Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The words do not have to be perfect.

I really should read my own blog.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

This really is a full service blog.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The willow is too close to the house.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War For Ukraine Day 155: On the Day of Ukrainian Statehood Russia Bombards As Much of Ukraine As It Can Reach; Video Surfaces of Russia Committing New War Crimes

War For Ukraine Day 155: On the Day of Ukrainian Statehood Russia Bombards As Much of Ukraine As It Can Reach; Video Surfaces of Russia Committing New War Crimes

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Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier this evening. Video below, English transcript after the jump (emphasis mine):

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, we celebrated the Day of Ukrainian Statehood for the first time. And I was happy to see how many people perceived this holiday warmly, congratulated on it, smiled and were proud of Ukraine.

It seems that we should have celebrated such a day for many, many years – it is so logical. But this holiday was established only last year. Well, it is forever now.

During a solemn meeting in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, I presented combat awards to our warriors – “Crosses of Combat Merit”. In particular, to Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Command, Major-General Andriy Kovalchuk, Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov, Brigadier-General Mykhailo Drapaty, Colonels Yevhen Bulatsyk, Mykola Mishakin and Oleh Fedoriv, ​​Lieutenant-Colonel Pavlo Rozlach, Majors Ruslan Maryshev and Denys Nokhrin, Captain Dmytro Berehovy, Senior Lieutenants Dmytro Linnyk and Anatoliy Tantsyura, Medical Service Lieutenant Yulia Holovna, Sergeant Pavlina Mykolayevych, Staff Sergeant Roman Palamarchuk, Junior Sergeant Oleksandr Rohachevsky, Senior Sailor Olena Zablotska and Private Serhiy Mishchenko. Thank you all for your service and performance in battles!

Today, in the Mariyinsky Palace, I handed out the passports of the citizens of our state to young Ukrainians – boys and girls who were forced to leave their homes due to hostilities, young volunteers, winners of the All-Ukrainian Olympics, children of our warriors who defend Ukraine, children of those who gave life for the independence of the state. An inspiring ceremony that affirms the power of Ukrainian citizenship! The future of Ukraine is in such children, in their sincerity and intelligence. I am proud to be the President of such citizens.

I had the honor to thank one of our greatest friends – Mr. President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda for the support and extremely important things that strengthened our defense. President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola – a principled friend of ours in European structures – addressed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in a special format.

There were important phone conversations. In the morning – with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. I thanked him for his prayers for Ukraine, for his wishes of victory and peace. In the evening, I spoke with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte – very meaningfully about our future cooperation.

I held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. We considered four issues. What can be said publicly now: we analyzed the current state of providing weapons to our defenders, the supply of aid from partners and, in general, the state of implementation of the Defense Plan of Ukraine, which was put into effect on February 24.

Only in the first half of this day, and only in Kyiv, there were four air alarms. The Russian army launched missile attacks on the Kyiv region, Kropyvnytskyi, hit Mykolaiv, continued a series of strategically senseless and brutal onslaughts on Donbas… I thank each and every one who repels this terror.

And I also want to thank the American senators who unanimously approved the resolution calling on the US Department of State to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. You can take any day in Ukraine – today or any other after February 24 – to see that no one in the world invests in terrorism more than Russia. This really needs a legal response at the global level. And there is no rational reason why such a reaction should not occur, particularly in the United States.

We continue to accumulate international humanitarian support. I am glad that Demna, the creative director of the Balenciaga fashion house, has become the new ambassador of the United24 state charity platform. He told me that the decision to become a United24 ambassador was related to his personal story, as he had experienced the trauma of being a refugee. Demna will help Ukraine in the direction of reconstruction. Let me remind you that Andriy Shevchenko, Elina Svitolina, Liev Schreiber and Imagine Dragons have already become ambassadors of United24.

We will do everything so that there is no indifference left in the world towards this terrible war that Russia has unleashed against our state and against the very idea of freedom.

We will definitely win!

Congratulations once again on the Day of Ukrainian Statehood!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is today’s operational update from Ukraine’s MOD:

The operational update regarding the russian invasion on 06.00, on July 28, 2022

Glory to Ukraine! The one hundred fifty fifth (155) day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a russian military invasion continues.

The enemy is focusing its main efforts on establishing full control over the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, maintaining the captured Kherson and Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv oblast’s parts, creating favorable conditions for resuming the offensive in certain directions, as well as blocking Ukraine’s maritime communications in the Black Sea.

The combat, numerical composition and nature of actions of the enemy group remain without significant changes.

