Recently, two pictures caught my attention: one from a London subway shelter in World War II, another from a Kyiv subway in 2023, Both sets of citizens obviously awaited an all clear to resume their lives. Both called forth a similar respect for ordinary people surviving efforts to subjugate them. Other than picturing more people awake and examining cell phones in the second, both highlight the ability of ordinary citizens to win fierce fights simply by patient endurance: simply waiting out the all-clear to resume their lives and their struggle for independence.

Indeed, Russian citizens, when threatened with a Nazi takeover in World War II, showed a similar resistance to subjugation. Perhaps more Russian people than we know may sympathize with the Ukrainian desire for freedom.

What a hope—that one day, Ukrainians and Russians, both politically free, will discover true friendship between two free and independent states.