Here is a cool picture tweeted by the Defense of Ukraine Twitter account. I always love to see the Ukrainian soldiers receiving some love from a domestic cat who's probably a stray having lost their owner to death or disappearance. Here, with soldiers, they can find some human caregiving and contact. We don't know for how long. This war - Putin's invasion of a sovereign territory - is appalling. The Russian war crimes are horrendous. I hope they pay the price. A war tribunal is being set up as I understand it both inside Ukraine and in Northern Europe (believed The Netherlands). Ukraine soldier with tabby cat. Image: Twitter. And here is a funny response also from Twitter: Feline reinforcements arrive to defend Ukraine. Image: Twitter. I should not omit dogs. They also provide a lot of comfort to the Ukraine military and vice versa. They have a home for a while. But life is very fragile. These human-to-cat relationships are liable to be shattered at any minute.

  There is a big question mark over whether Putin is mad, super-intelligent or somewhere in between. Anyway, he has sent the troops into Ukraine to take over the country; to annex the country to Russia because he thinks that Ukraine should be part of Russia.  I believe that he has had aspirations to include Ukraine as part of Russia for a very long time. That is why I believe all the diplomacy and negotiations which have taken place over the past few months have been a complete waste of time. His mind was set and there was no turning back. In fact, it was impossible for Putin to turn back once he was on that path. To turn back would be losing face. It would be a sign of defeat before he had even started.  There has been a lot of discussion in The Times newspaper about whether he is genuinely slightly mad at least. He has been isolated for quite a long time partly because of Covid. In addition, he has a small group of advisers around him some of them going back to his KGB ...