But they might not have that long. Instead of convening defense units weeks or months ago, Ukraine is hastily teaching clerks and accountants and babushkas to throw old beer bottles full of gas—a useful skill, but coming awfully late. Scenes of civilians throwing such devices at a piece of towed Russian armor (and briefly setting themselves ablaze in the process) are good for Ukrainian morale but worrisome overall. Guerrilla tactics are not instinctive to most people. Is it better to toss a Molotov cocktail sideways out of your sedan window as you drive past your target, or better to drop it from a second-story window as the target passes? What do you do when the target shoots back? The advice “Here’s a gun and an incendiary device; go forth and do what comes naturally” will turn a few of its recipients into Ho Chi Minh and many others into corpses. The risks are not only to these fresh-baked Ukrainian guerrillas themselves. Right now in Kyiv, suspicion of Russian spies and saboteurs is understandably high, and checkpoints will be operated by Ukrainians who just learned how to find the safety on their rifle. Mistakes will be made, and friends shot.
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