Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Please don’t feed the bears.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The revolution will be supervised.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I was promised a recession.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Come on, man.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 804 Again: It Is Not Ground Hog Day

War for Ukraine Day 804 Again: It Is Not Ground Hog Day

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Air Raid Alert map of Ukraine at 8:16 PM EDT on 7 MAY 2024. The map shows air raid alerts are active over all of eastern and central Ukraine. Only the western regions/oblasts are not under air raid alert.

(Air Raid Alert Map of Ukraine as of 8:16 PM EDT on 7 MAY 2024)

Two quick housekeeping notes. The first is today was exceedingly long, so tonight’s update is going to be on the shorter side. The second is that according to Steeplejack in last night’s comments, I apparently skipped from day 783 to 785 back in April. I’m not going back to check as I trust that he is correct. This is why tonight’s post is the second day 804 update in a row, which should get us back on track.

As you can see from the map above, 2/3rds of Ukraine is currently under air raid alert. Putin apparently decided to celebrate his inauguration by bombarding the Ukrainians once again. I would expect that this will continue for at least the next several days until we get past Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on the 9th of May.

I’m seeing unconfirmed reports of Shaheds over Sumy Oblast. We’ll have to wait for more credible reporting to know what is going on right now. However, we do know what has been thrown at the citizens of Sumy Oblast over the past 24 hours.

From Ukrainska Pravda:

ussian troops launched 224 strikes on Sumy Oblast over the course of 6 May. One person was killed, and two young children and two adults were injured.

Source: Sumy Oblast Police

Details: Ten private buildings, three private households, six apartment buildings, eight vehicles, two grain elevator buildings, two administrative buildings, energy and critical infrastructure facilities, business premises, a shop and a warehouse were damaged as a result of the attack.

In addition, an outbuilding belonging to one company was destroyed, and a tank containing fuel and lubricants caught fire.

Investigators have instigated criminal proceedings over these events for violations of the laws and customs of war.

Background: Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that the Russians attacked Krasnopilia hromada in Sumy Oblast with artillery on 6 May, injuring a man and two children.

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

We are Preparing Meetings and Documents That Will Definitely Make It Into the News in the Coming Weeks – Address by the President

7 May 2024 – 22:05

Dear Ukrainians!

A summary of this day. First, the frontline. The battles in the hottest spots. Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, Kramatorsk, Lyman, Vremivka, Kupyansk directions. Today, as always, I communicated with the military and held a separate meeting with the Ministry of Defence regarding the manning of our brigades. We are doing everything we can to strengthen our warriors and give Ukraine more power in combat. I thank everyone in the world who is helping us. I am grateful to all the leaders who are really keeping their word and fulfilling what we agreed upon — all the supply packages of weapons and ammunition are extremely important for Ukraine now. This time is crucial for the whole year — in combat, in training, in supply. Any delay now — in weapons, ammunition or in manning our brigades — will cost too much for all those in the world who seek actual protection from Russia. And I thank every combat brigade of ours — all those who are fighting on the front line — and doing it effectively and bravely without surrendering their positions. Thank you for being here for Ukraine. And today, based on the results of the first days of the week, the warriors of the 55th Zaporizhzhia Sich separate artillery brigade deserve our special appreciation. Good job, guys! Your accuracy is always inspiring!

The second thing today is international negotiations.

We continue our marathon of preparations for the first Global Peace Summit, a Summit that can and should demonstrate the value of international cooperation and all the words about upholding the UN Charter and the rules-based international order — those words that have been heard during the years of this war. Every leader who will participate in the Summit, every leader who is now helping to organize the Summit, every state whose strength we are adding now to the joint force of human life protection will definitely prove their worth in this marathon — in the preparations of the Peace Summit. Today I spoke with the leaders of Spain, Belgium, Latvia, Finland and Cabo Verde. Step by step, we will establish a truly global community — every continent will be represented at our Summit in Switzerland, different nations — both geographically large and geographically smaller, those who have already clearly expressed their support for international law and the ones who are yet to do so. While Moscow is using the term “multipolarity” just hypocritically to cover its attempts to control the lives of other nations, we are creating a real tool for real multipolarity — we are inviting the world majority to the Peace Summit. And it is the majority that should have its say — it can bring a just peace closer.

And one more thing for today.

We are preparing meetings and documents that will definitely make it into the news in the coming weeks. New visits of our partners to Ukraine. New security agreements for our country and life in Europe in general. And of course, we continue to prepare for the actual start of talks with the European Union in June. From our side, the Ukrainian side, all the details will be one hundred percent worked out. Ukraine has fulfilled its obligations. And Ukraine expects the same level of engagement — productive engagement — from the partners.
I thank everyone who stands with Ukraine and everyone who supports us in an effective and timely manner! Because this means life. This means saving lives. I thank everyone who fights for our country and our people. And please always remember all those who sacrifice their lives in this battle — the battle for Ukraine and humanity. May the memory of each of our warriors, whose lives were lost in battle and became the life of our entire state, our Ukraine, be bright and eternal.

