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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 600: 600 Days In Is a Grim Milestone

War for Ukraine Day 600: 600 Days In Is a Grim Milestone

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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.

We are working to provide our warriors with more air defense, more protection for our cities, so that they can maintain life – address by the President of Ukraine

16 October 2023 – 21:30

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

It was an eventful day.

It is important that today, on the 600th day of the full-scale war, Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Special Representative for our сountry’s recovery, arrived in Ukraine. Such a visit on such a day is an important signal. It was a good meeting.

We managed to discuss all the issues that directly affect life in Ukraine. Protection of our energy sector, especially this winter. Macro-financial support. Reconstruction. Protection of investments from the war risks. Attracting private business.

Each of these areas is an element of the overall structure. A structure that ensures a normal life for our people and our cities. As much as it is possible now. We are working as hard as we can to give our warriors more air defense. To give more protection to our cities, so that they can maintain life, including economic life. Plus, the development of our industries, including defense production.

All of this together keeps us resilient. All of this together adds to Ukraine’s strength. And I am grateful to each of our partners – everyone who helps. To all those whose support programs are long-term. To everyone who understands that this is a marathon, and in a marathon you have to keep the right pace all the time, calculate your energies and see clearly that the race must end with victory.

I had several phone calls today. With the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Canada. The situation on the battlefield. Support for our defense. The Peace Formula. We continue to prepare a new meeting in the format of national security advisors. I am grateful to both the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Canada for their steadfast and principled attention to Ukraine, for their sincere faith in Ukraine and in our people.

We also discussed the situation in the Middle East. Prevention of further escalation. And assistance to people, protection of people. It is important to ensure that what is happening in the Middle East does not turn into an even bigger catastrophe.

And our warriors. Gratitude every day. The warriors of the 110th separate mechanized brigade, the “Seventy-ninth” of the Air Assault Forces, and the artillerymen of the 55th brigade. Thank you, guys, for your power! For the kind of destruction of the Russian occupiers that Ukraine needs. Also, the paratroopers of the 82nd separate brigade and the warriors of the 148th separate artillery brigade of the Air Assault Forces. I thank you for your courage and your efficiency in the offensive. Every step of ours is important. Every enemy loss is significant. Thank you!

And separately, our intelligence. The fighters of the Kraken special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, who are defending the area of Kupyansk. Thank you, guys! Thank you for your fortitude and efficiency!

Glory to all our warriors!

Today I have signed new decrees on honoring warriors with state awards. Over the course of this war – the full-scale war – more than 60,000 Ukrainians have been awarded for their participation in battles for the sake of the state. This is truly full-scale courage. Courage that is rooted in the character of our people. The character that does not give up. The character that will prevail. For sure.

Glory to Ukraine!

600 days since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Thanks to everyone who beat and is beating the enemy. Thanks to everyone who help the newest types of weapons appear in Ukraine and to people who create weaponry inside Ukraine. Thanks to those who are joining the military today”, — @rustem_umerov, Minister of Defence.

We head together to victory! Glory to Ukraine!

📷: Ercin Erturk

Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine’s DAY 600.

Six hundred days ago, a national doomsday was supposed to happen, and half of the world was literally burying this country alive.

But thanks to so many men and women in Ukraine and beyond who made a moral choice to do what was decent and right — here we are, six hundred days in resistance, with our friends still with us, with several significant battles won — and making “the world’s second strongest military power” throw in waves of suicidal convicts, de-mothball early Cold War era museum showpieces, beg its fellow dictators for drones and artillery rounds, and whine about “the need for peace talks.”

I quite confidently say that 600 days ago, no one expected to see the mindblowing things we see today regarding this war.

This is what happens when good people resist evil and when other good people do what’s right and give a helping hand.

600 days ago, this was supposed to be Russia’s 10-day easy walk in the park, and a 40-million European nation was supposed to obediently get down on its keens and turn into a colonial possession again — in the year 2022.

