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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 291: It Was HIMARS O’Clock in Melitopol!

War for Ukraine Day 291: It Was HIMARS O’Clock in Melitopol!

by Adam L Silverman|  December 11, 20226:51 pm| 66 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

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After President Zelenskyy’s daily address, so after the jump, we’ll get into what we know so far from yesterday’s Ukrainian strikes in Melitopol.

The video of President Zelenskyy’s address is below. English transcript after the jump.

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today we have quite a busy day.

I held a meeting of the Staff. The situation on the frontline, the restoration of the energy infrastructure, the intelligence data on the plans of the occupiers, internal challenges. We work everything out in detail.

Restoration work continues in the south of our country – we are doing everything to restore the light supply to Odesa. As of this time, we managed to partially restore the supply in Odesa and other cities and districts of the region. We are doing everything to achieve the maximum possible after the Russian hits.

But now the Odesa region is still among the regions with the biggest number of shutdowns.

Kyiv and the region, Lviv region, Vinnytsia region, Ternopil and the region, Chernivtsi and the region, Zakarpattia, Sumy region, Dnipropetrovsk region – the situation remains very difficult. We are constantly working with partners to mitigate the situation and give our people more opportunities, more electricity.

Next week will be important in this regard. The G7 summit, a conference in France on the recovery and resilience of Ukraine in the winter, events at the level of the European Union… We are preparing for participation and expecting important results.

I spoke with President Macron today. It was a rather long conversation – more than an hour – and a very meaningful one. Defense, energy, economy, diplomacy… We are coordinating steps, preparing for the implementation of our peace formula – Mr. President Macron supports it, and this is very important for us.

Today I also spoke with President of Türkiye Erdoğan. As always, a very specific conversation. About something that is important not only for Ukraine and Türkiye, but what is of truly global importance.

We discussed the possibilities of expanding our Black Sea export corridor. I thanked for supporting our “Grain from Ukraine” humanitarian initiative.

We agreed on some important joint steps for the near future.

Also today – later – a conversation with President of the United States Biden is scheduled. Details and results will be announced after the end of the conversation.

And one more thing.

By decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, sanctions were applied against seven people. We are doing everything to ensure that the aggressor state does not have a single string of Ukrainian society to pull.

Thank you to everyone who protects our country!

Thank you to everyone who fights for Ukraine!

Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by Russian terrorists!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Commander Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessments of the situations in Izium and Kherson:

IZIUM AXIS /2000 UTC 11 DEC/ Reports indicate that UKR forces have crossed the Krasna River west of of Novokrasnianka. UKR patrols, supported by artillery, have engaged RU forces at Pischane and Zhytilivka. pic.twitter.com/ZwKZKxuIaf

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) December 11, 2022

KHERSON AXIS /0350 UTC 11 DEC/ UKR Partisan elements identified a Russian HQ/Barracks facility outside the urban area of Melitopol. The complex, formerly a luxury spa/hotel, was engaged by UKR long range precision strike artillery on 10 DEC. pic.twitter.com/suYILJygFG

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) December 11, 2022

Yesterday the Ukrainians struck hard on a Russian military complex/barracks in Melitopol.

“Melitopol’. According to preliminary estimates, about 200 occupiers were roasted.”

«Мелітополь. За попередніми підрахунками підсмажилося близько 200 окупантів.»https://t.co/LmZsSLGlng

— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) December 11, 2022

Here’s the machine translation of the full post from the Zaporizhzhia Telegram channel that MacKay is quoting and linking to in his second tweet:

Melitopol. According to preliminary estimates, about 200 occupiers were roasted.

Wounded orcs are immediately taken to Crimean hospitals, because there are not enough places in Melitopol hospitals (that’s why blood is needed)⬆️

“Fast” cars are coming from different parts of Melitopol – not only from the eastern side, where it’s on fire, but also from the southern side.

Not all orcs have access to hospitals. Some “ambulances” turn to the morgue, – reports the mayor of the city

The fire occurred on the morning of Dec 10 in the settlement of Sovietske near Yalta in southern Crimea. According to unconfirmed reports, the facility night have had up to 200 mobilizees, the Russian media says two of them died in the fire.