The enemy continues to carry out air and missile strikes, in particular from the territory of the republic of belarus.

On the Volyn and Polissya directions, the engineering equipment of the positions of units that arrived for rotation is recorded. In order to clarify the positions of our troops, expose the air defense system and control the camouflage of their units, the conduct of aerial reconnaissance by UAVs were noted.

According to available information, the federal security service of the russian federation is intensifying counter-intelligence measures in the border areas with Ukraine in the Siverskyy direction. The enemy carried out artillery fire near Mykolaivka in the Chernihiv oblast and Tovstodubovo and Ryasne in the Sumy oblast.

In the Kharkiv direction, artillery shelling was recorded in the areas of Kharkiv, Dementiivka, Mospanove, Sosnivka, Udy, Cherkaski Tyshky, Stary Saltiv, Tsirkuny, Protopivka, Zlochiv, Ruski Tyshki, Petrivka, Pryshyb, Prudyanka and Kalynove settlements. The enemy launched an airstrike near Rusky Tyshky. In order to clarify the position of our troops and adjust the fire, the UAVs conducted aerial reconnaissance.

In the Slovyansk direction, with the aim of finding weak points in the defense of our units, the occupiers conducted assaults in the Dovhenke – Mazanivka and Pasika – Dolyna directions, without success. Artillery shelling was noted in the areas of Andriivka, Nortsivka, Bohorodychne, Chepil, Velyka Komyshuvaha, Petrivske and Husarivka settlements.

The enemy did not conduct active operations in the Kramatorsk direction. It shelled the districts of Zakitne, Verkhnyokamyanske and Tetyanivka with artillery. Made an airstrike near Serebryanka.

In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy is trying to improve the tactical position, but our soldiers repelled the assaults in the Klynove – Bakhmut and Myronivskyi – Semihirya directions and forced the invaders to retreat. The enemy has partial success in the direction of Vidrodzhennya – Vershyna, and is entrenched southeast of the settlement of Vershyna. The attempt to advance in the directions Volodymyrivka – Soledar and Streapivka – Soledar ended in failure for the occupiers.

The enemy carried out artillery fire in the areas of the settlements of Bilohorivka, Mykolaivka, Nova Kamyanka, Vesela Dolyna, Kodema, Semihirya and New York. Airstrikes near Yakovlivka, Pokrovsky and Soledar.

The enemy did not conduct active operations in the Avdiyivka, Novopavlivka, and Zaporizhzhia directions. In order to strengthen the grouping of troops in the Zaporizhzhia direction, additional units are being transferred.

Artillery shelling was recorded in the areas of Vremivka, Krasnohorivka, Maryinka, Novokalynove, Opytne, Stepnohirsk, Biloghirya, Volodymyrivka, Velyka Novosilka, Mykilske, Malynivka and Pervomaiske settlements. The occupiers used aviation near Avdiyivka, Maryinka, Pavlivka, Kamianske and Maly Shcherbaky.

In the South Buh direction, the enemy is concentrating its efforts on holding the occupied lines and returning lost positions in the Kryvorizka direction.

In the waters of the Black Sea, outside the base points, there are three carriers of sea-based cruise missiles of the “Kalibr” type.

In order to constrain our actions, the enemy is shelling from barrel artillery, rocket salvo systems and tanks in the areas of Trudolyubivka, Potemkyne, Posad-Pokrovske, Andriivka, Blahodatne, Ternivka, Chervona Dolyna, Prybuzke, and Luparevo. Made an airstrike near Novopetrivka.

Ukrainian soldiers repulsed the assault in the direction of Bruskynske – Bilohirka. The occupiers suffered losses and withdrew.

We believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Together to victory!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is today’s assessment from Britain’s MOD:

And here is their updated map for today:

Here is the latest updated map and analysis from former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer:

 

About three hours ago video started circulating of Russian forces committing genocidal eugenic war crimes on Ukrainian POWs. Yahoo has the details.

WARNING GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE WAR CRIME!!!!!!

A horrific video posted online on Thursday appears to show a Ukrainian prisoner of war being castrated by his Russian captors.

While Yahoo News cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video, the footage, which was initially posted on a pro-Russian Telegram page before spreading rapidly on social media, showed what appears to be a Russian soldier or mercenary wearing a distinctive black fringed hat, mutilating a man who appears to be a captured Ukrainian soldier.

The victim in the video wears Ukrainian-style camouflage fatigues and is shown gagged, his hands tied behind his back. He lies helpless on the floor, as the man in a Russian uniform, which features a “Z” patch, uses a box cutter to cut off his clothes and then appears to castrate him while shouting degrading insults in Russian. At least two other men who appear to be Russian soldiers can be seen in the video.

