Before we start I just want to take a moment and express my sincere condolences to Ozark Hillbilly and his family. I was offline almost all day and had no idea what was going on until TaMara told me about it. We are keeping good thoughts for you and your entire family.
A number of you had trouble with the audio of Field Marshal Sir William Slim’s 1952 remarks and asked if there was a transcript. Given that the lecture was 45 minutes, it is far, far too long to post here, but you will find the transcript at this link.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
The security of our continent begins with the sovereignty and strength of Ukraine – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
16 July 2023 – 21:25
I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!
Today we celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. The 33rd of many, many such anniversaries that Ukraine has yet to celebrate. A free Ukraine.
Our country will never give up its sovereignty. This is already obvious to everyone in the world. And whatever the Russian terror may be, we know that Ukrainian freedom will still be preserved and will still prevail.
Every year, Ukraine will only get stronger and help other free nations to protect their sovereignty and build common security. Ukraine can do this. It can because the lines and words of our fundamental state documents are backed by the strength and determination of our people. Millions of Ukrainians for whom the freedom of our state is their personal freedom. Honoring Ukrainian freedom, Ukrainian sovereignty, and Ukrainian strength, we always honor our heroes. Different people who fought and are still fighting for Ukraine and to whom we owe our freedom.
Today, I would like to pay special tribute to the warriors who have shown maximum courage and efficiency for the sake of Ukraine these days and weeks.
Soldier Oleksandr Shulha, a mechanic driver of a tank battalion of the 33rd separate mechanized brigade. Thank you, Oleksandr, for your bravery and for saving the lives of the crew!
Soldier Oleksandr Levchenko, commander of the Bradley combat vehicle of the 47th separate mechanized brigade. Thank you, Oleksandr, for your brave combat work and destruction of the enemy!
Soldier Andriy Holovko, commander of the fire support unit of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade. Thank you, Andriy, for your accuracy and the results Ukraine needs on the battlefield!
Major Tetiana Humelia, the 110th separate territorial defense brigade, – I thank you, Tetiana, for the high-quality logistics and professional service!
Sergeant Oleksandr Olivko, the 3rd separate assault brigade, commander of a machine gun squad. Thank you for your courage and accuracy, Oleksandr!
Junior Sergeant Vladyslav Datskyi – also from the 3rd separate assault brigade, chief sergeant of an assault platoon. Thank you for your strength, Vladyslav!
Senior Lieutenant Ihor Dykun, Hero of Ukraine, commander of a reconnaissance battalion. The 5th separate assault brigade. A true exemplary Ukrainian warrior. Thank you, Ihor!
Lieutenant Oleksandr Kovalenko, Hero of Ukraine, commander of the 2nd assault company of the 24th separate assault battalion “Aidar”. Thank you, Oleksandr!
Senior Soldier Maksym Shevtsov, Soldier Andriy Khmilevsky, and Junior Sergeant Bohdan Maksymov. All three are warriors of our glorious “Eightieth” – the 80th separate airborne assault brigade. I thank you, warriors!
Senior Lieutenant Yevhen Martsynenko and Soldier Oleksandr Dudun – warriors of Kish Otaman Kost Hordiienko 57th separate motorized infantry brigade. I thank you guys! Thank you for Ukrainian strength!
Senior Lieutenant Oleh Spichak and Junior Sergeant Serhiy Sargsyan – warriors of the 123rd separate territorial defense brigade. Thank you for your daily bravery, daily military ingenuity in countering Russian subversive reconnaissance groups!
Captain-Lieutenant Mykola Sopko and Petty Officer Second Class Serhiy Tarasov – warriors of the 73rd naval special operations center. Thank you for your very significant combat results!
Everyone’s contribution is always valuable in the fight for freedom. Ukraine is proud of its heroes! Ukraine is proud of you! Glory to you, warriors!
And, of course, I thank all the warriors of the Air Force of Ukraine – pilots, anti-aircraft gunners, and fighters of mobile fire groups. To everyone who protects the Ukrainian skies. Thank you for every downed Russian missile! We have already shown that there are no Russian missiles that cannot be shot down by Ukrainians. And when the Ukrainian sky shield is powerful enough – and it will be! – Ukraine will ensure real freedom and security for the whole of Europe from Russian terror. The security of our continent begins here with Ukraine’s sovereignty and strength.
