Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 666: Another Brief Update

War for Ukraine Day 666: Another Brief Update

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Screen shot of a mural of an eye shedding a tear/crying. The upper eyelid is painted in the blue of Ukraine's flag. The lower eyelid is painted in the yellow of Ukraine's flag. The mural was painted by the artist MyDogSighs.

(Image by My Dog Sighs)

I’m still fried, so just another cover the basics update tonight.

Russia opened up again on Ukraine overnight.

As I’ve written before, the goal is to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense munitions now that the House GOP majority combined with Senate Minority Leader McConnell and his caucus have run out the clock on the authorizations and appropriations needed for the US to resupply Ukraine. And once Putin exhausts the Ukrainians munitions he’ll reduce the actual air defense platforms and then Ukraine’s power grid, granaries, and other civilian infrastructure.

Speaker Johnson, Senator McConnell and every single member of their caucuses, as well as Biden’s senior natsec appointees should all be forced to stare at this picture every hour over the long holiday weekend so that the gravity of the situation sinks in.

From just 3 hours ago:

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

On the eve of Christmas, there should be maximum attention to defense, maximum energy for Ukraine to achieve its goals – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

21 December 2023 – 19:24

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

A brief summary of the day.

First. We continue our new tradition of honoring the Heroes of Ukraine. Everyone who has been awarded this title must receive an apartment from the state. We started this tradition on Ukraine’s Armed Forces Day and continued it today. I had the honor to hand over the Gold Star Orders to the families of the Heroes who were awarded posthumously. I also handed over certificates for apartments – another 20 families of our Heroes received housing. Soldiers, sailors, sergeants, officers. Others – every Hero of Ukraine – will receive the same. In total, 362 people have been awarded this title since the beginning of the full-scale war and up to now. These are warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the National Police, the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Security Service of Ukraine and other elements of the Defense and Security Forces.

Second for today. I had a rather extensive and substantive meeting with government officials regarding our work with the European Union to ensure that financial support for Ukraine continues at a sufficient level for the next four years. The Prime Minister, the First Deputy Prime Minister, and ministers were present. We discussed the details and specific decisions needed. We are working as actively as possible to guarantee stability for our country and resilience in all its institutions, in all systems and functions of the state. And this will be achieved.

I am grateful to everyone who helps. I am grateful to everyone who makes the protection of our national interests not only fair, but also thoroughly elaborated.

An important international conversation took place with the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres. The focus was on security, particularly maritime security in the Black Sea, including the expansion of this security, and therefore the strengthening of global food security. And the approach of the moment when we can restore security to all our people – when we can end the Russian aggression. End it in a fair manner. I have invited a representative of the United Nations to a new meeting of advisers on the implementation of the Peace Formula. This meeting, which we are currently preparing, will be the fourth of its kind. And gradually – step by step – we are filling the content of each of the ten points of the Peace Formula with the consent of the world majority.

Another point. Now, on the eve of Christmas, everyone in our state should remember that this time is a time for concentration, a time for work, a time to be able to relax afterwards. Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and every other region of ours, where the fate of the state is currently being decided. By our warriors, by all our people. Maximum attention to defense. Maximum efforts for the sake of the state. Maximum energy for Ukraine to be able to achieve its goals. I thank everyone who lives in this way. Who fights and works for the sake of Ukraine.

Today there was a separate report by the Main Intelligence Directorate. The enemy’s plans, the work of the Russian defense industry – there are signals that they are slowing down. We will help them to slow down even more.

We believe in our strength! And every day we add strength to Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

And here’s the video of the award presentation ceremony.

The reason:

For those marking Advent on your calendars this season:

 

Ukrainian Advent Calendar: Day 21 Today, we express our gratitude to our friends from Denmark (@Forsvarsmin), the Netherlands (@Defensie), the USA (@DeptofDefense), the UK (@DefenceHQ), and Spain (@Defensagob) for Harpoon missiles and launchers.

Harpoon missiles help Ukraine in ensuring security in the Black Sea region and pushing russia’s fleet to the eastern part of the sea.

The Weapons of Victory project is coming to a close. But stay tuned for updates!

The Toronto Sun looked around and decided they wanted to lean into the actual antisemitism too:

 

From The Financial Times:

Time keeps ticking relentlessly. The challenge of crisis management and policymaking more generally is to get ahead of it rather than watching days, months or years go by. From the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia’s war against Ukraine has been characterised by diverging time horizons and the expectations that go with them. To date, connecting the different time zones of this war has proved impossible, but the urgent necessity of doing so has increased steadily. Time zones that drift apart create room for manoeuvre — in this case, for Russia and for those in western countries who want to polarise and undermine democratic values along the way.

