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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 536: The Russians Bombard Kherson

War for Ukraine Day 536: The Russians Bombard Kherson

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

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

Russian terrorists must feel only one thing: they will be destroyed – address by the President of Ukraine

13 August 2023 – 22:19

Fellow Ukrainians!

Today, Russian invaders brutally attacked Kherson region. There are dead and wounded.

At 4 am, the village of Veletenske was shelled. A house caught fire. A guy was wounded: he has severe burns, he is now in an intensive care unit.

9 am – the occupiers attacked the village of Shyroka Balka. They used artillery. Five people were killed.

Among them was a baby girl, 22 days old. Her brother, who was only 12 years old, was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, they could not save him. He died from severe wounds. The children’s mother – her name was Olesia, she was only 39 years old – died. My condolences!

Around the same time, the village of Stanislav was shelled. Two people were wounded, two were killed. The men were 71 years old and 57 years old.

In total, from the beginning of this day until 6 pm, there have already been 17 reports of shelling from Kherson region alone. Other regions include Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donbas, Kharkiv, the border areas with Russia in the northeast.

Everywhere our warriors retaliate against the occupiers’ terror. There is not a single day when Russian evil does not get our completely fair retaliation.

Every occupier destroyed, every piece of Russian equipment burned, fire instead of their headquarters and warehouses, the very eloquent smoke on Kerch bridge and more – all this proves that we will not leave any of Russia’s crimes unanswered. And each of our warriors who gives Ukraine results on the frontline – along the entire frontline from Kharkiv to Kherson – each of our warriors has the opportunity to bring justice to Ukraine.

Everyone who helps our warriors. Now there are only two personal lines of behavior: either you fight for Ukraine, or you help fight and save lives.

Today, there is much to thank the 95th separate airborne assault brigade for: their resilience and results in the battles in the Kupyansk sector. Well done, warriors! Powerful.

The 1st battalion of the 67th separate mechanized brigade, also in the Kupyansk sector, acted heroically and courageously. Thank you!

The paratroopers of our glorious “Seventy-ninth” in the Maryinka sector – thank you, warriors!

Melitopol and Berdyansk direction – I thank every warrior who gives Ukraine the necessary results!

Bakhmut direction – well done, guys!

Every time we have something to thank our warriors for, Ukraine becomes closer to justice, closer to victory. And Russian murderers on our land become closer to destruction.

This is the only way we can create the conditions for the whole of Ukraine to become free and safe again.

Russian terrorists must feel only one thing: they will be destroyed.

And one more thing. Behind every report of shelling and injuries of our people, there are stories of heroism of our Ukrainian doctors and nurses working in the frontline areas.

I am grateful to all our medical workers who, despite everything, save lives!

Today, I would like to recognize those who have shown themselves the most in helping our people in Kherson region.

Doctors: Vasyl Chystiakov, Natalia Kyniv, Artur Rakhimov, Ivan Ososkalo. This is a team from the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital.

Nurses: Iryna Tytarenko, Olena Bondar, Larysa Shmyhol.

Medics from the ambulance teams who helped the wounded in the villages of Stanislav, Komyshany and Shyroka Balka: Natalia Pupenko, Ilona Shylo, Victoria Hanzha, Maryna Shramkova, Svitlana Stoliarova.

Kherson’s ambulance: emergency medicine doctor Pavlo Dziuba and feldsher Vitalii Biriukov, both sent to Kherson region from Sumy for reinforcement.

Feldshers: Natalia Adriyanova and Vitalii Rudakov.

Kherson city hospital: surgeons Serhiy Bondaruk, Serhiy Tonkontsov and Viktor Yakovenko.

I thank you, each and every one of you, and all your colleagues, for every life saved!

The Ukrainian people are extremely brave and courageous. We know that freedom is priceless, and we know how to defend it. We know how to protect life. And we have to remember that every day must bring results in the defense of Ukraine. Not a single day should be wasted! At the front, in the areas near the front, everywhere in the rear, and, very importantly, by every diplomatic mission of Ukraine.

Weapons for our warriors, support for our state, and legal responsibility for Russian terrorists. Ukraine will definitely prevail!

But this will be our common result. Of all those who are fighting and working for Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

Tallyho!

Kharkiv:

Urozhaine:

Donestk:

For the context, the Buryats are ethnic Mongols.

Bakhmut:

WARNING!! WARNING!! GRAPHIC IMAGERY!! WARNING!! WARNING!!

ALL CLEAR!!

Kyiv:

Robotyne:

Kerch Strait Bridge in Russian Occupied Crimea:

Russian occupied Oleshky:

Ramenskoye, Moscow Oblast:

For those of you mine clearing enthusiasts:

More details from The Guardian:

Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country on Earth and its army is suffering from a critical shortage of men and equipment able to clear the frontlines, the country’s defence minister has said, as soldiers spoke of heavy casualties in the engineering brigades.

In an urgent appeal to allies, Oleksii Reznikov told the Guardian his soldiers were unearthing five mines for every square metre in places, laid by Russian troops to try to thwart Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

He said the vast minefields could be traversed, but that it was critically important that allies “expand and expedite” the training already being provided by some nations, including Britain.