Glory to Ukraine!
Today, courage has a name, and that name is Ukraine.
📷 Slava Ratynski pic.twitter.com/6OeU1x5Vo9
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 16, 2023
You can easily recognize a person who has been on the front lines by looking into their eyes. These eyes have seen death every day. Eyes like these know the true value of life. pic.twitter.com/tGFMHJMq8G
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 16, 2023
The Azov brigade commander, the leader of Mariupol defense Denys Prokopenko recently freed from extraction stay in 🇹🇷, has returned to his unit. pic.twitter.com/knGAsLqmdu
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) July 16, 2023
Kreminna:
KREMINNA AXIS /1540 UTC 16 JUN/ RU offensive operations were broken up west of Dibrova and east of Novosadove. RU air and artillery strikes indicate that UKR forces are positioned strongly on the east banks of the Zherebets Reservoir. pic.twitter.com/LWj0k6Vf5Q
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) July 16, 2023
Velyka Novoslika:
ERRATUM: The date for the map has been corrected. Many thanks to the sharp eyed readers– and thanks for the shout outs! pic.twitter.com/hTxBPGjhDy
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) July 16, 2023
VELYKA NOVOSLIKA /1645 UTC 16 JUL/ Sources report that UKR has advanced into the northern limits of Staromaiorske: RU units are said to be falling back. Withdrawing RU forces will be vulnerable to flanking attacks. This will likely open the T-04-18 HWY S into the Mokri Yaly River valley.
Luhansk via Ukraine Today:
In the Ukrainian city of Lugansk, temporarily occupied by pro-Russian militants “LPR”, there is a powerful “arrival”.It flew to the territory of the Mashchinskaya mine, which is located in the village of Yubileyny, journalist Denis Kazansky said on Sunday, July 16, in his Telegram channel.According to him, there were enemy forces there.
“It seems that soon we will have another stream of mournful reports about the untimely demobilization of another batch of Russian officers,” the author added.
Explosions/strikes reported in Luhansk. pic.twitter.com/azwpXGF0Av
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
/3. Rumours that strike was on the area of Mashchinskaya mine near Luhansk. (48.5236710, 39.1993347) pic.twitter.com/Zwkic88IyA
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
/5. Precise geolocation. https://t.co/4ickaEyTi5
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
Marinka:
Марьинка. Пришла Россия и «защитила русскоязычное население от притеснений» pic.twitter.com/uSLaTaZH0z
— Денис Казанський (@den_kazansky) July 16, 2023
Here’s the machine translation:
Marinka. Russia came and “protected the Russian-speaking population from harassment”
Bakhmut:
Rashist mobiks in Bakhmut refused to complete "suicide orders" and are now threatened with shooting by their leadership. The men hit all bingo cards: terrible commanders, no ammo, no artillery and aviation support, delays in payments, and no rotation or rest:
"Hello. We’re the… pic.twitter.com/IpFykYAP0X
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) July 16, 2023
Rashist mobiks in Bakhmut refused to complete “suicide orders” and are now threatened with shooting by their leadership. The men hit all bingo cards: terrible commanders, no ammo, no artillery and aviation support, delays in payments, and no rotation or rest:
“Hello. We’re the mobilised from the 85th Brigade. Together with us are also contractors whose contracts ran out, but they’re still fighting here with us, now for 10-11 months.
We’d like to say that during all this time, we’ve been mobilised for 7-8 months, we always unconditionally completed all orders at fronts near Kreminna and Belohirivka, without fear.
But now, we’ve been thrown to Bahkmut to unprepared unmined positions, with a drunk company commander who led us to these positions. We didn’t reach them, we were shelled with tanks, mortars, Polish missiles.
We came to the company commander and explained that we won’t pass there. We came across employees of PMC “Hurricane” who were leaving those positions, they were the first with losses.
