TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

From "The Analyst":

THE MISSILE STRIKES ON KERCH

We now have a grip on what these were about.
The plan seems to have been to destroy the Rail ferries that Russia used to move rail freight over the straits into Crimea and back again. This seems to have become the norm because the bridge structures were more badly affected than anyone thought.
Three of these ferries were operational - now only one is. One is very badly damaged and will need repairs, the other seems to have been hit on its upper port side deck and a hole has appeared from the strike.
Russia claims to have shot down the attacking missiles but the ‘debris’ strangely seems to have carried on to its targets.
Another unusual strike by a drone was the Kerch strait oil depot on the Russian mainland side of the straits but well inside the bridge zone and its air defences - which seem not to have worked at all. A large Ukrainian drone managed to dive bomb into the collection of storage tanks and set the lot on fire. Where was the AA?
The attack on Sevastopol showing the use of a Russian drone against a Ukrainian naval drone managed to sink a Russian corvette. Despite it being daylight and some of the naval drones being attacked by helicopters, this happened inside the protected port zone. The sea drones apparently waited for something to go into the port through the open nets and then began their run for targets as the nets were closed behind them.
The missiles used were extended range Neptune’s - possibly the long expected land attack version, followed by ATACMS on the port itself.
The big question then is how did the missiles and the drone get past the air defences? Where were they? Is it that they weren’t activated because the Voronezh-M BMEWS radar systems that cover this area have been put out of commission by Ukrainian drones over the past week?
We’ll never know.

Either way an intense raid and it’s done some damage!

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!

‼️The bodies of 212 fallen defenders were also returned to Ukraine today.

➡️It was possible to return the bodies of the fallen Defenders to their native land, in particular from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Kharkiv directions, as well as from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (TOT).

☝️The Armed Forces of Ukraine will transport repatriated bodies and remains to designated state institutions. Representatives of law enforcement agencies and forensic medical experts will identify the victims.

After identification, the bodies of our Defenders will be handed over to their relatives for a dignified burial.

@ukrainejournal

🔱 Operational information as of 8:30 p.m. 25/05/2024 regarding the Russian invasion.

❗️ The main summary:

🔵 The occupiers do not stop attacking Ukrainian positions along almost the entire front line. During the day, the enemy launched four terrorist attacks on Kharkiv with rockets and guided aerial bombs. The Russian invaders hit the central park and dense residential buildings with rockets, and hit a hypermarket with two KABs. In total, the enemy launched three missile strikes, using six missiles (type to be determined) and two guided aerial bombs.

🔵 The total number of used anti-aircraft guns at the positions of Ukrainian units and civil infrastructure since the beginning of the day amounts to about 40 units. Also, by this time, the total number of enemy offensive and assault actions had already increased to 99.

🔵 In the Kharkiv direction, the Russian invaders continue to carry out assault operations. Ukrainian soldiers successfully repelled six enemy attacks, four are still ongoing.

🔵 The occupiers do not stop trying to put pressure on the defense lines of the Ukrainian defenders in the Kupyansk direction. They are unsuccessfully trying to improve their tactical position in Myasozharivka and Novoyehorivka districts. In total, the number of assaults in this direction increased to 14. Half of them were successfully repelled by units of the Defense Forces, seven are still ongoing.

🔵 In the Lyman direction, the enemy carried out five attacks during the day, one of which is still ongoing.

🔵 In the Siversky direction, the Russian aggressor continues his attempts to storm the positions of Ukrainian defenders in the area of Bilogorivka and Verkhnokamyanskyi. The number of clashes since the beginning of the day has increased to nine. Four attacks were successfully repelled by our soldiers, five are still ongoing.

🔵 In the Kramatorsk direction, Russian terrorists continue to carry out assaults near Klishchiivka, Novy, Ivanovsky and Andriivka. Since the beginning of the day, 11 combat clashes have already taken place here, one of which is still ongoing.

