Words and Weapons for Ukraine

Plus: How to stop the crazy

“A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers. The intimation of mortality is part of New York now: in the sound of jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest edition.” — E.B. White, “Here is New York,’ 1948

Flames and smoke rise from a fire following an artillery fire on the 30th day of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on March 25, 2022. - (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Happy Wednesday.

Despite my rather dark meditations on the fragility of things in yesterday’s Secret Podcast with Mona Charen (available to Bulwark+ members), we begin today with some good news.

Via Michael Weiss:

How it started:

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk visit the New Jerusalem Orthodox Monastery outside the town of Istra, some 70 km outside Moscow, on November 15, 2017. ( ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

How it’s going:

Fugitive oligarch and Russian President Vladimir Putin's close friend Viktor Medvedchuk is seen handcuffed after a special operation was carried out by Security Service of Ukraine in Ukraine on April 12, 2022. (Photo by Security Service of Ukraine/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Here’s the story via the AP:

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service….

Putin is the godfather to Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter.

**

Meanwhile, the president uses his words. “Biden accuses Putin of committing a 'genocide' in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Biden’s remarks the “true words of a true leader,” though top U.S. officials have resisted using the term, even amid evidence of brutal torture and killings and growing accusations that Russia has committed war crimes against Ukrainians.

Via the Wapo: “Pentagon looks to vastly expand weapons for Ukraine.”

The Biden administration is poised to dramatically expand the scope of weapons it is providing Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday, with the Pentagon looking to transfer armored Humvees and a range of other sophisticated equipment.

The new aid package could be worth $750 million, these people said….

But, but, but…

Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC

In an about-face, a senior U.S. defense official says the Biden administration is no longer planning to send Ukraine Mi-17 helicopters, despite notifying Congress yesterday it intended to do so. Via @LucasFoxNews

This is crucial, because…