Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

T R E 4 5 O N

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

We’re not going back!

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Nothing worth doing is easy.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

This really is a full service blog.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 597: President Zelenskyy Takes Dutch PM Rutke To Visit Odesa

War for Ukraine Day 597: President Zelenskyy Takes Dutch PM Rutke To Visit Odesa

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Art by NEIVANMADE of a Ukrainian painted black and outlined in blood red kneeling in grief with hands covering the face surrounded by the bodies of Ukrainians killed by Russians on a grey background. "Russia Is Committing Genocide Right Now" is across the top center of the image.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

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

To endure the winter and deliver a powerful rebuff to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities is the focus of all efforts now – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address

13 October 2023 – 19:30

I wish you good health, dear Ukrainians!

Today is a working day in our city, Odesa.

The visit of Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and his team. Our negotiations. There is a decision regarding missiles for the ‘Patriots’ – the Netherlands is providing additional missiles. Today, we also discussed with Mark other joint steps for Ukraine’s defense.

Particular attention to the defense of Odesa, our entire South – from the Danube ports to the ports of Greater Odesa. We discussed the protection of our export corridors in the Black Sea. The world recognizes Ukraine’s global role as a guarantor of food security. It firmly supports the need to preserve and enhance our significance in this issue.

The social stability of many countries directly depends on Ukraine’s strength.

Today, we were in the port of Odesa. We received briefings from military and government officials about our unity with the world market and the protection of the Ukrainian Black Sea waters. I held a meeting regarding the situation in Odesa region with law enforcement leaders, regional authorities, and military leadership. The key focus is, of course, preparation for winter, safeguarding the energy sector, and rebuilding what was destroyed by Russian attacks. I am grateful to everyone who is working to ensure the safety of our people. The work of everyone in the government system and our diplomats is currently aimed at enduring the winter and delivering a powerful rebuff to Russian attacks on the city of Odesa, Odesa region, the cities of the region, and the entire Ukraine. More protection will be provided to our state.

Today, I had the honor of visiting our warriors who are recovering from injuries. Together with Mark, we spent time with them and talked to them. I presented state awards to the military and the doctors who are helping them.

I met with the cadets of the Military Academy in Odesa. A great conversation. Thank you, guys, for your attention and your questions. Boys and girls – you’re doing great.

Today, in Odesa, I addressed the participants of the meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force – a format of regional cooperation in northern Europe. The United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Norway. The meeting took place on the Swedish island of Gotland, which is a significant signal, a very symbolic place for leaders to discuss the security of Europe and the long-term reliable defense of our countries and people. Looking at the map, one can immediately understand why Russian state propagandists called for the capture of this island. Gotland is control over the entire region, and Russia is also trying to destabilize this region. When I addressed the Swedish Parliament in 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale war, I spoke precisely about how important it is to be strong for everyone in Europe, in all parts of the continent, in every such strategic point like Gotland, which determines common security. By the way, I’m grateful for the joint statement of the leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force today. It’s a strong statement. Support of Ukraine, especially in our path to NATO and clear condemnation of Russian aggression. And the readiness to assist us as needed to win the war.

Thank you!

And a few more things.

Today, we signed a Protocol with Moldova regarding joint border control at the Kuchurhan – Novosavitskaya railway crossing point. This is another route for our exports, an additional transport corridor that will undoubtedly strengthen our entire region. Thank you, Moldova!

I also want to thank our warriors today – those who defend our skies. Especially in the southern part of the country. Our firing groups. The 13th Separate Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun Battalion, the 5th National Guard Brigade, and the 14th Radio Technical Brigade. Thank you, warriors!

Glory to all who is fighting for Ukraine! Thank you to everyone who is helping us! Thank you, Mark, for your visit and today’s negotiations, for all your support!

And thank you, Odesa! We will definitely rebuild everything that Russia has destroyed.

Glory to Ukraine!

President Zelenskyy also addressed the Joint Expeditionary Force Conference. Video below followed by the English transcript.

We need reliable geopolitical stability in Europe and in the whole Euro-Atlantic space – address of the President of Ukraine to the leaders of the countries of the Joint Expeditionary Force

13 October 2023 – 13:50

Dear Ulf, Mr. Prime Minister,

I can see Rishi, I see Mette, I’m sorry I can’t see everybody but I’m happy and I know that all of you and your nations with us. Thank you so much for all this time that you supported and support us.

Dear colleagues! I am glad to greet all of you! And I am glad that this format of cooperation – Joint Expeditionary Force – is effective and becoming stronger.

Now is the time for collective efforts.