The number of sappers in the Ukrainian armed forces was nowhere near enough to get through the complex Russian defences on the vast 600-mile (1,000km) front, with mine clearing units targeted with heavy fire.

Defence ministry officials in Kyiv suggested there was an opportunity for countries such as Japan that do not want to provide lethal aid to offer support in the form of mine clearing equipment and training.

Reznikov said: “Today, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. Hundreds of kilometres of minefields, millions of explosive devices, in some parts of the frontline up to five mines per square metre.

“Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable. We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometres in the east and south of Ukraine.”

Some of the mines littering the country have been laid by Ukrainian forces to protect their own defensive lines, but the vast majority are Russian.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has complained that having to wait for western delivery of arms and delay the start of this year’s counteroffensive allowed Russia to lay millions of mines ahead of their positions.

Ukraine has five engineering battalions, divided into 200 brigades, which as of May, before the start of this year’s counteroffensive, were each 30 strong.

According to testimony from the front, the numbers of active mine clearers is now significantly lower. The killing of sappers and officers is said to be the most highly prized by the Russian forces.

One brigade active around Staromaiorske, a recently liberated village in the Donetsk region, said it was 30-strong on paper but that it had 13 men in reality, of whom only five were active as a result of injury. Two members of the unit lost limbs in the last fortnight.

Serhiy Ryzhenko, the chief medical officer of the Mechnikov hospital in Dnipro, where many of the most seriously wounded are treated, said he was receiving between 50 and 100 soldiers a day, with mines being second to artillery as the cause of their injuries.

At a meeting in July in Ramstein in Germany of the alliance of 54 countries supporting Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark agreed train and equip Ukrainian mine clearing units. Other countries were invited to join.

Reznikov said the initiative had unlocked donations, but that more was desperately needed from a wider range of partners.

“At this stage of our de-occupation campaign we critically need more mine clearance equipment, from minesweeping trawls to Bangalore torpedoes,” he said.

Much more at the link!

That’s enough for tonight.

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Reader Interactions

30Comments

  2. 2.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Well, to go all Glenn Greenwald here, obviously what’s happening in Kherson is false-flag attacks by Poland or Lithuania to scare up sympathy for Ukraine.  Also, too, the Kerch Bridge attacks are terrorism because what did that bridge do to anyone?

  3. 3.

    Jay

    Def Mon
    @DefMon3
    3h
    Brothers morale low.
    Russian telegrams are not pleased with the interview of Major Tomov.
    t.me/Separ13_13/17616

    https://nitter.net/DefMon3/status/1690799334017650688#m

    NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦
    @NOELreports
    3h
    Interview/interrogation with Major Tomov, unit commander of the 1822 batallion who got captured in Kozachi Laheri. He talks about losses, about the state of his unit (extreme low morale and lots of defectors) and combat capabilities. He doesn’t blame himself for being captured.

    “There are lots of combat losses in our batallion, as of August 6 we approached 25%.”

    Major Tomov is reportedly very willing to share classified information.

    https://nitter.net/NOELreports/status/1690802897691295744#m

  5. 5.

    Ksmiami

    Where is Biden? He needs to be vocal about supporting Ukraine and taking the rhetoric to the Russians. Still think we might as well join the fight because Russia is actually at war with the west and is in process of destabilizing Africa. It’s reminiscent of WW1 which was a proxy fight over colonialism in Africa and beyond.

  7. 7.

    Nukular Biskits

    Given the obsession the supposedly “pro-life” political right here in the US has with human trafficking of children, you’d think they’d be more upset about what’s happening to Ukrainian children; i.e., killed or kidnapped.

    As a group, they’re strangely silent.

    In any case, thank you, Adam.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Nukular Biskits: Actually it is being worked into the publicity for that new Cavaziel movie. The person he played, Tim Ballard, is now going to find the missing Ukrainian children, who are actually being trafficked.

    At the start of the re-invasion a former WA state official got into trouble in Poland trying to steal Ukrainian children to bring back to the US to adopt them. So, as usual, every accusation is a confession. Here’s the details from the AP:

    SEATTLE (AP) — Former Washington state Rep. and far-right Republican Matt Shea, who was found by a House-commissioned investigation to have planned and participated in domestic terrorism, is in Poland with more than 60 Ukrainian children.

    Shea said he is trying to facilitate their adoption in America, but international agencies say, with the chaos and confusion of war, now is not an appropriate time for international adoptions from Ukraine, The Seattle Times reported.

    Shea has said his group helped rescue 62 children and two caregivers from an orphanage in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol, which is under heavy attack by Russian forces.

    Shea’s presence, and the lack of information surrounding the American group he’s with, has raised concerns among leaders of the Polish town Kazimierz Dolny.

    “I asked him (Shea) many times, ‘What are you going to do with these children?’ and he told me that it’s not my business,’” Weronika Ziarnicka, an aide to the town’s mayor, said.

    Shea did not respond to comment requests.

    Speaking on a Polish television show, Shea said he was working with Texas group Loving Families and Homes for Orphans.

