Today was another very long day, so I’m going to try to keep this brief.
Today is Ukrainian Independence Day.
Here is President Zelenskyi’s Ukrainian Independence Day. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Congratulations by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Independence Day of Ukraine
24 August 2023 – 09:01
The great people of the great Ukraine, celebrating today a great day – Independence Day! A holiday of free people. A holiday of strong people. A holiday of people with dignity. A holiday of equals. Ukrainian men and women. All of them. In our entire country.
Today we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of our independence – the independence of Ukraine. This is a value for each of us. And this is what we are fighting for. And everyone is important in this fight. Because this is a fight for something that is important to everyone. An independent Ukraine.
In a big war, there are no small deeds. No unnecessary ones. No unimportant ones. This is true of people, deeds, and words.
When we celebrate Ukraine’s independence, everyone can feel a part of it. Everyone can ask themselves: where are you in Ukrainian independence? What did you add to independence? And what did you do to help independence? And today I want to dedicate these congratulations to you. To you, who is giving Ukraine its independence.
To you, warrior! You stood up to defend Ukraine. I thank every soldier and sailor, every sergeant and petty officer, every officer, every general.
To you, the father of a Ukrainian warrior, and to you, the mother of a Ukrainian defender. To all Ukrainian families who have raised their children to love Ukraine and have the courage to defend it with all their might.
I am grateful to everyone who is waiting for their loved ones from the frontline, to everyone who prays for them every day, who calls or texts such an important “How are you?” to hear the much desired “Everything is fine!”. Such a precious “I love you”… “Our son took his first step yesterday”… “Daughter today said: “Dad”… Every word is important. And everyone who makes sure that this word can be said and heard is important. Who provides communication in the country. Connection between people. And this is more than just communication. It is a connection with life. Words of support. Words of gratitude. And, unfortunately, the words that are the most painful in war: “He is gone…”
Many Ukrainians lost loved ones because of the war. Heroes who prevented us from losing Ukraine. I thank and bow to each and every one of them.Last week I visited our combat brigades. Command posts, brigade positions. And there is something that unites them all.
One additional unique armor helps our warriors. The armor of humanity. The armor of sincerity. These are children’s drawings. You can see them in every brigade. On the walls, in the rooms. Drawings for a father or brother. Or for soldiers whom the children may not know, but whom they support. Because they are Ukrainian soldiers. And for them, this is the main goal of the offensive, where every step forward is so important, but every step back is so impossible. Because it is you, our children, who are behind them. Ukrainian children, exactly you, those who are creating these drawings. And I want to say to you – to every boy and girl: you have no idea how important it is when you support our warriors. I thank you!
I am grateful to every Ukrainian mother for whom our country is and will remain home. Despite the fact that they had to leave because of the war. And when a mother in any country gives her child a book in Ukrainian so that the child does not lose himself or herself, when a mother teaches Ukrainian, when she worries about Ukraine and waits for news from Ukraine, waits to be able to return, this is the most important thing. Because you are important. All Ukrainians! No matter where you happen to be now.
I want to thank all Ukrainian teachers who are working, who managed to work even online. Who are building an educated future even where the enemy has destroyed schools. And everyone who performs miracles in real life. Thousands of Ukrainian medics who save thousands of lives. Ukrainian doctors. Nurses. Combat medics. Those who do not let go of life 24/7 and fight for it. Regardless of whether there is an air raid alert. Regardless of whether there is a “hit”. Regardless of whether you are at the front or in civilian life… Thank you!
Dear Ukrainian people!
Last winter, we experienced massive missile attacks and the threat of blackout. There were different moments. When cities remained in darkness. When it was cold. There was also indomitability. And when our people worked and turned the power back on, there were loud “Glory to Ukraine!”, “Glory to Ukrainian electricians!”, and glasses were raised to air defense and our power engineers. And this is absolutely true. Our power engineers worked around the clock. During air raids. Sometimes under fire. Always in danger. Always knowing how much people are waiting for electricity in hospitals and defense enterprises. And how much every family is waiting for light and warmth.