It does not mean that capabilities of one nation are too weak. It means that the task we face is too big. We need reliable geopolitical stability in Europe and, more broadly, in the whole Euro-Atlantic space.

So, we need new collective forms of cooperation and strengthening of existing ones.

Because we see what modern aggressions and terrorist attacks are. If an enemy of freedom has significant resources and boundless cynicism – like Russia, like Hamas, like other terrorists – then free nations need a really full-scale defense… Fast, as flexible as possible, not limited by outdated procedures and one that can be maintained – as long as is needed.

In our Euro-Atlantic space we have NATO. Mainly. But not all democratic nations are engaged into this form of defense.

That is why Ukraine, being on the road to NATO, is developing a system of security guarantees. And I thank those of you who joined us in this process. Geopolitical stability is the basic element for all other forms of stability. Can a nation alone guarantee geopolitical stability for itself? Definitely not. Can the main Alliance existing on our continent, NATO, do this? Yes, but only if its members know how to be allies.

Regional formats of cooperation give this very practice – knowledge of being allies. In one or another area. At one or another historical distance.

Knowledge of being allies is not gained easily. It does not come automatically.

It is not a consequence of a formal decision to join the Alliance. It is day-to-day cooperation.

These are also our coalitions – defense coalitions that help us to stand against Russia.

The capabilities of large alliances grow on the basis of meaningful local cooperation.

Currently we are working on creating new formats of cooperation and strengthening the existing ones in our region – the Black Sea region.

I visited Bucharest, and at the meeting with President Iohannis we agreed that the relations between our states, Ukraine and Romania, deserve the level of strategic partnership.

We are also working effectively in the Ukraine-Moldova-Romania triangle.

In particular, in logistical cooperation – for the export of food produced in Ukraine, which is critically important for the food security of the world. This also has potential for the energy industry of our countries – for energy independence from Russia. We have a common understanding of security challenges as well.

Ukraine has extremely important cooperation with Bulgaria and Türkiye.

We all have to remember that joint security and development of the economy, infrastructure in the Black Sea region are some of the keys to the geopolitical stability of entire Europe.

New security perspectives will also emerge due to changes in the South Caucasus region neighbouring the Black Sea. This will add potential to our joint security here, in our part of Europe. Especially when thanks to our defense from Russian aggression, new prospects will open for Georgia – to restore its territorial integrity.

All of us are now at a historical turning point. We have only two options.

Either terrorist Russia will succeed in breaking freedom. And then the zone of geopolitical instability, which exists in the east of Europe, will spread throughout the continent. Or thanks to many levels and formats of cooperation, in particular regional ones, thanks to our common protection of freedom – Russia will lose in this confrontation. After it has lost, and as a result, a historic chance for geopolitical stability along the entire line from Scandinavia through Minsk and Kyiv to the South Caucasus will be realized.

Did previous generations have such a chance? Honestly, they didn’t have. Because Russia has always kept the potential for destabilization. But now – we have it. And we have to use it. I am sure we will.

Dear leaders!

Now, before winter comes, we should all focus firstly on hybrid terrorist threats from Russia. We saw last year what the Kremlin was betting on, namely strikes on the energy infrastructure to destroy the basis of modern life. We predict that this winter Russia will try to repeat its terror tactics, only on a larger scale.

It is important now to be ready for any terrorist attacks, for any Russian actions. We must stand this battle. Air defense, namely the defence of our cities, our energy infrastructure and export corridors in the Black Sea, is the key to winning the winter battle for Ukraine. And I thank those of you who have helped all of us to protect our skies against Russian missiles, drones and against Russian jets. The Kremlin must begin to get used to its losses, and the loss of the second winter, the loss of its energy terror will definitely give strength to all of us – it will be easier to lead Russia with losses in the future.

But for this we still need to work together – much more! – at the global level, at the regional levels, and in bilateral, of course, format. So that after this winter, we will be able to record – on the basis of our cooperation, of our common efforts, our joint victory is gradually growing and, thanks to it, the establishment of geopolitical stability in the entire Great East of Europe is approaching – real, reliable one.

And it will be so.

Thank you for your support, invitation, thanks for everything!

Слава Україні!

Dutch PM Rutke visited Ukraine today and President Zelenskyy took him to visit Odesa:

The Netherlands is also sending more Patriot batteries:

As I noted yesterday, Avdiivka appears to be where the Russians have decided to throw a lot of resources at the Ukrainians. And by resources I mean a lot of bodies that are getting ground up.