While it is unclear when the video was filmed, what appears to be the same man wearing the black fringed hat also appeared in a June broadcast by the Russian state-backed media outlet RT. In that clip, the apparent soldier can be seen carrying a Dragunov sniper rifle as he walks around the Azot chemical plant in the city of Severodonetsk after the Ukrainian withdrawal from the city. In a post that was published on the RIA Novosti Telegram channel, the Russian news agency identified the man as part of the Chechen “Akhmat” battalion of the Russian army.

There is more at the link, including the video.

The Kyiv Independent‘s Illia Ponomarenko provided this analysis:

I think that’s enough serious stuff for tonight before I write something intemperate…

Since we need a bit of a diversion after bearing witness to this unpleasant reality, this happened:

Here’s the full video they’re referring to:

And the response of the Fella who made the video is in the final tweet below:

Your daily Patron!

And here’s a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

Місія виконана! #песпатрон #патрондснс #славаукраїні

♬ оригинальный звук – Patron_official

The caption translates as:

Mission accomplished! #pespatron #patrondsns #slavaukraine

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    Bill Arnold

    Worth at least a skim. (I haven’t noticed it being linked yet, but may have missed a link.)
    The full paper pdf is 118 pages (haven’t read it yet); the link is to the summary/extended abstract.
    Business Retreats and Sanctions Are Crippling the Russian Economy (Last revised: 27 Jul 2022, Yale University, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Franek Sokolowski, Michal Wyrebkowski, Mateusz Kasprowicz)

    That these misunderstandings[that Russia is weathering sanctions better than the West] persist is not surprising. Since the invasion, the Kremlin’s economic releases have become increasingly cherry-picked, selectively tossing out unfavorable metrics while releasing only those that are more favorable. These Putin-selected statistics are then carelessly trumpeted across media and used by reams of well-meaning but careless experts in building out forecasts which are excessively, unrealistically favorable to the Kremlin.
    Our team of experts, using private Russian language and unconventional data sources including high frequency consumer data, cross-channel checks, releases from Russia’s international trade partners, and data mining of complex shipping data, have released one of the first comprehensive economic analyses measuring Russian current economic activity five months into the invasion, and assessing Russia’s economic outlook.
    From our analysis, it becomes clear: business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy. We tackle a wide range of common misperceptions – and shed light on what is actually going on inside Russia, including:

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    God, that video of the tiny child gripping his father’s legs in fear just about did me in. My mind cannot even comprehend the depths of evil and barbarity to which russia has sunk. Perhaps it’s where they’ve always dwelled. But Zelenskyy’s speech to the Rada today was such a powerful contrast. Highly recommend everyone watch it.

    (Also I know Piers Morgan sucks, but it was lovely to see the two of them together, and there are some very sweet and funny moments! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGnZWcazZas)

    Thank you as always, Adam. (And thanks especially for the warning so those of us who cannot read things like that are able to skip past.)

    (ETA: By “the two of them” I meant Zelenskyy and Olena, of course…not him and Piers, LOL)

  3. 3.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Utterly reprehensible behavior! Such war crimes will only strengthen Ukrainian resolve.

  4. 4.

    Ohio Mom

    On yesterday’s report of Russian spies in Riverdale (a Bronx neighborhood):

    I sent The Daily Beast link to my cousin who lives there with a note, “Saw this, thought of you,” and got this reply:

    “I live a few blocks from the Russian Mission and I have heard about the “Spy
    situation” ever since I moved into the neighborhood 28 years ago!”

  7. 7.

    Gin & Tonic

    Thank you for posting about that video, Adam. I do not believe I would have been able to.

    Readers may be interested to note that there is a lot of Twitter traffic identifying the perpetrator. I suspect his remaining life will be short.

  8. 8.

    Another Scott

    @Bill Arnold: This makes sense to me.  Trade is important to a modern economy, and having other countries suddenly refuse to trade with you cannot be anything other than extremely disruptive.

    p.42:

    In short, the drop-off in Russian imports has severely impeded the domestic Russian economy with devastating consequences for domestic consumption and production, as explained in more depth in Section IV. While outsiders are often more focused on Russian exports than Russian imports, the importance of Russian imports cannot be understated: after all, not only do imports represent ~20% of the Russian GDP, compared to only 16% in China and even less in other comparable economies such as India and Brazil; but in addition, in 2021, imports accounted for 75% of nonfood consumer goods in the Russian retail market; and in some sectors the share was even higher, rising to 86% in telecommunications equipment as one example. The fact that the flow of Russian imports has been throttled back severely – even if not choked off completely – is reflective of Russia’s diminished global positioning and weakening economic leverage – further reinforcing the asymmetric nature of Russia’s trade relationships across both exports and imports. In short, Russia needs global markets far more than the rest of the world needs Russian markets.