But, unfortunately, there are families who have lost their father, son, brother… An ordinary electrician, repairman, rescuer, police officer, firefighter… All those who died in the line of duty. Those who helped to do the most important thing – to prevent the Russian darkness from breaking us, our state, our freedom, our independence.
In light and in darkness, our news was with us. Our Ukrainian journalists. The truth was with us. And the world heard Ukraine. I thank everyone who spreads the truth about Ukraine and this war in different languages. But today I want to speak separately about those who cannot yet be mentioned in the news, whose names are known to few, but whose work is visible to all. Our missiles. Ukrainian munitions. Our artillery. Ukrainian drones: Leleka, Fury. Naval drones, Neptune, Corsar, Stugna. We produce all of this. Ukrainians produce all of this. And when we are proud to have sunk the flagship of the enemy fleet, Moskva cruiser, when we rejoice at hitting the Kerch Bridge, we also thank those who cannot be mentioned now, whose names cannot be told, but about whom books will be written and movies will definitely be made in the future. Those whom I award with classified decrees and who carry out the most difficult operations. Thank you! You are all important!
So is everyone who has no right to make a mistake. Who demines our territories – our cities and villages, our fields. Who sows fields despite the shelling. Who harvests the crops despite the shelling. Who delivers it across the country so that we have bread. Who, despite the danger, transports Ukrainian grain by rail, road, and sea to many other countries so that there is no hunger in the world.
Everyone who works and employs others is important. Everyone who pays taxes, which provide for the army, defense, advancement and future victory. Everyone who organizes fundraising campaigns and keeps the fire of volunteering, this sincere Ukrainian unity alive. Everyone who finds and brings everything that is needed in the trenches. Everyone who trains our warriors. Who glorifies Ukraine with sporting victories. Who opened the doors of their homes and sheltered those who lost their homes. Thank you!
Those who give birth to motivating lyrics for Ukrainians, arrange them to beautiful music, and perform these songs for the warriors at the front, for the wounded in hospitals, and at charity concerts around the world. In the world that is fighting side by side with us. With Ukraine.
Everyone who survived the occupation is important. Who was holding the Ukrainian flag in the squares. Those who are still under occupation, but keep our flag so that the occupier cannot find it. Those who have waited and will witness the return of Ukraine. Who was wounded, who lost limbs, but did not lose themselves. And most importantly, we all did not lose you. Those who survived captivity. Those who were deprived of their freedom, but not their will. Who did not lose Ukraine in themselves. Those who came back and continue to fight. And those who will return. They will.
All those who have proved that everyone is needed, everyone is important – people, deeds, and words. Because we all made it so that when one person says: “Glory to Ukraine!”, the whole world responds: “Glory to the Heroes!”
Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!
Glory to Ukraine!
Quick question for our Ukrainian speakers: given that the standard transliteration should be Zelenskyi with an i at the end, do any of you have any idea why the English language version of the President of Ukraine’s website transliterates it with two ys at the end? Also, which way should I be transliterating it. Thanks!
Today, Ukraine is celebrating Independence Day, the most important day of the year for all Ukrainians. Now more than ever we recognize that Ukraine's independence is the inevitable outcome of the struggle of many generations who fought for our freedom. And in our time, the duty… pic.twitter.com/d5oxWEPvJP
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) August 24, 2023
Today, Ukraine is celebrating Independence Day, the most important day of the year for all Ukrainians. Now more than ever we recognize that Ukraine’s independence is the inevitable outcome of the struggle of many generations who fought for our freedom. And in our time, the duty has fallen on us to protect that freedom. However difficult our struggle may be, we are unequivocal in our conviction that our freedom can never be taken from us, for it is deeply rooted in our history, tradition, and in the sacrifices of those who came before us.
Today, the whole civilized world is helping to safeguard our independence. Let us proclaim together –
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the Heroes!
The Ukrainian MOD has posted a thank you video on its Twitter feed for each country that has provided it support in its defense against Russia’s genocidal re-invasion. There are over 20 of them and I’m not going to pick and chose favorites to post as they’re all great. Click across and scroll down to see them all.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 23, 2023
"Happy Ukrainian Independence Day!"
Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk. pic.twitter.com/CCUmClvJsy— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) August 24, 2023
Країна нескорених, непохитних, незламних!
