TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

Jeff Tiedrich https://open.substack.com/pub/jefftiedrich/p/this-week-in-stupid-march-9-edition?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

MPs from the German governing coalition spoke out against Pope Francis’s statement

"Before Ukrainian victims wave the white flag, the Pope has to make loud and clear calls for cruel Russian criminals to take down their pirate flag, the symbol of death and Satan," said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the Free Democrats, who heads the Bundestag Defence Committee.

Herself a Catholic, she also noted that the Pope has failed to criticise Patriarch Kirill.
"Why in the name of God is he not condemning verbal incitements to kill Ukrainian people made by Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the former KGB agent?" she asked.

Meanwhile, Katrin Göring-Eckardt of the Greens said in an interview that no one wants peace more than Ukraine does. She added that "it is Putin who can immediately stop this war and suffering, not Ukraine. Those who demand that Ukraine just surrender give the aggressor that which he claimed illegally, and thus agree to the destruction of Ukraine," she said.

@ukrainejournal

Rest on Peace

Air force major, fighter pilot, 33-year-old Andriy Tkachenko died in the sky over the Donetsk region during a combat mission.

He was from the city of Sambyr, Lviv Region.

The hero has a small son left.

"Didn't know how to start". How a 21-year-old repairs tanks and other machinery - hromadske

"At first it was difficult to repair the tanks. When they said: "You're going to make a tank!" And you come and look at it, you don't know how to approach it. A million tubes and wires. I twisted it two or three times, and it gradually starts to come out," says 21-year-old Oleh.

He comes from Lyman, in Donetsk region. Oleh was 18 when he received the summons. Without thinking, the boy went to military service, and from there he switched to a contract. For two years now, he has been repairing military equipment in the 59th Yakov Handziuk Motorized Infantry Brigade.

From dawn to the first dusk, the guy works practically without days off. Sometimes going on a short vacation to the Vinnytsia region to his girlfriend, with whom they have been together for 5 years.

"From school, I am the only one serving, the others have all left. Even those whom I did not think would leave (to Russia — ed.) fled at night together with the Russians. Everyone around is walking, going about their lives, but you are here. You meet a girl, but you see her no more than 30 days a year. You won't be able to build a family that way," says Oleh.

There are many professions in the Armed Forces that often remain in the shadows, but that does not make them any less significant. hromadske spent the day with the 59th brigade remrota to show how the guys work.

🇺🇸🇯🇵US, Japan discuss defense cooperation that could help Ukraine – Bloomberg

It is noted that American manufacturers are working hard to supply weapons to Ukraine to protect it from Russian aggression, from artillery shells to air defense systems.

Japan, which adopted a pacifist constitution after its defeat in World War II, has provided Ukraine with non-lethal aid, as well as billions of dollars in aid and loan guarantees, but not weapons.

Relaxing Tokyo's restrictions on military exports could help the United States and European countries send weapons to Ukraine in the short term, and in the long term, it could expand Japan's ability to sell weapons abroad.

@liveukraine_media

I hope they do loot the money train. Who knows, the GOP might learn a lesson.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/donald-trump-and-the-rnc-have-a-whole-new-money-problem/54933/

A really great little video about the economy compared to 3½ years ago.
https://youtube.com/shorts/UikSZD5UZfk?si=EtWRgSPoWyPb-oEk

People keep forgetting Katie Britt is a Republican. Republicans and the truth do not get along.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/gop-senator-katie-britt-just-dug-herself-an-even-deeper-hole/54944/

Russia is increasing its use of chemical weapons.

https://kyivindependent.com/military-russia-increases-using-chemical-weapons-in-ukraine/

The United States was reportedly formulating a "non-nuclear" response in anticipation of the potential use of nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, according to The New York Times.

The White House purportedly considered that any response to such a threat should be non-nuclear in nature, though it emphasized the need for a "dramatic response," possibly even including a conventional attack on units responsible for launching nuclear weapons.

The NYT also mentioned concerns within some circles that public warnings from Russia suggesting that Ukraine might be preparing to deploy a "dirty bomb" were merely a pretext for a preemptive nuclear strike.

In mid-November 2022, CIA Director William Burns reportedly met with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, during which Burns conveyed that "there will be clear consequences for Russia."

Naryshkin purportedly assured Burns that he understood the gravity of the situation and asserted that Putin had no intention of resorting to the use of nuclear weapons.

Japan and the US are in talks regarding military cooperation to bolster aid to Ukraine, reports Bloomberg.

The discussions include plans to increase ammunition supply to Kyiv and expand opportunities for repairing American warships and fighter jets in Japan.

Both allies are aiming to finalize agreements ahead of the upcoming summit between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden in Washington scheduled for April 10.

St Petersburg airport shut down following drone strike.

https://kyivindependent.com/russias-st-petersburg-airport-temporarily-halts-operation-following-drone-attack-nearby/

I remember those times. I was lucky in that I had purchased a 16 pack apiece of TP for home and vacation condo. Plus I still have several rolls of Trump TP. His face on every sheet.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/pete-buttigieg-comes-out-swinging-2/54939/

He has fallen for his party's propaganda

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/donald-trump-jr-loses-the-plot/54940/

🕯Rest in Peace

Fighter pilot Andrii Tkachenko KIA in Donetsk Oblast

Fighter pilot Andrii Tkachenko, Major of Ukraine’s Air Force, has been killed in Donetsk Oblast while undertaking a combat mission.

