Ukraine updates in English

[ke6sls]

Wlad,

I read every post and digest the words. . .

I feel a sense, strongly.  I won't expand on what this sense is.  But in some way, I allow my spirit to float aloft, looking down, up, around, forward and backwards--and observe.  I think it's amazing that you mention dreaming about work.  We share so many traits that sometimes, it unnerves me. 

Many years ago, I was put in charge of running a complex military computer system.  For the first few weeks, I felt like a child in a nuclear plant.  Alarms would sound and I had to take immediate action.  I was so new, and so was this massive computer system.  I always felt like an interloper ....  Then I would retire and have dreams about it all.  When my morning alarm would chime, in my dream, I would be alerted to another emergency I had to handle.  In a way, I could not leave work, not even to sleep!  I hope this will soon pass for you, and you can escape in those hours of slumber and enjoy good rest.

The big bomb cyclone came ashore and unleashed it's power on my county.  Unlike the bomb cyclone of 2020, this one held wind only to the south.  It was predicted to last about 4 hours, but that isn't what happened.  It started very early, by 10AM local time.  By 2PM my youngest cat, Obi, came in and was the last to admit outside isn't fun now.  I closed the cat door and the storm grew into the night and on to the next morning.  The odd thing is that the rain didn't come with it, it waited, then fell and fell and fell.  Only thing that happened here was my HEX beam spun on the mast again and now only can point due south or west   Then the flooding started.  We were all very lucky in that we didn't take any chances.  The ranchers moved their livestock to higher ground, people evacuated to higher ground.  Now it is time for the water to find the rivers and go back to the sea.  We fared very well this time, here.

Two brides to worry about now.  Your wife and Brady's wife.  I think this is why we stay so grounded, connected to our loved ones.  Our happiness is their good health, our sorrow is . . .  I wish them the best in their recuperation. 

I have no ambitions on your nor mine political leadership.  I reiterate, I am floating, observing.

Happiness is a warm box.  The box that my computer equipment was shipped in is still on the floor.  Mr Boots thinks it is PURRRRRRRRFECT   Now I don't have any challenges to sit in my own chair!  Today I took all my recycle stuff and looked at the box on the floor......  It is still here, and Mr Boot's is now having a purfect cat nap in it.  Happiness is

Today I learned that Alice had died.  Alice was a friend of a musician who wrote a song about being arrested for throwing garbage over a cliff.  It became the most popular antiwar song about Vietnam.  She was a real person, the the events were also real and I doubt most Americans actually know that about that most famous song.  A song that has become so important here in USA, that it is now added to the library of congress:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Restaurant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM
This song has become a yearly pilgrimage for "Thanks Giving" in the USA, and likely, a lot of other countries too.  The sub-titles aren't perfect, but mostly work.
Thank god for that lady!

Wlad, Gene, and all, I do wish you all well.  In the mean time, I'm going to listen to Alice's Restaurant Massacree 

73
Jaye

[N0TZU]

Brady, I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s accident and the pain she is in. I hope that will be resolved soon, and without more surgery. Please let us know how she is doing.

[US7IGN]

Drones shot down again at night and two air raid sirens during the day, but no power outages today. Looks like I got some rest. Let's see what next week brings.

Currently, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, has a “main task” — reducing bureaucracy in the army, Zelensky said. “This is very important. An officer must see a soldier. A general who has not been in the trench is not a general for me, despite his experience. With all due respect, today the most difficult situation is on the front line, in the trench. Generals should be in the trenches. This is what war is like.” https://hromadske.ua/suspilstvo/235070-heneraly-maiut-buty-v-okopakh-prezydent-prokomentuvav-zminy-pidkhodiv-do-upravlinnia-v-zsu?traffic_source=ukr.net

Another masterpiece of military art and management from the greatest leader of our time. However, after sending doctors and air defense personnel into the trenches, this seems like a consistent decision.

Energy ‘corruption’ leaves Ukrainians facing a deadly freeze. Kyiv’s failure to build bunkers for electricity substations that protect them from russian airstrikes has left the country vulnerable before the winter. https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/energy-corruption-leaves-ukrainians-facing-a-deadly-freeze-9b9tb7gwx

[UT7UX]

Wlad, Gene, and all, I do wish you all well. 