🔵 The Pokrovsky direction remains the hottest point of the entire front line. At this time, the number of enemy attacks here has increased to 23. The occupiers are trying to push through our defenses with the support of attack aircraft. Ukrainian soldiers are holding busy lines and inflicting significant losses on the enemy. Our defenders successfully destroyed another SU-25 of the Russian aggressor in this direction.❗️

🔵 In the Kurakhiv direction, the number of clashes increased to 14. Eight enemy attacks were repulsed, four are still ongoing.

🔵 In the Orihiv direction, the enemy tried three times to carry out assaults near Robotyny and Novoadriivka. There was no success.

🔵 In the Dnieper direction, on the bridgeheads on the left bank of the Dnieper, the occupiers increased the number of attacks to nine, but as before, all these attempts to suppress our units in the Krynok area were in vain.

🔵 In the rest of the directions, the situation did not undergo significant changes.

Soldiers of the Defense Forces - brave defenders of Ukraine!
Let's win together!✊
Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦

AFU

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱

A long-term rearmament of Europe, in which the UK can play the closest possible role, is necessary to defeat Russian imperial ambitions, Poland’s foreign minister has said.

Sikorski also called for majority voting for EU sanctions and a 5,000-strong EU mechanised brigade.

Poland is spending 4% of its GDP on defence and he said other countries had catching up to do. He said this required a military reorientation, adding that during the period of the “peace dividend and expeditionary warfare, we focused on high-value, hi-tech platforms and weapons. We are only now rediscovering that actually you just need millions of shells."

He said: “We have allowed all those production facilities to be closed down after the end of the cold war. It costs money to persuade companies to keep production lines in reserve. We just didn’t pay the money. That was part of the peace dividend. And with hindsight it looks like a mistake.”

Read more

@EU_Report
@Ukraine_Report
🇺🇦🤝🇮🇩 Blue

Alexander Vindman
https://open.substack.com/pub/alexandervindman/p/guilty?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

The first minutes in freedom, on native land. Exciting moments of our Defenders returning home from Russian captivity.

We do not stop working to free all our people from slavery!

@ukrainejournal

During the exchange, Maryana Checheliuk - an investigator from Mariupol, who was in captivity for 2 years, returned home.

Together with her sister, she escaped from shelling in the Azovstal bunkers.

Representatives of the UN and CH promised to take Maryana and Alina to Zaporizhzhia, but they took them to the village of Bezimenne for filtering. The sister was freed, but Maryana was captured.

❗️In her letters to her mother, the girl wrote that she was starved, beaten and abused.

Now she is at home 😌

Robert Reich

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/10-economic-myths-debunked-starting?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

https://t.me/warinukraineua/5075

🕊 🇺🇦 🇨🇭  Zelenskyy stated that three points out of ten will be presented at the June peace summit in Switzerland:

🟠 Nuclear energy safety. We have an occupied nuclear power plant, six blocks. I have said more than once that it could be six Chernobyls;

🟠 Food safety. For example, the grain agreement, from which the Russians withdrew last year. Similar agreements should be concluded with a large number of partners so that it is difficult for the Russian Federation to withdraw from the agreements;

🟠 Exchange of all for all and return of children deported by Russia.

https://t.me/warinukraineua/5203?single

Lots to read

https://mailchi.mp/kyivindependent/wtf-is-wrong-with-russia-ttrhslqgz9?e=7763f0b74a

The Pentagon gave Ukraine precise instructions on what strikes the armed forces of Ukraine can inflict on the territory of Russia, — New York Times.

It is reported that the instructions were given to Kyiv by the commander of NATO in Europe, Christopher Cavoli.

"A few days ago, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, gave the order to allow Ukraine to open fire with American weapons on military facilities on the Russian border. American officials now say that they expect the first counterattacks with American weapons to begin within hours or days," — it is stated in the material.

Note that the NYT report contradicts the words of Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, who stated that the US policy regarding strikes with American weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation has not changed. At the same time, journalists speculate that Singh may not have known all the details of Austin's orders at the time of the media briefing.

