Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Come on, man.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 456: More Ukrainian POWs Have Returned Home!

War for Ukraine Day 456: More Ukrainian POWs Have Returned Home!

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Today a very large group of Ukrainian POWs returned home. They had fought in the defense of Bakhmut.

Full text of President Zelenskyy’s tweet:

Today we have another positive result from our team working on exchanges. We have returned 106 more of 🇺🇦 warriors from 🇷🇺 captivity – they fought in the Bakhmut sector.

It is very important that there was no information about many of these 106 people at all – they were considered missing. But we found them. We brought them back home. 8 officers, 98 soldiers and sergeants…

I thank everyone who gave this result.

🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

The more Russian prisoners of war we will take, the more of our people we will return – address by the President of Ukraine

25 May 2023 – 21:14

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today we have another positive result from our team working on exchanges. We have returned 106 more of our warriors from Russian captivity – they fought in the Bakhmut sector.

It is very important that there was no information about many of these 106 people at all – they were considered missing. But we found them. We brought them back home. 8 officers, 98 soldiers and sergeants…

I thank everyone who made this possible. Budanov, Yermak, Usov, Lubinets, Malyuk, Klymenko – everyone who prepared this exchange – did a great job! Well done!

Of course, I am also grateful to each of our soldiers who ensured that we have an appropriate exchange fund. Everyone on the frontline should remember this: the more Russian prisoners of war we will take, the more of our people we will return.

Today I met with the Minister of Defence of Sweden in Kyiv. I thanked him for the continued support for our country and our soldiers. The meeting focused on strengthening our defense with armored vehicles. We also discussed our aviation coalition, which we are creating with our partners.

Today, Finland has sent a new package of defense support – the 16th one. The total amount of this package is over 100 million euros. Thank you for this!

Today, the Council of the European Union also made an important decision for Ukraine: trade liberalization for Ukrainian products was extended for another year. In fact, this means the complete abolition of duties and quotas by June 2024. This is a new stage in the sectoral integration of our economy – Ukraine and the entire European Union – that will definitely make us all stronger in Europe.

As we move towards the European Union, we must make this liberalization, which is still temporary, permanent, and without any exceptions or restrictions. Which is actually in line with the spirit of a united and free Europe – without barriers.

I thank our European partners for this decision! Anyone who wants strength and stability for the whole of Europe makes decisions like this.

We have to be aware that there is a risk that some restrictions may still remain. If the pressure from individual governments on the EU continues.

But domestic policy should not overlap with common European goals. So, I am sure we can find a solution, in particular for farmers in Ukraine and in some neighboring countries, that will meet our common European interests and standards.

Today I had the honor to congratulate our State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine on its professional day. I thanked them for the fact that communication in Ukraine remains stable for the state, our military, and ordinary citizens despite all the threats. This is an important result that helps us steadily and effectively counteract the Russian occupiers.

There is also much to thank our National Guard warriors for, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia sector. The 15th operational brigade of the National Guard destroyed a couple of Russian Su-type aircraft. I am grateful to two of our particularly accurate warriors. By the way, one of them has already been awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and has downed not only enemy aircraft, but also a cruise missile. Thank you, guys! Well done!

Donetsk direction… The 128th separate mountain assault brigade, the 18th and 137th separate marine battalions and the 74th separate reconnaissance battalion particularly distinguished themselves. Thank you to each and every warrior!

Glory to all who are fighting for Ukraine! Thank you to everyone in the world who helps us!

By the way, I had the opportunity to address the community of Johns Hopkins University. This is one of the leading educational institutions in the United States. Its alumni are powerful individuals, and some of them have had a significant impact on politics. I wished them to value time as much as possible. Because every day matters. The more we do today, the sooner we will end the war with our victory. And only ours.

Glory to Ukraine!

Apparently someone started a conspiracy theory that General Zaluzhny had been wounded by shrapnel to the head, requiring emergency surgery, and leaving him incapable of continuing to lead the Armed Forces of Ukraine. General Zaluzhny decided to deal with this himself:

Mykhailo Podylak, who is the Senior Advisor in President Zelenskyy’s office, made the following statement about the counteroffensive:

 

Bakhmut:

Here’s Ms. Tsilyk’s full post in both Ukrainian and English:

 

She seems nice…

What an asshole!

Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia:

Belgorod:

Something may be happening. BNR here stands for the Belgorod People’s Republic, which is not the official name for Belgorod, but mirrors what the Russians did when they renamed Donetsk and Luhansk.

Rostov, Russia:

 

Russian cruiser Ivan Khurs may be missing!

Not sure how realistic this demonstration is:

The State Department has approved the sale of NASAMs to Ukraine:

Apparently the Ukrainians should give Putin what he wants and negotiate right away stupidity is making the rounds again. I think this is a very good take down of the same argument we’ve been seeing since the late summer of 2021:

Hakka time!

That’s enough for today!

Your daily Patron!

You all know what to do!

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok. The embedding seems to be working again.

@patron__dsns

Оцініть наш рівень милоти від 1 до 100🤭

♬ original sound – aakritilovesssyouuuu

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

Rate our level of niceness from 1 to 100 🤭

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

53Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    It has been a very long couple of days in a very long week. I’m fried. I’ll check back in, but I’m basically going offline and racking out early.

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose

    There is so much going on and I feel like I don’t understand even one-tenth of it. So I can barely imagine how discombobulating it must be for Ukrainians themselves. And the “realist” (LOL) idea that if we’re just nice to putin and let him have what he wants, it’ll make everything better…I’ll just say that sounds eerily similar to some of the thought processes in IPV and it doesn’t work out great for the victims in those situations, either. Ahem.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  3. 3.

    SpaceUnit

    Does Russia’s participation in these prisoner exchanges suggest that Putin has resigned himself to this conflict ending via negotiations rather than victory?  Seems as though he might be grasping for some claim of good faith and decency . . . as opposed to the outright bloodlust they displayed in the early campaigns.

    Or am I reading too much into it?

  4. 4.

    Jay

    Adam, posted a vid the other day of the Free Russian’s incursion into Mordor the other day,

    They just pushed the so called “Dragons Teeth” out of the way. They are just cast pyramids of varying quality set on the dirt.

    At the Seigfried Line, the “dragon’s teeth” were, like icebergs, a pyramid topping 5 feet of buried concrete support, and reinforced with rebar.

    Still, the 98th just used a bulldozer to build a 2 lane road over them.

    I keep going back to the fact, that Ruzzian “defenses” are just holes, and outside those holes, you can lose your watch to a Kamarade,…

  5. 5.

    Jay

    @SpaceUnit:

    these exchanges are mediated by Turkey, so I am guessing  that there is a bunch of “fine print” we aren’t seeing.

  8. 8.

    SpaceUnit

    @Jay:

    Probably.

    Just feels to me as though the Russians are striking a slightly less belligerent and overly-confident tone.

  9. 9.

    Sister Golden Bear

    I’ve been watching various photography videos on YouTube and ran across this one* about Dmytro Kozatskyi, who documented the battle of “Fortress Mariupol.” His photos and videos range from harrowing to a strikingly beautiful self-portrait.

    The Ukrainian Soldier Who Photographed His Last Stand.

    Kozatskyi is also on Instagram.

    *The YouTube channel is by a photographer who does learning projects trying to recreate the styles of various photographers and as part those projects he analyzes what their styles look distinctive — e.g. why does a Wes Anderson movie look so distinctive. If you’re into photography it’s well worth a watch, and his experiments are an interesting way to stretch your own creativity by doing something outside your comfort zone.

  10. 10.

    KenK

    If New Zealand would send their All Blacks team to do a Haka, this this would be over by the weekend. Those guys are some very intimidating dudes.

  11. 11.

    Jay

    Saw a vid, harrowing documentary that the UA shows every Orc prisoner, about war crimes.
    Yup done, won’t link it.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    A Russian woman living in the U.S. wrote “Bakhmut is ours, thank you Wagner” on her garage in order to upset the Ukrainian neighbors that live on the same street as her.The Ukrainians tell her “how can you write that after so many children killed?” pic.twitter.com/8oZBHcz3YK— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 25, 2023

  15. 15.

    Jay

    A pair of Russian Su-34 tried to hit targets at the Grayvoron border post but despite flying low they both just hit empty fields, the 2nd one misses even by hundreds of meters. At least I don’t see any targets there.It is anyway revealing that they fly $35 million planes but in… pic.twitter.com/gRnWAW8nm3— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) May 25, 2023

  17. 17.