The price is terrible. This country will still be mourning over all the death and devastation inflicted by the aggression many decades after.

It will take many decades to recover from this, especially in the east, where most of the towns and cities ruined by Russia will never be built back and re-populated.

All this time, however, there are people openly vaunting and jesting over this tragedy and shivering with irrational and inexplicable hatred towards Ukraine as such — and doing it in the comfort of staying a continent away from what Russia does and from the consequences of what they blindly endorse.

And just like 600 days ago, I have a very fascinating and compelling thing to show such wonderful people:🖕

Four Ukrainian children stolen by Russia are coming home!

From The Financial Times:

Qatar has brokered a deal to reunite four Ukrainian children with their families after they were separated from their parents in Russia during President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of the country.

The children, who range in age from 2 to 17, are the first to be returned to Ukraine after Qatar and several other mediators stepped up efforts over the children this summer.

One has already returned to Ukraine through the Baltic states and Poland, another is en route via Qatar with his mother, and the remaining two are expected to travel to Ukraine through Qatar later this week.

The family reunification talks are focused on thousands of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia and held in children’s homes or adopted by Russian families.

Some of those children, including the four returned in the talks with Qatar, were stranded in Russia or Russian-controlled territory when the war broke out. Others were forcibly taken to Russia by soldiers and placed with Russian families.

Ukraine has accused the Kremlin of trying to eradicate the children’s Ukrainian identity and said the alleged abductions of up to 20,000 of them amount to genocide.

The issue led the International Criminal Court to charge Putin with war crimes in March, along with Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. It is so contentious that Ukraine and Russia do not speak directly on the issue.

Qatar has been part of highly sensitive back-channel talks also involving Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club.

“Over the past several weeks, we have remained in continuous dialogue with our Ukrainian and Russian counterparts, identifying areas of common interest around which to facilitate indirect negotiations,” said Lolwah Al-Khater, minister for international co-operation at Qatar’s foreign ministry.

“Our hope is that the commitment shown to this initiative by both sides will pave the way for further dialogue aimed at de-escalating tensions and building trust between the two parties,” she said.

Even as the war continues to rage with no clear end in sight more than a year and a half since Russia’s full-scale invasion, mediators and Ukraine’s western allies hope talks over issues such as the children can eventually lead to broader peace negotiations.

Much more at the link!

Avdiivka:

Russian occupied Berdiansk:

Marinka:

South of Bakhmut:

Here’s a machine translation of Dmitri’s first tweet:

Interesting info about the south of Bakhmut that needs verifying but nevertheless states that the defensive nodes south of Bakhmut are being pushed by Ukrainians who are already establishing behind the railway line in the area of Andriivka and Klischiivka.

Russian command in the area is said to be very poor and unwilling, there’s a follow-up post with insults towards the former commander in the area, Lt. General Andrey Suchevoy was removed from his position sometime in September/October who allegedly lost “1,5k people just in September” in the area (killed and wounded).

I took the liberty of drawing roughly where the new defensive line (according to the author and WarGonzo) is being established.

And of the quoted tweet:

The Russian instructor of the “Storm Z” detachments, Svyatoslav Golikov, who runs the tg channel “Philologist in the Gray Zone,” accused General Andrei Sychev of killing one and a half thousand Russian soldiers near Bakhmut in September alone. And in the end I still couldn’t hold my position

Here’s a machine translation of General Andrei Sychev’s full Telegram post that Dmitri and Denis Kazansky are referring to:

