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You are here: Home / Open Threads / War for Ukraine Day 535: Strike the Kerch Bridge!

War for Ukraine Day 535: Strike the Kerch Bridge!

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This post is in: 

Earlier today the Ukrainians struck the Kerch Bridge:

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

It is important that every week Russia sees new international activity in support of Ukraine – address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

12 August 2023 – 21:21

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you good health!

We have another result in our work with partners for security guarantees – Greece joined the G7 declaration regarding guarantees for Ukraine. This is already the 14th country.

Along with Greece, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden have joined. I thank each state!

And our team will continue working – for the sake of new participants, for the sake of every state and for every leader interested in peace and security being able to show their leadership in one or another format of security cooperation.

Peace has no alternative. Every country that works with us within the framework of security guarantees for Ukraine, within the framework of the Peace Formula, sends exactly this signal to the aggressor state. There will be peace. Aggression loses.

It is very important that every week Russia sees new international activity in support of Ukraine and normal life.

Today, I want to give special thanks to several countries that this week took new steps for greater security, greater protection of our people.

First of all, Germany. Two additional Patriot launchers, it is very important. Thank you! Thank you, Germany, thank you, people, thank you, Olaf!

Every significant strengthening of our air defense means thousands of saved lives and a real approach to a full-fledged air shield for Ukraine. Every city, every village must be protected. This will become the basis of a pan-European air shield. When Russian terror loses in Ukraine, all of Europe will win.

This week, our border guards received mobile medical complexes from the Netherlands. In general, the Netherlands is among the leaders in defense cooperation with Ukraine, in political cooperation. They really protect life. And the humanitarian dimension is also meaningful. I thank the people of the Netherlands for that! Thank you all! Mark, thank you!

Azerbaijan is ready to provide a new  humanitarian support package, including demining equipment. This is also one of the key directions of our work with partners – demining.

Ukraine also needs equipment from partners, and it is very crucial to create a production base in Ukraine so that we can clear our land of Russian mines. And this task should be completed not in decades, but in years.

In total, as of now, 174,000 square kilometers of our country are potentially dangerous due to mines and unexploded ammunition. Every day, our specialists detect hundreds of explosive objects. And the more we have demining machines, the more special drones we have for demining, the more actively we would be able to restore security. Thankful to every country that helps us!

And today I would like to thank all our specialists engaged in demining. They really work on the ground. Fields, the territory of settlements, power lines, infrastructure facilities are demined. Last day, 133 pyrotechnic units worked across the country. Most of them are in Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions. I thank you – each who cleanses the Ukrainian land from the traces of Russian terror!

I would especially like to mention a few specialists.

This is Anton Volos, a deminer of the pyrotechnic works department, Bohdan Olshevsky, a driver-mechanic-deminer. They both work in the emergency and rescue squad of the Emergency Service of Luhansk region. Thanks, guys!

Serhiy Siroshtan, head of the pyrotechnic works group, the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kherson region. Thank you, Serhiy!

Police officers: lieutenant colonel Valentyn Melnyk, lieutenant colonel Ihor Pidlisny, colonel Yaroslav Kostiv. They took turns leading groups of the explosive engineering service – 10-15 groups – in Kharkiv region. From September 22 until now – in the territory liberated from the occupiers. Very active. Thank you! And very effective.

Thank you to everyone who works for the security of Ukraine and Ukrainians! Thank you to everyone who fights for our country – Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, Shakhtarsk direction, Kupiansk, southern directions. Glory to you, warriors! Glory to all who destroy the occupier! Glory to all who support Ukraine, support Ukrainians! Thank you!

Glory to Ukraine!

More on the Kerch Bridge:

Kherson:

Urozhayne:

Urzuf:

 

Zhytomyr:

Kaliningrad:

Tatarigami assesses the effects of last year’s Kherson campaign. First tweet from the thread followed by the rest from the Thread Reader App:

