Gorbachev was a man loved by many but hated by Russians

It is hard to overstate the irony of timing. Six months and a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine — on the same day that Ukraine announced the start of its long-forecast offensive to reclaim the southern district of Kherson from Russian occupation — the death was announced in Moscow of Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the Soviet Union and the last General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.