📹via https://t.co/uxNgztaPVu pic.twitter.com/hWD4lZL9nc

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) December 10, 2022

This is what the complex looked like before the Ukrainians blowed it up real good:

Looks like they have a few cabins to bunk in. TV. Comfy bed. Hopefully a general or two enjoyed the evening entertainment before they were turned to dust. pic.twitter.com/OFtUEjcADO

— The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) December 10, 2022

Correction. Photo was roughly taken here…

46°50'40.7"N 35°23'56.1"E

— The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) December 10, 2022

So remember kids:

Smoking is bad 2022 pic.twitter.com/44hqT1kwLu

— borisgroh.bsky.social 🇺🇦 (@BorisGrohArt) November 18, 2022

Here’s video reporting from Bakhmut by Hromadske a Ukrainian news outlet. It has English subtitles. Here’s their English language description of the video:

Dec 10, 2022

The Russians have been storming the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk region since May. By December, they were able to approach the outskirts of the city in the northeast and southeast. The ground there is littered with bodies, and sporadic photos look like an archival footage from the First World War. There are also many wounded. At the “stabilization point” in Bakhmut work only military medics. Doing their job means oftenly getting no sleep and under fire. The whole territory of Bakhmut is constantly shelled, including the building where professional first aid is provided and lives are saved. Sometimes this happens both during shelling and power outages while the generator is being started. Sometimes doctors have to spend the night in the basement, where the temperature is now +4°C. Whilst outdoors it’s -10°C. Sometimes doctors go to the evacuation themselves. In some cases – to take away not only the wounded, but also the dead. In such conditions, these doctors have been working for 4 months — without breaks or days off. The “flow” of wounded does not stop here. “It is not difficult for us, it is difficult for those who are at “zero,” [e.g. the frontlines] they say.

WARNING! WARNING! Disturbing Content! WARNING! WARNING!

ALL CLEAR!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

😂😂Patron Патрон pic.twitter.com/jdku6UB46Z

— TimeTeamFella (@RasReload) December 10, 2022

Someone better be arranging for him or her to make an appearance for my next birthday. Understood?

And here’s the new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Невдалі кадри😂 #песпатрон #патрондснс

♬ –

The caption machine translates as:

Nevdali frame😂 #PatrontheDog #PatronDSNS

Open thread!

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Next Post: The Lincoln Lawyer vs. The Lincoln Lawyer You Guys Were So Right About The Lincoln Lawyer»

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  1. 1.

    japa21

    December 11, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    Boy, did Patron grow up fast.

  2. 2.

    oldster

    December 11, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    The adult-sized Patron suit is pretty great. If St. Javelin sold them, I’d send you one.

    On the condition that you provide pics of yourself wearing it at your birthday.

  3. 3.

    Poptartacus

    December 11, 2022 at 7:15 pm

    Stop supporting twitter

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    December 11, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    @Poptartacus: A noble sentiment, but maybe suggest a non-twitter source?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 11, 2022 at 7:25 pm

    @Poptartacus: First, I do agree with you, that we should all try to get off Twitter.  And so, after I got my mastodon account, I emailed Josh Marshall and asked him if he had some equivalent of his Twitter lists of {UA Military Analysts, Heads of state, ministries, notables, analysts on UA}.  He said that he had tried (and was continuing to try) to compile such lists, but most of the valuable sources were still not on Mastodon, so it was pretty much stalled.

    There’s pretty much no other place to get this information (unlike with FTFNYT/WaPo, where there are lots of alternative news sources) like these feeds on Twitter.  It’s a problem, and I admit to feeling uncomfortable using Twitter for this.

    But until all these primary sources get themselves onto Mastodon, what should one do

    ETA: I see that I’m really restating more wordily, what Another Scott said already.

  6. 6.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 7:26 pm

    It feels horrible to be glad when people are killed, and in the abstract, I’m not…but also, I kind of am, because if that’s the only way to stop the exponentially greater cruelty the invaders are committing against Ukraine, then so be it. They made their dirt beds, and now they can lie in them forever.

    And yeah, if more russians are turning against the war, I hope no one with two brain cells to rub together thinks it has anything to do with concern for their victims. It’s concern for their own sorry asses. Just like that granny said in AL’s post, they can go fuck themselves.