Philologist in the gray zone Since I myself, as the vigilant citizens who follow my decadent writings know, am prone to whipping up a panic psychosis (probably in the interests of the enemy, who is obviously neither in sleep nor in spirit about his own advances), I will quote the weekly report from WarGonzo: “Bakhmut direction. South of the city, the Russian Armed Forces found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. The Armed Forces of Ukraine focused their main efforts on storming Kurdyumivka, where the last heights controlled by Russian troops are located. Ukrainian units cannot occupy them. But in the area of ​​​​Andreevka and Kleshcheevka they managed to gain a foothold at “” Based on the above quote, I would like to note the following. The intensity of the fighting on the northern flank has now really decreased; the enemy’s main efforts are concentrated in the south, where he is able to achieve advancement. At the same time, the risks for the northern section have not been eliminated; it cannot be ruled out that there will be a repetition of breakthrough attempts similar to the surge in the second ten days of August. The settlements along which our new line of defense is being built are listed from south to north, i.e. in the direction from Gorlovka to Bakhmut, but not the point. This nuance is important: the village of Ivangrad is already located beyond Bakhmutka and is a safety option in case the enemy develops success northeast of Kleshcheevka in the direction of Opytny. In the area of ​​Kleshcheevka and Andreevka, the enemy managed to gain a foothold not just “near the railway line,” but in some places already behind the railway line. Our art works, but there are some nuances. Part of the BC is spent on frankly unusable objects. In particular, artillery is pouring into the ruins, where small groups are rummaging around, while the enemy concentrates the main forces in the adjacent forest regiments. There is no proper interaction with the infantry. Assault operations do not receive appropriate artillery support, or there is no artillery support at all. In addition, the lack of normal communication with sad frequency leads to attacks on one’s own. Plus, of course, the inevitable failure of counter-battery combat. Accordingly, our counterattacks regularly fail, and the assault infantry suffers excessive losses. Very offensive and difficult. Our defenses in the Kurdyumovsky sector are holding. It’s holding up for now. This is the last held section of the Kleshcheevsky line, which is of particular importance due to the terrain. Hence the enemy’s pressure, everything is logical. In general, I dare to note that WarGonzo now turns out to be perhaps our only major channel that has decided to directly outline the problem: on the southern flank of Bakhmut, our troops are really “in an extremely difficult situation.”

Kyiv:

For you drone enthusiasts and enthusiasts of Russian military equipment going boom:

And for Omnes and the Red Legs:

And for you drone enthusiasts and fresh baked bread and breakfast pastry enthusiasts!

Wait, what?

Obligatory?

An important message from Poland:

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

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Open thread!

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    NutmegAgain

    600 days? oof.  Thank you so much for all the work, Adam. Your commitment to the updates is really tremendous.

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    Zelensky wants to go to Israel to “show solidarity.” Bibi says now is not the right time. Not the right time for a Jew to go to Israel to show support.

  5. 5.

    Freemark

     

    @Gin & Tonic: Is Bibi his actual name or just a description of the size of his heart? Rat bastard was key to enabling Hamas and has shown since the attack he doesn’t give a shit about the dead or the hostages.

  8. 8.

    Chris

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Putin is Bibi’s kind of guy.  Zelensky isn’t.

    Neither is Biden, but given how much more clout the U.S. has on the world stage and its historic status as Israel’s number one weapons supplier, he probably feels a little more wary of snubbing a request for a Biden visit.

  10. 10.

    piratedan

    @Freemark: Netanyahu was probably hoping to do what he’s had a history of doing, turning his failure into a double-down of support for his own reckless path.

    no one who has an ounce of compassion is condoning what Hamas did nor does anyone in this group wish to see Israel visit the same atrocities to Palestinian civilians.  It always seem to come down to a select few on either side who are more concerned with obtaining and wielding power than just wanting or even allowing peace.

  12. 12.

    lashonharangue

    Thanks Adam for your continuing efforts to keep us informed. I don’t comment very often but I read your posts almost every night.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose

    600 days. And Ukraine is just as determined and committed to resisting the orcs as they were on day 1. Yet somehow, russia and its groupies think one day, one day, they’ll give in. I’m pretty sure hell would freeze over first, and even then, Ukrainians would just write “enjoy the skiing” on their missiles prior to launch.

    enthusiasts of russian military equipment going boom

    Pretty sure that is all of us!

