(Image by NEIVANMADE)
I only just got home a little while ago, so I’m keeping this basic and short tonight. I know I owe hrprogressive a couple of answers and I will get to them this week.
Russia once again bombarded Kharkiv today.
Five dead in #Kharkiv as a result of Russian shelling, – mayor of the city pic.twitter.com/gLxhuncwEK
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 20, 2024
10 people may be trapped under the rubble of the printing house in Kharkiv after Russia hit it with a missile an hour ago. Four bodies have been found so far. All were workers at the printing house. pic.twitter.com/KLTCxDycd1
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 20, 2024
Sumy is being bombarded almost every day.
274 russian attacks in one day alone–& I'm speaking not about frontline oblasts, but northeast border region Sumy. The intensity of terrorist shellings grew threefold there over the last 2,5 months as reported by the regional administration. But intl news misses this pic.twitter.com/Dg974ZqTnq
— Olena Halushka (@OlenaHalushka) March 19, 2024
And late tonight/early this morning may get ugly!
Ukrainian Air Force informed that approx. 9 Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers/missile carriers took off from the Olenya Air Base in Murmansk Oblast.
Potential missile launches expected around 3:00am-4:00am local.https://t.co/jYySqghqo1 pic.twitter.com/WWXDQtrDQY
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) March 20, 2024
More on this after the jump.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Putin must lose, and this is a matter of life and death for the democratic world – address by the President of Ukraine
20 March 2024 – 22:50
Dear Ukrainians!
Here are the results for this day.
The day began with a report by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Chief of the General Staff Anatoliy Barhylevych. Our main actions – the situation now, key directions, planned steps. We are working as actively as possible with our partners and on domestic production of weapons to provide more necessary means for our warriors.
Second, there were a lot of international activities today. A very eventful day. A conversation with the Prime Minister of India. I thanked Mr. Prime Minister Modi for the continued support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, as well as for the participation in the work on the Peace Formula at the level of advisors. I invited India to participate in the first Global Peace Summit that we are preparing in Switzerland. It is very important that such a global power as India demonstrates its leadership in restoring a just peace and upholding the goals and principles of the UN Charter, which is the essence of our Peace Formula. Of course, we also discussed bilateral relations with Mr. Prime Minister of India.
Today I held several international meetings in Kyiv. In the afternoon, I met with the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands – it was a very substantive and good conversation. The key thing we discussed was the protection of our cities and villages, air defense for Ukraine to really save our people from Russian terror. We also discussed ways to increase the capabilities of our army. The Netherlands is one of our most consistent partners in protecting human lives and upholding justice.
In the evening, I met with Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. It was also a very meaningful, very specific conversation about defense cooperation and the joint political results we need to achieve. I am grateful to America for its support of our country and people, and it is vital that American leadership remains strong in protecting the international legal order.
We must be resilient to all types of challenges, and our actions must be long-range to defeat Putin, rather than being in a situation where doubts about the strength of the West benefit this lunatic. Putin must lose – and this is a matter of life and death for the democratic world. When he loses, the democratic world will have a bright perspective for generations to come.
Today I took part in the Summit for Democracy. This is the third time this format has been held – this year the Republic of Korea brings together democratic leaders. I am grateful to everyone who cares about preserving the freedom of nations and the development of people despite all the difficulties and chaos in the world today.
And one more thing.
Our Kharkiv… For more than two years now, Kharkiv and the region have been subjected to brutal Russian attacks. Saltivka was destroyed by missiles, other districts and streets of the city were damaged. Villages and towns in the region were destroyed. Today was another Russian strike on Kharkiv, which will have no effect on anything, except that Ukraine will respond in an even more principled and precise manner. Five people were killed by a Russian missile in Kharkiv today. My condolences to all the families and friends.
Every wounded person is being provided with the necessary assistance. But this is not enough – everyone should realize this. Kharkiv needs enough air defense systems. Sumy region needs air defense. Chernihiv region and all our other regions that suffer from Russian terror. Our partners have these defense systems. And our partners need to understand that air defense must protect lives.
I am grateful to everyone who protects normal life in our cities and villages! Thank you to everyone in the world who helps! Thank you to everyone who fights for the sake of our country and the people who work for defense, for Ukraine! We must stand firm and guarantee reliable security for Ukraine. For the whole of Ukraine.