    I really liked this line from Zelenskyy’s address: We are doing everything to ensure that the aggressor state does not have a single string of Ukrainian society to pull. A way with words, that man has. Speaking of, his book of speeches is out! Proceeds benefit United24, and it includes a number of speeches from before the war. I’ve only started flipping through it, but I think it’ll be a very good one to revisit many times.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 7:28 pm

    @Poptartacus: I’ll direct you to my comment on AL’s post and say that the same goes for Adam’s posts. That is, if you’re able to read it from way up there on your high horse.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 11, 2022 at 7:28 pm

    @Poptartacus: Are you or I paying for Twitter? No. Am I posting the ads that appear on Twitter? No. Do I have a Twitter account? No. Am I posting on Twitter? No. So nothing I’m doing is generating any revenues or views or any other positive metric for the Starlink Snowflake.

  9. 9.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 11, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    It feels horrible to be glad when people are killed

    I remind myself that they had lots of options, and at this point, lots of information:

    1. desert
    2. refuse to enlist, and choose prison instead
    3. desert
    4. desert

    where for “desert” one can read “surrender” and “abscond immediately on entering UA territory, find your way to UA forces and surrender.  Yes, it’s dangerous.  But these people all have lots and lots of choices, where Ukrainians have only two:

    1. fight and maybe die
    2. capitulate and watch their families and their loved ones be raped, tortured and killed, let themselves be raped, tortured and killed.

    I am unmoved by seeing these videos of RU soldiers dying or dead.  They all had the choice of surrendering or prison in Russia.

  10. 10.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: Agreed with all of this. For me, the idea of any sense of positivity over someone dying has always been difficult. Part of it is religious influence, but part is just that I don’t like that we live in a world which includes people who are so vile that their death is seen as a good thing. Alas, we do live in that world, though, and I try to work through my feelings about not having bad feelings over their deaths in my nightly chitchats with God.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 11, 2022 at 7:42 pm

    @Poptartacus: Feel free to provide us with your list of Ukrainian primary sources on other media platforms.

  12. 12.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 11, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    @Alison Rose: There’ll be time for thinking of Russians, once Ukraine is safe, and so is our Republic.  Until then, Russians under arms are the enemy, and I cannot bring  myself to feel anything for them.  Not when my home is under threat, not when the people defending my home are fighting and dying in Ukraine.

    I watched one of those Melitopol videos, and while I didn’t stare intently, I didn’t have to avert my eyes.  B/c “dying Russian soldiers” isn’t a bad thing.  I’m sorry to have to say that, and I know that it’s a bad mental state to be in.  But they could have avoided all of this by deserting.  Or refusing to be mobilized.

  13. 13.

    oldster

    December 11, 2022 at 7:45 pm

    @Poptartacus:

    Good news! None of us here are supporting twitter.

    We’re just using it for free, while the advertisers flee and Elno Skum hemorrhages money.

    @ChetanMurthy:

    Thanks for asking Josh Marshall about porting his list elsewhere. It will be a great day when that’s possible.

  14. 14.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 11, 2022 at 7:49 pm

    @oldster: I access twitter thru two paths:

    1. blogs like B-J, LG&M
    2. JMM’s lists

    And that’s it.  So when enough of those movers-and-shakers also get on mastodon, I’ll have no reason to access twitter ever again.

  15. 15.

    HinTN

    December 11, 2022 at 7:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: It pains me to say that the Starlink Snowflake’s system is still the best ISP in this neck of the woods. Am I on Twitter? No! Would I buy a Tesla? No. Would I like gig service via fiber? Oh hell yes! Is it coming here in my lifetime? Doubtful, but fingers crossed for Uncle Joe’s bucks to make it so.

  16. 16.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    December 11, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    @Alison Rose: Don’t be hard on yourself about the way you feel. You have a moral center, and that is going to lead to mixed feelings about the death and destruction of the Russians. It isn’t a good thing that so many are dying, but it is necessary. Dead Russians can’t kill Ukrainians. For this war to end, the price has to be high enough that the Russian people are no longer willing to pay it.

  17. 17.

    Jay

    December 11, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    ❗️Christmas mood is already on all the streets of Russia 🤡 pic.twitter.com/cSDK8VHHAW— Eva K.🇨🇿🫶🏼🇺🇦🫶🏼🇪🇺 (@EvaTrmx86qc7r) December 11, 2022

  18. 18.

    Jay

    December 11, 2022 at 8:10 pm

    Meanwhile in occupied #Crimea. Several blasts in Simferopol around 9pm Sat, according to social media video & local reports. Also explosions in Sevastopol, headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet, at Russian military barracks in Sovietske & elsewhere. t.co/bfsZYTJqHP pic.twitter.com/jkvVIkMGwJ— Glasnost Gone (@GlasnostGone) December 11, 2022

  19. 19.

