Day 908 War in Ukraine

 

Natalie, call sign “Cobra,” a medic for 28 years.

“Washington is in effect blocking Britain from allowing Kyiv to fire Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia, amid fears in the Biden administration of an escalation in the Ukraine war.” So not only is Washington holding back US missiles, it’s holding BRITISH missiles as well! Also, Netanyahu seems to be able to do as he pleases without consequence. Worst. NatSec team. EVER!

Kursk operation has now expanded to control 1,250 sq km (777 sq miles) of Russian territory.

Zelenskyy again asks for authorization to use long-range missiles. He lists a number of other requirements for victory.

A volunteer from Finland dies defending Ukraine.

Denmark and Germany step up with packages of military aid.

Film clip of JDAMs used on Russian positions.

Ukrainian and Russians have very different objectives. Ukraine has no desire to permanently occupy Russian territory.

Situation around the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk still difficult. Kursk operation isn’t draining enough from the Pokrovsk area, but it’s having some effect.

A Russian unit “Rusich” with a swastika on their emblem announced a human sacrifice of a Ukrainian POW…

In 1972, Russians exploded a nuclear bomb underground near Kharkiv as a test. It got to the surface and created a mushroom cloud!

Burning oil depot near the Russian city of Rostov. 

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/19/war-for-ukraine-day-908-stuck-within-the-system/

 

 

 

Day 905 War in Ukraine

 

Yike! An M1 Abrams tank seen from the window of a Humvee.

Yeah, truly a terrible answer by Biden’s national security people. Long range strikes help to prevent Russian long range strikes! Long range strikes save Ukrainian lives!

Film clip of drone with Russian AK-74 assault rifle attached.

A year since Ukraine forcibly reopened the Black Sea to its commerce.

700 Russian troops surrounded. Bridge behind them blown up.

Russian Ka-52 helicopter shot down.

Ukrainians and Russians negotiating prisoner swaps.

Russia taking forces away from borders with Baltic states, Sweden and Finland in order to reinforce Kursk region.

Will the Kursk incursion threaten Putin’s hold on power? Ehh, probably not.

This might come to known as the Second Battle of Kursk. The first battle was fought in 1943, so it’s heavy with symbolic significance.

The Russian public, brainwashed by the propaganda it is fed constantly on TV, remains broadly supportive of the war.

As usual, John Mearsheimer is wrong and fears Ukraine’s Kursk incursion is a strategic blunder.

Russians behead a Ukrainian POW and film their doing so.

Ukrainian occupiers leave the Russian town of Sudzha largely intact.

WHAT? “The world’s biggest oilfield services company is expanding in Russia” Yup! Sanctions! Jail terms! Nationalization! The company should severely pay for this!

FBI searches home of Russian agent Dimitri Simes,.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/16/war-for-ukraine-day-905-as-the-clock-strikes-twelve-the-bombardments-resume/

Day 903 of Ukraine War

Alexandra Mulkevych died in the drone strike on the ambulance.

A working, occupied ambulance was struck by an FPV drone, which means the Russians knew exactly what they were aiming at! Alexandra, one of the medical personnel killed, was one day away from returning home.

Another Su-34 destroyed.

Ukrainians are using every British weapon in their possession except for the long range Storm Shadow missiles.

Russian trench-diggers are getting the equivalent of $2,250 per month.

Russia sending conscripts to defend against the Ukrainian Kursk incursion. There are alleged rules concerning how to deploy conscripts. Russia is ignoring those rules. Not many signs that Russians are letting up on some parts of the front in order to stop Kursk incursion. We’re seeing “scores of young Russian conscripts thrown at advancing elite Ukrainian airborne units.”

This would be a very good time to increase ammunition deliveries.

Air assaults on Sumy have primarily come from Kursk region.

Ukrainians are seeing to humanitarian needs of Russian citizens caught behind Ukrainian lines. “Russia has abandoned these communities without essential supplies,”

Starlink doesn’t work in Russia, so communications are a bit challenging for the Ukrainians.

Drones attack three major airbases.

Videos of airfields being hit by drones at night.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/14/war-for-ukraine-day-903-another-day-another-horrific-russian-war-crime/

Elon Musk, dictators and guns

 

I looked into this a number of years ago. It might very well be true in some cases, but Nazi Germany didn’t ban firearms for Jews ***until after*** Kristallnacht. In other words, der Fuhrer waited until Jews were politically powerless and THEN he banned firearms for them! Firearms for non-Jews were never banned. Many Germans kept private firearms all the way through.

Also, Black people kept their firearms as the US adopted Jim Crow in the late 1800s. Massacres like Tulsa 1921 happened anyway.

Laurel Buck, a 26-year-old white bricklayer, was at the county courthouse in downtown Tulsa when the first group of black men arrived in a car, armed with rifles and insisting to police officers they be allowed to protect Dick Rowland.

https://runitback.substack.com/p/020-get-a-gun-and-get-busy

Day 899 of war in Ukraine

So there are apparently no meaningful “red lines,” so why isn’t Ukraine given permission to use ATACMS missiles in Russian territory?

Russians attacking with drones instead of the usual missiles.

Identifying bodies from the supermarket in Kostiantinivka.

Ukraine has still not received clearance to use US missiles in Russia.

Kursk offensive by Ukraine into Russia appears to have been joined by second strike into Begorod oblast. Russia’s defenses once you break through the border area are quite weak.

General sense being chaos & abandonment [on Russian side] by Moscow. "I want to understand where our state is at all? Where is the administration?”

Russians describe military response to Ukrainian invasion “as a “counterterrorist operation,” giving them the same legal status as law-enforcement actions against Islamist extremist groups in the northern Caucasus.” Russia’s military is NOT in charge of counteroffensive against Ukrainians. Counteroffensive is handled by “the Federal Security Service, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency” FSB will loyally handle the job, but is unlikely to be successful.

Question as to how to secure border as conscripts are currently used.

Ukraine uses marine kamikaze drones to take out Russian naval targets.

Iran will be sending ballistic missile systems to Russia

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/10/war-for-ukraine-day-899-belgorod/

Day 892 of war in Ukraine

 

Ukraine wins first Olympic Gold medal of 2024 games in fencing! Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan defeated Russia’s Olga Smirnova, but refused to shake hands and was thus disqualified.

Russians commit utterly horrific war crime. Blogger assures us the image appears authentic, but we do not need to see it.

Woo hoo! Russians lose Kilo Class Submarine!

Also an S-400 air defense system not completely incapacitated, but badly damaged.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine needs to carry out long-range strikes against Russia. It needs to be able to hit missile launch sites.

Film on 95-year old woman who makes trench cakes for the troops.

Russian opposition figures urge that sanctions be lifted as they are hurting ordinary Russians. Problem: ordinary Russians are helping to maintain the war. Ukraine asks for acknowledgments that Russia is imperialistic and that they will denounce that in return. No, Putin is not the only driver of the war.

Crew of a T-80 tank.

More oil fields destroyed.

Secretary of Defense Austin seems exceedingly risk-averse. The inmates of Guantanamo were treated horribly, with torture, so they can’t be tried for crimes. They’re effectively serving life sentences in an extrajudicial manner.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/03/war-for-ukraine-day-892-a-brief-saturday-night-update/