Your post, Jaye, it reads like a good fiction from a really good writer but it's the truth - that's what impressing me a lot. Have a good day and see ya.

[US7IGN]

The weather is changing again, I haven't slept enough and my head hurts. But even if you stay home, there's no less work to do.

Nightly drone attacks and power outages have become the order of the day again. https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-ataka-droniv-kyiv-poraneni/33217386.html

Being immersed in work leaves little time to realize that another week has passed. Chaos is almost impossible to conquer. After two weeks of preparation and negotiations and approval of the project plan, the client again changes the very essence of the task and you start over. However, for a snail crawling up the slope of Mount Fuji, the bustle of life does not prevent it from persistently pursuing its spiritual goal, even if it never physically gets halfway to the top of the mountain. But from above, you can see some amazing things happening around you.

An interdepartmental commission is investigating the problem of supplying low-quality 120-mm mines to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which either did not reach the enemy or did not explode at all. https://mod.gov.ua/news/prichini-neshtatnogo-spraczyuvannya-120-milimetrovih-min-rozsliduye-mizhvidomcha-komisiya

A member of the parliamentary defense committee, MP from the pro-government Servants of the People party, Fedir Venislavsky, stated that the defect that was made was discovered because the air temperature decreased and the humidity increased. That is, this became the trigger that made it possible to find out that there were certain problems. This defect is not critical for the security and defense sector.

Videos of soldiers attempting to use these mines suggest otherwise.
https://espreso.tv/viyna-z-rosiyeyu-sistemna-problema-zhurnalist-butusov-zayaviv-shcho-na-front-postachayutsya-neyakisni-mini

But apparently mines are not the most important thing in this country, given the government's decision to replace green traffic lights with emerald. https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/zeleniy-stane-smaragdovim-k-zminyatsya-svitlofori-1732704180.html

Apparently, this seemed like a convenient reason to take a little more money from the budget, but after a public outcry, an explanation followed that these changes would only apply to traffic lights that would be installed in the future.

There are also good jokes about how even traffic lights don't want to be the same color as the authorities. Zelensky and his party Servant of the People went to the elections under the color green, which is consonant with the future president's surname in Ukrainian. In Ukraine, they are called Zelens (Greens). Evil jokes say that the color green had previously been reserved for Islamic militants, who also didn't want to be associated with them.

Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to withdraw 3.8 billion hryvnias from demining and business support programs in favor of a national cashback and a one-time payment of 1,000 hryvnias (about 24 US dollars) under the winter "e-Support" program. https://zn.ua/ukr/UKRAINE/nardep-kabimn-virishiv-zabrati-hroshi-z-prohram-pidtrimki-biznesu-ta-rozminuvannja-na-keshbek-ta-tisjachu-zelenskoho.html This populist program was recently presented by the President, apparently to gain political support from poor people.

Therefore, I am not sure of the exact figures, but I have no doubt that some of the internal refugees were forced to return to the occupation or the war zone due to difficulties with housing and employment. At least they have some kind of housing there. Even if the refugee is a young and healthy person, finding housing and a job sufficient to rent it and still have something to eat is a difficult task. Not to mention the elderly, single people, women with children. They say that the state will no longer pay even support in the amount of 50 US dollars per month. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/c79z0rdqx53o

Data from ualosses, a website, suggest that at least 60,435 soldiers have died since 2022. Unlike other sources, ualosses catalogues the names and ages of the dead, making it possible to calculate casualties by age group and as a percentage of the male population. (Although some women serve on the front lines, the vast majority of fighters are men.)

