Remember Mariupol

Like the Alamo, heroism has consequences that endure

Refugee civilians in Mariupol, Wikimedia Commons

Russia has moved the focus of its attack from the north, a direct assault on the capital of Ukraine, to the east, an area known as Donbas — Ukraine’s old industrial heart, long the target of an eight-year war between Russian-backed separatists and the best-trained forces of the Ukrainian army. This has triggered a humanitarian crisis. It…