Here’s the rest of the thread Rob Lee is quote tweeting:

From Kyiv in 3 days to a “deficit in body bags in Donetsk”: Russian volunteer urgently needs help with purchasing corpse bags for soldiers currently assaulting in Avdiivka. They also need food, but this must only come in closed packages, because “you don’t know if someone’s going to add something to it”.

What appears to be a fairly reasonable explanation of the Avdiivka situation from the Russian source. Essentially, the northern wing of the encirclement achieved some goals quickly, but in the south, they bogged down, and Ukrainians reacted accordingly. The quick attempt to encircle Avdiivka failed and sides switched to the more familiar “battles for forester’s huts”.

https://t.me/ramzayiegokomanda/5158

Just north of Avdiivka:

Between Horlivka & Yasynuvata:

Here’s the full text of the first tweet in the thread:

New details about the strike on bridge between Horlivka and Yasynuvata. The new video shows destroyed Russian T-80 and 2A65 “Msta-B” 152.4mm howitzer, in Addition to the previously known 3-STS Akhmat. So the strike was made when a Russian military column moved through this area.
https://t.me/russianocontext/866

Kopani, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

Russian occupied Sevastapol, Crimea:

For you drone enthusiasts:

We have an F-16 update!

From Politico:

Ukrainian pilots are expected to begin training to fly the F-16 fighter jet at an Air National Guard base in Tuscon, Ariz., next week, according to four U.S. officials.

A small number of pilots, who arrived in the United States last month to participate in an English language course at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, have passed their first test for English proficiency and are headed to Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona, according to one of the officials, who like the others were granted anonymity to speak ahead of an announcement. There, they will train with the 162nd Wing, the main F-16 training hub for the Air Force, two of the officials said.

The pilots will first learn the basics of operating the F-16 in the classroom and in simulators before moving on to flying the actual jets, as is typical for any Air Force pilot training program. However, the course may be accelerated due to the urgent need to get them back to the battlefield, the first official said.

The group of Ukrainian pilots has been participating in an English language program at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center at Lackland, said Air Force spokesperson Rose Riley.

“Testing will determine their next courses and when the pilots would be able to commence F-16 training. Training location options are still being considered at this time,” Riley said.

The news comes as the U.S. announced on Wednesday that it will head up a coalition of countries training Ukrainian pilots and crew to operate and maintain the F-16s, alongside the Netherlands and Denmark. So far, 11 countries have signed up to help with the training, while the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium will donate aircraft.

During a press conference in Brussels earlier this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the F-16s would arrive on the battlefield next spring at the earliest.

More at the link!

That’s enough for today.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

Сюрприз для тих, хто досі хайпує на темі мого життя🙃 А усім іншим сонечкам – цьом і лизь!🫶🏻

♬ оригінальний звук – Patron_official

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

A surprise for those who are still hype about my life 🙃 And for all the other sunshine, lick it! 🫶🏻

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  2. 2.

    Mathguy

    Day 597. Almost 20 months of Putin savagery. What an evil shit.

    Thanks for the yeoman’s work you do on this, Adam.

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    They also need food, but this must only come in closed packages, because “you don’t know if someone’s going to add something to it”.

    I can certainly think of a few things I’d like to add to their food.

    The pilots came last month to take an English language course, and have already passed a proficiency test — that’s amazing. Or is it that they might have already had some English knowledge and the course was more about the specific English they would need to know to operate and fly the planes and read the controls and such?

    Question for Ukrainian speakers: On one of Zelenskyy’s FB posts yesterday, FB auto-translated “Avdiivka” to “car shop”. Is there…is there any explanation for that or is their translating bot drunk?

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  4. 4.

    Jay

    Slava sent me a text yesterday. The insulation is in. They started out wearing fleece, as they worked up, they had to open the windows, by the time they were on the 2nd floor, they had stripped down to their underwear.

    Slava had asked me about good, affordable LED lighting, and I told him about the LED Program that Ukraine has. His local City Rep stopped by to deliver the lights and fixtures. That’s next. Slava’s leave ends on Sunday.

    Thank you again, Adam.

  5. 5.

    NobodySpecial

    Whenever I see an announcement involving stuff like Ukranians getting authorized to train on the F-16, I just presume that’s already been ongoing for weeks. Is that an incorrect idea?

    Thank you for the updates, Adam.

  6. 6.

    Carlo Graziani

    The precision artillery strikes on Russian armor around Adviivka are a very sharp contrast to the huge amount of wasted rounds fired by the Russians at mobile armored targets south of Orkhiv, as illustrated by the video posted in Adam’s update several days ago documenting a Ukrainian joint armor-infantry assault on a Russian position in Zaporizhzhia oblast.

