By Dennis D. McDonald

Watching the daily evidence of Russia’s war against the Ukrainian people is a sickening reminder of the effects of war on people and nature. There is no escaping evidence of Putin’s Hitlerian atrocities given availability of satellite imagery and on-the-ground smartphone cameras. Hopefully these images are available as well to the Russian people as a constant reminder of what their government and armed services are doing in support of Putin’s pursuit of his lebensraum.

Also hopefully, sooner — rather than later — we will see “before and after” images of Ukraine’s rebuilding. I was reminded of this by a recent article in Japan’s Mainichi newspaper, In Photos: 28 years after quake, albums of Kobe's recovery donated by hobby photographer. The selection of pictures shows a sample of urban before-and-after photos.

Given that 6,000 people died and 30,000 injured in that January 1995 earthquake, Mainichi’s images just scratch the surface of the suffering caused by what was a natural phenomenon. Putin’s war on the Ukrainina people, however, is not a natural phenomenon but an example of human action. The Ukrainian and Russian people will be paying for these atrocities for many years to come.

Copyright (c) 2023 by Dennis D. McDonald

The satellite photo shown at the top of this article was pubished on March 29, 2022 by CNN in its online article New satellite images show entire city blocks destroyed in central Mariupol.