Glory to Ukraine!
Just two more days till a US government shutdown and three more days until the House of Representatives goes on a two week vacation for Easter:
We have 3 more days before Congress goes for a two-week recess.
35 House Democrats and most House Republicans haven't signed the discharge petition to bring the Ukraine aid bill the floor for a voteUrge your representatives to sign it today. Time is running out. pic.twitter.com/qZUsdIL13o
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 20, 2024
And Speaker Johnson is going to continue to bottle up more aid for Ukraine.
The United States will not consider assistance to Ukraine for now, – The Hill.
It is reported that House Speaker Johnson refused to consider aid to Ukraine until the overall U.S. budget is passed. This could take at least another three weeks.
— Maria Drutska 🇺🇦 (@maria_drutska) March 20, 2024
The Netherlands:
Great news from the Netherlands!
The Netherlands is purchasing more than €150 million worth of ammunition for the F16s. The country is also making a contribution of more than €200 million to buy ISR drones for Ukraine.
We are grateful to our Dutch friends for their staunch… https://t.co/E7RPHwTtqo
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 20, 2024
Great news from the Netherlands!
The Netherlands is purchasing more than €150 million worth of ammunition for the F16s. The country is also making a contribution of more than €200 million to buy ISR drones for Ukraine.
We are grateful to our Dutch friends for their staunch support.
We appreciate your significant impact on Ukraine’s victory.
🇺🇦🤝🇳🇱
➡️ We also secured a contract for new ISR-drones for about €200 million, together with partner countries. (2/2)#UDCG #StandWithUkraine
— Kajsa Ollongren (@DefensieMin) March 20, 2024
Lithuania:
Lithuania has allocated €35 million to procure ammunition for Ukraine within the Czech initiative.
We are grateful to our Lithuanian friends for their strong support!
Ukraine appreciates your efforts to bring victory closer.
🇺🇦🤝🇱🇹@Lithuanian_MoD pic.twitter.com/m2o5UFWhLK— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 20, 2024
Brussels:
Trump has done this, destabilized Europe, it is exactly what Putin tasked him to do. I hope the American press wakes up and stops treating this campaign as a normal one, it is not. It’s a foreign adversary attempt to overthrow our system of government.
— David Doak (@SouthPoint1000) March 19, 2024
Euractiv has the transcript of Charles Michel’s remarks:
Charles Michel is the President of the European Council.
It was 3:30 in the morning on 24 February 2022, when I was woken by the sound of my phone ringing. Countless intelligence briefings warning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine can never prepare you for the moment.
Hearing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s grave voice over the phone say “Bombs are falling on us, it’s a full invasion,” I knew at that moment the entire post-World War II security arrangement had changed forever. The EU also has to change fast with it.
Within hours, EU leaders met in Brussels for an extraordinary summit to establish its response to the invasion. There was no need for words among us. The action was what was required. It’s a moment in history each of us EU leaders will remember forever. The decisions taken at the European Council meeting signalled the birth of a geopolitical EU.
The Kremlin’s miscalculation of an easy 3-day war against Ukraine, underestimating the EU’s collective unity, and Ukraine’s determination to defend its territory, shows the delusion at the heart of its leadership. The Kremlin does not care about its people’s welfare, the country’s prosperity, or peace in the region.
In contrast, Ukraine and its people have resisted, retaking seized territory, pushing the Russian navy from the Black Sea, and inflicting heavy losses on Russian forces.
Two years on from the start of the war, it is now clear that Russia will not stop in Ukraine, just as it did not stop in Crimea ten years ago. Russia continues its destabilising tactics — in Moldova, Georgia, the South Caucasus, the Western Balkans and even further afield on the African continent.
Russia is a serious military threat to our European continent and global security. If we do not get the EU’s response right and do not give Ukraine enough support to stop Russia, we are next.
We must therefore be defence-ready and shift to a ‘war economy’ mode. It’s time to take responsibility for our security. We can no longer count on others or be at the mercy of election cycles in the US or elsewhere.
We must strengthen our military ability both for Ukraine and Europe, to defend the democratic world. A stronger EU will also contribute to a stronger NATO alliance and enhance our collective defence.
While we can be proud of how far we have come, there is still much we can and must do.
