February 26, 2022

Anti-Russian Acts of Defiance: A Tennis Player, a Piano Player, and Ladies Making Molotov Cocktails

It’s not just about sanctions and armies.

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Wars are fought not only with soldiers and bullets but also with hearts and minds. If those could be translated into military victories, Ukraine would have defeated Russia already.

In Ukraine and throughout the world, official sanctions against and repudiations of Russian President Vladimir Putin because of his violent invasion of a sovereign country are also accompanied by remarkable and creative expressions of defiance. Landmarks in cities are illuminated with the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag, flights with Russian officials are rerouted, a boy keeps playing the piano in an area under attack, road signs in Ukraine are taken down, and groups of women are quietly assembling Molotov cocktails to defend their country. 

Here are a few powerful reminders of resilience and creativity at work in the face of unprecedented aggression. 

Meanwhile, some women in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine, and in Kyiv are preparing for the arrival of Russian troops. 

At the Dubai tennis championship, Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev has a message to the world. 

Strangers helped a child cross the Hungarian border to find their mother. 

It’s getting harder, no make that impossible, for Russian officials to travel. 

It gets difficult to navigate when the highway signs are missing.

And all over the world, people are learning the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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