I wrote a few months ago, under the title "Everything Old Is New Again, Ukraine War Edition," about prominent Russian singer Boris Grebenshchikov singing, on occasion of the Ukraine war, a 105-year-old antiwar song by Alexander Vertinsky. The closing stanza was,
And no-one thought simply to kneel
And to tell these boys, that in this talentless nation
Even bright feats of valor are only steps
Into the endless abysses, to the inaccessible Spring.
A couple of days ago, I came across another song by Grebenschikov, called "Истребитель"; this means "fighter plane," but I think it might also carry a more sinister shading, since the literal translation is something like "exterminator."
