The Russian Federation has commenced an unjustified, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The situation is fast evolving. On Thursday, just as the United Nations’ Security Council was holding an emergency session in New York, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered strikes against Ukraine’s military infrastructure. Nearly twenty-four hours later, Russian forces have begun to roll across the country, bombing civilians and hospitals. An estimated 100,000 Ukrainians have fled west to Poland.

Hundreds of thousands more, however – men, women, and children – have taken up arms to defend their homeland. The death toll is only expected to rise, and commentators are beginning to label the invasion the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Russia’s bloody occupation of Chernobyl even flirts dangerously with the nuclear realities that Europe, and indeed Australia, now faces.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most serious incidents in humanity’s shared history.

Ukrainian-Australian composer Alexander Voltz.

Alexander Voltz. Image supplied.

The world has responded with outrage and despair. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has joined President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and scores more in condemning Putin, the lone architect responsible for Russia’s actions. The West’s sanctions...