    Jay

    December 11, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Another important message from #London #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦🙏💪#RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/YR7Q9jNvYL— Olga Kerziouk (@kerziouk) December 11, 2022

  20. 20.

    Jay

    December 11, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    Russians in 2014: “Crimea is Russian and it always will be.” Russians in 2022: “We have to dig trenches in Crimea. We can’t stop Ukrainians.”No, you can’t. #Crimea #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Qa1Jhtqlv4— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) December 11, 2022

  21. 21.

    Quiltingfool

    December 11, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    @Alison Rose: You have a strong moral center.  I feel as you do.

    My greatest sadness is for Ukrainians who have lost their lives; innocent children, elders, mothers and fathers —and they did nothing to deserve that.  I have sorrow for all Ukrainians who have lost loved ones.  I have sorrow for the brave men and women killed while defending their home and people.

    For Russians?  I don’t feel any sympathy towards them.  Not at all.  They need to fully absorb the phrase, “Don’t start none, won’t be none.”  The losses they suffer are of their own making.

    Slava Ukraini!

  22. 22.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Yeah, when I’ve thought about people like bin Laden or a serial killer or something, if their removal from the world means that dozens or hundreds or, in the case of the former, thousands of other lives are saved, then it feels like a necessity. When someone uses the gift of life and free will they were given to destroy that of others, sometimes the penalty they pay must be done through loss of their own.

  23. 23.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 8:31 pm

    @Quiltingfool: Oh yeah, I definitely feel absolutely zero sympathy for russians at all. My slight struggle is not because I feel bad about these particular lives, but more of a despondency that people like this exist and are so horrid that I can be relieved about their deaths.

  24. 24.

    FelonyGovt

    December 11, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    I was being a weenie about how cold it is here in Southern California (50’s) when I realized how cold it must be in Ukraine and how many people without power. It’s sobering.
    As always, thanks for these informative posts, Adam.

  25. 25.

    Wanderer

    December 11, 2022 at 8:43 pm

    I just had quite a surprise today and thought I would share it here. I ordered a cane from a supplier on Amazon.  It arrived today. It is lovely wood, color and decoration. Enclosed was a picture of the flag of Ukraine and printed on the back “If you received this card it means the product was made in Ukraine during the war.  We greatly appreciate your purchase, especially in these tough times for Ukraine.  Please share the information about Asterom Handmade among your friends, it’ll make us stronger and help save jobs.  Pray for peace, pray for Ukraine!”  The company is Asterom Handmade, located in Western Ukraine.  It is a beautiful, affordable, useful work of art. If you are in need of a cane and would like to support a Ukrainian company my cane was ordered on Friday and delivered on Sunday. They sell through Amazon. The Facebook page is fb.com/asteromcanes . Thank you for reading this.  We now return to your regular program (which is ALWAYS so informative and I want to thank Adam and the BJ community for helping me understand this war).

  26. 26.

    randal sexton

    December 11, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    @Poptartacus: post.news  looks like it will suffice.    I suggest join the great migration

  27. 27.

    randal sexton

    December 11, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    @HinTN: I live on a small island in the pnw.  AND WE JUST GOT FIBER. It’s pretty cool and I never thought it would happen.

  28. 28.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    December 11, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    The video was hard to watch. I was a combat medic in the infantry in Vietnam. In the Central Highland jungle where I was at, although the fire fights were violent and total chaos, they were generally brief. When we could establish a stable perimeter, first order of business was to call in a “dustoff” (Medivac) to take casualties directly from the battle site to a hospital. This video reminds me that everything in Ukraine is ground transportation so soldiers with severe wounds may not live to see a hospital. Just one more reason to have more and better air defense

  29. 29.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 11, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    @Grumpy Old Railroader: The videos of wounded UA soldiers on their way to nearby medical sites is heartbreaking, as is video (which I could not finish) of them being operated on.

  30. 30.

    oldster

    December 11, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    You have described my usage to a T.

    Though I also look at Jamelle Bouie’s feed sometimes, as well as taking random walks from wherever else I started. LawyersGunsMoney blog also has a twitter list whose core is their authors (Lemieux, Loomis, Campos, etc.), and I will follow links from that list as well.

    I hope a reasonable replacement will emerge over the course of calendar 2023, and I hope it will leave Skum with a very large debt on his hands.

