Vladimir Putin has arrested and imprisoned thousands of people, both Russian citizens and non-Russians, for nothing more than having openly opposed his war against Ukraine, or spoken out against any of his many dictatorial policies. And it is those people whom we honor each week in this column.

But there is one individual who has been held hostage in his own country for nearly five years — not in prison, but under constant military bombardment and political attack — and who will spend the remainder of his life suffering the after-effects of a war he did not start, punished for the “crime” of being Ukrainian. It is that man to whom we pay long-overdue homage this week:

Volodymyr Zelensky was a famous comic actor, enjoying life with his family in the country he loves, when duty called. And he has taken up the reins of leadership, never faltering, never backing down, never losing sight of the importance of the task he has undertaken.

He cannot just turn in his resignation and walk away from his job when it becomes too hard to go on, because he understands that the freedom of his country and its people, and indeed of much of Europe, rests on his ability to defeat the aggressor. And in that sense, he is being held hostage by Putin’s maniacal determination to fulfill a vision of a new Russian empire.

In the face of overwhelming odds, and the unforgivable betrayal by his most valuable and trusted ally, he continues to inspire us with his steadfastness and determination. And so we pay our respects this week to Volodymyr Zelensky, in the hope that his efforts and his sacrifices will soon be rewarded with the victory — and thus the independence and peace — that he and his country so richly deserve.

*. *. *

And, this being Sunday, here again is the list of those hostages still being held in Putin’s prisons. Sadly, it still hasn’t gotten any shorter.

Prisoners of War:

The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine
The 6,000 Starving Citizens of Oleshky

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Endangered Exiles:

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin
Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Oleg Orlov
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Mahmoud Habibi (Afghan-American)
Paul Overby (American, missing since 2018)

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
– Farid Mehralizada
– Ulvi Hasanli
– Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
– Mahammad Kekalov
– Hafiz Babali
– Nargiz Absalamova
– Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
– Oleg Antipov
– Artyom Azatyan
– Georgy Azatyan
– Aleksandr Bylin
– Roman Solomko
– Artur Terchanyan
– Dmitry Tyazhelykh
– Vladimir Zloba

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
Aleksandr Andreyev
David Barnes (American)
Yevgenia Berkovich
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Yury Dmitriyev
Anastasia Dyudyaeva
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Aleksandr Kynev
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Svitlana Loi (in Ukraine)
Mikhail Loshchinin
“Madame Z” (in Ukraine)
Grigory Melkonyants
Dmitry Morozov
Boris Nadezhdin
Nika Novak
Svetlana Petriichuk
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
Ilya Remeslo
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Lev Schlossberg
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Karina Tsurkan
Arseniy Turbinin (age 18)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten. Stay strong.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/18/26