Yaroslav Bazylevych came to The Hague at the end of January to bear witness — to relive the worst day of his life again to try to win the West’s attention.

In September, a Russian hypersonic missile tore through his home in Lviv, Ukraine, instantly killing his wife, Yevheniya, and their three daughters — Yaryna, Dariya and Emiliya. No matter how deeply we try to empathize, no one can comprehend such a loss.

Bazylevych speaks because retelling his story is the only way to make us see — if we are willing — the true and heinous nature of Russian aggression. So that Americans and Europeans might feel, even for a moment, the enormity of the violence Russia inflicts on Ukrainians. So we might finally grasp that “never again” is not just a phrase to recite in speeches, but a sacred responsibility. Living up to it begins with a clear admission: Ending a war of conquest is never in the victim’s hands.

When a murderer announces an intent to kill, then breaks into your home to do exactly that, the only way for the victim to “deliver peace” is to die quietly. Ukraine rejects war every single day. The problem is that the invaders haven’t rejected the killing.

Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, we remain trapped in “both-sides-ism” and a postmodern discomfort with moral clarity. Ukraine’s fight is righteous. And Russia, which launched an unprovoked war, deserves nothing but defeat.

During the Cold War, Soviet Russia posed a direct threat to America, and its nuclear arsenal........

© The Hill