    Kyle Rayner

    Those of you who are really tickled by the BNR/Belgorod People’s Republic stuff or just really enjoy thinking about languages might be happy to know that unlike Muscovites and newscasters, Russian speakers who live in the area pronounce “Belgorod” closer to “Bilhorod” anyway. The “g” pronounced as “h” accent is strong there.

  18. 18.

    pacem appellant

    I recently learned that one of my direct co-workers is Ukrainian. I can’t imagine how he stays so productive with what’s happening in his country. I’m on pins and needles waiting for the counteroffensive.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    @Adam L Silverman: She seems to be taking the sign down, even as she argues with them. I don’t really get it. She almost seems embarrassed. She isn’t really defending herself (although I can hardly hear her, they come through more loudly and distinctly).

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @Adam L Silverman: Maybe there’s an HOA that told her to take it down or something. All I can hear her saying is “What do you want?” They’re asking her why she doesn’t go to Bakhmut and see all the dead children, what is she doing here, at one point she refers to her “rodina” (motherland), and they ask again why she doesn’t go to her motherland.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jay:

    There’s a technique to hitting targets with unguided munitions, which I learned many years ago playing F-15E Strike Eagle III, and whose equivalent I presume is a basic skill for any SU-34 pilot. You don’t just drop the bomb and pray.

  24. 24.

    Jay

    Russian football ultras recorded an appeal to the inhabitants of the Belgorod region to join the Russian Volunteer Corps while showing the Freedom of Russia Legion flag and speaking out against the Russian government. pic.twitter.com/8TbOCO7C3g— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) May 25, 2023

  25. 25.

    NutmegAgain

    That nasty shrew Russian woman needs to be glad she doesn’t live anywhere near me … me and my giant breed dogs and their giant breed giant piles of dog shit, which I pick up on the regular and I am always looking for creative places to dispose of it …

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    @SpaceUnit:

    Does Russia’s participation in these prisoner exchanges suggest that Putin has resigned himself to this conflict ending via negotiations rather than victory?

    Not necessarily.  It might just mean they don’t want to provide food, shelter, and medical care for the POWs.  The news seems to be pretty thin on details, so it’s possible they’re being returned on parole.  This is an old-fashioned sounding but still current thing, where POWs who are returned promise not to rejoin the fight.

  30. 30.

    Traveller

    A quick heads up….the current (June 2023), issue of National Geographic has a dynamite wall sized two sided map of Ukraine. As much as I may love and use Google maps, I am still a physical map guy…they are just good to touch and feel and read…take notes on, whatever.

    National Geographic, June issue, good stuff. Best Wishes, Traveller

    PS a caveat of sorts, there maybe is too much information on the map as print overlays…natural gas flows mixed with history, population movements and topographic features, etc, etc…Still, a great map.

  31. 31.

    pacem appellant

    @Kyle Rayner: When the war first broke out, I taught myself to read the Cyrillic alphabet (mostly), then charted out the differences between Ukrainian and Russian. The accent you’re describing makes me think that in Cyrillic, the “G” in Belgorod is a Cyrillic Г. In Russian, it’s pronounced /g/, but in Ukrainian, it’s /ɦ/. So the influence of Ukrainian on the local pronunciation of Russian must be strong.

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @SpaceUnit:

    My take on vlad is that there is zero good faith and decency within 500 miles of him at any time. Maybe a lot farther.

    He stepped upon something he really, really did not want to step on and he should not have been wearing golf spikes during the stepping, because he should have gamed this out a bit better than he did. OK he did zero gaming out, he let his oversized ego run the entire show. And he’s turned it into a shit show with most of that on his face.

  34. 34.

    japa21

    @Ruckus: ​
      He ignored all those legal warnings that past success does not insure future success. He really, truly expected this to be a 3-10 day walk in the park. He should have realized as soon as Biden started with his warnings that this was not going to follow the way the previous land grabs have gone.

  35. 35.

    Cacti

    @zhena gogolia: They’re asking her why she doesn’t go to Bakhmut and see all the dead children, what is she doing here, at one point she refers to her “rodina” (motherland), and they ask again why she doesn’t go to her motherland.

    Fair question. If she loves her motherland so much, why doesn’t she fuck off back to where she came from.

