Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

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

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

“woke” is the new caravan.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

T R E 4 5 O N

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 502: Russia Opens Up and Bombards a Civilian Shelter in Orikhiv

War for Ukraine Day 502: Russia Opens Up and Bombards a Civilian Shelter in Orikhiv

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Just a quick update tonight. Been a very busy day and I’m about out of steam.

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

Ukraine will be in NATO, we are working on the algorithm of gaining membership – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

10 July 2023 – 20:57

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

So, Ukraine is on the eve of Vilnius. The NATO Summit, which could be exactly what our country, the entire Alliance, and global security need.

We are working extremely hard these days! Even more actively than ever. And although this work is almost one hundred percent behind the scenes, it is no less important than any public work.

Everyone understands everything. Every leader, every state. Even if different positions are voiced, it is still clear that Ukraine deserves to be in the Alliance. Not now – there is a war, but we need a clear signal. And we need this signal right now.

I am grateful to all the leaders, to every country, who say so and who have adopted the relevant joint declarations and statements with Ukraine on our integration. The majority of the Alliance clearly stands for us.

The courage of Ukrainian heroes has wiped away the dust of history from all the values for the protection of which NATO was created.

The eastern border of Ukraine, the border of our state and the positions of our warriors are the line that the Russian dictatorship, which in various forms, but always, always tried to conquer the peoples of Europe, will never cross again.

The security reality here on NATO’s eastern flank depends on Ukraine. When we applied to join NATO, we were frank: Ukraine is de facto already in the Alliance. Our weapons are the weapons of the Alliance. Our values are what the Alliance believes in. Our defense is the very element of the formula of Europe that makes it united, free and peaceful.

Vilnius must confirm all this.

We are still working on the wording, that is, on the specific words of such confirmation, but we already understand the fact that Ukraine will be in the Alliance, and we are working to make the algorithm for gaining membership as clear and fast as possible. Our work for this – the work of the entire Ukrainian team – will continue each and every minute of these days.

It is also very important that bilateral meetings of various levels are planned in Vilnius – European countries, America, Canada, Japan… The priorities are absolutely clear: air defense for our cities, for all communities throughout the country, we are working to create a full-fledged sky shield. Also weapons for the frontline – we will hold talks in Vilnius on this as well. Of course, we will also talk about other aspects of protecting life and our common security.

I am sure that there may be good weaponry-related news for our warriors from Vilnius.

Separately, the frontline.

Tomorrow, on the day of the opening of the summit, which is now unimaginable without Ukraine, will be the 503rd day of a full-scale war. This says a lot about our strength – the strength of the Ukrainian people, who, in the face of such a war, after so many battles and days, has the strength without which the security of Europe is simply impossible to imagine already.

I thank you, Ukrainian warriors, for this strength! I thank every soldier, sailor, sergeant, foreman, officer, and general! I thank everyone who trains our warriors! I thank every volunteer! I thank the doctors who help after the wounds! I thank all our people who work for the sake of Ukrainian strength and Ukrainian victory!

It is an honor for me to represent such people and such Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

The Financial Times is reporting that Putin met with Prigozhin days after the latter called off his revolt against the MOD and its leadership.

Russian president Vladimir Putin met Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner commanders a few days after their aborted mutiny, the Kremlin revealed on Monday.

Dmitry Peskov, the president’s spokesperson, said Putin invited at least 35 people, including Prigozhin and the battalion commanders from the private military group, to the Kremlin on June 29. The meeting lasted nearly three hours.

The revelation is another stunning turn in the Kremlin’s handling of Prigozhin and his Wagner group after their failed revolt on June 23-24. While Putin had initially branded the warlord “a traitor”, he later dropped all charges and allowed him to leave Russia for Belarus in a deal brokered by the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko.

The admission of Putin’s meeting with Wagner leaders — 10 days after the Kremlin said it took place — marked yet another signal that Russia was in no hurry to dole out harsh punishments to Prigozhin and instead has been eager to keep the warlord and other commanders from the mercenary group on side.

Last week, it emerged that Prigozhin had apparently been travelling freely across Russia, according to flight tracking of his private jet between Moscow and St Petersburg, with local news outlets reporting sightings of Prigozhin in different Russian locations.

In his description of the meeting between the president and Prigozhin, Peskov suggested a civil discussion took place, with both sides giving their version of recent events, rather than Putin giving the Wagner leader a severe reprimand over the failed revolt.

“The details of the meeting are unknown. But the . . . president gave his assessment of the battalion in terms of the special military operation [in Ukraine] and also gave his assessment for the events of June 24,” Peskov said.