In a phone call two days after the war started, Zelensky pleaded for Europe to send arms. Together with High Representative Josep Borrell, we worked with EU leaders to deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine. This was a first in the history of our Union. That very weekend the first arms were arriving in Ukraine.
Europe’s commitment to Ukraine and its people has been unwavering at every European Council since then.
We have also stepped up on the military manufacturing front. Europe’s defence industry has ‘ramped up’ its production capacity by 50% since the start of the war, and we will double ammunition fabrication to over 2 million shells yearly, by the end of next year.
Meanwhile, across our continent, Kremlin propaganda in Europe attempts to convince our citizens that the war in Ukraine does not concern us, is draining our budgets, and dividing us. These are blatant lies. We must do more to assist Ukraine and strengthen our defence. We need to speak not only the language of diplomacy but also the language of power.
Russia will spend a reported 6% of GDP on defence this year, while the EU still spends on average less than the NATO goal of 2% of GDP.
For decades, Europe has not invested enough in our security and defence.
Today we face the biggest security challenge since the Second World War, we must therefore build our defence readiness. This will take a radical and irreversible shift in our thinking, towards a strategic security mindset.
We must prioritise Ukraine and spend more smarter in a less fragmented manner.
Supporting Ukraine
While we beef up our defence capacity, we must ensure Ukraine gets what it needs on the battlefield. Ukrainian soldiers urgently need bullets, missiles and air defence systems to control the skies.
We must use the European budget to buy military equipment for Ukraine and let’s make use of the windfall profits from Russia’s immobilised assets to purchase arms for Ukraine.
Buy more together
We should aim to double what we buy from the European industry by 2030. This will give more predictability to our companies. Multi-year contracts will also incentivise them to expand their production capacity.
This will strengthen our defence sector, and enhance defence readiness, creating jobs and growth across the EU.
Make access to financing easier
Investments in security are expensive but without them, we cannot increase our defence production. We must facilitate ways for industry, to access public and private financing more easily.
Issuing European defence bonds to raise money to buy materials or invest in our industry, could be a powerful means to strengthen our technological innovation and industrial base.
We must consider expanding the European Investment Bank’s mandate and adapting the lending policy to allow us to do more to support our European defence industry, i.e. by changing the definition of dual-use goods.
EU leaders are convening again in Brussels two years after that pivotal European Council meeting. At this crucial moment in global history, we must be defence-ready, matching the urgency of the threat.
This fight requires strong leadership — to rally our people, businesses, and governments toward a new spirit of security and defence across our continent.
If we want peace, we must prepare for war.
Finally, Europe is ramping up -and Czechia is playing a major role in securing gap-filler capabilities. But 2024 will be a disheartening and tough slog nonetheless with US out of the hardware picture for an undetermined length of time https://t.co/aJoPYtePfY
— François Heisbourg (@FHeisbourg) March 19, 2024
Kosovo:
Kosovo aiding Ukraine with mortar rounds, trucks, and other equipment. #Kosovo #Ukraine https://t.co/Mi5kEbX9CO
— Petrit Selimi (@Petrit) March 19, 2024
Kosovo really punching above their weight class! Good for them!
France:
French Armed Forces Ministry says Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Naryshkin's claim that France is preparing up to 2,000 servicemembers to go to Ukraine is "mass disinformation" – https://t.co/Kb72NhVLz8
— Camilla Schick (@CamJourno) March 19, 2024
Russian intelligence accounts spreading easily verifiable disinformation get status as "content creators" on @X, and because X is a money bleeding venture, it's fair to say @elonmusk personallh funds Russian intelligence operations. pic.twitter.com/nIxiZWhHi0
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) March 19, 2024
What’s interesting is there are a number of expatriate Russians in the French Foreign Legion. If you recall, at the beginning of the re-invasion, there were reports of some of them trying to figure out how to get back to fight for Russia. I have always had a sneaking suspicion that one of the reason Prigozhin’s Wagner front groups were able to so successfully and efficiently subvert the French in the Sahel is because of the numbers of Russians in the Foreign Legion. Specifically that they functioned as a gigantic insider threat feeding intelligence and information back to the Russians.
