In February 2022, with Russian tanks roaring toward Kyiv in support of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Biden administration offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He famously declined. “The fight is here,” he declared. “I need ammunition, not a ride.” He wasn’t alone. Despite the exodus of many in those early days, news reports suggested that many Ukrainians would stand their ground. There were reports — and images — of ordinary people setting up tank traps, manning checkpoints with hunting rifles they’d brought from home, mass-producing Molotov cocktails in abandoned factories, and training with wooden Kalashnikovs.

NR’s Jim Geraghty, in his travels to the country, met a resistance fighter who explained that it wasn’t merely a matter of following a bold leader like Zelensky; it was in the DNA or the national character: “Ukrainians have never relied on their government,” the individual explained. “We rely on ourselves. We won’t wait for orders to do something. Offense, defense, assault, ambush — just do it. This is our land . . . . Ukrainians can live everywhere. Even in the desert, we will find water.” Ken Harbaugh writes of a similar determination to resist the invaders in a recent piece for The Atlantic.

But neither bold leadership nor ethnicity........

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