He added: “Putin listened to the explanations of the commanders and suggested further options for employment and their use in combat. The commanders themselves put forward their version of what happened.”

He also restated the Kremlin’s previous narrative that Prigozhin and the other commanders’ criticism had been directed not at Putin himself, but at the overall conduct of the war by the army leadership.

“They emphasised that they are strong supporters and soldiers of the head of government and supreme commander [Putin] and said they’re ready to fight for the motherland,” Peskov said.

More at the link!

My take at this point is that some stuff may get moved around on the org chart between the GRU, which Wagner has been fronting for since its founding in early 2014 – that’s right early 2014 and, yes, I know the official date is in the fall of 2014, just trust me here – and the FSB and MOD, but Putin isn’t going to remove Prigozhin or shut him down. Prigozhin’s subsidiaries and non-governmental organizations are too essential for Putin as they are the active agent for most of Russia’s initiatives in Africa and other parts of the world.

The reason for this is that Putin gets a cut of the gold and diamond revenue that Prigozhin’s subsidiaries are mining in Africa and legally and illegally moving out of the Sahel. The Russian airmen are not giving put a cut from their gold and diamond mining activities because they don’t have gold and diamond mining activities.

We have some NATO news.

First up is Sweden:

Ukraine:

The MAP is the membership action plan.

The Financial Times has more details on Ukraine’s plans, interests, and intentions going into the NATO summit in Vilnius this week: (emphasis mine)

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strides into Nato’s annual summit in Vilnius on Wednesday, his country will have been fighting a full-scale war of survival against Russia for 503 days.

As his battered troops continue to fight off a relentless invasion and attempt to claw back occupied territory in the country’s south and east, Zelenskyy comes to the Lithuanian capital with another strategic objective: to gain a seat at Nato’s table.

To Zelenskyy and his government, the US-led alliance represents long-term peace and security. Article 5 of Nato’s treaty is an ironclad mutual-defence clause backed up by American, British and French nuclear weapons.

But Kyiv’s objective goes beyond defence. Through Nato membership, Ukraine would receive an unambiguous ticket into “the west” — a break from centuries of subjugation by Moscow — and the security required for its reconstruction and economic revival. Yet Ukraine poses a series of questions for Nato’s 31 members. Those questions reach to the heart of the alliance’s purpose, from how prepared its members are to fight a war against Russia to whether Nato’s mutual-defence clause is a security blanket to be thrown around states or a badge of distinction to be earned.

Now, after more than 17 months of war, during which Nato allies have provided Ukraine with over $160bn in military and financial support, western capitals are grappling with a far larger question. Having given Ukraine the means to stop Russia’s conquest, are they now ready to promise that if it were to happen again, their troops would be fighting and dying too? And if not, what might they be willing to offer instead?

“The sole task here [in Vilnius], and one that all allies agree on, is that we left grey areas on the map 15 years ago which Putin took advantage of, and now we need to make sure there is no more grey,” says one senior Nato diplomat. “It is about making crystal clear where the lines are.”

“The most dangerous place for Russia’s neighbouring countries is to sit in the waiting room of Nato,” says Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister. “And we did exactly that 15 years ago with Georgia and Ukraine.”

It’s like arriving at triage in a hospital emergency room, he adds: “ . . . you go in, but you’re waiting and you’re not labelled yet. Are you a green, yellow or red patient? We must label [Ukraine]. We must start the process.”

Orikhiv Axis:

ORIKHIV AXIS /2345 UTC 10 JUL/ UKR forces have penetrated RU positions N of Robotyne as far as 1 Km. During this advance, several UKR Bradley fighting vehicles were damaged in a minefield to the NE of the town. UKR forces are reported to have created a seam between RU units defending the NE axis. UKR ground force units are now in contact within Robotyne.

Kreminna Axis:

Velyka Novoslika:

Bakhmut:

Via Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Maliar’s Telegram channel:

Avdiika:

Not sure where in Ukraine this is, but if I had to guess it’s either Kyiv or Lviv:

O Canada!

Germany’s Reinmetall:

Here’s the details from CNN:

Rheinmetall will open an armored vehicle plant in Ukraine within the next 12 weeks, shrugging off concerns other Western defense companies reportedly have about building a presence in the country while it is at war with Russia.

Germany’s biggest arms maker will also train Ukrainians to maintain the tanks and other armored vehicles made in the factory, which will be located in the western part of the country, CEO Armin Papperger told CNN in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

“[Ukrainians] have to help themselves — if they always have to wait [for] Europeans or Americans [to] help them over the next 10 or 20 years… that is not possible,” he said.

