Thank you Bob!
I have long been a fatalist and have relied on God's will. If He has led me through all that I have already had to go through, I have no doubt that I can continue to rely on Him.
As for the load, it is more difficult with this, but I hope that this phase will pass and it will be a little easier.
There is an advantage to being tired - despite the fact that there was a drone attack on Kyiv all night, I slept. I think I heard something, but I didn't wake up from the explosions. Sergiy UT3UFD, on the contrary, was furious that he couldn't sleep. There were no hits in our area, but there were again deaths and damage in other areas.
https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/cgj859wzp82oThe Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports that in order to demonstratively pressure and intimidate Ukraine, as well as the EU and NATO member states, the aggressor state russia intends to carry out a “training and combat” launch of the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-24_Yars on the night of May 19, 2025. The flight range of the specified three-stage solid-fuel missile is over 10 thousand kilometers” and even without a warhead it can cause great damage if it hits a residential building.
https://armyinform.com.ua/2025/05/18/vorog-planuye-navchalno-bojovyj-zapusk-mizhkontynentalnoyi-balistychnoyi-rakety-gur/So today I decided to take a full rest. In the morning Sergiy came to my place and we had coffee. After the dinner given the bad propagation, Colin G3ZAF and I talked for over an hour on Zoom.
We talked again about how incomplete information affects the perception of the situation. In general, this distortion of reality is very dangerous. And it is not only about underestimating the enemy, but also about overestimating oneself. In the imagination of Ukrainians and not only the Ukrainian army is huge and invincible, but in reality no one knows what part of it currently consists of unmotivated forcibly mobilized people, and we must not forget that they are poorly trained and fight for other people's money under extremely poor management. And the only thing that saves the situation is that the russians are not doing much better.
Also all of Colin's acquaintances in Ukraine mention the manhunt in one way or another, although he hears nothing about it on the BBC. This is obviously an uncomfortable topic that the politically correct Western media diligently avoids. Of course, Western leaders would not be so comfortable publicly supporting Zelensky if their people knew what the authorities in Ukraine were doing.
In Kharkiv on May 12, a man died after falling from the third-floor window of a mobilization center building. They say he committed suicide, but people point out that he chose a strange place for this and had not been seen with suicidal intentions before.
https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/331333-v-kharkovskom-ttsk-utverzhdayut-chto-ne-ubivali-muzhchinu-a-on-sam-vypal-iz-oknaI am sure that the investigation will be formal. On the other hand, it is difficult to blame the workers of the mobilization centers and the police for what they do. If they do not send others to their deaths, then they will have to go to the front themselves.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with a call to replace the military uniform for workers of mobilization centers with another.
According to the MP, the military personnel of the mobilization centers are allegedly dishonoring the military uniform with their actions (as is known, the competence includes, in particular, the mobilization of citizens of Ukraine into the army).
“For the past year, military personnel have been actively contacting me and asking me to do something about the fact that they are constantly confused with workers of mobilization centers because of their uniforms. The military have become ashamed to wear a pixel (slang name for military uniform in Ukraine). Sidelong glances, people run in different directions just to get past you, and in extreme cases it even comes to a fight,” the people's deputy noted.
https://redaktor.com.ua/2025/05/17/ideya-nardepa-goncharenka-shhodo-inshoyi-formy-dlya-vijskovyh-tczk-rozizlyla-rechnyka-zsu/Starting in 2025, boys aged 17 and over who plan to enter higher or vocational education institutions will be required to provide a military registration document.
https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/331254-postuplenie-v-vuzy-dlya-parney-tolko-s-voenno-uchetnym-dokumentom-novye-pravila-s-2025-godaIt is obvious that now even more boys will go abroad to receive higher education.
I can't vouch for the accuracy of the numbers, although looking out the window or inside a large supermarket, it seems like that's the case somewhere. Since gaining independence, Ukraine has been experiencing a steady decline in the birth rate. While in 1990-1991, 657.2 thousand and 630.8 thousand children were born, respectively, in 2024 there were only 176.1 thousand (data only from controlled territories). This means a decrease in the birth rate by more than 70%. In 2024, mortality in Ukraine exceeded the birth rate by almost three times. During the year, 495.1 thousand people died, while only 176.1 thousand were born.
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2025/05/13/infografika/suspilstvo/skilky-lyudej-narodzhuyetsya-pomyraye-ukrayini
