TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
😱 A foreigner tried to take a Ukrainian woman abroad for sexual exploitation
During the transfer of a 27-year-old Ukrainian woman abroad, border guards together with National Police officers detained a Hungarian citizen. The foreigner intended to fly with his victim to the Kingdom of Cambodia. It was established that the perpetrator got to know the girl on social networks and, taking advantage of her difficult life situation, inclined her to work in brothels. As a result of searches, money, bank cards, draft records and a car used as a means of committing the crime were seized from the suspect.
The man was informed of the suspicion of committing a criminal offence. Investigations are ongoing.
@ukrainejournal
According to Reuters, the cumulative emergency downtime at Russian refineries due to UAV raids has reached 3.5 million tons, a figure ten times higher than the previous two years.
The drone attacks in March paralyzed nearly a tenth of fuel production in the Russian Federation. Approximately 13% of the total capacity of primary oil refining units at Russian refineries are currently in emergency downtime mode.
The number of damaged installations has tripled, and by mid-March, the volume of emergency downtime was 1.4 times higher than planned repairs.
Considering only refineries producing gasoline and diesel fuel, the economy has lost approximately 9% of production, equivalent to 77.4 thousand tons per day.
This drop in production has led to a surge in wholesale fuel prices in Russia.
Other estimates stated 600,000 barrels per day of Russia's oil refining capacity was disabled as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes, - Gunvor.
🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz
Fears of loud sounds and aircraft noises, grieving, depression and stigmatization by Russian peers based on Ukrainian accent and origin. This is exactly what Russian-kidnapped and transferred Ukrainian children keep living through every single day based on the Meduza investigation.
Russian students are pumped up with toxic propaganda calling Ukrainians ‘neonazis’ and ‘fascists’. That’s why children from Ukraine are often beaten and bullied after being enrolled into Russian schools.
Cultural origin of Ukrainian kids is disregarded. The true reason for the Russian invasion remains unexplained to them. Teenagers don’t have a clear vision of the reasons for this war. So the Kremlin released a specific manual teaching competent bodies and organizations of how to deal with it to transform their identity into the Russian one. Russian officials keep convincing illegally deported children from Ukraine that none will come after them and they should forget their homeland. In case a child's parents or relatives are missing it’s talked into believing they are dead even if it’s not proven.
"Supporting Ukraine is not charity, but a way to Make America Great Again," stated General Tod Walters, former commander of US and NATO forces in Europe.
"In a column for the Atlantic Council, Walters argues that all but the shortest wars are fought in stages, often reaching a stalemate when both sides need to rearm and train their personnel before further operations can proceed.
He sees the current situation as a limited period for rearmament and Ukraine's reassessment of its theory of victory. Walters views President Zelensky's replacement of the head of the Armed Forces as a prudent step toward laying the foundation for a new approach to victory.
Walters believes that continued support for Ukraine will have a significant impact on the lives of most Americans:
- Confirming the global superiority of the USA without the loss of American lives.
- Further enhancing US global leadership, particularly in matters of artificial intelligence and space activities.
- Inflicting a military defeat on Russia through an updated American defense and industrial base, prompting China to reconsider the United States' ability and willingness to defend Taiwan.
However, if the United States fails to support Ukraine, Walters warns of adverse consequences:
- An emboldened Russia is likely to continue sowing global discord.
- Europe may seek to reduce its reliance on the American defense industry and military cooperation.
- The ability of the United States to protect its global interests may diminish as countries become reluctant to cooperate with an unreliable partner.
Walters meticulously analyzes and counters the arguments of opponents who advocate discontinuing aid to Ukraine.
He concludes by emphasizing that supporting Ukraine is not an act of charity but a means for the United States to reassert itself at a time when its influence is waning. Turning its back on Ukraine would leave its allies vulnerable, potentially triggering a series of failures for America that could last for decades.
Russian daily losses
https://t.me/Ukraine_Report/20542
Alina Habba has her own disaster
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/disastrous-news-for-trump-attorney-alina-habba/55103/
Russia is tired of its ships converting to submarines
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-ordered-defenses-meant-stop-112442591.html
TOP NEWS TODAY 👀🔝
🇵🇱Poland and 🇩🇪Germany have formed a new joint "Tank Coalition" for Ukraine.