The company told the Rheinische Post newspaper earlier this year that it hoped to open a €200 million ($218 million) battle tank factory on Ukrainian soil, capable of producing about 400 tanks a year.

Papperger said on Thursday that factory workers would build and repair Rheinmetall’s Fuchs armored personnel carrier — named after the German word for fox — under license in the facility.

Rheinmetall (RNMBF) will operate the plant in partnership with Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian state-owned defense group, which will also own the facility. In May, the companies announced an agreement to boost Ukraine’s “defense technology capacities.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of current President Vladimir Putin, has said Russia would retaliate by hitting any facility Rheinmetall set up in Ukraine, Reuters has reported.

Papperger said that the factory could be protected from a Russian attack.

“There are a lot of factories at the moment which are producing military goods [in Ukraine]. It is just another one — and we can protect that also,” he said.

Much more at the link!

NAFO expansion is non-negotiable!

NAFO triggered the chairwoman of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation earlier today:

So if you were trying to figure out what the NAFO-shark-Navalny thing was now you know.

Also, obligatory!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

2 – мій фаворит на сьогодні))

♬ original sound – ☪Fijian_editor☪

Here is the machine translation of the caption:

2 is my favorite for today))

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    For those of you looking for a way around the mess that the Starlink Snowflake has made of Twitter, they have Nitter back up and running. So you have two choices: 1) go to nitter.net, type in the username, and you’re all set or 2) go to your browser’s extension store and download the Nitter Redirect extension for free, then turn it on, and you should be good to go.

  3. 3.

    craigie

    So if you were trying to figure out what the NAFO-shark-Navalny thing was now you know.

    Speaking for myself, not really.

  4. 4.

    oldster

    Zaluzhny impressed the hell out of me when the Kharkiv counter-offensive blasted through ruzzian lines last September.

    But he impressed me even more when the Kherson counter-offensive  took 3 months to slowly, inexorably drive the ruzzians out of that city and across the Dnipro. It was not fast, and it did not feed the headline machine. At times I wondered whether it had stalled.

    But Zaluzhny knew how to keep the pressure on, making incremental, deadly progress, sparing the lives of his troops and moving economically. There were no giant battles, no massed confrontations. Just a hundred small skirmishes that tightened the noose. The Kherson campaign was like Grant’s siege of Vicksburg; a gradual boa constrictor that never lets go.

    From what I can tell, Zaluzhny is running the new counter-offensive in the same way. There is incremental progress around Bakhmut. There is incremental progress in the south. There’s now a small bridgehead on the south side of the Dnipro. He is testing and probing all over the map. It’s not a blitzkrieg, like the happy dash around Kharkiv. Few armies ever get that kind of success, and fewer get it twice.

    But Zaluzhny knows how to apply constant pressure until he attains his objective. That’s why I cheer for all the good news of advances. But I am not too worried when a few days go by without news of a new town liberated. It will all be Ukraine once again, in the fullness of time.

  5. 5.

    Geminid

    Secretary General Stoltenberg sure worked hard to win Erdogan’s assent to Sweden’s NATO membership. Once Erdogan sent his Foreign Minister and Intelligence and National Security chiefs to meet with Finland’s and Sweden’s last week, I figured it would happen. Today’s news was still a relief, though.

  6. 6.

    oldster

    Navalny — what a sad lesson that the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

    Yes, he wants to oust Putin from power. But his vision of ruzzia is no different from Putin’s. If Navalny took power tomorrow, he would not make ruzzia into a peaceful neighbor of Europe. At best, he might make it a less corrupt neighbor of Europe. At worst, he would make it a more efficient predator and imperialist.

    His spokesperson’s reaction to sharks is just more evidence that Navalny and his organization cannot lead ruzzia to a future in which it is a well-behaved member of the family of nations. He’s just another mafioso who wants to be the capo himself.

  7. 7.

    dr. luba

    Patron:  Top 4 comments I read under my videos:

    4.  Why isn’t the vehicle in the garage?

    3.  Patron, is it true that you created the universe?

    2.  I have information that Patron the dog has escaped abroad, and that is a double in the video.  Is this true?
    —Yes, the shape of the ears is different, have a look.

    1.  I propose starting a petition to change the official name of the breed from “Jack Russell” to Patron.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    I am still not super clear about the shark thing, but I’m okay with that. Although “we ourselves will become sons of bitches” should definitely be a rotating tag.