    Video from Zelenskyy’s FB of the meeting with Penny Pritzker and Bridget Brink (who both wore lovely shades of blue). They do the hello-how-are-yous and then are sitting at a table talking. Pritzker reiterates the US support for Ukraine and such, and then Zelenskyy (in English) thanks her and asks her to pass on his thanks to Biden and his team. He says they are thankful for bipartisan support in Congress, and adds “I know there are some challenges now in Congress” in the very diplomatic statesmanlike way that he is so skilled at :P

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  15. 15.

    sdhays

    @Chris: If Iran/Hezbollah decided to attack while Hamas is fighting in the south, that would have the potential to actually be an existential crisis for Israel. A real existential crisis. Biden, and the US, are the reason this isn’t an existential crisis for Israel, as bad as it is. It would be madness for an Israeli PM to ignore that at this moment; I suspect if he tried to snub Biden right now, it really could bring down his government because people would decide he’s insane.

    I wonder how much Netanyahu and the shitheads who keep supporting him understand how lucky they are Trump isn’t President right now. It really doesn’t matter how close they might think their relationship was with Trump and the evangelicals in the Republican base; Trump would sell them out for a hamburger, and his evangelical supporters wouldn’t care (bring on Armageddon!). Or just be uninterested and bungling.

  20. 20.

    Lavocat

    Adam, I love your work and try to read you every day. I should preface this post by noting that I am not likely a sociopath but just extremely cynical (realistic?) given my particular line of work (attorney). Here we are at Day 600 (or MUCH more depending on how you wish to count) and I continue to wonder whether or not Americans realize what an incredible “gift” Dictator Putin has given the liberal western democracies, especially America. While I rarely see references to what I am about to ask, I have to assume that the answer is something like “We are, but we are not broadcasting it.” The question?: Why isn’t America using the Russia-Ukraine war as “the ultimate proving ground” to field-test its latest and greatest weaponry (especially autonomous drones)? And why not use it to infiltrate Russian society at all levels, targeting all sorts of infrastructure as well as human assets? Granted, being Machiavellian is in my nature, given my mercenary line of work, but I would think America would be working 24/7 to undermine all elements of Russian society through the “gift” of this destabilizing war (if only to return the favor of their election interference). I mean, damn, I want to see all sorts of seemingly random fuckery occurring throughout the entire Russian Federation, from arms dumps exploding in Novosibirsk to railroad junctions being sabotaged in Krasnoyarsk to oligarchs’ planes suddenly falling from the skies to warships In Murmansk losing buoyancy. Turn it up to eleven, motherfuckers! I’m just not seeing it. Then again, for it to work best, I shouldn’t be seeing it. But I have to wonder WTF nonetheless. Russian society should be made to be permanently paranoid about what is really going on from both inside and out. The world (Russia, China, North Korea, Hamas, etc.) needs to be taught a hard lesson that there is a very steep price to be paid for fucking around with powerful democracies. I’ll leave it at that. And I agree with you that we are in the midst of World War 3 (but most of us are in denial). Funny how everyone thought it would be fought with nuclear weapons. Instead, it looks like it may be the advent of yet another frontier in warfare, drones and autonomous weaponry. Your thoughts?

  21. 21.

    Lyrebird

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks, that’s a great explainer!  Horribly sad, too.  But yep I am glad to have read it.

    If you find something specific on the origins of the word for thanking people, I hope I will read at the right time to catch that, too.

  22. 22.

    Andrya

    @Lavocat:   In my past life as an aerospace statistician, I used to scrounge field performance data anywhere I could- it’s much more reliable than analysis.  And not just from my programs- if a completely unrelated program- even a completely different type of system- shared even one component with my system, that was data that I wanted to get.  I would bet anything that Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon, and Boeing, and their subs are working at getting loads of performance data from Ukraine.

  23. 23.

    Chris

    @sdhays:

    I wonder about the Armageddon thing.