Країна гордих, героїчних та хоробрих.
Де свобода і гідність завжди були ключовими цінностями.
Вільна країна.
Це факти, об які розіб'ються ворожі задуми.
З Днем Незалежності, Україно!🇺🇦Головнокомандувач ЗС України / @CinC_AFU pic.twitter.com/0XdNBJTsS9
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) August 24, 2023
Here is the machine translation of General Zaluzhnyi’s tweet:
The country of the unconquered, adamant, indomitable!
The country of the proud, heroic and brave.
Where freedom and dignity have always been key values.
A free country.
These are the facts about which the enemy’s ideas will be shattered.
Happy Independence Day, Ukraine! 🇺🇦Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine /@CinC_AFU
Well, people… HAPPY UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
The second great day for freedom they said would never happen… yet, here we are, a nation as strong and united as never before, mourning our dead, being proud of our victories, and full of hope.
We carry on.
P.S. Putin is… pic.twitter.com/ex6NSdLmD3— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) August 24, 2023
Well, people… HAPPY UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
The second great day for freedom they said would never happen… yet, here we are, a nation as strong and united as never before, mourning our dead, being proud of our victories, and full of hope.
We carry on.
P.S. Putin is a dickhead.
Today is Ukraine's Independence Day, a freedom affirmed through sacrifice and hardship. I appreciate everyone's support for Ukraine.
I'd also like to thank those who donate for imagery. Your assistance enables forthcoming analysis of another vehicle storage facility in russia. pic.twitter.com/yUExb659py
— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) August 24, 2023
The Tarkhankut Peninsula of the Crimean coast:
Ukrainian GUR says it carried out a special operation – an amphibious landing, in the Tarkhankut peninsula of Crimea, where it destroyed several occupiers, as well as the S-400 air defence system. Russian officials tried to say the boats were destroyed, but independent sources… pic.twitter.com/YzuD1iiSE1
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 24, 2023
Ukrainian GUR says it carried out a special operation – an amphibious landing, in the Tarkhankut peninsula of Crimea, where it destroyed several occupiers, as well as the S-400 air defence system. Russian officials tried to say the boats were destroyed, but independent sources are saying they all managed to get away.
Military intel confirms successful mission in Crimea: special units landed near Olenivka and Mayak without casualties. Enemy suffered losses in manpower and military vehicles. pic.twitter.com/AmZS3dXv9M
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) August 24, 2023
Ukrainian special operations forces just near the Crimean coastline.
Russian defenses in the occupied peninsula are as weak as never before. pic.twitter.com/IYgHF4xzwc— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) August 24, 2023
Dnipro:
The russian ministry of defense has reported another successful missile strike on the Ukrainian "decision-making point."
If the russian ministry of defense truly believes that strategic decisions in Ukraine are made at the cash registers of the city of Dnipro's bus station or… pic.twitter.com/wtNSEBymzE
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 24, 2023
The russian ministry of defense has reported another successful missile strike on the Ukrainian “decision-making point.”
If the russian ministry of defense truly believes that strategic decisions in Ukraine are made at the cash registers of the city of Dnipro’s bus station or while waiting in line at local fast-food restaurants, it is quite understandable why the “special military operation” has not concluded in either 3 days or one and a half years.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron:
Happy Independence Day in Ukraine🇺🇦❤️
Thank you for the gifts, our foreign partners 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/IQqge9neUS— Patron (@PatronDsns) August 24, 2023
And a new video for Ukrainian Independence Day from Patron’s official TikTok:
@patron__dsns З Днем Незалежності, рідна❤️
The machine translation of the caption is:
Happy Independence Day, my dear ❤️
Open thread!
Steeplejack
Transliteration: I think we hashed this out way back when. I can’t Google now, but one of the big factors was that “Zelenskyy” is the way he himself and his government transcribe/translate it. And that was generally accepted here, with the exception of a Ukrainian speaker who had “special reasons.”
Alison Rose
This really hits hard, especially with the clip of the soldier. An incredibly poignant moment.
Україна переможе 🇺🇦 ✊ З Днем Незалежності, Україно!