    Why do some places write it as “Nato” like it was a weird nickname for Nathaniel? It’s an acronym, dag nammit. And while I’m kvetching about insignificant editorial choices, I don’t like the use of the word “strides” in that FT piece. It feels…sneering.

    Not sure what building this is or if it’s even real, but I like the sentiment nonetheless: “putin, The Hague is waiting for you”

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    @craigie:

    so the Ruzzian “tourist” in Egypt, was hiding from the draft, because while his Dad is a sliovi, his Dad is not rich enough or powerful enough to protect him, other than an extended ‘vacation” in Egypt,

    He was posting anti-Ukrainian rants on Telegram, that morning, got tired, and decided to go for a refreshing swim in a no swimming area, where he got eaten in the water by a shark in front of a beach filled with sunbathers.

    So NAFO immediately started memeing this, for example a NAFO plaque with a photo of a shark naming it the “Employee of the Month”. Lot’s of shark memes including “Baby Shark”.

    Of course, this has highly offended the Ruzzians, including the Ruzzian Opposition members who have fled from Putin, Pulonium Tea and high windows to the former territories of the Warsaw Pact.

    Every Ruzzian war crime in Ukraine has either been met by the Nalvanyites with dead silence or denial that it happened. But their are all torn up that NAFO makes fun of a dead Ruzzian Vatnick moron.

  11. 11.

    Chetan Murthy

    @oldster: The Russian (== Muscovy) elite (of which Navalny is a member) are stuck in feudal times.  My belief is they will never emerge from them, until Russia is dismembered and *new* elites rise up in the piece-parts.  Muscovy is a cancer on the rest of Russia, sucking up resources and humans, spitting out war and dead bodies.  It needs to be severed from the rest of Russia, so that the peoples of the “regions” can have their day in the sun.

  12. 12.

    Mallard Filmore

    … During this advance, several UKR Bradley fighting vehicles were damaged in a minefield …

    For an idea of just how infested a field can be with mines, here is a YouTube snippet of a mine clearing vehicle.

    6 small mines explode in about 6 meters.

    https://youtu.be/a0kfwURIoJU?t=1301

  14. 14.

    oldster

    @Chetan Murthy:

    How Muscovy is stuck in feudal times — the brilliant hilzoy had a thread on this very theme, back when I could read threads. Alas, I cannot find you a link.

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Jay:

    He was posting anti-Ukrainian rants on Telegram

    More on point, he was asking whether Ukrainians can swim, immediately after the Kakhovka dam was blown. So the humor at his expense once he got eaten was doubly ironic.

    The dude with the stuffed shark really showed a lot of people’s true character. He’s likely not even Ukrainian, because traveling out of the country for military-aged Ukrainian men is still extremely difficult.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    Oleksandr Kamyshin, the guy who made sure Ukrainian trains ran (and run) on time, is now making sure ammunition is produced:

    Ukraine produced more mortar bombs and artillery shells in June this year than in the whole of last year, – Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries#UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/pjH5r8Birk
    — UATV English (@UATV_en) July 10, 2023

  18. 18.

    Gin & Tonic

    Apologies to those who can’t read Twitter threads, but this is a very interesting thread on the history of Sweden and the Baltic Sea, and how that history is being upended now:

    Sweden’s membership in NATO is the last step in a change process overturning a Baltic security regime which has existed not since 1991, but since 1721. Before this, the Baltic Sea was a Swedish sea, Swedish peace reigned from the Gulf of Finland to Greifswald. Losing the Baltic…
    — Martin Kragh (@MartinKragh1) July 10, 2023

    Invading Ukraine to prevent NATO expansion worked really well, didn’t it?

  21. 21.

    Jay

    @Gin & Tonic:

    NAFO has over 20,000 members spread all across the globe, (except Ruzzia) and they do more than shitpost vatnicks. They fundraise for Ukraine, organize aid, buy tactical gear and medical supplies, just to name a few.

    This is their first Conference and were invited by the Head of State in Lithuania to hold it in Vilnus.

  22. 22.

    oldster

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I cannot read the thread, alas, but I do know that there was a time in the 16th and early 17th century when Sweden was a European superpower, and a bit of a bruiser at that. I am sure that’s their recent neutrality was sincere, but they have not always been so respectful of other nations’ borders.

    Gustavus Adolphus the Great!

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    Can I presume the Rheinmetall plant is located well within Ukraine’s effective SAM umbrella? Russia will fling considerable missiles at it for all the reasons.

  27. 27.