The figures suggest that more than 0.5% of Ukraine’s pre-war population of men of fighting age (18-49-year-olds) have been killed. The data from ualosses are not comprehensive and not all soldiers’ ages are known. The actual share of men who have died in the war is higher. The share of those too injured to keep fighting is even greater: assuming that six to eight Ukrainian soldiers are severely wounded for every one who is killed in battle, nearly one in 20 men of fighting age is dead or too wounded to fight on. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/11/26/how-many-ukrainian-soldiers-have-died

Ukraine will not hinder Poles in the search and exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy. In turn, Poland will support Ukraine's aspirations to join the EU. This was stated by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski at a press conference following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga. https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2024-11-26/deklaracja-ukrainy-ws-wolynia-nie-ma-zadnych-przeszkod/

[US7IGN]

The air alarm was on all night until 9am all over Ukraine and the missile attack was one of the biggest in three years. Again, major damage was caused to the power grid all over the country and in Kyiv there was only 3 hours of electricity during the day. It was turned on again in the evening, but I don’t know how long it will last. However, I have time to charge my laptop and phones, there is water and heat. Some cities may be without electricity for several days. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c4ngn290zr5t

With each massive air strike, the enemy better calculates our capabilities and modernizes its missiles, making it more difficult to work, but the Ukrainian Air Force is doing its best to counteract this, said Oleksandr Shymansky, commander of the anti-aircraft missile brigade. https://www.unian.ua/war/komandir-zenitnikiv-poyasniv-chomu-rosiyski-raketi-staye-dedali-vazhche-zbivati-12835149.html?utm_source=ukrnet_news

But I continue to believe that our air defense is one of the best in the world.

President Joe Biden’s administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18.

A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said that the outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from the current age of 25 to expand the pool of fighting-age men available to help a badly outnumbered Ukraine in its nearly three-year-old war with russia.

The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine’s situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight. https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-war-biden-draft-08e3bad195585b7c3d9662819cc5618f

Ukrainian authorities object, saying there are not enough weapons even for the soldiers already fighting. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/c5yg1wnyw27o

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser and retired lieutenant general in the US military, to be special envoy to Ukraine and russia in his second administration. Kellogg's ideas for how to do this have been outlined in a research paper published by the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think thank.
In the document, published in April, Kellogg advocated for "a formal US policy to seek a ceasefire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict". He proposed that Ukraine would only get further US aid if Kyiv participated in peace talks with Moscow, but also suggested that if Moscow refused to take part, Washington would then give Kyiv more aid. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14l6dl5y4go

[KD8ZM-Brady]

Hello everyone, and thank you all for the well wishes for me and my XYL, Sharon. I've been unable to get to the forum lately as there have been many distractions, as you might imagine. Sharon's hip is healing well, she has even been able to make it to the horse stable by herself and feed the horses a few times, using a combination of a walker and our ATV. The main issue is the back pain which keeps her in pain at night and unable to get much sleep, so she sleeps some during the day. We are unable to get into a neurosurgeon for consultation until January 10th, as specialists are in very short supply in the US ever since Covid (many decided to retire at that time). This all has been hard, but I'm sure it is nothing nearly as hard as being in a country that is being bombarded by a renegade country!

Two things strike me as I catch up on the recent posts, here:
1. The Poles are the real leaders of Europe, if leadership is measured by something other than GDP or population. As I watch DW News at night I am constantly amazed how bold the Poles are in defending freedom, and how that contrasts with the UK, France, and Germany, who fancy themselves to be Europe's leaders.
2. I continue to be optimistic that a change of leadership in the USA will break the meat grinder stalemate that we've been in for years, now, in favor of an acceptable and, importantly, a lasting peace.

[US7IGN]

Today is gloomy weather. Temperature around zero and fog. Everything looks bleak.
However, all night and today there was no power outage and no air attacks. I have heat, water and food and it is terrible that I am happy to have such simple things. However, maybe this is just a short break.
I spent the whole day drinking tea and doing nothing except talking on the radio with Colin G3ZAF, Andy M0CFO and Phil G8KBI for about an hour.

Yesterday I felt so bad again that I thought I wouldn’t make it to the office. I know all the hospitals on the way to the office.

I got off one stop early, walked through the park and felt better. The girls in the office treated me to tangerines and apparently shared their energy. We discussed work issues and soon I went back.

After the attacks on the energy sector last week, there was about six hours of electricity a day. Not much, but enough for me. People in multi-story buildings, who are left without heat, water and elevators during power outages, suffer much more. It turned out that living in an old house with gas is better than in a new one. The only good thing is that last month I only consumed 63 kW of electricity.