🇩🇪 Germany has announced a package of military aid to Ukraine worth €500 million.
‼️ The evacuation of 9,000 residents (children) was announced in Belgorod region, Russia.
🇫🇮 Finland will provide €30 million for the purchase of artillery shells for Ukraine.
🇺🇦 This year, we will achieve the maximum Ukrainian defense production, — Zelensky
🇵🇱 It is better to use frozen assets to prevent the consequences of aggression, - Sikorski
⚡ GUR helps Russian volunteers to fight against Putin's regime, - Yusov.
🇪🇺 "EU to impose tariffs on grain imports from Russia and Belarus", - Financial Times
🇺🇸 Republicans are getting serious about one potential solution to the monthslong fight over Ukraine aid: loan", - Politico
🇩🇪 Germany will cover the costs of 180,000 artillery shells for Ukraine outside the EU.
🇱🇺 Luxembourg joins the artillery coalition led by France and Germany!
From "The Analyst":
THE MOLDOVA QUESTION
It has no coast, it has one of the lowest per capita incomes in Europe, almost nobody flies there except its own tiny airline. And its eastern side is a separatist area with alleged Russian ‘peacekeeper forces’ who spend most of their time spying on Ukraine as they protect a massive ammo dump right on Ukraine’s border.
Transnistria is operated almost as the personal fiefdom of the Sharif family. They control everything from the mobile network to the supermarkets and the petrol stations. In places the area is barely 1km wide. Moldovan military capabilities are minimal and they have no means of dealing with another outbreak of fighting.
Moldova itself - once known as Bessarabia, was Russian, then after WW1 became part of Rumania - which it has most in common with ethnically and culturally. In 1939 the USSR demanded it back and Hitler acquiesced in an updated territorial redistribution post Nazi-Soviet Pact, forcing Romania to cede it. Then in 1941 the Romanians took it back as they assisted in Operation Barbarossa. By late 1944 the Russians took it back again and kept it as the Bessarabian SSR, until the fall of the Soviet Union when it declared itself an independent republic and used the name Moldova 🇲🇩.
It seemed a relatively safe spot. Jammed between Ukraine and Romania it had no natural enemies.
But Russia never saw it that way. Like many of the territories it seized it colonised them with ethnic Russians, especially around the military bases on the border with Ukraine, that eventually broke away as Transnistria.
The west did what it always does and looked away. It was a nowhere worth knowing about backwater with no resources and no money to be made. Neither Ukraine or Romania were too happy about the Russians sending peacekeepers but it was what the separatists wanted and the only way of solving the problem. And that’s how it’s stood for most of this century to date.
Suddenly Moldova is right on the frontlines again. Its neighbour is under siege, the Russians are literally on their doorstep in Transnistria and they’re not in any military or political alliance. The current President Madam Maia Sandu, treads a forceful but determined line - EU membership is on the cards. To forestall any changes to that path she’s just called a referendum to ensure that should it be a positive outcome, no future government can change that process.
The opposition party is rabidly pro-Russian and their leader has recently just been to Moscow asking for Putin’s help to ‘save’ the country from the west. The country is riven with Russian disinformation campaigns and they never stop trying to undermine the elected government. Moldova with a pro-Russian leadership right on Ukraine’s border and NATO’s is a dream condition.
Recently there have been suggestions the Russians would send in airborne troops to assist in overthrowing President Sandu. In any other time they would do it but I can’t imagine how they could ever cobble together a force even if they wanted to. The airborne forces were largely obliterated in their original form last year on the frontlines.
The question then, that remains unanswered is what if President Sandu asks Romania to intervene to save it - with possible Ukrainian assistance? Would they do it? I think they well might. Romania would never have thought of it before but now, after what’s happened it feels like it’s on the frontline too. NATO is building its biggest base ever in Romania, at the cost of $2.5 billion. It knows it’s not alone and its accommodated everything NATO has asked of it. Romania is turning into a bulwark and a staunch supporter of Ukraine. Seeing Moldova fall to an illegal pro-Russian take over isn’t going to be acceptable. Not any more.