    Russia’s GDP was $1.48T in 2020. The US’s was $20.9T. The EU’s was $17.9T.

    VVP objectively has a very weak hand. The West has to be willing to stay the course and support Ukraine to and through victory.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Well past time for random attacks on the Kremlin, Minsk, and St Petersburg by special forces from Ukraine and NATO.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: You’re welcome, which is a weird response given the nature of the incident.

    As for the Russian soldier’s life, I have no issue with him dying painfully.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    @Mike in NC: With respect, there are smarter ways to disrupt russian government and society.

    E.g. RFERL.org (from September 2017):

    MOSCOW — Maybe it’s telephone terrorism. Maybe it’s a secret test of the country’s civil defense. Or maybe it’s a new form of cyberwarfare.

    For five days, Russia has been hit by hundreds of fake bomb threats phoned in to universities, schools, hospitals, airports, and railway stations nationwide. They’ve forced police to evacuate tens of thousands, sowing panic and disrupting business across the country.

    The most recent calls came on September 14 to the upscale GUM shopping center on Red Square, opposite the Kremlin. The posh mall, home to stores like Gucci, Prada, and Hugo Boss, was evacuated, as were 20 schools and two cinemas in the capital alone. Over 100,000 were evacuated from various buildings around Moscow the day before.

    Yet, no one knows where the calls are coming from.

    Government and law enforcement have offered no authoritative explanations. The Kremlin — having initially declined to comment — on September 14 labeled it “telephone terrorism,” saying only that the perpetrators were being sought.

    Meanwhile, fed by an array of anonymous sources cited by pro-Kremlin media, theories and speculation have mushroomed, blaming Ukraine, Islamic State, and even radical Russian Orthodox activists as possible perpetrators.

    […]

    Since VVP’s government lies about everything. there’s no telling what was going on and who was behind it.

    (There were large-scale russian war-games with Belarus in September 14-20, 2017, also too.)

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Another Scott: I’m about to head over and read it. However the imports point that you single out here masks another point (which may also be covered in the report): a lot of those imports were industrial inputs to Russian manufactures, which can now no longer be produced. The knock-on effects far exceed the losses measured by the values of those imports.

    They are screwed without a kiss goodnight.

    [And, Thanks, Bill Arnold]

  15. 15.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Bill Arnold: They are finally calling out the lazy reliance by business publications and international organizations on Rosstat data for their forecasts of Russian economic performance. This was a “Garbage In, Garbage Out” problem that was bothering the shit out of me back in May.

  18. 18.

    Medicine Man

    One of my favourite pastimes is practising my dark humour on SK Media’s twitter feed. My observation today, with all the recent bridge damage, is the Russian 49th has transformed into a Ralph Wiggum meme.

  19. 19.

    Bill Arnold

    @Carlo Graziani:

    …the lazy reliance by business publications and international organizations on Rosstat data for their forecasts of Russian economic performance.

    Yeah, I’d mentally bumped up my estimate of Rosstat’s credibility because they were not the ones doing the lying about Russia’s COVID-19 death toll (e.g. Covid-19: Russia’s statistics agency reports much higher death toll than country’s health ministry (12 February 2021, Owen Dyer))
    But they lie too. Mid-tier lying in R. Heinlein’s hierarchy:

    It’s not enough to be able to lie with a straight face; anybody with enough gall to raise on a busted flush can do that. The first way to lie artistically is to tell the truth but not all of it. The second way involves telling the truth, too, but is harder: Tell the exact truth and maybe all of it but tell it so unconvincingly that your listener is sure you are lying. (Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love)

    [“unconvincingly” is shorthand for a broad set of methods, e.g. the target audience can be manipulated (e.g. through deliberate triggerings of their own biases (sometimes deep conceptual biases)) to believe that you are lying,]

  23. 23.

    Chetan Murthy

    Check this out.  Serious Poe’s Law proof.

    State-controlled Telegram channels won’t stop bragging about this video. Not sure who is the creator. But wow, just watch it. If the Russians didn’t promote it, I’d think this was a satire. Why do they think this could attract foreigners to move to Russia? “Winter is coming.” pic.twitter.com/xSvK5utxF9
    — Fatima Tlis (@fatimatlis) July 28, 2022

  29. 29.