    Gin & Tonic

    The former commander of russia’s Krasnodar submarine was on a run this morning. He was unable to finish. Reportedly, he liked to publish his route on the Strava workout app. In retrospect, a bad idea:

    Stanislav Rzhytskiy, deputy head of mobilization department in Russian Krasnodar, was shot – Russian media.Rzhytskiy is the former commander of Krasnodar submarine. Russian media claim that it was him who gave orders to launch Kalibr rockets on Ukraine.He was shot by an… pic.twitter.com/lUK6IS1waY— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 10, 2023

  28. 28.

    Raoul Paste

    @Jay:   There certainly is a lot of ….. content….. on that NAFO memes page.

    It’s brutal, but less brutal than war

  30. 30.

    Jinchi

    @Alison Rose: Why do some places write it as “Nato” like it was a weird nickname for Nathaniel?

    I think it’s a European convention and stems from whether an acronym is pronounced as a name, like “Nato”, instead of pronouncing the letters individually like “FBI” or “EU”.

    You probably do the same thing with “Scuba”.

  33. 33.

    Chetan Murthy

    Whoa! https://nitter.net/Gerashchenko_en/status/1678474438025551872

    Anton Gerashchenko

    @Gerashchenko_en
    7h

    Russian media report that the murder of Stanislav Rzhytskiy, ex-commander of Krasnodar submarine (see my previous tweet for details) has been carefully planned. So far Russian police cannot find a single surveillance camera that would show the crime being committed. The search continues. Obviously, the Russian police name “order from Ukraine” as the main possible murder cause – Russian media. They rely on Rzhytskiy commanding Krasnodar submarine which, reportedly, launched Kalibr missiles on Ukraine as the motive.

  36. 36.

    Jinchi

    @Chetan Murthy: Obviously, the Russian police name “order from Ukraine” as the main possible murder cause

    If he’s a military commander during wartime wouldn’t he be a legitimate target?

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @Alison Rose:

    Some years back the New York Times (and some other outlets) made the decision to “decapitalize” acronyms. From the Times style guide: “We limit the uppercasing to four letters because longer strings of capitals are distracting and tend to jump off the page.” Interesting that they’re no longer capitalizing “NATO,” which is four letters.

    I think it’s a stupid choice, because sometimes you need all caps to remrind you that something is an acronym and not a regular word. Of course I can’t think  of an example right now.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Wikipedia: In late June 2017, five Chechnya-born men were found guilty by a jury in a Moscow court for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles ($253,000); neither the identity nor whereabouts of the person who hired them is officially known.

  45. 45.

    Feathers

    @Jay: Don’t know how to link the individual tweets, but “Onward Buttercup, there’s fuckery to spread” is entering my personal meme rotation.

  47. 47.

    Jay

    @Feathers:

    the old way, was in text mode, post the copied (code) tweet from the Twitter menu.

    Doesn’t work anymore.

    All anybody will see is a demand to log into Twitter.

    I just got on Nitter today to see some of my Ukraine posters, but I havn’t figured out yet how to post a link from Nitter to an individual tweet copy.

  48. 48.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    When the documentary “Navalny” was nominated for an Oscar™ I knew the fix was in. Never mind that I was rooting for another documentary, Hollywood might not let Zelenskyy make a speech, but it was going to show Putin what they thought of him in their own precious little way. As someone pointed out, possibly on this very blog, never once in her acceptance speech, did Yulia Navalnaya even mention Ukraine. Not once. So, the fix is in. Navalny is now an internationally renowned martyr.

    There is a whole history about how Moscow became the capital of the Soviet Union. Originally, St. Petersburg was the capital, by decree of Peter the Great. Who had it built out of literally nothing at the cost of Gods knows how many thousands of lives. It was his “Window on Europe” & its citizens were deeply worried when the capital was ” temporarily ” shifted to Moscow. How right they were.

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    The Kyiv Post reports that Russian Lt. General Oleg Tsokov was killed last night in a Stormshadow cruise missile attack. Apparently Tsokov had taken over the Duna Hotel in Berdyansk as a headquarters. If so, other members his command must have perished with him:

        Locals report that nothing is left of the hotel, which is cordoned off as heavy equipment is used to remove debris and search for survivors.

    Berdyansk is located on the Sea of Azov midway between Melitopol and Mariupol, and less than 100 km from the front lines.

    A questionable venue to locate a command center even with air defense units posted nearby, considering that Stormshadow missiles have a range of 250 km.

    In related news, France has announced additional deliveries of their version of Stormshadow (SCALP) to Ukraine.

Comments are closed.