Any potential crisis in Moldova will need to be dealt with quickly. Only Romania can do that. No doubt Hungary would be up in arms about it but there’s a cost for doing anything.
Moldova deserves the opportunity of being in the EU and eventually NATO, with Ukraine.
Maksym Marmazov's life ended in Kupyansk, Kharkiv Region.
On March 14, 2024, he came across explosives while tinkering in his garden. Maksym died of injuries on the way to the hospital.
A week before, the Russian military took the life of his mother-in-law during the shelling of residential buildings in the Kupyan region.
Maxim Marmazov was 44 years old. He was an employee of the Kupyan district of the Kharkiv branch of "Gazmerezhi", held the position of a locksmith.
Worked in the gas distribution industry for 15 years. His wife Natalya Marmazova also works in this field as a senior operator of the gas accounting sector.
"The gas distribution industry has lost a high-class specialist. He will always be remembered as a professional, a true friend and colleague who is ready to lend a hand and help under any circumstances," said colleagues of the deceased.
Maksym Marmazov is survived by his wife, son and mother.
Ukraine can launch 30 to 60 long-range drones at Russia every night - BILD analyst
Since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have attacked 12 oil refineries in Russia with drones, conducting 17 strikes. The maximum range of damage was 900 km. The attacks affected 12% of Russia's oil refining capacity. As a result, on March 1, the Russian authorities imposed a six-month ban on gasoline exports, fearing a shortage in the domestic market.
In addition to refineries, fuel depots, airports, and other infrastructure facilities are under attack.
From "The Analyst":
RUSSIANS STRIKE INTO KUPIANSK FOREST
The Russians began an offensive after extensive northern front regrouping, aimed at Synkivka, which is the key to opening up the attack path to retake Kupiansk.
The odd way the Russians have gone about this is completely different to their usual doctrines.
No preparation was made for the assault in advance - none of the usual essential artillery or air raids. They have also tried frontal assaults before with no success.
Previously the forest has been heavily fought over as the Russians tried to gain ground to prevent a Ukrainian flanking attack and give themselves more options to attack the village. However they failed to achieve any of these goals in the recent past.
Ukraine had sown the forest with trenches and mines, and the whole area is hopeless for carrying out mechanised assaults of any kind.
The latest attack had the Russian frontal assault on the village in the open ground, carried out by MTLB troops carriers with assault groups, which captured some Ukrainian trenches and held some ground northeast of the village.
To aid there advance the Russians have managed to infiltrate special operations ‘partisan’ units well behind Ukrainian lines to try and damage their logistics in the region.
This is a new departure for the Russians.
As the Russians moved in to capture a Ukrainian trench, Ukrainian drones spotted the appearance of heavy artillery and were successful in directing counter-battery fire at the attackers.
The Russians seem to have been on a timetable and went ahead with these attacks despite the fact they had been forced to redeploy most of their reserves to deal with the rebel forces incursions into Belgorod and Kursk.
Yet again the importance of drones in alerting Ukraine to upcoming attacks and tactical movements proved critical in the defence.
I think it’s also necessary to remind ourselves what the forested areas now largely look like. The battle lines and a significant area either side are basically decapitated tree stumps and very rough terrain. There are no trees where the battles have taken place. It’s something of a WW1 style landscape. It’s also still late winter and there’s no greenery. When it rains it’s a bog, and it’s very difficult all of the time to supply small units of troops in trenches and foxholes.
So how this unfolds in the next few days is difficult to foretell. It all depends on Russian capacity to sacrifice more men for not a lot.
Meanwhile the brave defenders do what they can to resist.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!
From "The Analyst":
REPUBLICANS NEED TO AID UKRAINE - TRUMP IS GOING TO LOSE
Trump has been forced to admit that, having been criminally found guilty of 17 cases of fraud, he owes $464 million to the State of New York. He cannot get an insurance company to put up a bond because he doesn’t have anything like the assets to secure it. This is in addition to another $93 million he was able to get a bond for, to appeal the E Jean Carroll sexual assault case.
Trumps outlandish rhetoric and behaviour at rallies have really started to put off the electorate. The Republican Party is facing ‘67% reductions in small donor funding’ against the same time in the 2019 campaign when he was president. Worse still the big donors are nowhere to be found. SuperPacs supporting Trump are short of money and virtually begging. There is a huge drop in the money available to elect senators and representatives - most of them are having to raise their own or self-finance.