They explained to us that we’re simply suiciders, we won’t pass there. To which the company commander said we needed to complete the order. But as we’re the mobilised, not stormtroopers or spetsnaz, without ammo, without food, without evacuation, without vehicles, we were thrown in like stormtroopers.
We refused, only laying down weapons by the order of the Brigade commander, under threats of shooting, accused of betrayal, and threatened with imprisonment.
We didn’t reach those positions. We are now sat in Svetlodarsk, in some strange building. But as they didn’t take away our phones, we’re trying to record a video for our relatives who could help us.
We do not refuse to fight, we can take weapons again, but not in this direction, and not in the first line of defence. As I already said, we always followed our orders without being afraid, under mortar and enemy bullets.
But now, after this time, we’re simply defeated psychologically by our command. We don’t even have medals for the SMO, we were not given any payments. By the way, our salaries come late and not in full.
There’s no rotation, no rest provided to us. So that’s what it is. And we’re now accused of betrayal and cowardice forgetting about our previous achievements.
We were sent there without artillery and aviation support which are unable to suppress the enemy fire. We came under shelling, and after all that happened, the commander, answering why our artillery and aviation were silent, said there’s no ammo – “Go die an honourable death”.
But we’re not suiciders, we’re simple mobilised, workmen, just like anyone else.
We were called P.O.W.s and threatened with killing, threatened to be sent to Storm units containing unprepared people, or sent back to the zero line. But we’re simply afraid that our commanders will shoot us there.
We do not refuse to serve and complete combat tasks, just not in this direction, not on the first line, and not with these commanders.”
Belgorod:
This evening, Russians were shelling Kharkiv from the territory of the Belgorod region. And it looks like one of the missiles exploded in the air over the Belgorod region. pic.twitter.com/LyA2pQEkH8
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
Nove, Zaporizhzhia:
As said, strike on Russian headquarters. Nove, Zaporizhzhya region. ~14 km from the front line. https://t.co/MzK2Bby64C pic.twitter.com/8W0K71vKma
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
Kharkiv:
One civilian killed and three wounded in the evening attack on Kharkiv as reported by prosecutors office. Russia launched two S-300 missiles from Belgorod. Today was one of the most massive missile attacks on the city recently.
📷 Police documenting attack this morning. pic.twitter.com/kjnrBsI09e
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) July 16, 2023
Second attack on Kharkiv in a day. Two loud explosions reported after air raid alert went off. At least 4 wounded. Meanwhile Russian channels proudly share videos of missile launches. pic.twitter.com/8YccamQPOH
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) July 16, 2023
Sevastapol:
Late last night reports started trickling out of an extended Ukrainian attack on Russian targets in Sevastapol, Occupied Crimea.
As said, 8 drones attacked Sevastopol at night. Reportedly, 2 sea drones were also used. Nothing is known about the results of the attack. Russians claim that "the attack was repulsed" pic.twitter.com/1ypPNYNQqq
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 16, 2023
Alleged drone attack on Sevastopol. Russian sources claim that seven air and two sea drones attacked Sevastopol at night and in the morning. pic.twitter.com/ufCw4OtMfD
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) July 16, 2023
More reporting on last week’s NATO summit from The Wall Street Journal:
Last week’s NATO summit revealed a major realignment within the U.S.-led trans-Atlantic alliance.
European nations, once seen as less steadfast in their support for Kyiv and more vulnerable to Russian pressure, are determined to help Ukraine win an unambiguous victory. At the same time, the Biden administration, which orchestrated a unified Western response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion last year, is increasingly cautious—constrained by domestic politics and a fear of direct confrontation with Moscow.
In Europe, the once-gaping divisions between different capitals have narrowed sharply, as countries previously seen as soft on Russia, including France, Italy, Spain and to a lesser extent Germany, have all moved much closer to Ukraine’s fiercest supporters: Poland, the Baltic and the Nordic states.
“It took a while, but then it seeped through. Today a lot of leaders around Europe, including Germany, understand that they must help Ukraine defeat Putin if they want to defend their own security,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, a German member of the European Parliament. “They have well understood that Putin’s threat to Ukraine has significance far beyond Ukraine itself.”
