Ukraine updates in English

[UT7UX]

Wlad and Gene, best wishes that 2025 will be much better for and your families, and above all, bring peace for you and your country!

Thank you, Bob, thank y'all guys!

[UT7UX]

Cats are well.

The cats are ones to fulfil the life with the sense. Consider the said above to be a form to say 'glad to know that'.

What do you mean?

I believe he means literally what he said. Any form, any kind, and any means of anti-Semitism is the thing we should stop by now and allow no more.

[US7IGN]

Cats are well.

The cats are ones to fulfil the life with the sense. Consider the said above to be a form to say 'glad to know that'.

What do you mean?

I believe he means literally what he said. Any form, any kind, and any means of anti-Semitism is the thing we should stop by now and allow no more.

Cats are good, russians are bad.
I wouldn't worry about the Jews in Ukraine either. Fortunately, Ukraine is still a very tolerant country, where the richest person is a Tatar, Jews have an overwhelming majority in power and business, and only poor Ukrainians have to fight and work. However, I believe that in the end everyone gets what they deserve. Looking back, I understand that I could have been healthier, richer, lived in another place, but I did not put in the necessary efforts in the right places. However, many consider me a Jew, perhaps because I have learned a lot and often copy these talented people with increased survival skills. In my family, the word Jew meant an example to follow, and did not express contempt or hatred. I consider my wife's Jewish roots to be a family treasure and generally believe that the best thing that can happen in a man's life is to meet an intelligent woman.

Maryna went back to Poland today and said that each time it is more and more difficult for her to part with me. It was a wonderful week that we spent together. I was even able to resolve all work issues remotely.

[US7IGN]

Wishing you all the very best in 25

Thank you Jaye!
It's good to see old friends who still drop by this thread. I wish you good health, good weather and all the best this year! May cats bring you joy and warmth!

[US7IGN]

While the whole world is watching the war that is going on at the front, from which you can return dead (and not always) or disabled, the whole country is watching the war in the rear. I cannot call the kidnapping of people mobilization. Considering that you'll most likely be released for a bribe, this looks like good business. Mobilization is a process regulated by law, which provides for the registration of those liable for military service, fines or criminal liability for violations by citizens. But the laws do not say anything about beatings or using ambulances for camouflage. Numerous videos show how men are grabbed by unknown people and taken away in an unknown direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRFWrp8umJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88JxKqYcpIc&t

So the person who was beaten up should go to the army and protect that gang? It's no wonder that many run away at the first opportunity. As they say, you'll come back from prison, but most likely not from the army.

A doctor I know told about examining a Ukrainian soldier who was recently released from russian captivity. It is not news that they were beaten and tortured there, they were also shot at periodically so that russian soldiers could learn how to provide first aid. Let me remind you that russian prisoners are kept in excellent conditions and complain only about the small variety in the menu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPJGbpw4CM

[UT7UX]

the best thing that can happen in a man's life is to meet an intelligent woman

This.

[US7IGN]

I started reading Bob Woodward's book War and it's worth it if only to get to know Trump better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_(Woodward_book)
One of the quotes from it:
Trump spoke about “bad times” as if they were inevitable. “I always like to sort of prepare for the worst. And it doesn’t sound like a very particularly nice statement,” he said. “I know times will get bad. It’s just a question when.

The Telegraph speculates that if the US and Europe stop supporting Ukraine in its war with russia, it could prompt pooteen to attack a NATO country and cause the Alliance to collapse.

Before his victory in the US presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly stated that he could end the war in Ukraine, and that if he, not Joe Biden, were president, pooteen would never have dared to invade.

However, after he won the election by a landslide on November 5, the president-elect did not provide any details of his promised peace initiative.

The Telegraph suggests that some NATO allies may have expressed concerns to Trump and his team about how a peace settlement in favor of the russians would affect international relations and effectively reward Putin for his aggression. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/05/war-ukraine-must-end-trump-cannot-cave-to-putin/

US President-elect Donald Trump said russia's war against Ukraine is "much more difficult" now, but he hopes to end it in six months. He made the remarks at a press conference on January 7 after Congress confirmed his election victory.

He also stated that russia and the West allegedly always understood that Ukraine's membership in NATO was impossible. Moreover, an agreement was allegedly reached between the Ukrainian and russian sides, which, according to him, "would be satisfactory for Ukraine and everyone else."