More from Kharkiv:
This is right next to where the WCK warehouse in Kharkiv was operating from until last year (and where I spent a lot of time in 2022). This is a completely civilian and industrial area. Windows in the warehouse were all blown out, but everyone is okay there. https://t.co/Dpgt7Aq08X
— Nate Mook (@natemook) March 20, 2024
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk said that Russia has dropped more than 3,500 UMPK glide bombs so far in 2024.https://t.co/oxVIYU75bc
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 18, 2024
From Militarnyi:
Since the beginning of 2024, the combat aviation of the Russian Federation has dropped more than 3,500 bombs on the positions of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
This was announced in an article of Ukrinform by Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Ivan Havriliuk.
According to him, this number is even more than the same period last year.
The Deputy Minister stressed that enemy aviation actively used guided bombs against Ukrainian positions on the border and frontline areas.
He noted that only since the beginning of this year (for 77 days), Russian aviation had dropped more than 3,500 bombs on Ukrainian positions, which was 16 times more than last year.
According to Lieutenant General, F-16 fighters have to turn the dominance of Russians in the air war, which will increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian Defense Forces on the ground.
But now, according to him, the situation is such that there are no F-16 yet, and the stocks of ammunition of certain nomenclatures are falling to a critical level.
“These and other factors make it difficult for the Defense Forces of Ukraine to perform tasks to repel the aggressor,” Havriliuk said.
At the same time, he stressed that there were high expectations for the adoption of important decisions for Ukraine on the provision of new packages of military aid from allies.
Since the beginning of 2023, Russians began to use guided bombs equipped with UMPK (unified gliding and correction module – ed.) kits.
This kit converts conventional “dumb bombs” into precision-guided munitions. Also, due to the wings that open after ascending from the hardpoint, the range of the bomb increases to tens of kilometers. Initially, Russians turned into adjusted 250 and 500-kilogram bombs. However, today they already equip such modules with FAB-1500 and RBK-500.
The Russian bombers and fighters can drop their bombs at a distance of 40-50 km from the front line. Under such conditions, today enemy aircraft are almost invulnerable to Ukrainian air defense or fighter aircraft. This is a problem that requires a systemic solution.
Lots of pictures of the Russian bombs at the link.
And here’s a visualization of what the Russian missile strikes look like over time.
Notably, Russia has launched relatively few missile strikes over the past month and their production capacity for ballistic and cruise missiles is more than 115 per month, according to Ukrainian officials. Graph from @konrad_muzyka. https://t.co/Nhd03NPi7t pic.twitter.com/ySnGJM9v5C
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 20, 2024
The Avdiivka front:
-2 russian IFVs
+2 spectacular explosionsThe warriors from the 47th Mechanized Brigade burn the occupiers on the Avdiivka axis. pic.twitter.com/kaSmeNKDhf
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 20, 2024
Here’s longer video:
Destruction of two Russian BMP-3 on the Avdiivka front. By the 47th Brigade.https://t.co/eD4yW1RqBx pic.twitter.com/4CjbUpcOLn
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 20, 2024
Two Russian T-72B on the Avdiivka front.https://t.co/9IjWXbeEAT pic.twitter.com/yyRa9OlUPJ
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 20, 2024
Not quite sure where this is:
K-2 combat group of the 54th Brigade released a video featuring a nearly complete destruction of an enemy armoured group. Footage shows how the engagement was controlled inside a command point.
Watch full video with subtitles: on YouTube: https://t.co/VNKTuFIAMm pic.twitter.com/oFJnFoaRSL
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 20, 2024
Or this:
As said, on the video the FPV drone with an automatic guidance system continues to fly to the target even after losing the signal with the operator due to work of electronic warfare system.
By the 60th and 63rd Brigades of Ukraine. https://t.co/W2s1ARS4Bs— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 20, 2024
Here’s the machine translation of the original tweet:
FPV FIGHTING WITH AUTO TARGETING!
Our drones have evolved and can now hit targets almost by themselves!
This video shows the destruction of a Russian tank using just such a drone 💥
This is the joint work of the 60th and 63rd mechanized brigades.The drone flew to the target in conditions of active suppression by electronic warfare systems, but this did not prevent it. Because at the final stage he already did his job 😉
The technology is new, needs improvement and scaling. That’s why I’m asking you to make a donation for such drones as a gift to me.
They neutralize the work of the enemy’s EW in most cases and allow you to hit the enemy even more effectively!The goal is 50 million hryvnias.