    The Russians appear to need to fire 10-20 rounds to hit any target, whereas the Ukrainians appear not to be wasting a shot. Under the circumstances it appears to be the case that the artillery shell supply difference actually favors Ukraine, since most Russian shells do no more than move some dirt.

  9. 9.

    piratedan

    If I see these UKR pilots around town, I’ll try and get you guys some pics… (if allowed)

  10. 10.

    Jay

    Dmitri
    @wartranslated
    12h
    Interestingly, Butusov talks in the latest review of a captured T-90M how the AC is an innovation that allows better conditions for the crew but is also crucial for keeping the temperature of devices and sensors low. No previous Russian tanks had AC. So if that’s gone in the latest batch, Russians are trying to deliver as many tanks as possible in the shortest amount of time, disregarding some essential equipment.

    https://nitter.net/wartranslated/status/1712786812597350601#m

  11. 11.

    ColoradoGuy

    Modern electronics are pretty intolerant of high heat … practically anything above shirtsleeve environments demands fan cooling, and if the fans quit, so do the electronics, often permanently.

    There are electronics that tolerate both high heat and radiation … that’s space-rated, and what goes into satellites and space probes. And it is 1000x the price of consumer and commercial grade electronics. Avionics is somewhere in between commercial quality (broadcast quality) and aerospace grade.

    The rule of thumb is, if it’s too hot for people, the electronics are rapidly heading towards failure … and heat-failed electronics are notoriously hard to troubleshoot. Generally you just throw it all away, rather than try to figure out which capacitor out of scores on the circuit board is out-of-spec and not to be trusted.

    So (lack of) climate control is no longer an option with modern complex systems. This isn’t the vacuum tube era any more.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @Jay:

    This sounds like something I heard about the T-34 during WWII.  In theory, the T-34 looked like a great tank, but many of them were produced in such a rush that they left out important features.  The result was tanks that were much less effective than they could have been.  That’s an important reason the Russians weren’t more effective against German armor even though they had a tank that was a match for the Panzer IV on paper and in truly massive numbers.  Many of those tanks weren’t able to match their paper performance because the builders took so many shortcuts to rush them out the door.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Alison Rose:  The place name is Авдіївка. One word for car is автівка, so there is a similarity. I’d have to see it in context to figure out why they went with “car shop” as opposed to “car.”

     

  14. 14.

    Alison Rose

    @Gin & Tonic: This was the full Ukrainian text of his post:

    Авдіївка. Тримаємо позиції. Саме українська сміливість і єдність визначають, як завершиться ця війна. Маємо всі про це пам’ятати.

    And then he (or, I presume, his social media manager) always adds his own English translation, which was:

    Avdiivka. We are holding our ground. It is Ukrainian courage and unity that will determine how this war will end. We must all remember this

    But FB will do its own auto-translation, which came out as:

    Car shop. Holding our positions. It is Ukrainian courage and unity that determine how this war will end. We all need to remember this.

    So, mostly the same as Zelenskyy’s, except for the “car shop” thing.

  15. 15.

    Jay

    @Roger Moore:

    A lot of that is German post war propaganda.

    The average life expectancy of a tank in WWII was 6 months or 750 miles. So the T-34 was a “rough” tank. Welds needed to be functional, not pretty. German welds needed to be pretty, even if the armour was brittle. Casting marks on turrets and plates, just needed to be ground down to the point they did not cut, the turrets did not need to be polished.

    The key failures of the T-34’s was that their crews and infantry were not well trained, or well used in battle.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: I agree. It’s the little touches, like making “тримаємо” “we are holding” as opposed to the literal “holding” that show a human at work.

  21. 21.

    Cacti

    @Jay: Well, count the Rabbi in the group of the bloodthirsty, as he’s now on the side of those dropping white phosphorus and cluster bombs on civilians.

    Religion is bollocks, as is the idea that anyone’s invisible friend promised them ownership over sacred dirt.

  22. 22.

    Jay

    @Cacti:

    While Israel as a State has been pretty useless in defense of Ukraine, Israeli citizens have not been useless and have been stalwart.

    The Chief Rabbi has been a strong spiritual defender of Ukraine, and is in Israel to try to help Israeli’s in their trauma.

  23. 23.

    Alison Rose

    @Cacti: Calling a Jew bloodthirsty is something that should not be said. But quelle surprise that you would. I don’t know why I ever un-pied you, but it’s going back on. Nice that you finally had a reason to let your true colors show. Plenty of people are able to condemn a government without sounding like an extra from American History X. The ones who can’t? Well…

  24. 24.