European nations, once seen as less steadfast in their support for Kyiv and more vulnerable to Russian pressure, are determined to help Ukraine win an unambiguous victory. At the same time, the Biden administration, which orchestrated a unified Western response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion last year, is increasingly cautious—constrained by domestic politics and a fear of direct confrontation with Moscow.
In Europe, the once-gaping divisions between different capitals have narrowed sharply, as countries previously seen as soft on Russia, including France, Italy, Spain and to a lesser extent Germany, have all moved much closer to Ukraine’s fiercest supporters: Poland, the Baltic and the Nordic states.
“It took a while, but then it seeped through. Today a lot of leaders around Europe, including Germany, understand that they must help Ukraine defeat Putin if they want to defend their own security,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, a German member of the European Parliament. “They have well understood that Putin’s threat to Ukraine has significance far beyond Ukraine itself.”
The divergence between Washington and its European allies is increasingly evident on an array of issues, from Ukraine’s prospects of eventually joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to the military capabilities that Kyiv needs for its current offensive aiming to reclaim occupied territory, to the desirability of any peace settlement with the Kremlin in the near term.
“Biden’s mantra is that the unity of the alliance is the high priority,” said Slawomir Dębski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw think tank that advises Poland’s government. “The problem now is that it’s the Biden administration that is lagging behind Europe, and it’s the Biden administration that is creating trouble for the unity.”
Washington remains the biggest backer of Ukraine, and President Biden reiterated in Vilnius that America’s commitment won’t waver—warning that Putin is making a “bad bet” as he doubts the West’s staying power and unity.
Yet political winds are blowing in opposite directions on the two sides of the Atlantic. A sizable, and growing, minority of the U.S. Republican Party wants to end any support for Ukraine, and America’s role in the war is likely to become an issue in next year’s presidential election. A proposal to prohibit all security assistance to Ukraine garnered 70 Republican votes, or nearly one-third of all Republican House members, on Thursday.
Former President Donald Trump, who seeks to return to the White House next year, has accused Biden of risking World War III by supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions, a type of ammunition that Russia has been using in abundance, and boasted that he could end the conflict within 24 hours, without saying how.
Few major European leaders have similar electoral concerns in the near term. European economies have successfully weaned themselves off dependence on Russian energy, and even the once pro-Putin nationalist parties rarely openly support Moscow nowadays. Many key European leaders who pushed for talks between Kyiv and Moscow last year, most importantly French President Emmanuel Macron, have increasingly come to the view that no deal on Ukraine can be struck until Putin is routed on the battlefield or leaves power.
“There is a growing belief in Europe that the defeat of Russia needs to be super clear, while at least in some corners of the U.S. system there might be a sense that this needs to be a defeat that generates a negotiated outcome,” said Camille Grand, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Brussels who served until last year as NATO’s assistant secretary-general. “There is this nuance.”
Biden, in remarks in Helsinki last week, said his hope and expectation is that “Ukraine makes significant progress on their offensive, and that it generates a negotiated settlement somewhere along the line.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said that no settlement is possible until Ukraine regains occupied land, which amounts to about 20% of the country’s territory, and secures reparations from Moscow.
At the Vilnius summit, the Biden administration surprised many allies with its refusal to negotiate the language on Ukraine, which said that NATO “would be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Frustrated, Zelensky issued a fiery tweet as he arrived in Vilnius. “A window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia,” he wrote. “And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror.”
Daria Kaleniuk, a Ukrainian anticorruption campaigner and civil-society activist, raised this point in a sharp exchange with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Is it true, she asked Sullivan at a NATO public forum in Vilnius, that Biden “didn’t invite Ukraine to NATO because he’s afraid of Russia, afraid of Russia losing, of Ukraine winning?”
Speculating that there are backchannel communications between Washington and Moscow, she added: “Should I prepare my son to be a soldier and fight the Russians when he will be 18 years old in seven years?” The audience responded with thunderous applause.
Sullivan responded that any suggestion that Washington would negotiate a secret deal with the Kremlin at Ukraine’s expense was “entirely unfounded and unjustified.”