  37. 37.

    eversor

    All the fucking Russian simps here need to find windows and get Russian flying lessons.  This shit is getting old.  End it.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eversor: I guess it’s good that you found a different outlet for your eliminationist rhetoric.  Oh, wait…

  40. 40.

    Ruckus

    @japa21:

    In the navy we used to say that someone acting like vlad does was huffing his own farts – and thought they smelled great.

    He also believes his bullshit is the only bullshit in Russia. You take tens of thousands of people and send them off to war and expect them to fight to the death with 5 or 10 rounds of ammo and then wonder why people don’t like you. The only reason more of his side isn’t dead is that they surrendered and often in mass numbers rather than die for an old guy who values them only on what they are willing to give up for him, not their country, him. And that is everything. I served in the US military during a major war, and for sure was not willing to do that so a president could get richer. I can’t imagine that more than maybe 20% of the citizens of Russia were willing to die for his bank account. Likely even less. You want a rock and hard point, think about being a Russian male between 18-40 yrs old and having to go die so SFBR (shitforbrainsrussia) can brag that he added a bit of land to the USSR. All he did was sign their death warrants. And the only thing he cares one small shit about was that they died so he can become richer and thought of as a bigger asshole.

  41. 41.

    SpaceUnit

    @Ruckus:

    Totally agree about Putin.  If he displays any humanity he’s merely feigning it for some strategic purpose.

  43. 43.

    Sebastian

    @Jay:

    Looks like Ukraine is pulling the same trick Russia pulled in the West, radicalize the Right.

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    @Sebastian: I wonder if Ukraine needed to radicalize those guys. That may be the way they came, and Ukraine is using them despite their ideology.

  45. 45.

    Kyle Rayner

    @pacem appellant: Yup, “г” in the South dialect is typically /ɣ/, which is not exactly the same as the Ukranian /ɦ/, but both are fricative (continuous sounds), unlike the Moscow /g/.

    I’m really interested to know more about that brief blip in history when Belgorod was claimed by the Ukrainian government. And apparently even used as a temporary capital? NAFO’s having great fun with it all.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    I’m sure this was talked about earlier, but I was only able to take the time to read the full letter today. DeLong signs on:

    Yuriy Gorodnichenko, professor of economics | March 20, 2023

    Original Link:

    Dear Dr. Sachs,

    We are a group of economists, including many Ukrainians, who were appalled by your statements on the Russian war against Ukraine and were compelled to write this open letter to address some of the historical misrepresentations and logical fallacies in your line of argument. Following your repeated appearances on the talk shows of one of the chief Russian propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov (apart from calling to wipe Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth, he called for nuclear strikes against NATO countries), we have reviewed the op-eds on your personal website and noticed several recurring patterns. In what follows, we wish to point out these misrepresentations to you, alongside our brief response.

    […]

    Well worth a click if anyone hasn’t read it yet.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    Kyle Rayner

    @Another Scott: Thanks for the poke to read this. Few things in life are more satisfying than reading a strongly-worded manifesto of self determination.

  50. 50.

    M31

    Zelenskyy was the surprise commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins University today via video. I don’t think anyone knew (I teach there and didn’t know!) and it is pretty moving to hear him talk about the value of time, and how many of those on the front lines are the same age as the assembled graduates.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg-B0w6Arw0

    starts at around 1.39 of the video

  52. 52.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @M31: You teach at The Hop? You poor putz. (Alumnus here.) Waiting for Mikey Bloomberg to offer them another $1bn or so if they’ll rename that asylum of higher loitering for him – the misadministrators (SOBs when I was an undergrad, SOBs today, SOBs till the sun hangs a hard right off the Main Sequence) will fall all over themselves for the dead presidents. After all, the founder himself was just another robber baron. MBU here we come!!

    And the way The Hop is buying up property, I expect it won’t be too long after that when new signs will spring up like toadstools at the city limits:

    WELCOME TO BALTIMORE

    A WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF JOHNS HOPKINS MIKE BLOOMBERG UNIVERSITY

    Bastards.

  53. 53.

    NutmegAgain

    @sab: damn modern life! shakes fist at clouds…  You are right of course, and it would be a childish act. Must think harder about a non-criminal way of expressing disgust. Thankfully, where I live in CT is a hotbed of Polish & Ukrainian folk. There’s even a chunk of a major road named for Taras Shevchenko.

Comments are closed.