The War Room: Ukrainian forces are holding tough and even pushing the Russian forces back in some areas as their country is pounded to rubble.

  The Ukrainians today claim to have destroyed a Russian ship. “The destroyed ship in Berdyansk could carry up to 20 tanks, 45 armored personnel carriers and 400 paratroopers,” deputy defense minister, Anna Malyar, said in a statement. “This is a huge target that was hit by our military.”

  The Russians continue to attack civilian areas in an evident effort to make cities unlivable. On the western side of Kyiv yesterday, rockets tore apart houses, apartment blocks, and businesses across an area a mile and a half wide. 

  After such attacks, the US government has formally concluded that the Russians have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement:

“We’ve seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities.  Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers, and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded.  Many of the sites Russia’s forces have hit have been clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians.”

  Of course, accusing Vladimir Putin and convicting him are two different things. At the least, prosecutors would have to prove through communications that Putin ordered what his commanders are doing in the field.

  As the war grinds on, NATO is doubling its battle groups on the alliance’s eastern borders. The organization now estimates that up to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the opening of the invasion a month ago, with a total of as many as 40,000 dead, wounded, taken prisoner, or missing. 

  Among the dead on the Ukraine side is Oksana Baulina, a Russian journalist who had reported on government corruption, killed in Kyiv while filming the destruction caused by shelling and rockets in the capital. She worked for The Insider, an independent investigative news website based in Latvia that is critical of the Kremlin. She had previously worked for The Anti-Corruption Foundation of the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. 

The Diplomatic Front:  President Biden is in Brussels today on a diplomatic mission to stiffen the resolves of NATO, the G7, and the European Union against Russia’s aggression.

  Biden steps in at a momentous time after President Donald Trump’s regime of “America First” and threats to leave and cripple the NATO defense alliance. The President told a group of business leaders earlier this week that Putin “never thought NATO would stay resolved — stay totally, thoroughly united.” He said, “And I can assure you: NATO has never been stronger or more united in its entire history than it is today, in large part because of Vladimir Putin.”

Aftermath: Residents of a New Orleans neighborhood are digging out and sorting through debris after a tornado yesterday morning with winds up to 165 mph tore apart homes and in some cases picked them up and threw them over other houses. One man was killed.

  Worst hit were the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency and said, “We’re calling on the insurance companies to do the right thing, just give the people the benefit of the premium dollars that they paid for and treat them with respect and conduct themselves in good faith.”

Confirmation Bias: Hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded yesterday after what was a political sideshow of Republican grievances. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn attempted to label Jackson as a liberal activist on issues of race, gender, guns, and abortion rights.

  Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the only Black member of the committee, brought Jackson to tears declaring,  “You are my star. You are my harbinger of hope.” He said, “This country is getting better and better.”

The Obit Page: Madeleine Albright, the former US ambassador to the United Nations and the first woman to serve as US secretary of state, has died of cancer at age 84.

  The Czech-born woman whose family fled both Nazi and communist oppression, Albright rose to be a smart, tough, and savvy player on the world stage. It was President Bill Clinton who appointed her to the UN and later to the State Department.

  A groundbreaking woman herself, Albright famously said in a speech, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”

  Only after becoming Secretary of State did Albright learn that she was of Jewish heritage but that her parents raised their children as Catholic to shield them. Twenty-six of her family members, including three grandparents, died in the Holocaust. 

  Albright had served as an advisor to a series of politicians including Jimmy Carter and Sen. Walter Mondale before Clinton plucked her from relative obscurity. He record in international relations was marred after the killing of 18 US peacekeeping troops in Somalia in 1993 and the US withdrawal from peacekeeping roles. In 1993 the US stood by while a million people were massacred in Rwanda.

The Spin Rack: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is still in the hospital with what’s been described as “flulike symptoms.” There’s been no further explanation. — A California man charged with taking part in the January 6^th insurrection has been granted asylum in Belarus. Evan Neumann, 48, first fled the US to Ukraine before going to Belarus where he claimed “political persecution” in the US. — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers went back on their word and announced they will not allow the education of girls beyond 6^th grade. — An American diplomat was able to meet with the WNBA star Brittney Griner for the first time since she was arrested on drug charges in Russia more than a month ago. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said Griner is “doing as well as can be expected under these very difficult circumstances.”