“There has been a lot of conspiracy theorizing that is simply not based on any reality whatsoever,” he said, adding that “the American people do deserve a degree of gratitude.” U.S. officials sent similar messages denying any clandestine deals with Moscow to their European interlocutors—some of whom say they remain unconvinced by the denials, and are concerned that the American policy on Ukraine is increasingly dictated by the constraints of the U.S. political calendar.
Appearing on NBC Sunday, Sullivan reiterated that Ukraine’s NATO accession “is not subject to negotiation with any country, including Russia.”
Much more at the link!
And now the view from Moscow:
The Kremlin Loony who already killed 300,000 of his mobiks for his own deranged goal of staying in power forever is smiling telling a "journalist" that Ukrainians have no success in the counter-offensive.
The "journalist" asked him about the goals of the war, but the maniac… pic.twitter.com/shys36lJxJ
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) July 16, 2023
The Kremlin Loony who already killed 300,000 of his mobiks for his own deranged goal of staying in power forever is smiling telling a “journalist” that Ukrainians have no success in the counter-offensive. The “journalist” asked him about the goals of the war, but the maniac promised to tell him this information “in private”. Why would a “journalist” need “private” information like this is unclear. Most likely, because the sicko’s only current goal is to keep his head on his shoulder for as long as possible.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
Patron responds to a fan on twitter:
I like it very much. The @UNICEF_UA cup is pretty! And you catch the WhizzBang. I live in Germany but I know the number to call 101 in #Ukraine when there are suspect Objekts, mines.
— Claudia Hartz 🇺🇦 🕊 (@Seehund74) July 12, 2023
It is very important that neither kids or adults touch anything they do not know.
— Claudia Hartz 🇺🇦 🕊 (@Seehund74) July 12, 2023
🐶 How cool is South Korea’s First Lady getting a tattoo of Patron the Dog?! pic.twitter.com/nWCSVPI2X2
— UNITED24.media (@United24media) July 16, 2023
And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!
@patron__dsns Недільний сільський міні влог ✨😌🌱
Here’s the machine translation of the caption:
Sunday village mini vlog ✨😌🌱
Open thread!
Gin & Tonic
Here’s a thing Ukrainian soldiers work on in their free time.
WARNING: CUTENESS OVERLOAD LIKELY
Alison Rose
Good Lord, the size of that crater in Avdeeva’s tweet.
God willing, “as long as possible” will be very short indeed.
I liked this short video from a woman in the Georgian Legion telling her mom that she wants body armor, not diamonds, but someone help me out. According to the English caption, she says “may feathers grow in the throats of our enemies”. I feel like there’s a reference here I’m not getting.
Thank you as always, Adam.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Adam, most YouTube videos come with captions. If people are having trouble with the audio, tell them to turn on the captions. Albeit, some of the auto-generated captions aren’t exactly perfect.
Thanks for the continued updates, as always.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: It’s the attention to detail for me. ADORABLE.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
BREAKING The Kerch Bridge is down. I repeat, the Kerch Bridge is down. Again!😁
Adam L Silverman
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: Unfortunately, this one does not. I checked last night before posting to see if I could turn them on and it is not an option. I double checked tonight before I did the update just in case I was mistaken last night. Still not an option. But the transcript is available at that link.
Carlo Graziani
Thanks for the Slim transcript link, Adam. I missed yesterday’s update, so I would have probably missed this.
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: I’ve been seeing reports for about an hour, but no good confirmation. Currently just past 0500 in Ukraine.
Gin & Tonic
@Alison Rose: It’s one of hundreds of similar sayings (aphorisms?) wishing ill health or misfortune on your enemy. A very popular one is “may you be kicked by a duck.”
I think most of these don’t translate very well, but you have to imagine them in the voice of your grandmother to be fully effective.
Lyrebird
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for providing that! I am not 100% sure I understand what he means about “administrative risk”, but clearly he was a leader who deserved that label. And there is a story about your Bernard Law in there too, hey.
I bet Slim would have enjoyed body armor with Star Wars characters there if he were transported to this time.