    Cacti

    @Alison Rose: What a giant surprise that you’re on the side of the colonizers and trying to tone police criticism of them.  Feel free to go back to fucking off any time you like.

  25. 25.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Alison Rose: This commenter (Cacti) was in my pie list.  Which was fortuitous today.  I do feel that there are Jews who are bloodthirsty: Stephen Miller comes to mind.  But the idea that this particular Jew (the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine) is bloodthirsty?  *cough* yeah, that’s a a non-starter.

  26. 26.

    Lyrebird

    @Jay: @Alison Rose:

    I’m not going to try to get involved on this round.  I do like pie, as it happens, and even though it is not the usual Shabbat treat, I am going to enjoy thinking about pie.

    I suspect y’all could each bake a better pie than I can, FWIW, but Adam can likely out-bake us all.  Even with a not very sugary pie.

    When Ukraine is free, maybe Adam can go back to fitting in the occasional cooking post.

  27. 27.

    Jay

    @Alison Rose:

     

    @Cacti:

     

    I am going to try to be kind here,

    but I am guessing that neither of you are genocide fans.

    I am tired,

    I spent Thursday evening sitting in a folding chair outside Sha’arei Mizrah with a bunch of other people, just to be a witness if something stupid went down. At 4 am, we shifted to Masjid Alhidayah to do the same thing, and greet morning worshippers.

    That’s a lot of coffee, a lot of sitting, occasional walks around the buildings, a long night and a few video’s of “questionable” vehicles.

  29. 29.

    Cacti

    @Alison Rose:  The Israeli General who called the population of Gaza “human animals” before he started his war crimes against the civilian population is a bloodthirsty colonialist brute.

    Not going to be tone policed by one of you pearl-clutching Boomer toads.  As Ice Cube said:  “Regret it?  Nope.  Said it? Yep.”

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cacti: Well I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt and give you the chance to self regulate. Since that didn’t work I’m just going to ban you.

  41. 41.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, the husband of an Israeli diplomat at the Embassy in Beijing, himself an employee at the embassy, was attacked with a knife in a busy street. The assailant is a 53 y.o. foreign national who owns a small business in the city. Chinese police did not reveal the nationality of the attacker. CCTV footage shows the assailant stabbing the Israeli victim multiple times in broad daylight, before limping away (might have been injured in the fight). The footage also shows passersby stunned & befuddled by the scene. No one intervened during the attack, but bystanders administered 1st aid after the knife wielding attacker left the scene. (While late night drunken brawls happen, such violent attacks using knives, much less guns, are extremely rare in China. Very few Chinese have ever had pushback self defense training, few have ever thought about being caught in such situation, thus the typical response is standing back & calling the police).

    Fortunately, the Israeli victim is currently in stable condition at the hospital. Given the ubiquity of surveillance in China (especially in the part of Beijing close to the embassy district), it probably did not take long for the Chinese police to identify & apprehend the attacker. Probably a lone wolf attack, perhaps the assailant just lost relative(s) in Gaza, the West Bank or Southern Lebanon to Israeli strikes.

    The lasted conflagration will not stay just between Israel & Gaza, or be confined to the Middle East.

  42. 42.

    way2blue

    Okay.  A few evenings ago I asked about a Pete Seeger folk song based on an Ukrainian folk song.  The original person who posted on DailyKos answered my question.  FWIW.   Here’s their answer:

    “Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they’ve all taken husbands. Where are the men, they’re all in the army”  These lines were taken from the traditional Cossack folk-song “Koloda-Duda” (Ukrainian: Колода-дуда), referenced in the Mikhail Sholokhov novel And Quiet Flows the Don (1934), which Seeger had read “at least a year or two before.

    FWIW.  The original post:

    Seeger wrote the anti-war protest song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” in 1955 inspired by a lyric from a traditional Ukrainian folk song.  The song has a universal theme that follows the lyrical “round” of its composition. A plaintive series of vignettes that make us ponder the emptiness and loss of war and the folly of our failures as a species to recognize the futility of lessons unlearned and mistakes repeated

    And my response:

    Thank you.  We seem to have fragments of Ukrainian culture tucked into many corners of ours.

    And here we are…

  43. 43.

    charon

    @Jay:

    While Israel as a State has been pretty useless in defense of Ukraine, Israeli citizens have not been useless and have been stalwart.

    Israel government was persuaded to be neutral. Perhaps they might reevaluate that.

Comments are closed.