(CONTINUED 2/2)

The Biden administration hinted that a decision had either been secretly made or forthcoming in recent days. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who supports a restriction lift, became the first U.S. official to publicly hint that Biden may shift course and allow such strikes, telling reporters that U.S. policy toward Ukraine would evolve as needed. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby later did not rule out a potential change.

Those messages came after top U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom and France, said Ukraine should have the right to attack inside Russia using Western weapons. Lawmakers from both parties also supported the move publicly and privately, while top U.S. military officials briefed Congress behind closed doors that relaxing the restriction had “military value,” POLITICO first reported.

Some officials are concerned that Ukraine, when it attacks inside Russia using its own drones, has hit military targets unrelated to Russia’s invasion. The U.S. has strongly delivered the message that Kyiv must use American weapons only to directly hit Russian military sites used for its invasion of Ukraine, but not civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian officials, from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on down, have pushed for the Biden administration to change its policy ever since Russia launched a large assault on Kharkiv. For weeks they’ve said an inability to attack Russian troop positions over the border complicated Ukraine’s defense of Kharkiv and the country writ large.

In a discussion with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov made a “hard push” to use U.S. weapons in Russia, according to a person with knowledge of the call.
@ukrainejournal

Biden secretly gave Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia with US weapons - Politico

The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, two U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a U.S. official said, adding that the policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

Ukraine asked the U.S. to make this policy change only after Russia’s offensive on Kharkiv began this month, the official added. All the people were granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions that haven’t been announced.

In the last few days, the U.S. made the decision to allow Ukraine “flexibility” to defend itself from attacks on the border near Kharkiv, the second U.S. official said.

In effect, Ukraine can now use American-provided weapons, such as rockets and rocket launchers, to shoot down launched Russian missiles heading toward Kharkiv, at troops massing just over the Russian border near the city, or Russian bombers launching bombs toward Ukrainian territory. But the official said Ukraine cannot use those weapons to hit civilian infrastructure or launch long-range missiles, such as the Army Tactical Missile System, to hit military targets deep inside Russia.

It’s a stunning shift the administration initially said would escalate the war by more directly involving the U.S. in the fight. But worsening conditions for Ukraine on the battlefield –– namely Russia’s advances and improved position in Kharkiv –– led the president to change his mind.

The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CONTINUES (1/2)

continues
Thanks to the efforts of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the long-awaited exchange of prisoners took place for the first time since February this year, on the instructions of the President of Ukraine.

➡️Today, 75 defenders, as well as civilian Ukrainian women, are returning to their families. Among the liberated defenders are 70 men and five women, six officers and 65 representatives of private and non-commissioned officers. At least a third of those rescued have injuries, serious illnesses or disabilities.

This time, 37 representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were released from captivity, including 13 soldiers of the Naval Forces and two representatives of the Air Force. Also, 21 national guardsmen were released from captivity. Seven Border Guardsmen, six Teroboronmen and four Ukrainian civilian women are returning home.

☝️ 19 Defenders of Zmiiny Island, 14 military personnel who guarded the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as well as ten Defenders of Mariupol managed to return to their native land. Ukrainians captured in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Sumy directions are returning home.

Today's exchange is the 52nd since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. As of now, 3,210 Defenders of Ukraine have been freed from the captivity of the occupiers. We express special thanks to the United Arab Emirates for their active participation in the implementation of this exchange.
Many Ukrainian Defense Forces and Ukrainian civilians are still in enemy captivity. Despite all the difficulties and opposition of the aggressor state, the Coordination Headquarters does not stop making efforts so that all our people return home as soon as possible.

@ukrainejournal

‼️After a long break, another exchange of prisoners took place: 75 defenders and civilians were released from enemy captivity.

👇👇👇to continue

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-little-tidbit-makes-todays-victory-over-donald-trump-even-more-delicious/56374/

Discussing how to whitewash the use of the N word.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/stunning-leaked-audio-of-donald-trump-campaign-advisers-discussing-trumps-use-of-the-n-word/56354/