Thank you as always, Adam.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack: Are you a Ukrainian speaker?
lee
I was wondering if they were going to start amphibious strikes in Crimea. There is a lot of coast line to guard and it seems that Russians are still using it as a tourist destination.
Bill Arnold
Not sure I’ve ever complimented you on these War for Ukraine posts. They show a high level of discipline (have you missed even a day?), and also provide us with high levels of insight and details.
Thank you.
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
Nope.
Bill Arnold
Does anyone know how many S400 sites are currently protecting Russians in Crimea?
I.e. is there a window of opportunity?
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: The only days missed where when the site was being held hostage and they were working on the backup site we used until we could get it back. I did do a newsletter type update or two that Cole emailed to those who signed up for them. Since then, I have not missed a day.
Thanks for the kind words and you are most welcome.
Anonymous At Work
Adam,
How much is Crimea being turned into a White Elephant?
Being able to raid defensive/early warning targets via boat is powerful but UA’s best success was trapping troops north of Kherson and introducing them to HIMARS every chance possible. Given how much Putin has invested in the idea of Crimea as a Russian territory, isn’t there that same risk to orcs now?
Adam L Silverman
@Anonymous At Work: I don’t know. The Ukrainians are playing things pretty close to the vest. So it is hard to tell what is a feint or a diversion versus a real push forward.
Gin & Tonic
I will tackle the transliteration issue later tonight.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: No rush and no worries.
ronno2018
I really appreciate these updates! Thank you for doing them!
Redshift
@Alison Rose: I’m wearing my NAFO “Slava Ukraini!/Heróyam Sláva!” shirt for the occasion!
YY_Sima Qian
Here is a situation where some advanced F-16 models in Ukrainian hands would have been helpful: the SpOps raid into Crimea that destroyed the S-400 battery should have opened a major gap in Russia’s IADS in the areas, at least in long range surveillance & air defense, the Ukrainian Air Force could have then sent a couple of flights of F-16s through the gap to strike at even more valuable targets on Crimea.
As it is, the raid is a significant achievement, surely completely unexpected by the Russians (on top of all the many ways they have been surprised so far) will force them to shift more resources to coastal defense on Crimea, & S-400 batteries are more expensive & less readily available than S-300 variants. If Ukraine has a stronger air force, it could have exploited the success & built upon it immediately.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Me neither. (I couldn’t quickly find that earlier discussion either.)
But maybe this will be helpful:
IIRC, Володимир Олександрович Зеленський said on his official Twitter page that it should be spelled with “yy” in English. I try to spell it that way.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@ronno2018: Thank you for the kind words. You are more than welcome.
wjca
A raid like that, in addition to the actual damage, forces the Russians to think about rushing some of their troops away from the front line to defend the Crimean beaches. (Probably a plum assignment, considering the alternatives.)
oldster
It has been a good couple of days for Ukraine.
The dissolution of the Wagner organization is a huge blow to the ruzzian military machine. The assassination of Prigozhin shows the world — again — that no one can trust Putin, no one can hope to work with him without being attacked in the long run. China will not forget this.
How the NYT can write a story claiming that this episode * strengthens * Putin is beyond my comprehension. The last four months have shown the world how weak his position really is — first his subordinate launched a mutiny, then Putin made concessions to him, then he murdered him in the most cowardly way. Does it strengthen Putin to lose the Wagner organization, and earn the hatred of thousands of experienced troops? His criminal empire is dissolving under him. He is strengthened by now having undisputed control of a sinking ship.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have the initiative across the entire front. They take back their land every day. They destroy ruzzian materiel every day. And they acquire more NATO-style arms and training every day.
I see no stalemate. I see steady progress towards victory.
Anonymous At Work
@wjca: You are correct about it pulling troops from other places, plus it pulls troops from other places and posts them in similar spots that weren’t attacked [yet][but could be].
However, I think any assignment west of Rostov-on-Don is not a plum assignment since Kerch Bridge and the port near Krasnodar have both been attacked. Anything on Crimea is in range of multiple weapon systems now, even if some spots are outside HIMARS range.
wjca
@Anonymous At Work:
No real argument. Although at least they get some beach time, and only the occasional attack. Beats crouching in a trench under fire all the time..