Plast Sambir said that Tkachenko was killed in the skies over Donetsk Oblast on 8 March 2024, while undertaking a combat mission.

Tkachenko served in Ivano-Frankivsk, then Kharkiv, and then again in Ivano-Frankivsk. Since the beginning of the war in 2014, he carried out combat missions as part of the Anti-Terrorist Operation and the Joint Forces Operation, the designations of Ukraine’s efforts to oppose russian forces in Ukraine's east in 2014-2022.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Tkachenko operated in the country's east and south.

He is survived by his wife and his six-year-old son. Tkachenko will be buried in Ivano-Frankivsk.

🫡Glory to the Hero!
@ukrainejournal

The Black Sea Fleet was “anchored” after the loss of two more ships in a month

Russian warships have not been on combat duty in the Black Sea for the fifth day after the loss of the corvette Sergei Kotov, DW reports, citing the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to the Ukrainian military, there was not a single Russian Navy ship in the Black Sea on Sunday morning, while three Russian warships are in the Mediterranean Sea, and another in the Azov Sea. The day before, the press service of the command of the Defense Forces of southern Ukraine stated that Russian missile carriers had been at their bases for 20 days in a row.

On the night of March 4-5, special forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine destroyed the newest patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Sergei Kotov. This ship was launched in January 2021 and became part of the Black Sea Fleet in July 2022. Its crew is 80 people. The vessel can be equipped with modular tactical strike container weapons, in particular the Caliber missiles and the Kh-35U Uran anti-ship missiles.

In total, over two years of war, Russia has already lost more than 20 ships, including landing ships, submarines and the flagship cruiser Moskva, according to Oryx data obtained from open sources.

According to the calculations of Novaya Gazeta military expert Valery Shiryaev, taking into account Sergei Kotov, the Black Sea Fleet specifically lost at least 15 ships. Before the full-scale invasion, it consisted of 74 warships. Among the latest major losses are the large landing ships Novocherkassk and Tsezar Kunikov, and the missile boat Ivanovets. The day after the sinking of the Caesar Kunikov, the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor
Sokolov, was removed from his post.

UPROOTED | An investigation into Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children - Kyiv Independent

The Ukrainian government has identified over 19,500 Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia.

The Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigation Unit established the names of Russian-controlled officials who took part in the abduction and followed the paths of families who risked their lives to bring their children back.

The Kyiv Independent found 31 children taken to Russia in May 2022 from occupied parts of Ukraine. The children have not been returned to Ukraine. Part of the group was later put up for adoption in Russia.

Among them was Pylyp Holovnya, illegally adopted by Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Lvova-Belova for her part in the abduction of Ukrainian children.

⚜️Ivanna "Daenerys", Senior Lieutenant: why she joined a infantry unit?

Ivanna "Daenerys" - senior lieutenant, deputy commander of the self-propelled artillery division. After graduating from the military academy, she joined the Mykolaiv marines.

Why the officer chose the combat unit, as well as other women who found the courage to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Latvia has completely fenced itself off from Russia and Belarus:

The construction of fortifications on the border has been completed.

These are concrete and sand structures at checkpoints.

The works were carried out on the roads in Grebnevo and Terekhovo, which border the Russian Federation, as well as in Piedraui and Paternieka on the border with the Republic of Belarus.

This is only the beginning of the implementation of the big plan for the military fortification of the eastern border and the strengthening of anti-mobility, for
which €303 million has been invested.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has compared Russia to an unpredictable alcoholic or drug-addicted neighbor. She warned that countries that are Russia's neighbors should be clearly aware of this.

Article

🇺🇦@ukraine_report🇺🇦🔱Liz

CRV7 missiles versus T72 russian tanks.

The CRV7's kinetic energy was so high that testers were surprised to find that practice rounds fitted with an 8-inch (20.3 cm) steel rod were penetrating outdated Centurion tanks used for target practice.

This resulted in the development of a dedicated antitank warhead that replaced the steel rod in the practice warhead with a tungsten rod. This new anti tank warhead could penetrate a Soviet T-72 main battle tank armour from any attack angle.

Further study into this effect led to the WDU-5002/B FAT warhead, Flechette Anti-Tank, containing five tungsten-reinforced steel flechettes that could penetrate a T-72's side and top armour at a distance of 10,000 feet (3,000 m). It was also found to be a useful warhead for use against medium and light armoured vehicles.

Further development led to the WDU-500X/B "General Purpose Flechette" which releases 80 tungsten flechettes that can penetrate 1.5 inches (38 mm) of roll-hardened armor, for use against personnel, some light armour, thin skin vehicles and helicopters.

Wikipedia.
Photo : an example of a destroyed russian T 72 tank

🇺🇦@ukraine_report🇺🇦🔱