The previous nights, everyone had little opportunity to sleep. Last night, for example, when air defense trying to shoot down one of the drones, it began to descend in the direction of my house. Looking out the window at this bright air battle was quite unpleasant and disturbing, but the drone flew over my house and fell in the neighboring area. There it exploded and damaged a children's hospital. Fortunately, it was at night and no one was hurt. Usually there are a lot of people with children there. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC8WPa2IHgf/?igsh=dGJ0MXlqNW1wdDZu

Yesterday I got a call from a friend from Kharkiv. There have been several air strikes around his house recently and no one knows if the next bomb will hit his house. All the universities in the city have switched to distance learning and his daughter is trying to get an education from home. He himself has not left the house for a long time because man hunters are everywhere, at checkpoints people are taken from cars, which then stand abandoned on the road.

Also, the latest changes in legislation are changing the rules of the game again and many will lose their reservations, which will further reduce the number of people willing to work officially, including at critical infrastructure facilities or in the defense industry. The main thing is that all government employees and police are reliably protected from the possibility of ending up at the front. It's sad and funny when young and healthy men catch old and sick people to send them to the front in their place.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his NATO counterparts to issue an invitation to Kyiv at a meeting in Brussels next week to join the Western military alliance, according to the text of a letter seen by Reuters on Friday. The letter reflects Ukraine's renewed push to secure an invitation to join NATO, which is part of a "victory plan" outlined last month by President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war triggered by russia's 2022 invasion. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-asks-nato-membership-invite-next-week-letter-shows-2024-11-29/

Zelensky suggests 'hot phase' of Ukraine war could end in return for NATO membership if offered - even if seized land isn't returned immediately. https://news.sky.com/story/zelenskyy-suggests-hes-prepared-to-end-ukraine-war-in-return-for-nato-membership-even-if-russia-doesnt-immediately-return-seized-land-13263085

That's how simple it is.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief announced an offensive. https://www.unian.ua/war/sirskiy-anonsuvav-nastup-zsu-nardep-ociniv-mozhlivosti-ukrajini-12836502.html?utm_source=ukrnet_news Probably so that, like last time, the russians would better prepare for it.

Rebel forces in Syria have taken control of the "majority" of the country's second-largest city, Aleppo, according to the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly27r5p0yno

Some people hope that the russians will be forced to move some resources from Ukraine to Syria, but I don't believe it.

[US7IGN]

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv for a surprise visit on the morning of December 2. He announced new arms deliveries to Ukraine worth 650 million euros, and German media reports say the topic of the visit will be peace negotiations. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/cwyd4704q8vo

By appointing Keith Kellogg as his special envoy to Ukraine, Donald Trump has also chosen a very specific, pre-announced plan for the thorniest foreign policy issue on his plate. In short, a ceasefire will freeze the frontlines and both sides will be forced to the negotiating table. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/29/europe/trump-new-ukraine-envoy-analysis-intl?cid=ios_app

Despite this, Poland is actively building fortifications on the border with Ukraine and Belarus. https://polskieradio24.pl/artykul/3452627,tusk-na-budowie-tarczy-wschod-to-inwestycja-w-pokoj

In the meantime, drones continue to attack Ukraine every night. https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/nichna-ataka-rf-kiyiv-sili-oboroni-zneshkodili-1733116740.html

Everything sped up again. Before the New Year, there was more work, and less electricity again. However, the office has a large battery and it lasts for several hours of work.

Today the girls brought me food and fed me when I was too busy working at lunchtime. I have a great team.

I am seriously interested in the work and, having become a full member of the management of our large company, I devote a lot of time to improving my qualifications and attending meetings that the top management holds with us. They are very interesting and there is something to learn from extraordinary people who share their experience. Also, all together we study the latest achievements and plan to implement management automation systems.

Kate began to get excellent grades and her pessimism about her ability to continue her studies at the lyceum seemed to have been replaced by moderate optimism.

It seems that by that new year we had strengthened our positions despite all external obstacles. Obviously God helps those who work hard. I always feel His support.