And that puts many in the Senate on alert. Some are facing uphill battles. Many in the House have decided not to even run.
Amongst the topics that are not largely discussed is that Americans in a sizeable majority, want Ukraine to survive and win - and they want to aid the country to do so. Republicans have swallowed so many Russian talking points and become so beholden to the right wing extremity bubble, they just don’t see that what they espouse isn’t what the average decent American wants to see or hear. For their own sake funding Ukraine properly would be good for them, but they have gone so far down the Trumpian rabbit hole of lies and misinformation they can’t find their way back out even if they wanted to.
All the indicators right now suggest that unless there is fraud, Trump is losing the path to election. Even his old vice-president Mike Pence refused to endorse him - the first time that’s ever happened.
Aiding Ukraine may actually help the republicans hold some of their seats, but they’ll never acknowledge it.
The only good thing, is that longer term, the torture of another Trump term will with luck, fade into obscurity.
Speaker Johnson, GOP face crunch time on Ukraine - The Hill
The House returns to Washington on Tuesday facing heightened urgency to move more military help for Ukraine but with no formal deadline — and no clear strategy — for getting it passed.
The lower chamber is scheduled to be in session for only four days before a two-week holiday recess, and Kyiv’s supporters, including top Democrats in both chambers, are urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to move the additional aid before week’s end.
“We cannot go home for Passover and Easter — we must have this assistance to Ukraine,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
Yet Congress is facing a Friday deadline to fund the government and prevent a partial shutdown — a process expected to dominate the week — and Johnson has given no indication he’s ready to move quickly on a foreign aid package in the short window before the break, nor has he disclosed what such legislation would look like.
Indeed, the Speaker has said he wants to focus first on funding the government and shift to a package of national security issues — including aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as funding for more security at the U.S.-Mexico border — only afterward.
“We are moving through our normal appropriations process — should be done by this Friday — after which the Speaker’s indicated he’s committed to putting this supplemental on the floor,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.”
That timeline would push the earliest potential action on Ukraine until April 9 — three weeks away — when the House is scheduled to return to the Capitol after the long holiday recess.
In the eyes of many Democrats, Ukraine’s beleaguered forces don’t have that long to wait.
Russian troops are slowly advancing, while Ukraine is running low on resources.
ContFrom "The Analyst":
RUSSIANS STRIKE INTO KUPIANSK FOREST
The Russians began an offensive after extensive northern front regrouping, aimed at Synkivka, which is the key to opening up the attack path to retake Kupiansk.
The odd way the Russians have gone about this is completely different to their usual doctrines.
No preparation was made for the assault in advance - none of the usual essential artillery or air raids. They have also tried frontal assaults before with no success.
Previously the forest has been heavily fought over as the Russians tried to gain ground to prevent a Ukrainian flanking attack and give themselves more options to attack the village. However they failed to achieve any of these goals in the recent past.
Ukraine had sown the forest with trenches and mines, and the whole area is hopeless for carrying out mechanised assaults of any kind.
The latest attack had the Russian frontal assault on the village in the open ground, carried out by MTLB troops carriers with assault groups, which captured some Ukrainian trenches and held some ground northeast of the village.
To aid there advance the Russians have managed to infiltrate special operations ‘partisan’ units well behind Ukrainian lines to try and damage their logistics in the region.
This is a new departure for the Russians.
As the Russians moved in to capture a Ukrainian trench, Ukrainian drones spotted the appearance of heavy artillery and were successful in directing counter-battery fire at the attackers.
The Russians seem to have been on a timetable and went ahead with these attacks despite the fact they had been forced to redeploy most of their reserves to deal with the rebel forces incursions into Belgorod and Kursk.
Yet again the importance of drones in alerting Ukraine to upcoming attacks and tactical movements proved critical in the defence.
I think it’s also necessary to remind ourselves what the forested areas now largely look like. The battle lines and a significant area either side are basically decapitated tree stumps and very rough terrain. There are no trees where the battles have taken place. It’s something of a WW1 style landscape. It’s also still late winter and there’s no greenery. When it rains it’s a bog, and it’s very difficult all of the time to supply small units of troops in trenches and foxholes.
