Someone shot up two transformer substations in North Carolina Saturday night, plunging 40,000 Americans into the dark and cold for at least a few more days. It comes at a time when Vladimir Putin is doing the same to millions of Ukrainians, destroying their electric grid, however, in ways that will make blackouts this winter protracted and, for many, deadly.  

 I was present last night when Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Institute for the Study of War, a group that has assiduously documented the serial Russian invasions of his country and makes the case – as did their honoree – that it is fighting our common enemy and requires continued Western support.  

 The evening’s inspiring theme was that the plucky Ukrainians will go without power – and even food and water – rather than submit to Putin’s aggression. Their allies may face the same prospect. 

 

This is Frank Gaffney.