evidence: Lviv, Vinnytsia, Odessa, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro and Kharkiv — this was my 1,167-mile route. I had ice cream in Lviv’s main square, then a lunch of vareniki in Odessa, where I was honored to be the only foreigner to carry a huge Ukrainian flag up the Potemkin stairs in celebration of Ukraine’s independence day. Back on the road, I briefly considered resting for the night in Kryvyi Rih; the hotel Aurora, where I would have stayed, was destroyed in the recent Russian attack that killed four people. I stopped in Dnipro, where I have been buying tourniquets for civilians and soldiers. Finally, I arrived in Kharkiv, took a stroll in a park with a friend and listened to a young girl playing violin. This past weekend, several buildings in Kharkiv were obliterated by Russian ballistic missiles; since my stroll, seven people have been killed by glide bombs in the city, including a 14-year-old girl. Russia’s recent assault was, according to Ukrainian officials, the largest since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. This was the "escalation" so feared by Washington. President Joe Biden has called the attacks "outrageous."