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
😔🫡On the Independence Day of Ukraine, the Zelensky couple honored the soldiers who died in defending Ukraine and the free world
🇺🇦 Today was the 55th exchange of prisoners of war , - Ombudsman Lubinets.
In total, 3,520 Ukrainians have returned home since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
❤️🩹Welcome to the Motherland on the day of the Independence of Ukraine!
⚡️Ukraine returned 115 fighters from russian captivity.
These are soldiers of the National Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard.
The were exchanged following mediation by the UAE.
Among them are 82 military personnel who defended Mariupol, including about 50 defenders of Azovstal, naval sailors, three border guards and conscripts, national guardsmen from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant garrison, military personnel who defended the Kyiv region and took part in the battles near Hostomel, etc.
Nine illegally convicted prisoners of war were also released.
More than half of those released are conscript soldiers who were held captive by the aggressor for more than 2 years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports.
Many of the returnees have serious health conditions.
KHARKIV COUNTER OFFENSIVE
It’s been coming a while but the Ukrainians do seem to have engaged in a counter offensive in the Kharkiv sector. The OPSEC is tight but the move seems to be aimed at cutting off
Vovchansk from its access to the border regions behind.
With Russian forces being forced to deploy to cover the Kursk offensive further north, the timing is good.
This pressures the Russians to stay put and not interfere further north while at the same time achieving - hopefully- another major collapse of Russian positions that would be exceptionally humiliating for Putin. The whole Kharkiv operation has been a disaster from the day it started.
If Ukraine can dislodge the Russians then that places them in a position to enter Russia itself and cause mayhem in another sector of the frontline.
The whole strategic situation for Russia is changing.
The manpower issues are becoming increasingly difficult with losses running at 1300 a day. Recruitment isn’t working and even though they increased manpower in Ukraine from 400,000 to 600,000 almost all of that increase has been burned up. Moscow is faced with another round of undercover forced recruitment of another 200,000.
This has upset the big industrial war producers who are easy targets for the recruitment process because they can’t afford to loose the manpower. Putin won’t declare a public mobilisation because it’s so unpopular.
The army tends to find the softest targets and goes after those, but the regions are also complaining. Lack of manpower is resulting in infrastructure failure due to lack of maintenance and their budgets to enforce conscription and mobilisation are virtually zero.
There has been no effort to recruit women into work or industry - a move also seen as even more unpopular even as it’s technically essential.
It’s all a lesson in how, in an idealised dictatorship, the very fabric of the dictatorship fails to operate and do what it must do to survive, because it’s afraid of unsettling the people and risking its ability to survive if they get upset.
Dressing up victory and war as endless success when you aren’t winning and won’t even admit it’s a real war comes back to bite you in the end. All the pretence about what it is and why you’re doing it starts not to make so much sense. Forcing more men into the meat grinder is just another way of driving home you haven’t got a clue how to win, or when this thing can end. Even the lies start unraveling when every promise and excuse eventually falls flat or fails to materialise.
Putin only has himself to blame. He is clearly no strategic genius, just a bitter little man whose mind seems unable to focus on the details because it’s just too much to listen to. He never visits the front or meets ordinary soldiers and airmen. He never meets the injured or hands out medals to men in their hospital beds. He remains aloof and remote and isolated from reality. He’s become more and more like Hitler as the war proceeds. He could never face the public or the bombed cities, visit troops and couldn’t stand the site of injured or dead soldiers. These tyrants can never face what they have done.
Strangely enough Trump has the same feeling towards injuries and death as he made so clear again recently.
All these men in the end, are guilty cowards.
Today is Ukrainian Independence Day. It’s 33rd.
Day 913 of the war.
I wish the people
Of Ukraine well, I wish them victory and I promise to continue to do what little I can to help them win.
‘The Analyst’ MilStratOnX
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!
Bohdan Belashov was born in Sumy. He was actively involved in football for five years, then got an injury, due to which the doctor forbade him to play professional sports.
He graduated from Sumy National Agrarian University College with a major in Finance, Banking and Insurance. Went to study at Sumy State Pedagogical University named after A.S. Makarenko Together with his friends, Bohdan volunteered, collected funds and helped children with cancer. He enjoyed life, made plans for the future.
On May 14, 2022, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Armed Forces. From 2023, he defended Ukraine in the Donetsk direction. He held the position of gunner of the 3rd separate assault brigade.
On May 31, 2023, soldier Bohdan Belashov, with the call sign Belka, died near the village of Stupochki in Donetsk region. The soldier was 23 years old.
One weather app says 15% chance of rain. The other says rain after 11AM.
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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