2/ In this instance, compiled satellite imagery reveals the establishment of a new base to the south of Henichesk. Its construction commenced around November, aligning with our troops’ liberation of Kherson and the departure of russian forces from Chaplynka. 
3/ Their decision was correct – shortly after our forces secured Kherson, Chaplynka base experienced several strikes. Nevertheless, most of the equipment, the command and control center, and the helicopters had been relocated. Only minimal logistical operations were still there.Image
4/ While determining the role of this new base is problematic, it’s crucial to recognize that the mere existence of a weapon with an approximate 80 km reach compelled the russians to entirely reconfigure their logistical and command and control operations in the South.Image
5/ While long-range munitions like ATACMS, Taurus, and Storm Shadow offer significant capabilities, their scarcity, slower production rate, and high cost necessitate the inclusion of more affordable yet equally efficient options such as long-range loitering munitions and GLSDBImage
6/ Undoubtedly, in response, Russians will relocate equipment and decentralize command and logistics into smaller nodes. However, this exacerbates preexisting logistical challenges and curtails their capacity to efficiently manage substantial force concentrations. 
7/ Hence, in my perspective, it remains crucial for Ukraine to get a diverse range of long-range weaponry, all the while continuing the development and utilization of its own resources, as exemplified by the successful deployment of our drones in both russia and sea environment. 
Your contributions via Buy Me A Coffee have enabled the availability of this satellite imagery and others. Next week, a significant analysis will assess russian tank repair facility, made feasible by your invaluable support. Do not forget to help with like and retweet.Image

For you naval drone enthusiasts:

The cost:

To switch gears, very quickly, back to the forced starvation of the residents of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh:

I’ve had my fill of watching this stuff happen and too many just shrug, at best. I don’t care if you are pro-Armenian or pro-Azerbaijani in this dispute or you’ve never really thought about it, it is 2023 making war on innocent people by starving them out to achieve your strategic objectives cannot be allowed to happen!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets, but there is a new slideshow at his official TikTok. Click across to see it.

However, after the last few days I figured we should finish with something a but lighter, so:

 

Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    Bill Arnold

    While determining the role of this new base is problematic, it’s crucial to recognize that the mere existence of a weapon with an approximate 80 km reach compelled the russians to entirely reconfigure their logistical and command and control operations in the South.

    This is why even a few tens(with ambiguity of the real count) of ATACMS would be helpful for degrading Russian logistics capabilities; part of the degradation is the reduced effectiveness after such reconfigurations.

  2. 2.

    Jay

    Bill Browder
    @Billbrowder
    7h
    Russian agent, Alexander Lugavoi, wanted for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London using Polonium 210 now has cancer linked to poison used in the hit. This is Karma in its truest form. apple.news/ARm4LS5U7TiiRFjt5…

  4. 4.

    Alison Rose

    103 years old and sewing camouflage suits for soldiers. Once again, you do not fuck with Ukrainian grannies!

    One day, I hope to see that whole bridge collapse into the drink. Don’t know if it’s possible, but it would be very lovely.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  9. 9.

    Jay

    ChrisO_wiki
    @ChrisO_wiki
    8h
    1/ Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov has been denounced again in another memo to the Kremlin, reportedly written by the political strategist and Duma deputy Oleg Matveychev. It calls Solovyov and his colleague Margarita Simonyan “information structures of Prigozhin”. ⬇️

    https://nitter.net/ChrisO_wiki/status/1690377301496672257#m

    Rooting for injuries.

  11. 11.

    Lyrebird

    Thank you Adam, for the work and for the great cooking with Grandma video.
    I hope one of our cultural liaisons here can tell us what the green ingredient was. I am pretty sure it is not coriander chutney.

    ETA: I am planning to buy some new sheets from a Ukrainian company, Sea Me Linen.  Not much else I can do, or so it seems, but at least I can try to get what we can of what the family needs from Ukr.

  13. 13.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jay:
    LOL. Fear “The feminist and women’s organisations”. (To be clear, such organizations are on the side of Good.)

    12/ It also reflects increasing hostility towards feminism by nationalist-conservative circles in Russia. The memo’s purported author, Oleg Matveychev, introduced a draft law in April 2023 that would designate feminism as an ‘extremist activity’.

    Here’s the threadreader version.
    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1690377301496672257.html

  14. 14.

    oldster

    Great to see smoke around the Kerch Bridge; tomorrow we’ll find out whether it’s just smoke screens or whether there is new damage. I look forward to the damage assessments!

    But even if it’s just smoke screens and there is no new structural damage, the videos themselves are damaging to the morale of ruzzian occupiers and tourists in Crimea. It reminds them that they are on stolen land, and that they will need to give it back sooner, not later.