"My view is that this was always the understanding. In fact, I believe that they (russia and Ukraine) had an agreement. And then Biden broke it. Biden said: no, you should be able to join NATO," - Trump is quoted by Sky News. https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-president-elect-speaking-at-second-news-conference-since-election-win-13284964?postid=8887903

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy for the war in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has postponed a trip to Kyiv that had been scheduled for early January, Reuters reported, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.

Kellogg is now expected to visit Ukraine after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, though no specific date has been set. The reasons for the delay remain unclear, and no plans for Kellogg to visit Moscow have been announced. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-ukraine-envoy-postpones-kyiv-trip-until-after-inauguration-2025-01-06/

On the Internet, I came across an OSINT analysis of the use of Ukrainian long-range drones in 2024:
• At least 15 ammunition depots were destroyed.
• 10 important energy infrastructure facilities were damaged.
• More than 20 industrial enterprises were attacked, including plants critical to the Russian army.
• According to the Security Service of Ukraine, 14 oil refineries were put out of action.
https://t.me/dronbomber/9802

russia launched 10,949 drones during 2024. 68% were shot down, 26% were neutralized by electronic warfare.
Almost 2,000 missiles were launched over Ukraine in 2024. More than half, namely 56%, were shot down.
russia captured over 3,600 km² in 2024. The largest losses last year were in October, November and December in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
https://t.me/dnepr_operativ/77748

[US7IGN]

Preliminary Lessons from Ukraine’s Offensive Operations, 2022–23

The purpose of this report is to examine the causes of the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in 2023 to avoid the repetition of such errors in the future and to inform the regeneration of offensive combat power in NATO militaries.

The original concept of operations for the Ukrainian offensive was sound. It required 12 armoured and mechanised brigades to achieve a breakthrough along 30 km of frontage, the isolation of Tokmak within seven days, and thereafter a breakout south towards Melitopol. Tempo was supposed to prevent russia from bringing the majority of its forces to bear, so that the attacking force would need to overcome only six regiments in defence.

This concept of operation was not implemented. This arose from operational errors made by both Ukraine and its international partners. Ukraine’s international partners missed two critical decision points prior to the offensive. First, whereas russia began to transition to a war economy from May 2022 and began the mobilisation of troops from the autumn, Ukraine’s international partners did not take significant steps to address their industrial limitations. In consequence, while many nations gifted Ukraine a significant proportion of their national stocks, this did not amount to a sufficient volume of equipment to provide the doctrinal minimum of critical enablers required for the concept of operation to be executed.

The second decision point missed was when that equipment needed to arrive in Ukraine. Ukraine’s international partners wasted four months in deciding to act, so that only a part of the pledged equipment arrived in Ukraine prior to the offensive, and the Ukrainian brigades did not have enough time to train on the equipment that did arrive. The brigades were, therefore, undertrained at the start of the offensive, which accounts for a significant proportion of the tactical mistakes made during the execution of the operation.

Ukraine also made a series of errors. First, experienced troops were used to hold the line of contact and thereafter conduct fixing operations during the offensive, while the main force was for the most part newly raised. This left the lead elements with a dearth of combat experience, which led to tactical errors during the execution of the operation. Second, Ukrainian planners exacerbated their shortage of properly equipped forces by committing troops on multiple axes, which were then further resourced with ammunition and enablers, at the expense of the main effort. The combination of these two errors limited the ability of the force to operate at and maintain tempo.

The most serious error made in planning by Ukraine appears to have been the basis on which it was determined that the main effort could succeed under these circumstances. Rather than using tempo and concentration to defeat six russian regiments, it was hoped that shock action would cause russian troops to break, as had occurred around Kharkiv in 2022. Insufficient planning was done to assess how the critical conditions for such a collapse in morale could be achieved, so that this proved an overly optimistic planning assumption. In the event, the initial attacks failed, and tempo was lost, such that russia could fight the battle with the full 105,000 troops it had in the target sector.

A lesson for both Ukraine and its international partners is that operational security was inadequate, such that russia knew precisely where and approximately when the offensive was to take place. This problem was exacerbated by the fact that with only a couple of brigades properly equipped for offensive operations, russia only had to track a small number of units to determine Ukrainian intent. Given that this lack of security partly stemmed from the multinational process of organising the offensive, this should be examined carefully by NATO, which relies on comparable processes.
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/preliminary-lessons-ukraines-offensive-operations-2022-23

[US7IGN]

Aside from air strikes on frontline cities and constant fighting on the front lines, the rest of the country has spent the first days of 2025 without major air attacks or power outages. This is probably due to the warm weather and rain instead of snow, which prevents the russians from knocking out Ukraine's power grid.