  31. 31.

    OverTwistWillie

    December 11, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    First thing musk did was shitcan the cybersecurity team.

  32. 32.

    West of the Rockies

    December 11, 2022 at 9:18 pm

    I guess I feel some sadness for any pig-ignorant 19 year olds who found themselves in a war they did not understand and want to be in…

    But any aggressive,  toxic-masculinity orcs, hell no.

  33. 33.

    zhena gogolia

    December 11, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    @Wanderer: Thanks, interesting. Maybe I’ll replace my metal cane (not using it any more but I keep it around for security).

  34. 34.

    Ksmiami

    December 11, 2022 at 9:36 pm

    Russia needs to be utterly defeated, the  war instigators / war crime perpetrators arrested and tried and the country reorganized. There can be no coming back from this without penance. Russia is a menace to the world.

  35. 35.

    Wanderer

    December 11, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I am sorry I don’t computer well, so couldn’t post a photo.  They also included a catalog.  I ordered a standard 36″ cane but they state it can be cut to measure. My son in law agreed to cut it for me. Hope the info helps. Glad you don’t need one daily. I have a dodgy knee and thought it could help me.

  36. 36.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    December 11, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: video (which I could not finish) of them being operated on.

    Blood and trauma wounds are something that one gets used to with enough exposure. When I completed Army basic training and got my orders to be trained as a medic, I was shocked. I had always had an aversion to blood and guts (didn’t even like to hunt). In the infantry you get used to it pretty quickly

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 11, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    @West of the Rockies: It is perfectly possible to recognize the Ukrainians’ right to defend their country aggressively which inevitably leads to the the deaths of many Russians while at the same time lamenting those deaths.

  38. 38.

    Nelle

    December 11, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    A little moment today.  Was in a hotel, about to take a shower, when a little. packaged shower cap from another hotel fell out of my toiletries bag. I’d apparently took it with other toiletries from there and forgotten about it. From Palais Royal, Odessa.  Four years ago.  Another world, another era so it seems from today.

  39. 39.

    Fake Irishman

    December 11, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    Question for folks like Gin and Tonic: my four-year-old has been asking lots of questions about war and Ukraine in particular. She has expressed an interest in donating some money to help; in particular is seems to be interested in rebuilding. “I want them to be able to make stronger houses” were her exact words at dinner tonight. My go-to charity of choice so far has been chef Jose Andres, but I’d like to honor my kid’s idea if I can: her impulse is a really good one.

    any one got any good places to donate to help rebuilding efforts , perhaps housing in particular?

  40. 40.

    Andrya

    December 11, 2022 at 10:01 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:  That’s exactly how I feel.  In the middle 1970’s I visited West Germany, and I noticed how few elder and middle aged men there were.  I knew exactly what had happened to the guys that weren’t there.

    Then, maybe five years later, I saw photos of Hitler Youth- probably about 14 years old- at a Nuremberg rally from the mid-1930s.  Thinking back to the missing guys from my visit to Germany, I realized that most of those kids had died, far too young, on the eastern front.  I felt sadness for them, but at the same time, Nazi Germany had to be defeated, no matter how many people had to die to achieve that.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 11, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    @Andrya: Added to that wrt Germany:  when I was stationed there in the late ’80s/early ’90s and I saw men in their 70s, I always wondered what they had done during the war.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 11, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @Fake Irishman: United24.

    https://u24.gov.ua

  43. 43.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 11, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    @Fake Irishman: Sounds like you’re raising a fine young human. Kudos.

    Unfortunately I’m not aware of any charities focused on rebuilding. Have to win first. My go-to recommendation for folks in the US is Razom. I think there’s a link in the sidebar.

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    December 11, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    @Wanderer: I found them on Amazon. They’re beautiful. I’ll have to think about it.

  45. 45.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    @Fake Irishman: As Adam noted, United24 — when you click on “make a donation” you can select “Rebuild Ukraine” for where your funds will be directed.

  46. 46.

    Carlo Graziani

    December 11, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    @Alison Rose: War always creates this moral problem. Dealing with it is always a struggle for moral people, and easy for people with a withered moral sense. If you are struggling with it, you know which category you are in.

    For what it’s worth, I like hanging out here because most people here appear to struggle with it. There are other places where people discuss the war in very different terms.