Glory to Ukraine!

The reason:

The cost:

One of the youngest Mariupol defenders, Nazarii Hryntsevych, call sign “Hrinka,” died defending Ukraine.

Nazarii was at Azovstal in 2022, was taken prisoner by Russia, and after his release, became the commander of a platoon of optical observers of the Contact 12 group.

On March 10, 2024, Nazarii turned 21.

Eternal memory and eternal glory to Ukrainian Hero.

We are losing our best people.

Estonia:

Romania:

From The Kyiv Independent:

Romania is open to discussing the possibility of sending a Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, the country’s president said on May 7, Reuters reported.

Speaking in Washington after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, Klaus Iohannis said he would discuss the matter with his Supreme Defence Council.

This is the latest development from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine.

“There has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine over the last few weeks,” Iohannis said.

“President Biden mentioned it… in our meeting, and I said I was open to discussion. I must discuss it in the Supreme Defence Council to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable to leave Romania without air defenses.”

Romania signed a deal in 2017 to obtain Patriot systems but so far only has one that is operational. Iohannis said any discussions would concern a system that was in an advanced stage of becoming operational.

More at the link!

Brussels:

 

From The Financial Times:

Brussels will propose a ban on Russian funding of political parties, non-governmental organisations and think-tanks as part of a fresh round of sanctions aimed at crippling Moscow’s ability to pursue its war against Ukraine and spread discord among European allies.

The proposal is part of the latest package of sanctions sent to member states by the European Commission for their approval, according to a confidential draft seen by the Financial Times.

The sanctions come as the bloc is under increasing pressure from Ukraine to boost its military support amid a heavy Russian offensive. Meanwhile, EU governments are trying to crack down on Russian disinformation campaigns ahead of European parliament elections in June.

Fears of Russian interference in the elections have increased following revelations about spying scandals and influence campaigns, particularly among far-right groups, in the past month.

“Propaganda and disinformation campaigns are capable of undermining the foundations of democratic societies and are an integral part of the arsenal of modern hybrid attacks,” the draft proposal said.

Prohibiting funding for those campaigns would protect EU citizens from “malign interference”, it said.

The proposals also call for a ban on four media outlets from broadcasting in Europe, the documents showed. Prague-based Voice of Europe, whose site has already been taken down by Czech authorities in an alleged Russian influence case targeting European lawmakers, as well as Russian outlets RIA Novosti, Izvestija and Rossiiskaja Gazeta are set to be added to the sanctions list, pending unanimous approval by EU member states.

The package of sanctions — the bloc’s 14th following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — is mostly “technical and not really substantial”, one EU diplomat said, demonstrating the increasing difficulty the bloc has had in finding consensus among member states.

“In our view [it’s] not a very strong package.”

More at the link.

Kyiv:

Here are the details from The Kyiv Independent:

The Security Service of Ukraine claimed on May 7 that it had uncovered a network of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were preparing the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking officials in Ukraine.

Two colonels of Ukraine’s State Security Administration (UDO) accused of leaking classified information to Russia were reportedly detained.

In late November, Zelensky said in an interview with The Sun that he had survived at least five assassination attempts since the start of Russia’s full-scale war.

The FSB network aimed to find perpetrators among the military close to Zelensky’s security, “who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him,” according to the SBU.

The planned attack was supervised by Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin, and Alexey Kornev, wemployees of the FSB’s fifth service, according to the SBU.

“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for his inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian Secret Service,” SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said.

Other Russia’s targets reportedly included Maliuk and Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) head Kyrylo Budanov.

Budanov’s assassination was allegedly planned to be carried out before Orthodox Easter, celebrated on May 5. A Russian agent was supposed to track Budanov’s movements and pass the information to Russia, according to the SBU. One of the UDO colonels allegedly supplied the FSB agent with FPV (first-person-view) drones, warheads for portable launchers, and anti-personnel mines.

The plan reportedly was to hit a house where the HUR chief was supposed to be with a missile, and then attack the people remaining at the site with drones. Then there was supposed to be another missile strike to eliminate the evidence of a drone attack, the SBU said.

In early April, the SBU reported that a joint operation by Ukrainian and Polish law enforcement agencies led to the detention of a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate Zelensky.

Russian occupied Luhansk Oblast:

⚡️Russian proxy claims missile strike on oil depot in occupied Luhansk.

An oil depot in occupied Luhansk was struck by ATACMS missiles, causing a mass fire at the facility, Moscow-installed head of the occupied region Leonid Pasechnik claimed on May 8. At least five employees were reportedly injured and hospitalized.

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-proxy-claims-missile-strike-on-oil-depot-in-occupied-luhansk-injuring-5/

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

An oil depot in occupied Luhansk was struck by ATACMS missiles, causing a mass fire at the facility, the Moscow-installed head of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik, claimed on May 8. At least five employees were reportedly injured and hospitalized.

Pasechnik announced on Telegram at around 11:35 p.m. local time that the depot had been attacked and emergency response teams were working to contain the fire.

