The Hill ran another ‘Ukraine Narrative 2.0’ story yesterday headlined, “Zelensky: Russian forces control one-fifth of Ukraine.” The Ukrainian president briefed Luxembourg’s parliament yesterday, and admitted that Russian troops have now invaded over 3,600 “settlements.” The good news is Zelensky claims Ukrainian forces took back over 1,000 of them. He also reported that 12 million Ukrainians have now been displaced by the war, which is only about 100 days old.

So I guess this means Ukraine needs more weapons and money or something.

More interestingly, the Hill noted in passing that Ukraine has now “joined” NATO’s cyber-defense group and attended its first meeting in Estonia on Monday. According to a blog post by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, a NATO committee is now finalizing an agreement to ‘formalize’ Ukraine’s participation in the organization. Which means Ukraine’s already on board, the rest is a mere formality.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand the nuance. Ukraine isn’t joining NATO or anything; it’s just joining NATO’s cyber-defense group. One little part of NATO. It’s completely different.

But I wonder if the Russians will see it that way?

The Hill also reported, in passing, that Ukraine “has over the years received significant financial and technical assistance from the U.S. and the European Union to strengthen its cyber defenses.” Did you realize how strategically important Ukraine has been, or that we’ve been helping them get ready to fight Russia “for years?” I didn’t. I don’t recall seeing any debates about that in the House of Representatives, but I guess I could’ve missed it somehow.