With these funds, we will purchase 1,300+ such drones and invest in the technology itself.
These will be both FPV quadcopters and airplanes. Both day and night.And yes, this is not the first such decision in Ukraine. But one of the first successful applications.
And the enemy, unfortunately, also has similar developments.
The Russians have been testing a similar technology for more than a month, so we should invest all the more in development.
And when the product is completely ready, we will involve the state in procurement.
To scale even more.Monobank https://send.monobank.ua/jar/5eBaMvoanU
Bank card 5375411215349155
Private 5168745030910761
PayPal [email protected]Driven away!
Engels air base in Russia:
Engels, home to strategic bomber military airbase in Russia was attacked by drones tonight. Fuel, logistics and military airfields—put it on repeat. pic.twitter.com/8aCzTjWndK
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 20, 2024
This night there was a reported drone attack attempt and air defence activity on the territory of Russian military airfield in Engels, 600km from the front. pic.twitter.com/9rkrozHerv
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 20, 2024
Pobedobesie/the cult of Victory in Russia:
Rus. praporshik Danil Shargan twice served in the war in Ukraine, as part of the 35th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces and the Wagner PMC, and now works as an instructor in the so-called “military-patriotic center.” He instructs children to kill Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/1rq3z7tYge
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 20, 2024
The “reeducation” of Ukrainian children stolen by the Russians is adjacent to the pobedobesie educational regime.
Kremlin kidnaps them to erase their identities. pic.twitter.com/k9jYPY4tsh
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) March 19, 2024
NPR has the latest on Russia’s genocidal theft of Ukrainian children:
Ukraine says more than 19,000 children have been illegally taken by Russia since the war began. NPR’s Leila Fadel speaks with two teenagers who were abducted from Ukraine.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
When Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago now, it didn’t just take territory. It separated thousands of Ukrainian children from the only home they’ve ever known, relocating them to Russian-occupied territory or to Russia itself. Most of those children have not returned. Some who have are young adults now, and they’re speaking out.
Where were you when the invasion began?
KSENIA KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) I was living in a foster family in the town of Vovchansk, which is in Kharkiv Oblast, living there with my younger brother. I was finishing school the last year before you go to university, and I was 17 years old at the moment.
ROSTISLAV LAVROV: (Through interpreter) When the war started, straight away, my grandma died, and then my mother, she was taken by the Russian military to some sort of medical facility, a facility they wouldn’t tell me what was it.
FADEL: How old were you?
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) I was 16 years old. So I was absolutely alone after that moment that my mother was taken.
FADEL: That’s Rostislav Lavrov, who was moved to Russian-occupied Crimea, with Ksenia Koldin, who was taken to Russia and separated from her brother. I caught up with them after their testimony about this to U.S. lawmakers. At least 19,000 children are still gone, according to Ukrainian officials, but the real number is believed to be much higher. They’re sent to Russian foster families, technical schools, military training and so-called summer camps with the intention of turning them into Russian citizens. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, testified via video recording to that same group of bipartisan lawmakers.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ANDRIY KOSTIN: We are talking about the next generation of Ukrainians. We are talking about the fate of each and every child, some being as young as 1 year old, who will grow up not knowing who they are.
FADEL: He, along with other international officials, sounded the alarm about Russia’s determination to brainwash these kids into hating Ukraine. Rostislav Lavrov is living proof. He may be 18 right now, but he still has the wonder of a child on this visit to D.C.
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) The road was very difficult, but when I’m actually here, it’s like you’re in a movie.
FADEL: Lavrov is from a village in southeast Ukraine. When the Russian military occupied, they took his mom. Months later, they came for him, sent him to Russian-occupied Crimea. There, he refused all efforts to indoctrinate him.
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) So every morning, I would listen to the Russian anthem. We were told that Ukraine is not going to exist anymore, that you are not needed anywhere. You’re – nobody waits you anywhere back home. And then we were told, like, you need to leave, and you need to go to a different place where you’re going to study.
FADEL: How long, total, were you kidnapped?
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) Almost exactly a year, like, up to a day.
FADEL: His captors confined him to a small cell when he refused to sing the Russian national anthem.
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) It’s 6 by 6 feet. There’s a small balcony with grates on it. There’s a small wardrobe. There’s a toilet. You’re not allowed to use the phone. You’re not allowed to go anywhere.