    For decades it’s been clear that people like Bibi view the Rapture enthusiasts, understandably, as credulous idiots to be milked.  It doesn’t matter if they’re only supporting your in anticipation of the Rapture, because the Rapture isn’t real; their financial and political support is.  I’ll take any fool’s money if he’s giving it away.

    Thing is, that only works if you believe, whatever else you might say in public, that Israel will never again be existentially threatened.  Otherwise, you might lean on your American support at the time when the wrong President’s in the White House and suddenly discover that they’d actually prefer to see the entire region go up in smoke and your country with it.

  24. 24.

    wjca

    @Lavocat: I mean, damn, I want to see all sorts of seemingly random fuckery occurring throughout the entire Russian Federation, from arms dumps exploding in Novosibirsk to railroad junctions being sabotaged in Krasnoyarsk to oligarchs’ planes suddenly falling from the skies to warships In Murmansk losing buoyancy.

    I can’t speak for Adam, obviously.  But I do see an impediment here to making the point.  Given the “standard” of maintenance of Russian infrastructure, how would they notice that this kind of sabotage was happening? As opposed to just the usual f*ckups.  Sure, these attacks might be (should be) particularly targeted at infrastructure important to the war effort.  But still.

  25. 25.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Lavocat: I’ve read that one of the reasons we don’t give Ukraine our *most* cutting-edge weaponry, is that we don’t want it falling into the hands of Russia (who would surely share it with China/Iran),  who would reverse-engineer it.

  26. 26.

    Andrya

    @Chris:   I think your comment is profoundly true, and I’m going to expand on it.

    I sum up my stance towards Israel with the saying:  “friends don’t let friends drive drunk”.  That is, a person’s real friend will stop them from self-destructive behavior, even if that action  arouses resentment.

    Since I truly, deeply want Israel to thrive as long as our planet lasts, I oppose self destructive behavior by Israel- partly out of concern for Palestinian rights/welfare, but also because, in the long run, this is self destructive for Israel.  In my  view, enabling settlers on the West Bank is self destructive for Israel.  The blockade that prevented Gaza from developing a home-grown economy was not only massively unfair to the residents of Gaza, but self destructive for Israel itself.  Since the assassination of Itzhak Rabin, Israel has treated interactions with Palestinians as a zero-sum game:  the less the Palestinians have of everything- territory, economic growth, security- the better for Israel.  Zero-sum thinking does not work in the long run.  (Consider the first half of the 20th century.  We went zero-sum in the Treaty of Versailles, and the result was Hitler.  We went non-zero-sum with the Marshall plan, and the result was modern Germany.)

    The rapture guys, on the other hand, neither want nor expect Israel to survive long term, so they completely encourage Israeli governments in zero-sum thinking.

  28. 28.

    way2blue

    @Chris:

    Biden & Blinken seem determined to constrain Israel’s response to Hamas to within the bounds of international law.   And to set up a process for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza civilians.  Hope this works out.

  29. 29.

    way2blue

    I’d thought that Turkey’s parliament would have voted Sweden into NATO by now.  Is there another futz  I didn’t notice?  Or is Sweden’s accession to NATO still on track?

  31. 31.

    Eolirin

    @sdhays: 50/50 Whether the US with Republican leadership in a situation like this would tell Israel they’re on their own or encourage them to murder everyone in Gaza and start a war with Iran.

    Biden being in office now, between this and the Russians, has staved off a series of global catastrophes. We really can’t ever let any of them near the White House again.

  32. 32.

    wjca

    @Andrya: The rapture guys, on the other hand, neither want nor expect Israel to survive long term, so they completely encourage Israeli governments in zero-sum thinking.

    There might also be an influence from the fact that the “rapture guys” seem to incline to zero sum thinking, even in situations and interactions remote from Israel.

  33. 33.

    Roberto el oso

    The opposition of so many GOP types to the US helping the Ukrainians on the grounds of financial concerns is shown up for the lie it is when one considers that the Ukrainians are wearing down the Russians on a daily basis without a single US serviceman or servicewoman being killed or wounded. It isn’t about the money, it’s that their true “ally” is being worn down.