Roger Moore
@wjca:
I wonder how much away from the front postings like guarding beaches in Crimea are given to mobiks and similar lower quality troops. One of the reasons the Allies had a relatively easy time on the beaches in Normandy was they were guarded by less capable units. There were some upper echelon troops in Normandy, but they were located back from the beaches to serve as a reaction force. By the time they responded, the allies had firm control of their beachheads and couldn’t be easily knocked back into the ocean as Rommel had intended. I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar were happening in Ukraine. It would give the newly mobilized troops a little bit of extra training time before they’re thrown into the wood chipper.
Another Scott
Also today – RFERL.org:
(Emphasis added.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
Transliteration/Romanization – once more unto the breach. Note that I am not a linguist, language teacher, anything of the sort.
The surname ending of consonant followed by the phoneme variously represented by “yy” or “yj” or “yi” is very common in Ukrainian. The two letter phoneme, in Ukrainian, is ий. The letter и is a vowel, the letter й is a semi-vowel like the English “y.” Now one problem is that there are two Cyrillic vowels which derive from the Greek eta – и and і, and their existence and pronunciation varies by language. The letter и in russian is pronounced like the i in “machine,” while in Ukrainian it is pronounced like the i in “bin.” Ukrainian has both и and і, russian has only и and Belarusian has only і. Some of the variations in transliteration have historically been political. With Ukrainian independence, the preferred transliteration has changed to eliminate russian influences.
All that said, what about pronunciation? The Ukrainian -кий or -ний ending most closely resembles, to this ear, what I’d call, in English, a “long y,” as in the ending of “factory” where the transition from r to y is kind of drawn out, as if there were a phantom vowel there. In russian, -кий would be more like “key” – while in Ukrainian that is “-кій.” How to represent this best? In post WWII Soviet times (z_g can correct me) one generally-accepted rendition was “kyj” using a Polish sort of interpretation of the “j.” Since most of the Ukrainians in Western academia during that period came from Western Ukraine (i.e. Polish-influenced,) I think it may have become an ATSEEL standard(?) If you really want to delve into the history of the various “standards” feel free to read this Wikipedia article.
Post-independence, Ukraine took control of its language and of its romanization, effectively ignoring what had become accepted in the West, and settled on the “yy” representation of “ий.” This is how the President spells his surname. However, (and I guess this is what Steeplejack derisively refers to as “special reasons”) it looks odd to someone who spent decades accustomed to a different romanization. I believe the single-y ending of Zelensky adequately conveys the pronunciation to most native English-speakers who have never encountered “yy” in their written language. And when I see “yi” I just think “that’s wrong” – it doesn’t make phonemic sense.
But all transliteration is, by definition, inexact. The Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters, American English has 26; compromises will have to be made. In this, I will tend to let inexactness by non-native speakers slide, if I think they’re trying to do the right thing. I will correct russified Ukrainian place names, though, like “Kiev” or “Dniepr” or “Kharkov.”
Torrey
@Another Scott: Thank you for posting this. About damn time we stepped up!
And coming in late, but Happy Independence Day!
Carlo Graziani
Ponomarenko’s “Putin is a dickhead” sounds to me as if in the original it would have been followed up with “…Na-na-na-na-na-na-na…”
Gin & Tonic
@Carlo Graziani: Actually la-la-la-la-la. Watch the first video in that link you posted.
Redshift
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for reiterating; I must have missed your earlier versions of this. Very interesting overall.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you so much, G&T. This sort of thing is fascinating to me — I love seeing how languages and spellings and such develop and morph over time, especially when impacted by geopolitical reasons or other. Since it’s the one he uses often and since I like the way it looks best, Zelenskyy is what I always use. I think to my eyes, the one-y ending looks like it has been sort of “Westernized” since we don’t have a double-y usage in English. And the yi ending just confuses my brain. I almost want to pronounce is as an extra syllable, Ze-len-ski-yee.
Carlo Graziani
@Another Scott: “English-language training…in San Antonio, Texas”?
I hope SNL picks up on this. The comedy skits just write themselves.
Carlo Graziani
@Gin & Tonic: Senior moment, you are, of course, correct.