In Ukraine, after a large-scale russian cyberattack, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs, and Public Organizations has been restored, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine reported on Thursday, January 9. Work on restoring the remaining registers is ongoing. https://zn.ua/ukr/ECONOMICS/v-ukrajini-vidnoviv-robotu-jedinij-derzhrejestr.html

In Kyiv, a cat was locked in an apartment for six days after its owner was detained by the mobilization center. The man was unable to give anyone the keys to the apartment or warn anyone about the situation. Only after the neighbors noticed the man's absence and called the police, the cat was saved. https://socportal.info/ua/news/u-kievi-kit-shist-dniv-proviv-odin-pid-zamkom-bo-iogo-gospodarya-zabrali-do-ttck/

No one knows how many such cats, dogs, children, or sick, immobilized people did not wait for someone to feed them...

Some could die even before they even reach the front, but for the state this is also not a big problem. A military man suspected of killing a man through negligence at the Sumy mobilization center has been released by the court on personal recognizance. https://suspilne.media/sumy/921297-pidozruvanogo-u-vbivstvi-colovika-v-sumskomu-tck-vidpustili-pid-osobisti-zobovazanna/

The following figures speak about the scale of the losses: there are over 12,000 DNA experts waiting in line to identify the dead and missing servicemen and other individuals. Ukrainian centers that identify the dead and missing servicemen are working at their limit. And this is provided that it is possible not only to find the remains of the dead, but also to transfer them for research. https://mipl.org.ua/u-cherzi-na-identyfikacziyu-zagyblyh-i-znyklyh-bezvisty-vijskovyh-ta-inshyh-osib-stoyit-ponad-12-tysyach-dnk-ekspertyz-mvs/

The Verkhovna Rada approved a bill on a 50% discount on fines for tax evaders, because 6 million citizens did not update their data. https://sud.ua/uk/news/publication/320243-verkhovnaya-rada-odobrila-zakonoproekt-o-skidke-v-50-shtrafa-ttsk-dlya-uklonistov-potomu-chto-6-mln-grazhdan-ne-utochnili-dannye However, no one believes that this will force anyone to update their data.

The government is developing the possibility of employing Ukrainian men from abroad at critical enterprises in Ukraine with reservations. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/cgm9mkgrpreo?xtor=AL-73-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bukr%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bukrainian%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D

But I personally doubt that those who could leave Ukraine at the cost of great effort and money will return under the promise of reservations, which can be easily canceled by the decision of an official of the mobilization center. https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/c07g4x5v802o

The new and probably last package of defense assistance to Ukraine from the United States under Biden's presidential powers includes missiles for air defense systems, auxiliary equipment for F-16 aircraft, as well as other weapons. https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-ato/3946769-raketi-ppo-ta-obladnanna-dla-f16-so-u-novomu-paketi-ssa-dla-ukraini.html

Keith Kellogg, who’s President-elect Trump’s incoming special envoy to Ukraine, told Fox News “I know I’m on the clock” to quickly find a resolution to the russian war in Ukraine. “I would like to set a goal, on a personal level and professional level, I would say let’s set it at a hundred days,” Kellogg said, starting on Inauguration Day. https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/donald-trump-president-office-inauguration-01-08-25/index.html

However, no one knows what fate awaits Ukraine in light of Trump’s other statements.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. landed in Greenland, the Arctic island his father, President-elect Donald Trump, has expressed a strong desire to purchase, despite sharp statements from Greenland that it is not for sale. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/07/climate/trump-greenland-climate/index.html

US president-elect Donald Trump's threat to turn the world's second-largest country, Canada, into part of the United States by means of "economic force" represents the most serious threat to Canadian sovereignty since the War of 1812. https://news.sky.com/story/trumps-threat-to-turn-canada-into-part-of-the-us-represents-most-serious-threat-since-war-of-1812-13285471

President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting of the Contact Group for Defense in the Ramstein format called for the deployment of partner contingents in Ukraine. https://espreso.tv/suspilstvo-zelenskiy-pribuv-do-nimechchini-na-zasidannya-ramshtayn

I’m thinking about the fact that China can send a couple of dozens of millions of its soldiers to train in real fighting minds, just as Northern Korea has already built up...

