Two weeks ago, the Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi was the rare reporter to get into Pokrovsk, Ukraine, which is facing a tough Russian onslaught. It hasn’t fallen, something many expected in September, when Monitor writer Dominique Soguel reported from there about civilian evacuations.

It’s a story that has meaning not only for Ukrainians but for the world as well. Yet a group of Ukrainian officials who visited the Monitor recently posed a searing question: Are Americans thinking of us as we struggle to defend our democracy? One woman told of her father, who was killed fighting last year. Her husband is a soldier as well. Eventually, she said, I, too, may wear a uniform.

Their commitment to their freedom was unassailable. We reassured them that our commitment to sharing their stories is the same.