  34. 34.

    glc

    @way2blue: Personally, I wouldn’t know, but this is what Reuters has to say lately on the subject. (link)

    A somewhat representative (but far from exhaustive) extract:

    “Given the lack of trust over the issue of F-16s and Sweden, Turkey is not rushing to ratify the NATO bid and looking for a sign that the United States is taking steps at the same time,” said an official from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.

  35. 35.

    wjca

    @glc:

    Another quote from the Reuters article:

    Erdogan – long supportive of Palestinians and a two-state solution – said that a U.S. aircraft carrier that arrived in the eastern Mediterranean was meant to commit “serious massacres” in the Gaza Strip.

    Why does this sound like a divorced-from-reality line that our RWNJs would spout?  If Erdogan seriously thinks that US aircraft would be involved in Gaza, he’s simply not luving in the real world.  Likewise if he somehow thinks this accusation will improve the chances of getting the F-16 upgrades he wants.

  36. 36.

    karen marie

    I feel so bad for everyone in Ukraine. Six hundred plus days not knowing whether this is their last. I’m feeling flush enough to make another overdue donation, and I see that BJers have donated over $95,000. You kids are all right.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @wjca: Turkish President Erdogan likes to gripe. For instance, he’s complained bitterly sbout the US shooting down the Turkish drone over Syria two weeks ago. But Turkiye still participated in Nato’s recent naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and hosted a port call at Istanbul by the task force’s British flagship.

    So I would watch what Turkiye does, especially the actions of its influential Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

    As for Sweden’s Nato accession, Erdogan appears to be witholding it to get assurances on the F-16 sales. With Turkiye and Greece mending relations and a new Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, I expect rhe sale of 40 F-16s and 80 upgrade packages will be forthcoming.

    The issues of Swedish acession and F-16 sales are somewhat of a chicken-egg situation though, and they probably won’t get worked out until the current crisis in Gaza and Israel eases some.

  39. 39.

    oldster

    So nice to see Patron enjoying a car ride.

    In a better world, human would have invented cars just so that dogs could enjoy the breeze in their ears.

  40. 40.

    Barney

    An interesting article on Artek, a Soviet children’s holiday camp in Crimea:

    Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Artek, along with other summer camps in Crimea, offered free two-week holidays to Ukrainian children. Months later, hundreds of children were still at the camps, their return home ‘postponed indefinitely’ as their parents worked with charities and the Ukrainian authorities to try to get them home. Artek’s new slogan is ‘Artekovite today, Artekovite forever!’
    …
    On 24 August, Ukrainian Independence Day, Artek and its director, Konstantin Fedorenko, were sanctioned by the US government for holding Ukrainian children at the camp against their will and putting them into ‘patriotic re-education’ programmes. The camp claimed that it was too dangerous to return the children to their parents because of developments on the front line. Some parents crossed into Russia to make their way to the occupied territory; others couldn’t afford the journey and were left waiting for months. In May, the charity Save Ukraine returned 17 children. There are fears that many more are still at the camp but their parents are afraid to turn to the Ukrainian authorities for fear they will be punished for sending their children to a camp in occupied territory.
    In interviews, the returned children said that on arriving at the summer camp – where they’d gone voluntarily – they were told they were in ‘prison’. They had to learn and perform ‘Onward Russia!’ to the point of exhaustion. One boy said that as soon as they arrived they were told they would be punished if they spoke Ukrainian. He tries to tell this story in faltering Ukrainian but eventually gives up and switches to Russian. He is the only child interviewed who even tries to speak Ukrainian; the others begin and end in Russian. Why were Ukrainian children, from Russian-speaking backgrounds, who were willing to travel to Russian occupied territory, being punished for using a language they can barely speak?
    Alessandra Hay | By the Warm Sea · LRB 16 October 2023

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