DW P.
Producer and Film Director @ Ukraine Story | Documentary Filmmaker | Attorney | Journalist | George Mason University – Antonin Scalia Law School
Ukraine Story
United States
April 17, 2025
The Courage of the Widow of the “Hero of Ukraine”
If you’ve been following my posts, you know that I lost my close friend and Ukrainian F-16 pilot Pavel Ivanov on Saturday, April 12th. He was an adopted member of my household for the better part of a year while training for the jet. He was part of a community of Ukrainian pilots who became family to me—sharing dinners, holidays, movies, cigars, drinks, prayers, songs, and stunning conversations about love and freedom.
If you’ve read about the circumstances of his death, I assure you, you’re missing the most important parts of the story. There is a reason why he was immediately awarded Hero of Ukraine with Order of the Golden Star by Zelensky.
I can tell you only this: he volunteered for a dangerous mission and died defending the women and children you’ve been reading about over the week.
Since his death, I’ve been speaking throughout each day with his beautiful 23-year-old widow. I won’t attempt to describe the pain of a young bride losing the love of her life. What I can say is that both she and her husband—like so many Ukrainians—are warrior poets. They think like poets and warriors, and speak the same way. It is extraordinary. I lament the loss to those Americans, dripping in ignorance, for the splendor and inspiration they are missing at this moment.
I’m going to ask you to leave your comfort zone for just a minute and imagine the reality for this woman.
She began the month as a new bride and ended it as a widow. Russian special services sent agents to assassinate her by burning her alive in her home. They failed. The perpetrators were captured and will soon face justice. During her husband’s burial yesterday, the Kremlin sent drones—and then a jet—forcing the service to be left incomplete. Soon, she will receive the Hero of Ukraine award for her husband from the president, one of only 1,080 men in history. It’s beautiful, but it’s no consolation.
Back here in the U.S., my own family received hate mail from “friends” who are part of a movement whose name will remain unspoken. The theme was: “Sorry for your loss, but that’s what he gets for following a dictator.” I will not dignify such diabolical behavior with a response. But I will fight harder than ever to see that this slavish philosophy of hate is exterminated from my nation.
At this point, there are tight protocols around names and pictures. The Russians are not content to kill the warrior—they must destroy his family and burn his home to the ground. Sadly, the most beautiful elements of this story I cannot share at this time. Someday I will. It needs to be a feature motion picture.
Here is what I can tell you:
In the midst of extraordinary suffering and loss, my friend — the widow of my brother-in-this great fight for freedom — finishes most of our conversations this way:
“I am weak, and my heart has been cut out. But I am also the wife of Pavel Ivanov, and I must be strong for my country.”
……………….
Comment from :
Cmon, DW P., we all know the name of that “movement”, no need to sugarcoat it: MAGA. Or, perhaps, the most rabid sect in that cult – tuckerites.
Reply from DW P:
Liubym Gerasymenko, FCCA, MIM The death of my friend is sacred. I do not wish the two names to be spoken in an article dedicated the honor of my friend.
Duncan Scott
Thank you for sharing what you can.
This post has brought tears to my eyes which is a rare occasion.
To target the widow of a defender who has paid the ultimate price is despicable.
My thoughts are always with the heroes, emergency workers, civilians and families of those lost in Ukraine.
I am hoping that is is not long before we see Ukraine and the US return to normality.
Please keep yourself safe DW P.
Eric Stanhagen
The depths of russian depravity are evidently unlimited, and in some circles here in the US they are considered worthy of emulation. I will join you in the fight to defend the Constitution and the limited government of enumerated powers it established.
Cheryl A. Madden, historian and biographer of the Stalinist Holodomor
Please give her my condolences, DW. In this harsh reality, suchlike expressions from afar are not of practical use to her and others grieving the losses of this existential war, but words are expressed with tears and in sympathetic sincerity. May God uphold and defend her, and may her beloved stand as her guardian angel ever watchful and always made proud of her thoughts and deeds. Vichnaya pamiat’…
Nikki Searancke
This was hauntingly beautiful and sad commentary will be remembered by many who read it to commemorate a brave and courageous pilot and his brave wife! May she be blessed in her life as continues her journey to protect Ukraine 🇺🇦, as you are in posting this courageous commemoration!
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April 18
The Party of Ronald Reagan Voted Again to Support the Imperial/Soviet Vision of Putin at the United Nations.
It has been a week of infamy for the United States as American leadership has:
(1) shut down its operational agency tasked with defending against Russian KGB disinformation;
(2) blamed the war in Ukraine on Ukraine;
(3) absolved Russia of culpability for their Palm Sunday Massacre of civilians;
(4) refused to sell purely defensive systems to Ukraine for the purpose of defending innocent life;
(5) maligned and slandered the president of Ukraine;
(6) humiliated the Free World with the unprecedented sycophancy of Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin; and
(7) the same American Vice President who has declared censorship the greatest threat to the West, has demanded the self-censorship of the president of Ukraine for calling him out as a mouthpiece of Russian narratives.
And if only it ended there.
Today, the President directed the United States ambassador to the United Nations to side with Marxist Leninist nations, autocrats and war criminals, and against allies and the Free World, by opposing a vote condemning Russia for its criminal acts of terror.
For historical context, before the second Presidency of Donald Trump, both Democratic and Republican administrations voted in opposition to Russia on high-profile or contentious issues, especially related to geopolitical conflicts.
Today we are allied with Russia, North Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Belarus.
In another era such behavior would be described by Republicans as the work of “Commie, Pinko, traitors to freedom and KGB collaborators.”
Note – The U.S. did not even abstain. It sided with communists.
………………
Comment from :
Christopher J. O’Shea
DW P.: “We have met the enemy and he is us”, by Walt Kelly (1972) …
From the Congressional Record a timely and pertinent blast from the past:
“I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear,”
“As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.”
Senator Smith ended with a warning: “It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME)
United States Senate
June 1, 1950
Kristen Petr Gersh
The former Ambassador was Linda Thomas Greenfield, left office in January 2025…. she was a strong supporter of Ukraine.
The current Ambassador, Dorothy Shea, has done this….. I don’t know how she can live with herself —Zero conscience.
Alex Maksimec
By aiding and abetting russia’s genocide since taking office, trump must now be held responsible as a party to these heinous crimes
Ellen Hoffmaster
RPINO = Reagan’s Party In Name Only
……………..
The Battle Prayer of the Ukrainian Warrior
When King David went into battle he prayed. Psalm 144:1 “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.”
Ukrainians offer a similar prayer.
“Heavenly Father, bless us.
For I seek to defeat the enemies of my homeland
….the rapists of my sisters…”
Video here :
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Comment from :
Yes, the enemy must be destroyed — not negotiated with, not asked nicely, not appeased by half the world.
Just destroyed.
Bruce Leane
Avenge every single one my warrior Ukrainian brothers! ✊😎⚔️⚔️🫡🇺🇦 HEROIAM SLAVA 💛💙💛💙 “They who commit the crime…you must take their time”
Hans Guenther Koch
Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 May many think that Russia is invincible, be sure, it is not at all and it already faces bankruptcy…
Two unbelievably sad posts from DW P, followed by a powerful prayer and brilliant, inspiring video.
God bless Pavel’s widow and surviving family.
The cruelty, depravity and evil of putlerstan knows no bounds.
As for those who provide succour to this devilish regime : God damn you to hell.