Redshift
@Carlo Graziani: Roll of TP I picked up in Kyiv back in 2017. Feel free to share. (I may have shared it here a long while back.)
Alison Rose
@Redshift: Hmm…Google translate isn’t helping, and one of the characters doesn’t seem to exist. Do you know what it says? I mean, I assume something cheeky and crass.
Redshift
@Alison Rose: It’s “Putin is a dickhead,” but in a way that’s much ruder than the English version. The link Carlo posted above explains it in detail (including the history), and is well worth reading. There are some letters dropped to make it fit, but in a way that makes sense to Ukrainians, from what I understand. (I had similar trouble trying to translate or google it when we originally brought it home.)
Gin & Tonic
@Redshift: The shortened version: ПТН ХЛО, has visual symmetry, fits nicely on a t-shirt, and is universally understood.
Torrey
The link to the set of videos from the MOD addressed to each country just lands me in the general X-formerly-known-as-Twitter feed of the MOD. I assume because I do not have an account, I am unable to see the messages in order, and all the ones I can see are from 2022, unrelated to what Adam described. Has anyone else managed to figure out how to access those videos? The Ukrainian MOD does such excellent work with their videos, I’d really like to see their handiwork.
Geminid
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to Kiev tomorrow apparantly is still on. Fidan just finished 3 days of discussions in Baghdad.
But Putin’s projected August visit to Turkiye has now turned into a projected September visit to Russia by President Erdogan. No date has been set.
Alison Rose
@Redshift:
@Gin & Tonic:
Ahhh I got it. Nice.
Alison Rose
@Geminid: Come on, dude. Kyiv.
Another Scott
@Torrey: Replace “twitter.com” with “nitter.net” in the URL and you’ll be able to see all of them (scroll down).
https://nitter.net/DefenceU
HTH!
Slava Ukraini!!
Cheers,
Scott.
way2blue
@Gin & Tonic:
I visited the (nominally Finnish) island of Åland in June, and while there, a Swedish friend explained that the å is not like, say, an é in French—indicating how to pronounce the ‘e’—rather a completely separate letter that appears at the end of their alphabet.
English seems to have stripped all such hints about pronunciation from the language.
Lyrebird
@Another Scott:
Thanks for the nitter fix! Those are amazing!
I do not know who the German “Super Guy” in the video is, but it’s fun. I hope that the defense employees making these find it helps them get through the bad moments.
Geminid
@Geminid: Two corrections: FM Fidan was in Baghdad Tuesday and Wednesday, but he spent today conferring with Kurdish Regional Government officials in Erbil.
And Fidan will visit Kyiv, not Kiev tomorrow.
Geminid
@Alison Rose: I’ve spelled it Kyiv the last twenty times I’ve written it here. Gimme a brake.
Torrey
@Another Scott:
Thank you!
I also found a workaround via Google’s search engine, but that’s cumbersome.
These folks are amazingly talented, and they know their foreign cultural touchstones. I laughed out loud at the ending of the video for the U.S.
Hangö Kex
@way2blue: Yeah, the Å/å are more like O/o, rather than a refinement on a A/a. Same with the umlaut versions of A/O (Ä/ä Ö/ö), really. Also, as to Åland being nominally Finnish, it is kind of a historical accident that it ended up with Finland (as a special demilitarized area) rather than Sweden despite being Swedish-speaking.
Alison Rose
@Geminid: Just through me for a loop, is all :P
Steeplejack
@Gin & Tonic:
Sorry if I sounded “derisive,” but what you described, then and now, is precisely a special reason: “It looks odd to me.” After noting that:
The same could be said by the people who still want to use “Kiev,” “Odessa,” etc. “I spent decades accustomed to that spelling.” All of the reasons why they should use “Kyiv” and “Odesa” instead boil down to the same thing: that’s what the Ukrainians want. So it is with “Zelenskyy.”
I don’t recall seeing anyone criticize you for using “Zelensky.” I presume Adam was asking because he wanted to confirm the best or “standard” transliteration. What I pointed out was simply that we had a lengthy discussion on the subject back in ’22—one that included at least a handful of Ukrainian speakers—and the consensus was “Zelenskyy.”