This is one of my favorite partts:
Adam L Silverman
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: This is the most reliable source I’ve seen post anything so far:
Adam L Silverman
@Carlo Graziani: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Lyrebird: You’re most welcome. Do you mean Bernard Fall?
Martin
Yeah, sure looks like the bridge took roughly similar damage to the previous attack.
Real shame that.
Lyrebird
@Adam L Silverman: Oh sorry, yes, I thought of Bernard Fall when I saw Bernard Law (ETA: and didn’t remember right), that would have been too neat an overlap.
Jay
Perun has a new you tube up on arty and cluster munitions,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zcUe47xerQ
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: Well, dang, from now on I’m telling anyone who pisses me off “may you be kicked by a duck”.
Adam L Silverman
@Lyrebird: No worries.
gwangung
@Gin & Tonic: Oh. Actually, I was thinking of arrows and their feathers….
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@Adam L Silverman: Dang! My & YouTube bad.🤦
Also, Twitter is swimming with various reports on the Kerch Bridge. I can’t link because I’m on my tablet. But most of the sources are usually pretty reliable.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Looks like the ferry might not be working, either. #Unconfirmed Traffic jams on the Kerch Bridge are confirmed, & appear to be getting worse.
Torrey
@Gin & Tonic:
I’m sure some folklorist somewhere has done a study of these kinds of expressions. They’re always interesting. Johnny Carson (way back when) was particularly good at making them up. “May the Himalayan jumping spider leave a precious pellet in your crunchy granola” is one that I remember (for some reason).
And thank you, Gin & Tonic, for the translations and explanations you always offer. They are much appreciated.
And of course thanks to Adam for these reports. I know they don’t get any easier, and that they put an added burden on your already full and far from stress-free days.
Lyrebird
Glad I wasn’t the only one!
Carlo Graziani
I’ve seen some news reports quoting the Russian-installed governor of Crimea to the effect that an “emergency incident took place on the 145th pillar of the bridge, situated in the Krasnodar territory”.
I’ve been unable to locate the numbering scheme for the bridge pillars, or even the number of them. The implication that the “incident” occurred on the Russian end of the bridge is interesting. It kind of argues against a Storm Shadow strike, since the Ukrainians have certainly sworn not to use them to attack targets in Russian territory.
But this is all very early, and we really know next to nothing at the moment.
Torrey
@Alison Rose:
The phrase reminds me of the description of administrative work in academia: “it’s like being pecked to death by ducks.” I wonder what it is about ducks. . .
Wag
Off topic Re-upping this comment from the RFK post last night.
https://balloon-juice.com/2023/07/15/that-should-be-the-end-of-him/#comment-8900120
Was your third cousin Gordon Gould?
Jay
Thank you again Adam, and for the transcript of Gen. Slim’s presentation.
Martin
Sounds like a westbound span of the car bridge is down. Possible structural damage to the pillar. Eastbound may be damaged but doesn’t sound as though a span is down. No impact on the rail bridge.
Carlo Graziani
@Martin: That’s the other weird thing. The real target is the rail bridge, not the car spans.
YY_Sima Qian
Reading WW II history, Slim has been unfairly overshadowed in the popular imagination by the prima donna Montgomery.
Adam L Silverman
@Wag: Theodore Maiman, PhD.
HumboldtBlue
Kerch bridge will soon be trending.
Divers are being turned back, told to take the ferry that isn’t running.
Jay
@Carlo Graziani:
Crappy repairs?
Jay
(((Tendar)))
@Tendar
9m
Developing story around the Kerch Bridge in Russian-occupied Crimea.
According multiple sources the bridge was under attack and hit by two strikes at 03:20am local time. The lack of anti aircraft fire suggests that it is was a naval USV attack.
It is still unclear how severe the damage is but the rumors say that one span of the car bridge is gone. Ferry services have been suspended, too. The light of the bridge is partially turned off (or electricity cut).
Traffic on both sides of the bridge is accumulating and the regional occupation commander suggests to enter Crimea using the temporarily occupied land bridge of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Source: Ivan Fedorov
Sebastian
@HumboldtBlue:
I am confused about the crashed car. What caused that damage?
dr. luba
@Martin: I believe the photo on the left is from the October attack. The attack was at ~3 am, Kyiv time.