    The group registered with the Texas secretary of state in 2018. No such group is registered as an adoption agency with the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and it’s not registered with the organization that oversees American agencies involved in international adoption.

    Kazimierz Dolny Mayor Artur Pomianowski said the case is being investigated.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    A mother and two children, including an infant, all murdered at the same time. Good God. And still there are people in this country acting like Ukraine is the aggressor and russia is simply using crayons to redraw a few borders.

    Can someone help me out with the language in Dmitri’s tweet, about the woman yelling at the Buryat men? So, these are occupiers, and he seems glad that she’s telling them off (“United like never before”), but then calls her a racist. Is this maybe a lost-in-translation thing? Because, like…racist is bad. I’m confused.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    The latest incident: Fabian Marta, one of many individuals who helped fund the movie after Disney passed on distribution, was charged on July 21 with child kidnapping, according to the Missouri Courts website.

    Shortly after its release, reports surfaced that Ballard had parted ways with the anti-trafficking group he founded, Operation Underground Railroad. The group has been the subject of critical reports by Vice News, which claims the group has a “long history of false claims.”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/08/07/sound-of-freedom-funder-charged-child-kidnapping-controversy-box-office/70542374007/

  11. 11.

    Sebastian

    Thank you for the yeoman’s work, Adam.

    The mine situation is beyond infuriating because it was completely avoidable.

    Instead of shipping Ukraine cluster ordnance when they asked for it, the West tied itself up in a moronic grandstanding about the ethics of cluster ammo (despite the Russians bombing away with cluster and incendiary every day), fake concern over unexploded bomblets, and then a infuriating back-and-forth over dud rates.

    In the meantime, the Russians laid MILLIONS of mines.

  12. 12.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thanks for reminding me about Matt Shea.  I had forgotten about that.  I wonder whatever came of those kids.

    As for “The Sound of Freedom”, everything I had read on it convinced me it was rightwing propaganda so I’ve had no interest in seeing it (particularly given the glowing reviews by the MAGAs I work with).  Interesting analysis by Jim Stewartson, which I suspect is spot-on.  Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

    v/r

  13. 13.

    Betty

    It never gets any easier to read these updates. The positive news of battlefield success is always offset by the tragic loss of life. Still the hard work of putting them together is much appreciated.

  14. 14.

    Jay

    @Alison Rose:

    So the Buryat men are Mongol ethnicity. “Volenteers” in the so called SMO. Z Troopers.

    The cafe owner is a Ruzzian vatnik.

    So apparently the Buryat men arn’t “Ruzzian enough”, for her establishment.

    The great Ruzzian Mir.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    This couldn’t have arrived at a worse time since Russians are increasingly having problems along the Dnipro river and while Russians are trying to take potato fields near Kupyansk in hope to lure Ukrainian troops away from the important frontlines.

    Gosh, it’s almost like someone planned it.

  16. 16.

    Jay

    @Nukular Biskits:

    All adoptions from Ukraine have been “paused” until the war is over. A couple of Ukrainian-Polish women who were involved with getting the children out of Mariupol, were appointed their guardians, and because of a bunch of issues, the children have been moved to some where in Europe, outside of Poland.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jay: @Alison Rose: Exactly what Jay said. Buryats, as I explained in the update, are ethnically Mongol, not Russian. Ethnic Russians are highly prejudiced towards them.

  21. 21.

    oldster

    From the lack of new photographic evidence, I conclude with some reluctance that the attacks on the Kerch Bridge yesterday did not result in visible damage to the bridge.

    That’s okay — there was some traffic  on the Ukraine Video Reddit suggesting that the targets were actually AA emplacements above the bridge. Perhaps those were damaged, which will make it easier for the next strikes to get through.

    And no matter what, seeing the bridge shrouded in smoke at several points has got to hurt the morale of the occupiers, whether they are in the military or on the beach having a holiday on someone else’s land.

    And, it’s also possible that evidence of damage will still emerge in the days ahead. Keep up the strikes, and eventually something will sever that rail link.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … KyivIndependent.com:

    InformNapalm, a Ukrainian open-source intelligence outfit, reported on Aug. 13 that the Russian authorities had lied about a Russian ship firing warning shots in the Black Sea earlier on the same day.

    The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Aug. 13 that Vasily Bykov, a Russian patrol boat, had fired warning shots after the captain of the Palau-flagged cargo ship Sukru Okan failed to respond to a request to inspect the vessel.

    According to InformNapalm, the ministry also lied about the successful inspection of the vessel.

    “Sukru Okan did not comply with the demand to stop, but temporarily changed its course in the direction of Turkish territorial waters,” the report reads. “There was no helicopter and no warning shots either. There were only threats from the Russians over the radio.”

    Natalia Humeniuk, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command, reported that the alleged inspection of the vessel cannot be confirmed.

    “This has not been confirmed by any other official sources. I think that we need to keep in mind the peculiarities of hybrid war,” Humeniuk said. “They are trying by all available means to show their dominance in the Black Sea.”

    […]

    russian’s lying about what’s going on in the area. Imagine that. //

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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