Ukraine now has to get through its second winter since the full-scale invasion. The US presidential elections loom large over western support for Kyiv. The Israel-Hamas war reduces the already diminishing public attention span for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Next June’s European parliament elections may make the EU appear more fragile than ever. In the meantime, Russia has adjusted economically and politically to sustain a much longer war than initially intended.

What are some of the time zones of this war? Before 2022, the west underestimated the time it had left to manage security risks emanating from Russia. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine felt like a surprise despite the preceding stages. Conversely, the Kremlin believed its own rhetoric and underestimated Ukraine: the plan to quickly take Kyiv and replace the Ukrainian government failed, turning the conflict into an uncertain and much longer war.

By definition, for Ukrainians, assistance always comes too late. Uncertainty about western countries’ long-term commitment adds to the pressure on Ukrainian politics and society. Many Nato and EU states have made significant aid pledges, but much of it has yet to be disbursed. Making a promise for the future is one thing, delivering on promises in the present is something else.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government have kept up the pressure on western capitals by focusing not on past or ongoing assistance, but on concrete requests for future weapons deliveries. Vladimir Putin himself thinks in centuries of continuity of Russian imperial rule.

The mantra of “supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes”, a common but vague temporal reference point in the German political debate, which echoes in other western policymakers’ speeches, increasingly resembles self-reassurance rather than a future-orientated strategy. Moreover, frequent references to “Ukraine’s victory” have turned this phrase into a means for politicians to position themselves rather than act. In times of war, a word or phrase carries particular weight. But even a principled position is not sufficient in itself and has to be measured against current and future action.

These days there is more openly voiced concern about a potential “Russian victory”, as time increasingly seems to be on Moscow’s side. Outlining a future scenario can underpin joint efforts to prevent it, but it risks turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy. It spreads a sense of uncertainty and creates space for those considering or calling for peace negotiations. Such proposals ignore the fact that the Kremlin shows no interest in peace. They distract from the daily reality of war at the front and in Russian-occupied territories.

Western and in particular European governments have a decisive role to play at this juncture. Europe needs a strategy that takes seriously the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. This must include a decision on using the remaining window of time to step up military assistance to Ukraine and military production in Europe. The EU, meanwhile, must push ahead with Ukraine’s membership negotiations.

Thinking about Russia’s war against Ukraine in temporal logic underlines that time is of the essence. The time zones of Ukraine and its western allies need to be reconnected before entirely new ones open up in 2024.

More at the link.

Krynky, left bank of the Dnipro, Russian occupied Kherson Oblast:

Russian occupied Donetsk Oblast:

Russian occupied Kherson Oblast:

Obligatory:

Makiivka, Russian occupied Donetsk Oblast:

Russian occupied Crimea:

Yesterday, reports appeared in the media about an attack on Russian military bases in Crimea near the city of Saki and near Alushta. Now the following description of the attack has appeared:

(Also, no photos/videos have yet appeared confirming the results of the attack, as well as satellite photos since the Crimean peninsula is now covered with clouds most of the time)

«Regarding yesterday’s attack on the communications center and command and control complex in Crimea.

Yesterday, December 20, 2023, an attack was carried out on two important facilities in Crimea. Previously, the information was published on the tg channel “ASTRA”. However, it requires clarification.

The first strike was at the Information Reception and Processing Center of the FSB of the Russian Federation, located in the village of Solnechnogorskoye, near Alushta. Three satellite communication antennas were seriously damaged. The attack was carried out using 4 British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles (not a UAV, as ASTRA had previously stated).

The second blow was delivered to the 40th separate command and measurement complex of the Russian Aerospace Forces (military unit 81415), located in the village. Vitino, near the city of Saki. The attack was carried out using 2 cruise missiles of the British-French production “Storm Shadow/SCALP”. One of the missiles did not reach the target; the strike from the second destroyed the Tobol electronic warfare system.

Tobol is an interesting target. The complex is used to suppress the Starlink satellite signal. Previously, the use of the Starlink signal by Ukrainian sea drones “SeaBaby” was noted to strike the Crimean Bridge and ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.»

https://t.me/dosye_shpiona/464

Avdiivka:

The performance of the few M2 Bradley IFVs Ukraine received from the USA is absolutely astonishing. In some cases a single Bradley wiped out entire Russian units and single-handily blunts entire Russian assaults near Avdiivka, thanks to the superior optics and accurate 25mm cannon.

Source: https://t.me/operativnoZSU/128223

#Ukraine #Donetsk #Avdiivka

For Omnes and the other redlegs.