So how this unfolds in the next few days is difficult to foretell. It all depends on Russian capacity to sacrifice more men for not a lot.
Meanwhile the brave defenders do what they can to resist.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
Ukrainian officials said an airstrike killed 20 people in Odessa, and last month Russian troops captured the key city of Avdiivka.
“The clock is ticking, and we hade to get the bipartisan national security bill over the finish line before we leave town next Friday, March 22 — before we leave town,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned last week.
“It’s reckless to do otherwise.”
The Democrats’ ultimatums are designed to put political pressure on House GOP leaders to consider a Senate foreign aid package, including $60 billion for Ukraine, which passed easily through the upper chamber last month by a 70-29 vote.
Johnson, however, hasn’t budged, rejecting the Senate bill out of hand for lacking border provisions and vowing to send a more conservative House alternative back across the Capitol — maybe as a package, maybe in separate pieces — at some unspecified time in the future.
The issue has emerged as a huge challenge for Johnson, who’s scrambling to provide more military assistance to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s advancing forces without sparking a revolt in his own GOP conference, where the appetite for foreign aid has waned, and the wrong move could cost him his gavel.
Complicating the political math, former President Trump has opposed both Ukraine aid and tougher border provisions — the centerpieces of Johnson’s vague plan — before November’s elections, warning against lending President Biden a political victory on an issue that stands as one of his top vulnerabilities in his rematch against Trump.
Many House conservatives have adopted Trump’s isolationist leanings, and some are pushing Johnson to scrap the idea of providing any more military aid to Ukraine — now or ever.
Johnson told reporters at the House GOP’s annual retreat in West Virginia last week that he understands the urgency of sending additional aid to Ukraine, but he has disclosed few details on how he intends to accomplish that goal — leaving lawmakers, White House aides and Ukrainian officials in the dark as they sound the alarm about Kyiv’s dwindling arsenal in its battle against Moscow.
The mystery of how Johnson plans to move Ukraine aid is deepening by the day as he gets closer to having to make a decision. The Speaker told Politico in an interview last week that any Ukraine legislation would likely be a “stand-alone” bill and be considered under a fast-track procedure known as suspension of the rules. By “stand-alone,” Johnson meant the assistance for Ukraine would not hitch a ride on must-pass legislation such as government funding, according to a leadership aide. But that does not necessarily mean it would be free from border provisions, which has been a key request from congressional Republicans.
The aide said the components of a bill or series of bills are still being worked through with members, and leadership has not provided any guarantees on being able to move something.
During a conversation with Senate Republicans at their retreat last week, Johnson floated tweaking the upper chamber’s foreign aid bill to make it a loan or lend-lease program rather than a grant. He also discussed including language that would allow the U.S. to use seized Russian assets to pay for the aid, similar to the REPO for Ukrainians Act sponsored by McCaul.
But by predicting that the Ukraine aid would move under suspension of the rules — which requires two-thirds support for passage, meaning buy-in from Democrats is a must — Johnson is signaling that the legislation would be bipartisan, a detail that raises more questions about the makeup of the measure.
Johnson last week suggested that border security is still part of the conversation — Republicans have demanded that any aid for Kyiv be paired with policy to address the situation at the U.S. southern border — but it remains unclear how that will attract support from Democrats.
“I believe, and the American people believe, we have to secure our own border as the top priority, and I think that is a sentiment that the vast majority of the people in the country expect and deserve. And we’re gonna continue to press for that,” Johnson told reporters Friday when asked if he was considering moving Ukraine aid without border security policy.
Lawmakers in both parties recognize the difficult situation Johnson finds himself in as he contends with a Ukraine in need, vocal Democrats calling for support for the embattled U.S. ally, a pair of discharge petitions trying to go over his head and a rowdy right flank that has threatened to force a challenge to his gavel.
“It is in everyone’s best interest not to delay. However, we are operating in a divided government with a slim majority,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), a proponent of Ukraine aid, told The Hill.
“Navigating government funding and other foreign aid priorities in this environment requires buy in from everyone,” he added. “I’m confident Speaker Johnson will thread this needle swiftly.”
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2993. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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