I’m really starting to agree with Allahpundit at this point. Volodymyr Zelensky may well be dead in the very near future, but if so, “Ukrainians will know his name for generations to come.” It turns out that somebody inside the Biden administration offered Zelensky and other top officials some sort of evacuation plan where we would spirit them out of the capital and presumably out of the country to safety. Zelensky’s response, according to one U.S. official familiar with the conversation, was to say that “the fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.”

It’s tough to even know what to say in response to that. We’re used to seeing national leaders scurrying off to shelter when fighting breaks out. (Look no further than former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who heroically fled to Dubai with a helicopter full of cash when the Taliban approached Kabul.) But Zelensky will stand and fight. And he’ll probably die unless Russia backs down, which seems unlikely in the extreme. Zelensky’s people are standing with him. Military recruiting offices are overwhelmed as men, women, and children show up to volunteer, take up arms, and prepare to fight the Russians. It may be a futile effort in the end, but it has the makings of a last stand suitable for a Hollywood classic. (NY Post)

The US government offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Kyiv — but he declined.

“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelensky said, The Associated Press reported, citing a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation.

Zelensky, 44, instead chose to remain in Ukraine’s capital as Russian forces brought the fight to the city streets, where gunfire and explosions were heard overnight Friday into Saturday.

The besieged president said his family had been evacuated to safety.

I don’t want to build this into something more than it already is, but Zelensky is reacting in a way that sounds rather familiar. You may already be familiar with the story of Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe. He was the acting commander of the allied forces in Bastogne, France on December 22nd, 1944 when the town was encircled by Germans. Two Nazi officers arrived with a written offer to accept McAuliffe’s surrender. His only response to them was, “Nuts.” Shortly after that, Patton’s Second Army arrived from the south and drove the Germans back. Unfortunately for Zelensky, there is no Patton equivalent on the way to provide relief. He and the Ukrainian people are in this fight on their own.

As the sun rose in Kyiv this morning, it was obvious that Putin had already begun scaling up the attack. Early estimates showed there were additional casualties in the hundreds. Russian shells had hit apartment buildings, schools, and bridges. Major Russian troop movements were being reported and it’s believed that they could be in the capital in force by the end of the day. Assuming Zelensky doesn’t decide to surrender (and there’s no sign of that), Putin will be denied the relatively quick and bloodless victory that he was hoping for to minimize international criticism of the invasion.

Here’s Zelensky this morning in a new video he posted to Twitter. I don’t speak Ukrainian so I have no idea what he’s saying, but you just have to admire the heck out of this guy. A loose translation provided by someone replying to the tweet indicates that he’s telling his people that reports of him calling for them to lay down their arms and surrender are simply Russian propaganda. The capital cannot fall and everyone must prepare to defend it.

Не вірте фейкам. pic.twitter.com/wiLqmCuz1p

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022

If the Kyiv Independent newspaper is to be believed, advance Russian forces tried to enter central Kyiv last night but the Ukrainian military and civilian resistance repelled them. They reportedly “destroyed a column of Russian forces, including two trucks loaded with tanks and another tank.” Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are dying, but so are Russian troops. If this keeps up much longer, Putin will begin losing support for this war in his own country, assuming that hasn’t already started to happen. It’s still almost impossible to imagine Ukraine actually defeating the invading Russian forces entirely, but they’re making Putin pay a steep price for every mile of ground he manages to take.