    Also great news about the recapture of Urozhaine. That controls a decent-sized north-south road that leads to Mariupol. Every step further south puts the “land bridge” in jeopardy. Once the Kerch Bridge is down, and the coastal road is within HIMARS range, then Ukraine can prevent resupply of the occupiers.

    And while I share your abhorrence at the use of starvation against civilians, I would not mind starving the ruzzian occupiers out of their positions. Soon.

  16. 16.

    NutmegAgain

    That 103 year old Gran making camouflage suits–wow she’s see a lot. Zhytomyr was a site of Many Bad Things in WWII (as in much of Ukraine, but for some reason Zhytomyr sticks in my mind). She was a a young adult in 1940. I can’t even imagine the strength, the recollections, what her century has been. And to have it all start up again at her age?

  19. 19.

    dr. luba

    @Lyrebird: I have no idea what the green ingredient was–can’t really make out the label.  I have posted the video to my Ukrainian cooking group and, if someone can identify it, I’ll let you know.

  20. 20.

    dr. luba

    @Adam L Silverman: Many Ukrainians went to work in Italy earlier in this century.  My cousin’s second husband lived there for years and worked construction; he had a university degree but there were no jobs in Ukraine.

    He came home and enlisted in 2014 when the russians invaded. He’s back on the front lines again.

    But he did learn some Italian cooking and Italian songs while he was there.

    So, yes, it could be pesto.

  25. 25.

    Anoniminous

    Ukrainians absolutely have to destroy the Kerch bridge.  It’s too valuable for the Russians to leave it standing.

  26. 26.

    Lyrebird

    @dr. luba:

    @Adam L Silverman:

    THANKS!!  It looked like pesto to me, but I figured I must be wrong!

    :D

    They, the soldier and his grandmother, make a great duo.

    Dr. Luba, do I remember right that you won the title of Borscht Queen once?  Either way, thanks for answering, and I hope your relatives were out of the way of the latest terrorist barrage.

  27. 27.

    Sebastian

    Oh, look! Austria is in the news again! Former foreign minister Karin Kneissl (as dumb as MTG and Boebert but not as nasty) moved to Russia. The Times (UK) is reporting.
    https://apple.news/Ay4P95M9ERgGfPOVmt6NB4Q

    In August 2018, while serving as Austria’s foreign minister, Karin Kneissl raised eyebrows by inviting Vladimir Putin to her wedding — and then waltzed with him, curtsying deeply at the end of the dance in appreciation of his deft footwork and accepting a gift of a pair of €50,000 (£43,000) sapphire earrings.

    Now the avowed Russophile appears to have taken her admiration of his homeland even further: Kneissl, 58, who left office in 2019, popped up last week in a tiny village deep in the Russian countryside, claiming to have been forced to move east because of her pro-Kremlin views.

    The former minister’s new home in Petrushovo, 200 miles southeast of Moscow, is a far cry from the grand Habsburg-era palace in Vienna’s Minoritenplatz over which she once held sway. But in footage on a Russian news website of her speaking at a summer fair, she is heard telling bemused locals she “feels comfortable there”.

    “When I look [at] chickens, ducks, goats in the street — this is my world, too, because I used to live in a small village in Austria,” Kneissl, who was born in Vienna, said in hesitant, heavily accented Russian.

  29. 29.

    dr. luba

    @Lyrebird: I am the reigning borshch queen since competitions were halted during COVID.

    As Ii noted above, lots of Ukrainians lived in Italy for long periods of time, so I ma not surprised they’ve learned to kind of cook Italian.

    And I run a Ukrainian coking group on FB which just hit 10 years with 33+K members.  I have become an expert on Ukrainian cuisine as a result of running the group; I was not one when I helped start it.

  31. 31.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Our (and other so-called supporting countries) government inaction on Putin’s repeated attacks on civilians in Ukraine is basically implied consent for him to continue his genocide.

    He is not going to stop until they do something to make him stop. That’s it. Our inaction in the matter is absolute bullshit.

  32. 32.

    Sebastian

    @dr. luba:

    First of all, sincere congratulations! The competition must be fierce and the title you own is truly something to be proud of!

    I am also delighted that you are a jackal, too!

Comments are closed.