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new tweets or videos from Patron today. Here’s some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

18Comments

  1. 1.

    NutmegAgain

    I’m still reading all the updates. (Bearing witness, as I can.) I’m so grateful to you Adam for all the work involved.

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    It’s gut-wrenching because you want to be proud of them (and I am!) for shooting down so many drones…but you also can’t help but think of the depletion its causing.

    I saw that disgusting Toronto Sun cartoon earlier and I wanted to scream. This has always been and still is and always will be how a lot of people think of Jews. And they get away with shit like that because nothing will really happen to them over it.

    Wanted to give a plug to the Olena Zelenska Foundation, which has been doing wonderful humanitarian work like helping to secure new ambulances and getting tablets to kids who cannot go to school or who have been orphaned. Go give them a like on Facebook.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  5. 5.

    ColoradoGuy

    Thank you again, Adam. Seeing the Republicans … every last one of them … succumb to bribes, Kompromat. etc. etc must be disheartening … that the rot has gone so deeply into the GOP.

  6. 6.

    wombat probability cloud

    FWIW, I just submitted this comment on the Toronto Sun site:

    “White-bread Swede from Central Wisconsin here, who cares about global democracy. Really, fuck you all for the cartoon portraying Zelenskyy as a pick-pocketing jew. Could you stoop any lower? Don’t you understand the situation in Ukraine? It’s simply unbelievable and reprehensible to publish such an old and threadbare stereotype.”

    (My beloved wife is an Ashkenazim from Brooklyn.) Have at it. No idea if it will make a dent, but at least it’s minimally satisfying.

  7. 7.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    @Alison Rose: I, our prime minister, & many other Canadians were absolutely outraged at this piece of Russian propaganda showing up in this disgusting rag. 😡 Enough that said rag has issued a mealy mouthed apology & retraction I for one don’t accept. But I guess it’s something. I’m sorry you & Adam had to see that. Canadian politics has been invaded from the South, where, most, so-called Canadian MSM is actually owned. It’s a tangled story I will spare you. I just hope someone learned a lesson.

  8. 8.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    Billions of rubles of Russian military equipment destroyed. The Russian Black Sea fleet driven from its historical safe port. Drone strikes in Moscow & Sochi. How dare anyone call this a failure!

    Thank you Adam for your continuing hard work in bringing us these updates day after day, despite what is clearly a demanding “day job”. Even when it’s been depressing as it has been for the last week or so, the enlightenment is worth the pain. Take care of yourself & enjoy whatever holidays you get this time of year. Slava Ukraini!

  9. 9.

    wjca

    I’m still fried, so just another cover the basics update tonight.

    Certainly no need to apologize, considering how amazingly much you do here day after day after day.  We really can’t thank you enough.

  10. 10.

    Alison Rose

    @Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: I know nothing about the paper, so I don’t know if it’s typical for them to run something like that, but like…it boggles the mind that they were like “yeah looks good”. Bleh. But I don’t hold it against you or most Canadians. God knows I wouldn’t want Fox News’ bullshit held against me.

  13. 13.

    NobodySpecial

    Adam, thanks again for the reporting.

    As an aside, is there not an end around with the President, well, for lack of a better term, discounting the price of surplus we’re mothballing and selling it to Ukraine for a dollar? Or other such accounting shenanigans?

  14. 14.

    Roberto el oso

    A question regarding the plausibility of the following scenario: would there be any punitive repercussions from fellow member states of NATO if the Poles and the Baltic countries were to form an alliance directly with Ukraine? I’ve done a bit of clueless “research” but am self aware enough to know that I’m out of my depth here.

  15. 15.

    wjca

    @Roberto el oso: would there be any punitive repercussions from fellow member states of NATO if the Poles and the Baltic countries were to form an alliance directly with Ukraine?

    Punitive from what quarter?

    I mean, the US has a variety of sometimes overlapping aliances, of which NATO is only one.  So clearly that wouldn’t be a legal constraint on them.  Or cause for complaint.

    Some (not to mention any names in the Finno-Ugric language group) individual members might be unhappy.  But then, there probably wouldn’t be much distress from the rest if they pulled out of NATO in a huff.  And what else could they do that would count as punitive?

  18. 18.

    Roberto el oso

    @wjca: Thanks for the response. As I said, it wasn’t clear to me whether there might be strictures against countries who deviate from the present NATO stance towards Ukraine by involving themselves more directly. Your response appears to confirm that there would be nothing preventing Poland/Latvia/Estonia/Lithuania from doing so.

    Again, thanks!

Comments are closed.