Wag
@Adam L Silverman: The invention of the laser is a twisty story. So many competing claims. I met Gould and heard all about his claims. I wonder if your cousin was as much of a character as Gould was. Physicists are a different breed.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@YY_Sima Qian: Once, when talking to my late WWII veteran father about events, I remarked on how unpopular Montgomery was. His response was to chuckle & say “No one liked Monty. ” 😁
dr. luba
@Gin & Tonic: This appears to be a fairly extensive list.
I’ve heard many of them before, but not the feather one. Have no idea what it refers to.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@Torrey: I don’t get it either. Geese on the other hand, are dangerous. In fact, Canada Geese are not so affectionately known as “Cobra Chickens” . They are huge & give no fucks. Swans can actually kill! They’re nasty.
dr. luba
From 2 hours ago:
Yutsano
Adam, I know you’re asleep, but you think we’ll get the cat in overalls tomorrow?
Carlo Graziani
BBC confirms that the Russian governor of Crimea asserted that the event occurred on the Russian side of the bridge.
Almost certainly not a cruise missile attack, then. I wonder whether there is a connection to yesterday’s naval drone attack on Sevastopol, perhaps to be interpreted as a diversion of Russian assets away from Kerch.
Anoniminous
There were pictures floating around of structure damage to Kerch bridge support pillars back in June. It’s a distinct possibility parts of the bridge just falldowngoboom from typical Russian corruption and incompetence.
Another Scott
https://mastodon.social/tags/Kerch
seems to be updating pretty quickly. There are more pictures now.
Slava Ukraini!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Kelly
Daylight video of busted section of Kerch Bridge
https://nitter.net/revishvilig/status/1680810488748228608#m
Chetan Murthy
@Carlo Graziani: It seems UA is confirming it was USVs: collaboration between SBU and UA Navy.
Sebastian
@Chetan Murthy:
The Dildo of Consequences!
Redshift
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: Yeah, a friend of mine used to work in wildlife rehab, and knows someone who got an arm broken by a whack from a Canada goose wing!
Adam L Silverman
@Wag: My cousin’s dissertation chair stole the credit and it took years for the truth to come out.
Traveller
https://mezha.media/en/2023/04/28/toloka-a-ukrainian-autonomous-underwater-drone-with-a-range-of-up-to-2-000-km/
I would imagine, and hope, that it was these Toloka Underwater Torpedo Drones that have been under development for a while….are finally operational. The link provides some pretty nifty details and specs on these drones. Best Wishes, Traveller
Chief Oshkosh
Seems like Antony Blinken/Jake Sullivan/John Kirby/Joe Biden need to reassess.
Princess
Interesting pictures posted in June of what seems to be damage on the supports of the Kerch bridge: https://mastodon.social/@[email protected]/110467977288456715
lowtechcyclist
Today marks nine years since the Russians shot civilian airliner MH17 out of the sky, killing all 298 aboard, including 80 children.
Geminid
@Traveller: Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu (@ragipsoylu) posted some good video of the Kerch Bridge damage. It showed the outer side of one road section deflected down a meter or so at a pier, with the inner side still attached. The bridge looks fairly close to the water at this point.
Uncle Cosmo
No one on the US side, maybe – certainly no one in the US Army high command.** But IIRC his own rank & file had a pretty high opinion of him, for one very good reason: He paid great attention to preparing the battlefield so as never to initiate an action without overwhelming force – which had the salutary result of getting as few of his soldiers as possible killed. Whether minimizing casualties was the main idea or just a side effect of Monty’s primadonning was immaterial to the troops who served under him; they felt they were more likely to get home in one piece under his command.
** Which had its own share of strutters, whackjobs & buffoons. Cf. Rich Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light.
lowtechcyclist
@Princess:
Hit ’em again! Hit ’em again! Harder! Harder!
:^D
Geminid
@Geminid: Soylu also reported that today Russia officially objected to continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which ends at midnight tonight. The last (Turkish flagged) grain ship left Odesa yesterday. Shipments under the deal has pretty much halted anyway due to Russia slow walking its inspections of incoming ships.