  47. 47.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 10:35 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: Well, we do have a couple folks here who do not appear to struggle with it…

    (I’m not looping any of our Ukrainian friends in here. I think we all know to whom I am referring.)

    But yeah, to me, there’s a difference between feeling relief at a death and exuberantly celebrating it. To go back to bin Laden, I wasn’t one of the Americans out dancing in the streets after that, but I didn’t shed a tear for the guy or anything.

  48. 48.

    Anonymous At Work

    December 11, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: If it weren’t for monitoring a few mil-bloggers, I’d delete my totally inactive account.  But yes, no posting on Twitter or Herr Zuckerberg’s space.

  49. 49.

    Carlo Graziani

    December 11, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    Does anyone have a clue where the HIMARS unit that is hitting Melitopol is sited? As far as I can tell by playing with Google Maps “Measure Distance” feature, only the place north of the Dnipro where the river bends north (place name: Chervonodniprovka, about 85 km from Melitopol line-of-sight) would make sense, in terms of what the Ukrainians control now.  But  I’m having trouble telling where the real front line is, especially south of Zaporizhzhia.

  50. 50.

    Lyrebird

    December 11, 2022 at 10:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: It is perfectly possible to recognize the Ukrainians’ right to defend their country aggressively which inevitably leads to the the deaths of many Russians while at the same time lamenting those deaths.

     

    @West of the Rockies: Yeah, I think Omnes said things better than I can, but fwiw:

    I feel the most grief for the Ukrainians, and on the invaders side I find it easier to mourn the ignorant 19 yr olds or the middle aged guy who yelled back “but we are cannon fodder!”

    I celebrate the Bayraktars and the HIMARS videos but I still wish the RU soldiers were just safe at home and not invading let alone being killed.  To me, it’s almost like letting Putin and the propagandists off the hook for a part of their guilt otherwise.  ETA: There is so much blame that tens of thousands of life sentences would not be adequate punishment.

  51. 51.

    kalakal

    December 11, 2022 at 10:51 pm

    @Alison Rose: I feel sad for all the poor sods that die in this stupid evil war. It’s such a bloody waste, all those people who should be getting on with their lives, all that potential wasted, for the greed of a few evil men. My sympathies are for the Ukranians but I hate that it is necessary for those Russian conscripts to be slaughtered. The Wagner thugs not so much.

  52. 52.

    Anonymous at Work

    December 11, 2022 at 10:51 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: not at the right device but are you measuring city center or the resort’s exact location?

  53. 53.

    Ruckus

    December 11, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I’m wondering if some of those Russian gentlemen who were being kidnapped to act as members of the army and die in the name of the homeland – and vlad, might actually not be imprisoned but shot dead as examples of being a bad citizen for the bank account of vlad for saying no? Or at least thinking that might be the cost of not agreeing to be involved.

    Russia does not work the same way as we do.

  54. 54.

    Dan B

    December 11, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    @Alison Rose: I always think of how many Russian soldiers are dying needlessly.  The young in particular who have been raised in an ocean of propaganda and then realize it’s not true but it appears there are few.  It is a terrible time for all people with strong empathy.  I’m glad you brought up the subject. I felt like I might be alone in feeling sorrow for the death and misery of Russians.

  55. 55.

    Fake Irishman

    December 11, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thanks Adam and everyone else, I’ll check the links.

  56. 56.

    Alison Rose

    December 11, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    @Dan B: To be clear, I don’t feel sorrow for them. True that the younger ones may not have had ways out of this, although who knows if they even tried. But it’s one thing to be forced into a uniform and tossed onto a battlefield. It’s quite another to engage in the atrocities that it seems nearly all of them are committing. I’ve never been to war, but I know a lot of people who have, and I know that just being there doesn’t turn you into a monster unless that monster was already lurking somewhere inside you.

    My sorrow, though I don’t know that I’d use that word, is more for, as I’ve said, the state of the world and humanity meaning that we have to share the planet with people like this, and over the thought that there are people who are so bad that their demise is a good thing. But I don’t really feel any sense of sadness toward the russian soldiers because I know myself well enough to know that I would easily sacrifice my own life before I would allow myself to be forced into wreaking such malicious havoc on others, into committing war crimes at the pathetic behest of a doddering old fool who can’t stop living in the past.

  57. 57.

    West of the Rockies

    December 11, 2022 at 11:17 pm

    @Lyrebird:

    Well said… it is the heinous goblin Putin and his greedy, corrupt enablers who are responsible for all this destruction.

