tortured to death. To read about this, go here. A related article: “At least 6 Ukrainian mayors held captive by Russia, Zelensky says.”

• “Putin at helm of ‘systemic’ program to Russify Ukrainian children, Yale study finds.” For that article, go here. “Since February 2022,” the article says, “nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and sent to other Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine or to Russia itself.”

The Kremlin has been doing this for ages: “Russifying.” Whether you like it or not. Every patriotic or nationalistic heart ought to rebel against this.

• A report by Daria Shulzhenko, in the Kyiv Independent, begins with a warning: “This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes.” The headline: “ ‘It’s excruciating’ — Ukrainians describe surviving Russian attacks that cost them health, loved ones, and homes.” I don’t believe that a person needs to know every detail. But I think we all have an obligation to be generally aware.

• War crime after war crime, in multiple forms. The headline over this report reads, “Life without light: As Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid bring blackouts, Kyiv residents carry on in the dark.”

• You are familiar with our pivoters. They talk like this: “Forget Ukraine, forget Europe. We have to pivot to Asia. The real ballgame is there. We have to keep China from taking over Taiwan.”

Tsai Ing-wen, the former president of Taiwan, has a different view. “They should do whatever they can to help the Ukrainians,” she said. She meant us Americans. “A Ukrainian victory will serve as the most effective deterrent to future aggression.”

• Tulsi Gabbard is Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence. She was once a congresswoman (a Democrat). Here is an excerpt from an ABC News report:

Three former aides said Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, regularly read and shared articles from the Russian news site RT — formerly known as Russia Today — which the U.S. intelligence community characterized in 2017 as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.”

• The head of RT is Margarita Simonyan. Another star of Russian state media (the only kind of media there is in Russia) is Vladimir Solovyov. Lately, they have been exulting that Trump’s nominees “will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick.”

• Many Republicans have succeeded in demonizing Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. They refer to Putin’s assault on Ukraine as “Zelensky’s war.” Anna Paulina Luna, a congresswoman from Florida, is a perfect example of the breed:

• There are other Republicans, however:

• Dmytro Kuleba was the foreign minister of Ukraine. He says, “This war will continue as long as Putin believes that Ukraine has no right to exist. And everyone who believes otherwise is either a fool or on the Russian payroll.”

• Sir Richard Moore is the head of MI6 (British intelligence). He says, “If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state, he will not stop there. Our security — British, French, European, and transatlantic — would be jeopardized.”

He further says, “The cost of supporting Ukraine is well-known, but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher. China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened, and Iran would become still more dangerous.”

• Gorinov is still alive, but spare a thought for him. A report says,

Imprisoned former Moscow municipal deputy Aleksei Gorinov, known for his outspoken criticism of Russia’s war against Ukraine, has been handed a new three-year prison sentence for “justifying terrorism.”

After a three-day trial, a Russian military court on November 29 handed down the sentence to the 63-year-old, who is in poor health.

Unbelievably brave man. The bravery of Russian dissidents and democrats is a special kind of bravery indeed.