[US7IGN]

Ukraine's public debt reached about UAH 7 trillion at the end of 2024. Thus, the ratio of public debt to GDP reached 92%, according to an analysis of the results of the state budget execution in 2024, carried out by the Forbes Ukraine Analytical Department. This is the total public debt, which, in addition to Ukraine's direct debt, also includes debts guaranteed by the state.
https://forbes.ua/news/derzhavniy-borg-ukraini-syagnuv-92-vvp-otsinka-forbes-09012025-26148

[US7IGN]

There was another drone attack at night and even a house in Kyiv was damaged, but I slept well and heard nothing. https://gordonua.com/ukr/news/military-actions/u-kijevi-ulamki-drona-vluchili-v-bahatopoverkhivku-kmva-1729464.html

Warm weather on the one hand reduces the sum in the heating bill, and on the other hand favors the spread of viruses. People in transport and in the office sneeze and cough and I do not feel very well. Finally, the end of the working week and I meet the weekend with relief.

However, the very active start of this year suggests that many interesting events will happen in 2025.

In Kharkiv, a lawyer was prevented from entering the premises of a military medical commission, and physical force was used against the woman. The incident occurred in one of the city's mobilization centers. https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/320386-v-kharkove-sotrudniki-ttsk-primenili-silu-k-advokatu-lubinets-nazval-intsident-pozorom

A criminal in prison has the right to a lawyer, but not one who may die tomorrow. This gives an idea of ​​the power and income possessed by those who decide who will go to die in their place tomorrow.

It is strange that the state expects its citizens to comply with the laws, while it itself violates them with impunity.

On the contrary, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill that proposes to simplify the mechanism for bringing draft evaders to justice for violating the rules of military registration and mobilization legislation. Now a person can be found guilty in absentia and without evidence and immediately have their property seized in case of non-payment of the fine. Many people will find out about this already during the arrest and sale of property. https://sud.ua/uk/news/publication/320307-verkhovnaya-rada-odobrila-zakonoproekt-ob-uproschenii-nalozheniya-ttsk-zaochnykh-shtrafov

It seems that the authorities are not going to abolish martial law and all restrictions even after the cessation of hostilities. Deputies justify this with security, and people believe that this will allow them not to hold elections and remain in power longer. https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/320334-voennoe-polozhenie-ne-otmenyat-mgnovenno-posle-prekrascheniya-boevykh-deystviy-yaroslav-yurchishin

Law enforcement officers are conducting over 600 simultaneous searches as part of the first stage of a special operation to block the channels for taking men of draft age abroad. https://m.censor.net/ua/videonews/3529478/politsiya-perkryvaye-shlyahy-dlya-nelegalnogo-peretynu-kordonu

Someone calculated that one and a half brigades could have been formed from the police officers involved in this operation alone. The western borders must be guarded more reliably than the eastern ones!

German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is blocking a new large package of military aid to Ukraine, proposed by the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense, Der Spiegel writes. https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ukraine-krieg-olaf-scholz-blockiert-milliarden-paket-fuer-fuer-kiew-a-15318d4e-bc41-40e1-9a31-1d57409db2d5

Trump planning meeting with pooteen to end ‘bloody mess’ of war in Ukraine. The president-elect’s return has sparked fears in Kyiv that he may cut off military aid to force Ukraine into a disadvantageous peace deal. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/01/10/donald-trump-meeting-with-putin-end-russia-ukraine-war/

And I remembered a quote from Woodward's book War: "President Biden and President putin met at Villa La Grange, an 18th century French-style manor house on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, on June 16, 2021.
On Fox News, Trump declared that Biden’s summit with putin was “a good day for russia.” “I don’t see what we got out of it,” Trump said to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity. “We didn’t get anything. We gave a very big stage to russia, and we got nothing.”

Time will tell for whom the meeting between Trump and puteen will be a good day, the very fact of which disgusts me.

[N0TZU]

The President Elect is not even in office yet but has created great consternation amongst our close allies by expressing his desire to take over Canada and Greenland, even sending Donald Jr. to visit Greenland. Putin must be dreading the prospect of negotiating an end to the Ukraine war with such a master of international relations and realpolitik.

[US7IGN]

The President Elect is not even in office yet but has created great consternation amongst our close allies by expressing his desire to take over Canada and Greenland, even sending Donald Jr. to visit Greenland. Putin must be dreading the prospect of negotiating an end to the Ukraine war with such a master of international relations and realpolitik.

I have the impression that the world is ruled by madmen and there is no point in trying to understand them. Apparently, a normal person would never want to go into politics and waste his life on it. In the case of Trump, it seems that we will see something different and in many ways the opposite of what Biden did. Perhaps the fear of escalation will be replaced by its build-up.

Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Nicolas Bidault said the country is ready to organize a summit between US President-elect Donald Trump and Kremlin leader vladimir putin if both sides want it. https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ukraine-news-schweiz-bereit-fuer-trump-putin-gipfeltreffen-139184721619

I don't really understand what the point is. On the one hand, The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for putin on March 17, 2023. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and

On the other hand, an arrest warrant for putin from ICC will not prevent him from coming to Switzerland — the countryʼs government allegedly has the right to make an exception if it is necessary for peace negotiations.

Also, the House passed a bill on to sanction International Criminal Court officials – in response to the court issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/09/politics/house-icc-sanctions-bill-israel/index.html

This policy of double standards makes the existence of such institutions as the ICC and all its decisions a fiction. I would like to hope that putin will be arrested in Switzerland and Trump will fulfill his promise to end the war in 24 hours, but I am too old to believe in fairy tales.

Despite the constant air raid sirens, this weekend passed quietly. However, this does not improve the mood. Lately I rarely turn on the radio and sometimes I feel like I have lost interest in it. The senselessness and cruelty of what is happening causes disgust and depression. But I believe that any skill requires maintaining it with regular exercises. A few months ago I found a job and I no longer have as much free time as before. So I try to make a few contacts on the weekends so as not to forget the Morse code.

One of the most debated questions is why the russians were not defeated when they began to retreat in 2022. The main version is that Biden was afraid that the russians would use nuclear weapons and he ordered to allow the russians to retreat without being completely defeated. But they did not use it even when the Ukrainian army attacked Russia in the Kursk region.

It is not known for certain what is happening in the Kursk region, the raid on which the Ukrainian authorities explained by the need to create better conditions for bargaining with russia in future negotiations, but according to the monitoring resource DeepState, the enemy has advanced and is approximately 6.5 km from the Dnipropetrovsk region. It seems that, if we are lucky, the Kursk region will be exchanged for Dnipropetrovsk, and not for the previously captured Donetsk or Luhansk regions...
https://focus.ua/uk/voennye-novosti/687977-6-5-km-do-dnipropetrovskoji-oblasti-zs-rf-prosunulisya-pid-pokrovskom-karta

[US7IGN]

“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”
― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

It is interesting to hear different versions of what is happening and how the state policy regarding mobilization is explained.

When the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, was appointed to this position, his main short-term task was to create a rotation mechanism. He promised this at the level of the Verkhovna Rada Defense Committee, People's Deputy, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Fedir Venislavsky said in an interview.
The point was to provide servicemen with the opportunity to take leave without harming their combat readiness, and combat brigades that had been performing tasks at the front for several months – the opportunity to withdraw to the rear, where they could rest and reform. However, according to Venislavsky, "the situation at the front did not allow this to be done as desired."
https://24tv.ua/venislavskiy-rozpoviv-shho-zavadilo-provesti-rotatsiyu-viyskovosluzhbovtsiv_n2727909

One military man asks why not rotate the police and the military, at least for a while? He is sure that after spending three years at the front he will be able to patrol the streets no worse than the police.

Some people think that there is a political will to terrorize the people by workers of mobilization centers, the goal is to accustom the people to obedience today, in order to stay in power longer tomorrow.

Perhaps all sides are right, but this does not solve the problem of either mobilization or demobilization. Perhaps the point is that mobilization in our case is not general, although it is called so.

The state calls everyone who avoids military service evaders and tries to persecute them, but is very inconsistent in this, because it must be admitted that the entire reserved state service, along with the police and other untouchables, are also essentially evaders. And the problem is not that someone is an evader, but that he is not part of the government, because as soon as you become a policeman or a civil servant, you immediately receive legal exemption from military service.

I understand that it is convenient to blame everything on the injustice of the war and the lack of competence of those responsible for mobilizing the people, but one cannot help but notice the huge amounts of money surrounding these processes and those who gain an advantage at the expense of others. But it seems to me that the worst consequence of such a policy is that fewer and fewer people understand why they should defend such a country.

[KD8ZM-Brady]

The President Elect is not even in office yet but has created great consternation amongst our close allies by expressing his desire to take over Canada and Greenland, even sending Donald Jr. to visit Greenland. Putin must be dreading the prospect of negotiating an end to the Ukraine war with such a master of international relations and realpolitik.

A maneuver to make the EU and Canada nervous about free-riding (i.e., being dependent) on US military protection, and motivate them to up their own military spending. From what I hear on DW news, it at least has them talking about it. If the one you've become dependent on suddenly raises the prospect of being unpredictable and possibly taking away some of your own territory, the needed response is obvious.