Published: March 21, 2022 | Date of Source Audio: March 17, 2022

Transcribed and modified for publication from the original audio program

Hugh Hewitt covers the latest headlines out of Ukraine

Hugh Hewitt: Reuter's latest headlines in the hour … “Hundreds are feared buried after Russia destroys Mariupol theater serving as a shelter, clearly marked.”

There are pictures all over the web of this theater in which children were being housed along with adult caretakers has been reduced to rubble – that’s a war crime. There are going to be hundreds of people dead inside of this drama theater.

“‘Russia purposely destroyed the drama theater, where hundreds of people are hiding,’ Mariupol city authorities said in a statement on Telegram. Officials posted a photo of the building whose middle part was completely destroyed, with thick white smoke rising from the rubble. Officials said a bomb was dropped on this building from an airplane. ‘It's impossible to find any word to describe this level of cynicism and cruelty with which Russian invaders are destroying peaceful residents of a Ukrainian city by the sea,’ the official statement read.”

The Times of Israel has a story on this horrific situation. “Mass graves, hunger, nowhere is safe: Besieged Mariupol descends into despair and agony,” it begins. It's an AP story. “The bodies of the children all lie here, dumped into this narrow trench hastily dug in the frozen earth of Mariupol to the constant drumbeat of shelling. There's 18-month-old Kirill, whose shrapnel wound to the head proved too much for the little toddler's body. There’s 16-year-old Iliya, whose legs were blown up in an explosion during a soccer game at a school field. There's a girl no older than six who wore the pajamas with cartoon unicorns, among the first of Mariupol’s children to die from a Russian shell. They are stacked together with dozens of others in a mass grave on the outskirts of the city.”

“Putin is a war criminal. Putin's a sociopath.”

Russia disgusts me. The officers who ordered this are war criminals. Putin is a war criminal. Putin's a sociopath. The man is crazy and indifferent to anything you say or do. And you can't believe a word that he says. …

“Ukraine mounts a counteroffensive to drive Russians back from Kyiv, and key cities.” This is in the Wall Street Journal. “Ukraine said its military has launched a counter offensive in its capital, Kyiv, and other key cities as President Zelensky urged the United States Congress to provide more weapons and increase economic pressure on Russia.”

I'm sure many of you watched President Zelensky yesterday. Later after the address, Senator Tom Cotton, who had been on the show in the morning, appeared on Fox with Harris Faulkner and said this:

Clip of Senator Tom Cotton: Unfortunately, the sanctions haven't stopped the fighting. It would've been much better to start these sanctions weeks or months ago. Again, this is another example of President Biden being on the back foot, not wanting to take any action that might offend any of our allies in Europe, hoping that he could somehow dissuade Vladimir Putin from invading when he had 200,000 troops in Ukraine's border. That time has passed. We need to focus on the here and now. We need to throw the kitchen sink at Moscow in these sanctions. But more importantly, we need to get these weapons to the front lines. Do you know what will stop Russian aircraft and Russian missiles? S-300 air defense systems, not sanctions on Russian politicians, as appropriate as those are. It's time for the White House to quit dragging its feet and send everything that shoots to every Ukrainian that can arm it or that can carry those arms.

Hewitt: Very well put, Senator Cotton ...