    Medicine Man

    There is no shortage of Russians vocally in favour of Putin’s most excellent military priapism, many of whom can be heard bleating from their homes in Miami, New York, London, Tel Aviv, etc. They loves them some Russian authoritarianism but are strangely not so keen on living in the kind of society they build.

  30. 30.

    Traveller

    @Chetan Murthy: I would like to thank you for providing the link to that slick and seductive and beautifully produced…. propaganda (?), except for the the final 5 seconds or so…maybe, but maybe the Winter is coming has some secret meaning also.

    First, I hate to disagree, but I thought the production values were excellent….but more to the point, the entire video spoke to the Russian aims for itself and for Ukraine, this idyllic  world from the past where everything was uncorrupted, where families were all beautiful and serene, at one with themselves and with God’s abundant nature.

    This seems to me to be a straight line descendant from Leni Riefenstalh’s Triumph of the Will to touching on ever meme of how Russia sees itself and how Russia so wants to impregnate Ukraine with…this is exactly why they are fighting and why the invaded Ukraine…to create this world as shown at your link.

    They believe this…more importantly this vanishing and distant dream animates their behavior…The West is Gay and Corrupt and Homoglobo…If Russia prevails across the world, stars will shine brighter, the perfect world will be finally ushered in.

    Now I used every striking word above intentionally…because, this is every Fascist’s dream…this is really what Fascism is…

    Best Wishes and thanks again for the link, Traveller

  31. 31.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Traveller: Obviously, we can assess the (ahem) quality of the work-product, while both agreeing on the need for RU to lose as quickly as possible.   But ….

    1. repeated mention of cheap gas, elec, delivery, etc
    2. beautiful women
    3. vodka
    4. economy that can withstand thousands of sanctions

    I mean, it’s almost parody, no?  Sure, I agree that whoever dreamt this up, meant it in deadly earnest.  But geez, it’s such a clear demonstration of Poe’s Law ….

  32. 32.

    Traveller

    LOL…Point taken.

    The problem is… it is almost parody, as you note….but if you cut through to the heart of even a sober Russian, there, dead center, rusting and moldering away you will find this vision of what Russia is…what it wants to be, what it deserves to be.

    I suppose I would counter that this is exactly what makes Russia and Russians so dangerous…they believe it as maybe only a desperate person with little else to hang on to, believes.

    I’ve been thinking about Fascism, everything is Fascism now, Fascism this, Fascism that…and maybe it is…but what is Fascism?

    Believe me, I am thinking on this, but, maybe Fascism is an idealistic view gone really wrong, (life in truth being difficult, hard, messy, full of love and delight and despair)….Fascism maybe can not deal with the actuality of human existence…maybe this is the real flaw in Fascism?

    We all love Sir Thomas More from a Man for All Seasons…but as Chancellor he was not above directly condemning and burning heretics for not being Catholic….still love the guy, but there you have it.

    Pleasure talking to you, Traveller

  33. 33.

    Another Scott

    @Chetan Murthy: It looks to me to be a very slick video that had the voiceover and text replaced.  Like something Last Week Tonight or Colbert would do.  Russia promoting it could just be them trying to be cool and not fully appreciating the digs.

    I’m reminded of the original UK TopGear.  Absolutely stunningly beautiful camera work, with a jerk of a human (Clarkson) as the star.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    Jinchi

    @Chetan Murthy: ​  “Winter is coming.”

    That’s a great tag line at the end of the video promoting “Move to Russia”.
    Nothing says cozy like a Russian winter.​

  36. 36.

    J R in WV

    Chetan,

    The narrator’s voice seems quite strained, as if he is being forced to speak because he is in a position of extreme vulnerability.

    Very unappealing sounding, highly stressed vocal chords.

    Also, Winter is coming! in Russia~!!~

  37. 37.

    Bill Arnold

    (Maybe Adam has already linked this badge. If not…)
    Said to be (if the emoticons don’t display) a Ukrainian PSYOPS badge:

    How good is this newly identified 🇺🇦 PSYOPS chest / breast badge of the Special Operations Command.
    WANTED 🤛🇺🇦🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/jbPi9dOtwr
    — PSYOPS Insignia (@InsigniaPsyops) July 29, 2022

    The account: PSYOPS [email protected] – worldwide insignia, patches and badges pertaining to the function of Psychological Operations, Inform and Influence Activities, Propaganda + Political Officer.

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