[N0TZU]

Wlad,

Congratulations on your rapid progress in the company, and the obvious respect that you’ve earned there! It must also be very satisfying to see Kate’s growth of maturity and her achievements in the Lyceum. Despite the war you’ve all found ways to excel, and I’m very happy for you!

[US7IGN]

Wlad,

Congratulations on your rapid progress in the company, and the obvious respect that you’ve earned there! It must also be very satisfying to see Kate’s growth of maturity and her achievements in the Lyceum. Despite the war you’ve all found ways to excel, and I’m very happy for you!

Thank you my friend!

There are two models of behavior. You do everything in your power to change something, or you do nothing, blaming everyone around you for your problems. I've never heard of those who only complain succeed. The first way also does not guarantee success, but in the process you are distracted from the problems and do not suffer as much.

Ecclesiastes 9:7-9
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.
8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.
9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun-all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

The weather changes or I'm exhausted, but it's increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between workload and well-being. But before the New Year, there will be even more work. Everyone wants to finish or, on the contrary, launch more projects. Many feel tired. Some even say they use a cold as an opportunity to rest. But I don't want to get sick.

Meanwhile, the world sometimes experiences unexpected events, such as the resumption of fighting in Syria or the introduction of martial law in South Korea https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lgw1pw5zpo , which can have an unpredictable impact on the situation in Ukraine. But the most unpredictable, or more precisely "flexible", is Ukraine itself.

Ukraine does not insist on its immediate accession to NATO, taking into account the position of individual member states, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said in a conversation with journalists on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting. https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/news/2024/12/4/7199881/

"An invitation for Ukraine to join Nato is a necessary thing for our survival," said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, December 1, as he welcomed the new European foreign minister, Kaja Kallas, and the new president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, visiting Kyiv on the first day of their terms of office. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/12/03/zelensky-pleads-for-ukraine-nato-membership-europeans-look-for-another-solution_6735017_4.html

Calin Georgescu, the fringe nationalist politician leading the presidential race in Romania, has told the BBC that he would end all support for Ukraine if elected. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg6l06ldpqo

Some people hated the fact that it was not the Ukrainian representative to the UN, not the Minister of Foreign Affairs or his deputies, but the adviser to the Head of the President's office who spoke at the UN. I think this is not as important as the topic of her report on Ukrainian children abducted by russia. In a strange scenario russian federation representative was seem smiling on camera when Dariia Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President and Chief Operating Officer of Bring Kids Back UA, presented a report to the UN Security Council on systematic gross violations of Ukrainian children's rights: murders, sexual violence, illegal adoptions, and militarization of young Ukrainians committed by russia during its full-scale aggression against Ukraine.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNQVvJlWkxU

In Ukraine, it will be prohibited to transfer people with medical education to the infantry - President Volodymyr Zelensky has implemented a corresponding decision of the National Security and Defense Council. https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/8172024-53005

russian troops are trying to break through the defenses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine along virtually the entire front in Donbas. The situation is critical in several areas. But unlike the previous "meat assaults", now during the offensive the russian army uses small groups, which often move on motorcycles and even electric scooters. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/clykr3g3ldjo

The Turkish company that won the tender for the repair of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant is connected to a Latvian citizen who is involved in money laundering on Russian crypto exchanges. The Latvian's malicious activities were discovered by the US Treasury Department, which imposed sanctions on him and arrested the companies. The Financial Times (FT) wrote about the details of the fraud of the sanctioned entrepreneur and the reaction of Ukrhydroenergo PJSC. https://www.ft.com/content/57a3fef0-64aa-4dd5-a1dd-6c31c1386de7

[UT7UX]

Sharon's hip is healing well

May she get well soon.

[KD8ZM-Brady]

Thank you. We have just checked into the hospital again for her back injury (hip is healing, back is not and causing considerable pain during nights). Hoping to get to a neurosurgeon, as they are in short supply. That's all I know at this point.

[KD8ZM-Brady]

Looks like we have a really good spine surgeon's attention, finally. He speaks Ukrainian, so I'm sure he must be good! Seems very sharp and attentive.

[N0TZU]

Looks like we have a really good spine surgeon's attention, finally. He speaks Ukrainian, so I'm sure he must be good! Seems very sharp and attentive.

Excellent!