FADEL: Russian authorities tried to erase his past. They replaced his Ukrainian birth certificate with a Russian one, but he never gave up on getting home. A friend’s mom and the charity Save Ukraine helped him. Mykola Kuleba of Save Ukraine has located and rescued hundreds of Ukrainian children and teens.
MYKOLA KULEBA: We need everything. We need rescue more children. We need provide recovery for these kids – housing, food, health. These kids received traumas, and we have to help. We have to recover them and reintegrate into Ukrainian community and provide an educational program.
FADEL: And so that takes months, years.
KULEBA: Yeah. It’s a lot of time.
FADEL: Yeah.
KULEBA: That’s why Ukraine asked United States provide the support, because it’s very expensive, and our child welfare system collapsed because of war.
FADEL: Ksenia Koldin was also rescued by Save Ukraine. She was determined to return home with her brother. He was sent to what Russians called a rest and recreation camp.
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) The promised two, three weeks that we were told that we going to get separated for we, were actually separated for 900 miles away from each other.
FADEL: Wow.
KOLDIN: And it turned out to be nine months.
FADEL: How old is your brother?
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) He’s 12 now.
FADEL: Oh, my gosh. So that must have been really difficult, separating from your little brother like that.
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) I must say, those were the worst nine months of my life.
FADEL: She says at the school where she was forced to study, they tried to make her take Russian citizenship.
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) We were brainwashed into saying that if Russia wouldn’t have invaded, then Ukraine would have invaded first.
FADEL: What was going through your mind?
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) So I would just not say anything. I would just sit thinking to myself, glory to Ukraine. My country is going to prevail and win. Yeah, you can say whatever.
FADEL: She told me she was scared that her brother was starting to believe. Some similar things he’d been placed with a Russian family. And the foster mother?
KOLDIN: (Through interpreter) She kept saying like, there’s no future in Ukraine. There’s – it’s run by Nazis. This family was actually very pro-Russian. They were actually propagating on him this propaganda. And when they realized that I was on my way to get him, they actually shut down all the communication with me. So I would tell him that he’s the only person, really, of my relatives. I would not promise him anything about what’s going to be in Ukraine, like, but I would tell him that if we’re going to be together, it’ll be all right. Part of me wanted to cry, but I actually did not let myself. All of this just worked because he said, yes, let’s come back to Ukraine.
FADEL: Ksenia Koldin got her wish. They returned home together. Sitting next to her, I asked Rostislav Lavrov how he was doing after being rescued.
LAVROV: (Through interpreter) So I, myself, is all right. I would want my mother to come back to Ukraine and be healthy.
FADEL: Do you have any news of her?
LAVROV: Nyet.
FADEL: He’s still waiting. They’re sharing their stories to remind the world that other Ukrainians, and most urgently, the more than 19,000 children who were taken, still need help. And now Russia is fast-tracking citizenships for those forced to Russia or occupied territories. Ukrainians say it’s to erase any documentation of their true identities.
This is most likely somewhere in Belgorod Oblast:
WARNING!! WARNING!! GRAPHIC IMAGERY!! WARNING!! WARNING!!
Incredible footage shows imperial forces unsuccessfully assaulting a building with the Free Russia Army fighters inside.https://t.co/0P6xLJ3xfG pic.twitter.com/vVgZzS66bQ
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 20, 2024
ALL CLEAR!!
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
There are no new Patron tweets or videos tonight, so here’s some adjacent material.
Legends. pic.twitter.com/t7bWVKBNMa
— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) March 20, 2024
@natemook and the HachikoUA team install feeding stations in frontline areas of 🇺🇦 and bring food and supplies to the folks who look after the cats and dogs. 😻
🎟️Gift a Lucky $5 to put more kibble in the feeders! ☘️
Follow Hachiko Foundation on IG pic.twitter.com/4K5BdeUjLs
— Jolie Mack 🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@joliemackdotcom) March 17, 2024
We would be honored if a smart dog joins us Daunty! The Hachiko foundation also takes care of dogs 😉 pic.twitter.com/x5C4iweHpa
— EllenB 🎗️ (@4EverBraveFella) March 18, 2024
War for Ukraine Day 756: A Brief Wednesday Night UpdatePost + Comments (18)