The Russian proxy later reported that five employees of the oil depot were injured and hospitalized, power lines were damaged, houses in the immediate area were partially de-energized, and a high-pressure gas pipeline was on fire.

“An overnight strike on an oil depot in Luhansk was allegedly carried out by Western-style ATACMS missiles,” Pasechnik claimed.

Ukrainian officials did not comment on the claims, which cannot be independently verified.

More at the link.

Chasiv Yar:

Here’s the video with the English subtitles on:

Machine translated description from below the video:

For a month now, the DIU’s KRAKEN active action unit has been defending the city, which has become one of the symbols of courage and resilience of the Ukrainian army.

The soldiers are heroically holding the defense, destroying numerous enemies every day, burning enemy armored vehicles and taking prisoners.

The enemy is trying to advance from different directions, but thanks to the unit’s well-coordinated work, there are no occupants in the city at the moment.

The usual work of modern Heroes.

Subscribe. We will show you more soon.

Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast:

The Kyiv Independent reports the butcher’s bill:

At least six people, including a six-year-old girl and a 91-year-old woman, have been injured during an intense day of Russian strikes in Nikopol, in the south-east of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, authorities reported on May 7.

In a post on Telegram, Governor Serhii Lysak said 14 kamikaze drones and artillery struck the city and surrounding communities.

Initially, he reported four people had been injured – two women aged 91 and 50, and two men aged 37 and 40. One of the men was in a serious condition.

Ten houses, three garages, and several farm buildings were damaged.

In a later post, Lysak said the number of injured had risen to six, including the six-year-old girl.

Nikopol, situated on the banks of the mostly dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir, just across from Russian-occupied Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is a regular target of Russian attacks.

Novomykhailivka:

For several weeks, Russians have been using assault tactics of infantry on motorcycles.

The idea behind this is that infantry on a motorcycle must quickly reach a position that needs to be taken and held. Counting on the fact that one infantryman on a motorcycle would be too small, fast and maneuverable target for Ukrainian forces to hit.

Video of the 79th brigade of Ukraine with the destruction of such Russian motorcycle units Video of the 79th brigade of Ukraine with the destruction of such Russian motorcycle units, Novomykhailivka front.

https://t.me/odshbr79/188

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets tonight so here is some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok.

@patron__dsns

👀👀👀 #bombasticsideeye #песпатрон

♬ Bombastic Side Eye Criminal Offensive Side Eye – CasaDi

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

11Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    Imagine rooting for Russia. Smh. So good to see Ukraine still fighting back. Looking forward to the day when Putin is held responsible for war crimes.
    Go Patron!! Good boy!

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    The other day I was studying Zelensky’s face, how he has aged.

    I spared a thought for his wife and children, and then I had a flashback to the first days of the war. Remember when Ukrainian farmers were towing home abandoned Russian tanks? There was a certain giddiness back then. Not any more.

  5. 5.

    wjca

    Thank you, as always, Adam.  I don’t know how you manage to do this day after day.  But I’m grateful that you do.

  7. 7.

    Carlo Graziani

    Ukraine seems to favor attacks on oil/fuel/lubricants for its mid- and long-range strikes. I wonder whether the Russians are experiencing shortages of such at the front.

    Also, is there a site that is tracking the ATACMS firing rates, even approximately, and tallying target selection? It’s been a couple of weeks now since they started firing them, and my impression is a few every day, mostly at Crimea, but today at Luhansk. Such data could shed some light on missile supply rates, but also on Ukraine’s war priorities.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    @Carlo Graziani:

    Maybe one can make some inferences from this Todd Prince story at RFERL.org (from April 29). In the middle left of the 3rd screen (on my laptop, anyway), there’s a link to an interactive map of Crimea. One of the Layers is “Explosions, Strikes, and Fires” with 143 entries. (It doesn’t break-down HIMARS and ATACMS specifically.)

    (That’s one of the stories I was trying to re-find a few days ago when I mentioned that Gen. Hodges said that “Crimea was key” to Ukraine’s victory.)

    HTH a little.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    @Carlo Graziani:

    ruZZia is importing refined fuel from Belarus, asked Tajikistan to set up a strategic supply, refined fuel availability has dropped 20%, the retail price has tripled and Gasprom went from triple digit billions in profit in 2022 to a single digit billions in losses in 2023.

    Are there military supply shortages?

    How would we know?

    In the “Thunder Run” to Kyiv, logistics ran out of fuel or couldn’t get it forward, crews punched holes in their fuel tanks as an excuse to abandon their vehicles and retreat, Supply Officers were selling fuel on the black market in Belarus, Crimea, Donetsk and Lughansk

    As far as I know, nobody is tracking ATACMS launches and targets. It’s kinda hard to do, (ruZZian milbloggers were claiming strikes before there were ATACMS in Ukraine, HIMARS strikes before there were HIMARS, etc), plus it’s bad OSINT that could hurt Ukraine.

Comments are closed.