Soylu also reported on Turkish President Erdogan’s remarks to journalists this morning. Erdogan said he still believed the Initiative would be renewed:
“Fidan” would be Hakan Fidan, Turkiye’s new Foreign Minister. Fidan previously served as head of Turkiye’s intelligence agency and is one of Erdogan’s most trusted associates.
Geminid
@Uncle Cosmo: Montgomery was a great favorite of the British press. Fleet Street badly needed a hero, and after the Second Battle of El Alamein it had one in “Montgomery of El Alamein.”
Montgomery’s inattentive posture towards clearing the approaches to the port of Antwerp had a huge impact on the Allied drive on Germany. After the breakout from Normandy, Antwerp fell to General Dempsey’s troops on September, its extensive port facilities intact. Dempsey neglected to drive further and push German forces off the right bank of the Scheldt estuary, even though British naval commanders had told Montgomery that the Scheldt was essential.
This allowed the successful evacuation of the 15th Army from the Calais area. They promptly dug in, and mined the Scheldt. Montgomery somehow thought a brilliant airborne thrust towards Arnheim would make good this error. All it did was suck up even more scarce resources.
German resistance made Antwerp useless at a time when better logistical support was critical to Allied efforts. Almost all supplies still had to be carried from the Normandy beaches. The first Allied ship did not dock at Antwerp until November 20.
Another Scott
No Kerch pictures on https://nitter.net/planet yet – I assume it will take a day or few.
Cheers,
Scott.
Carlo Graziani
NYT is claiming that rail service across the bridge has resumed, but the roadway is badly damaged.
oldster
Monty enjoyed as much worshipful adoration as any war hero ever has — provided that you include self-adoration.
Thanks for the transcript of Slim’s talk. The intro confirms my guess that he was talking to an American audience. I also suspected he was speaking to an audience with military experience, because one of the biggest laughs comes when he says that the British Army always fights uphill, and usually on the junction of four map-sheets.
Note that the transcript has been lightly bowdlerized in at least one place: Slim speaks of physical courage, and on the tape says something like “…we come of races in which courage is bred in us.” The transcript drops the reference to race.
(I don’t say that Slim’s reference in itself was racist — there are older Victorian passages in which Englishmen will use “race” to refer to nations or people’s, and talk of e.g. the brotherhood of the English-speaking races of Canada and Australia. I also don’t say it was *not* racist in our sense, and I can see why the transcriber thought it would at least cause confusion.)
In any case — thanks for providing the transcript!
oldster
Also, whoever assembled that we page did the funniest editing of all:
Right after Slim says this:
“There is only one more point I would like to make about judgment. The stronger a commander’s will power, the more dangerous or even fatal it may become if his judgment is bad.”
They have inserted a photo of Monty!! I think they understood Slim’s meaning very well.
Geminid
@Carlo Graziani: The video Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu (@ragipsoylu) showed gives a good view of the damage: one side of one road span is dangling from its attachment point at a pier, with the other attachment point still holding the span up. You can see vehicles moving on the other roadway.
StringOnAStick
One might think that damage to the driving part off the bridge will significantly increase the stress level of the Russians and pro-Russians remaining in Crimea. Perhaps they should find alternate means to exit Ukraine’s territory.
Carlo Graziani
@Geminid: This makes me wonder whether the terminal guidance on the attack drones had a partial failure. The obvious target was the supports of the rail span. All the reporting (e.g. at the NYT) about the damage inflicted by the strike upon Russian war supply is basically wrong, because the roadway makes a negligible contribution to Russian logistics. The rail line is their lifeline, and it’s still up.
Kelly
@Carlo Graziani: The highway deck is closer to the water than the railroad deck. Much wider to. Might have made a difference in an explosion from below. Now Ukraine can focus Storm Shadow and the French equivalent on the rail deck.
Note: my knowledge of explosives is limited to helping guys that knew what they were doing blow stumps with a partial stick of dynamite and a some fertilizer.
eta: as Grant said to Sherman after Shiloh “Lick’em Tommorow”