    And, yes, some of the citizenry may be willing go along, should jingoistic horse shit.  Screw them.

    But others I am sure are frightened,  cowed, stupefied.  Victims of a sort of governmental, cultural domestic violence, who don’t know how to resist.

  58. 58.

    oldster

    December 11, 2022 at 11:24 pm

    Arc Toler is one of the Bellingcat sleuths. He is relaying a rumor, unconfirmed as yet, that the only son of Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, was staying at the complex in Melitopol that just got kablooy-ed.

    In a thread, he is comparing photos from Prigozhin fils’ earlier social media photos with a photo of someone alleged to be him, in combat kit, standing against the wall of the complex before it was hit.

    Could be an interesting development. Prigozhin is the worst of the worst. But losing your only son does unpredictable things to people.

  59. 59.

    Wombat Probability Cloud

    December 11, 2022 at 11:27 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: I share your feelings. Thanks for your eloquence.

  60. 60.

    Carlo Graziani

    December 11, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @Anonymous at Work: I just stuck the pointer somewhere in the city. But it only makes a difference of a few kilometers. Really, what I’m asking is, where is the UA operating with enough force security to deploy HIMARS units? I’m pretty sure none have crossed the river.

    It’s interesting, if they are firing from the bend in the river, because that’s new. Melitopol wasn’t taking fire until very recently. That would mean that the UA can now operate from that position, whereas it couldn’t before, presumably because the fall of Kherson has forced the Russians to retreat from the south bank to stay clear of UA artillery.

    There’s so little clarity from reporting on the actual situation that even elementary questions like this one (where did the missiles come from?) are left as practically a religious mystery.  It doesn’t seem like a big operational security issue to me. More like journalist laziness, really.

  61. 61.

    Lyrebird

    December 11, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Thanks.

    I remember one of the links Adam posted with interviews of war refugees.  One gal, I think someone who escaped from Mariupol, talked about calling her uncle in Ru to tell him his sister – her mom – had been killed.  He spewed some BS on the phone, then called her from a burner phone to say she was causing trouble for them, stop calling.

    “Goblin” is right.  Can’t understand a leader who seriously thinks, oh, this is going badly, losing thousands, let’s kill off a few commanders, then we will win for sure.  Especially with all the evidence that Ukrainians will go to their last breath to deny him that “win”.

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    December 11, 2022 at 11:37 pm

    @Carlo Graziani:

    The ISW daily interactive map shows a large area around and including Melitopol that is marked as “partisan activity”. Maybe it wasn’t HIMARS?

    Fog of war and all that.

    Dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    December 11, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    «Mariupolis-2» by Mantas Kvedaravičius about life in besieged Mariupol received an award for best documentary film from the European Film Academy. The director of the film was detained and then brutally murdered by russian occupiers. pic.twitter.com/b6cCLoai25— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 11, 2022

  64. 64.

    Fake Irishman

    December 11, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Thank! She’s got a good heart and a shrewd sense of fairness. She also has an uncanny ability to ask the next logical question combined with a four-year -old attention span. Tonight she asked about Ukraine and Russia. The about wars. Then about if the U.S. was going to get into a war

    (Uh……. well….)

    Than was followed by a few brief explanations of a few things we have going for us (oceans are still big, we have good relationships with Canada and Mexico, explanation of how our relationship with Mexico is rather complicated despite generally being strong, with a little bit of history after the next two “why” questions and then….

    ”Dadda, what’s a waterfall?”

    10 seconds later she was asleep.

  65. 65.

    HeartlandLiberal

    December 12, 2022 at 6:51 am

    @Wanderer: I highly recommend this cane maker. I bought one in Sept 2018. I decided if I had to walk with a cane, I would get something a cut above. Made from Ukrainian oak, mine has a steel spindle down center that will support 400 lbs. I chose a silver wolf’s head. People are always commenting everywhere I go about how beautiful it is. I urge anyone, whether you need a cane to walk, or just want to go in style as the Victorians did, did visit Amazon and buy from these guys. Oh, and they will customize the length to whatever you tell them.

  66. 66.

    J R in WV

    December 12, 2022 at 8:54 am

    Adam, in order to sleep a little better, I always read these updates the next morning. Thanks so much for all you do to keep us informed of the UK war for freedom. So much heroism! And the other jackals contributing in comments, thanks, all you guys!!

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