Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

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

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

People are complicated. Love is not.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Come on, man.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 888: Russian Drones Are Attacking Ukraine While Russian Strategic Aviation & Submarines Are in Position To Launch a Missile Barrage!

War for Ukraine Day 888: Russian Drones Are Attacking Ukraine While Russian Strategic Aviation & Submarines Are in Position To Launch a Missile Barrage!

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Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is doing great on her second week off between treatments. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, while the new moderating policy is not yet finalized, I will remind everyone that in addition to making racist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, antisemitic, etc types of comments or remarks being unacceptable, wishing people dead is also not acceptable either. I know there’s a lot going on right now and different people are having different buttons pushed right now, but let’s all just dial it back a bit.

Russia has launched a drone attack on Ukraine and Russian strategic aviation is in the air and their ballistic missiles subs are in position to launch an Air-Sea missile attack on Ukrainian targets.

Here’s the map as of 5:40 PM EDT/12:40 AM local time in Ukraine. Just after I saved the image, the alert went up for Vinnytsia Oblast, which is just north of Odesa Oblast.

Air raid alert map of Ukraine as of 5:45 PM EDT on 30 July 2024. All of eastern, central, and southern Ukraine is under air raid alert. To the right of the map fighter jet icons indicate that Russian strategic aviation is attacking. At the bottom of the map, the ship icon indicates that Russian Black Sea fleet missile submarines are in position to fire.

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

At the Statewide Level, We Are Working to Protect Energy Facilities — Address by the President

30 July 2024 – 18:04

I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today — two of our regions.

First, Volyn. Security issues, the border. Everything concerning the north of our country. Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, and Chernihiv regions. A lot has already been done — both in terms of fortifications and border mining. However, there are still some instructions for the military. Very important ones.

Of course, there are numerous energy issues, as well as social and educational ones. The school year is approaching, and our priority now is normal, non-distance education for children wherever possible due to the shelters. There is an instruction from the Government of Ukraine to speed up the construction of shelters.

Regarding the energy sector — most of our regions have significant opportunities to create new energy generation. There are already loan and grant programs, various forms of support from our partners — most communities can find their own options to provide people with more energy capacity.

At the statewide level, we are working to protect energy facilities — all of the deadlines for specific facilities that are currently being announced at meetings must be met. This will also be a criterion for some personnel matters.

We also discussed today the ways to add more economic and transport opportunities, particularly to Volyn. The region has significant potential that is not yet being realized. This includes cross-border transit and the development in the Volyn region itself. The region and the Government should collaboratively prepare respective steps, respective decisions.

Here, now, in the Rivne region, I visited a hospital where our warriors are receiving care. I thank each doctor, each our nurse — everyone who brings our defenders back to life. Today we also held a regional meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. I am grateful to all the community leaders, to all the heads of Ukrainian enterprises, who strive to preserve jobs for our people and create new ones. I thank all our people in every community of Ukraine who are working effectively, who are helping our entire country defend and increase Ukraine’s capabilities.

Glory to our people!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here’s Ukrinform’s video reporting of President Zelenskyy’s visit to the hospital in Rivne:

The reason:

Here’s more from Tatarigami about what he thinks is going on with Ukrainian senior leadership:

Over a year and a half ago, I wrote multiple posts and threads about the persistence of Soviet-style command within the Ukrainian army. At that time, many dismissed my concerns, arguing that war is not the time for change, or outright attacked me for criticism. Unfortunately, the situation has only worsened since then, and the problem remains systemic. This issue existed before General Zaluzhnyi, continued during his tenure, and has deteriorated further under General Syrskyi. Despite promises to improve the situation, Syrskyi has increased authoritative pressure on commanding officers to hold ground with the same limited resources, and the results are evident.

Earlier this year, I correctly noted with my team that the Kharkiv operation was likely a diversion and that the main focus would remain on Donbas. While our troops have been trying to retake Hlyboke and have spent months holding the Krynki foothold (despite unclear objectives given our limited resources), Russians have systematically exhausted our brigades in Donbas. The Russian approach is not particularly innovative: they send small tactical units against Ukrainian defenses daily until one position falls, then exploit the success. Senior Ukrainian commanders have attempted to adopt similar tactics, forgetting that we have far fewer people and unreliable Western support that may or may not arrive on time, if at all.

Is it better on the Russian side? Absolutely not. My team has recordings of multiple radio communications from the Russian side, revealing threats of execution or denial of medical evacuation if their troops refuse to advance. It is far worse for the Russians, but they have significant advantages in personnel, equipment, vehicles, artillery, and air force. They can afford such tactics—we cannot. Moreover, the Russian army in 2024 is much smarter and more experienced than the disorganized troops we saw in February 2022. The only way to halt their advancement is to outsmart them by being more resourceful and careful, aiming to preserve our personnel when the situation requires it.

It is still possible to break the spine of the Russian army, which has severe logistical problems, dwindling availability of preserved vehicles, reliance on unarmored transportation, unmotivated personnel, and artillery barrel replacement bottlenecks. Additionally, many internal economic problems take time to manifest.

However, the window of opportunity is getting smaller. Unless radical changes are made, we are heading toward the most unfavorable scenario of all: forced negotiations, stalemate, minimization of Western aid, re-armament of the Russian army, and a new round of the war with much more unfavorable outcomes for Ukraine, leading to occupation and forced assimilation.

And a couple of grim follow ups:

Germany:

Germany provided a new military aid package for Ukraine.

This package includes:
◾️8 Leopard 1 A5 main battle tanks
◾️21,000 rounds of ammunition for Gepard
◾️10 unmanned surface vessels
◾️2 Bergpanzer 2 armored recovery vehicles
◾️10 ground surveillance radars
◾️24,810 combat helmets
◾️1 field hospital

Vielen Dank!
Together, we are stronger!
🇺🇦🤝🇩🇪
@BMVg_Bundeswehr

Poland:

United24 Media has the details:

A former activist with the Russian opposition movement has been detained in Poland on allegations of espionage on the morning of July 29.

Igor Rogov, previously affiliated with the Open Russia and Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained by Polish authorities. This news was first reported by several news outlets, and later confirmed by multiple sources including acquaintances of Rogov and journalists from the Russian media outlet Sota.

The specific grounds for the espionage accusations remain undisclosed.

Rogov, a 27-year-old Russian national, held a prominent role within Alexei Navalny’s political network, serving as deputy coordinator for the opposition leader’s headquarters in Saransk in 2017. Following the closure of this office, he transitioned to coordinating the Mordovian branch of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia.

In August 2020, Rogov and another coordinator of “Open Russia,” Artyom Vazhenov, were detained in Minsk, where they had arrived to serve as observers for the presidential elections. According to the Belarusian Investigative Committee, Rogov and Vazhenov were suspected of participating in mass riots.

In July 2021, Igor Rogov ran as an independent candidate for the city council of Saransk. He was allowed to participate in the elections, having been registered as a candidate. However, he was ultimately unable to win.

Recently, Igor Rogov has been living in Poland as a recipient of the Katowice Scholarship Program.

The Kurahove direction:

Kharkiv:

Gwara Media has the details:

UKRAINE, KHARKIV July 30 —  Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Ukrainian TV that 141 energy generation facilities will be installed in Kharkiv for the heating season, including generation and cogeneration units, and block and modular boilers.

In the spring of 2024, the Russian army attacked Ukrainian energy facilities with missiles and drone strikes. On May 8, the Prime Minister reported that they had destroyed or damaged 800 heating facilities in the country.

In particular, the March attacks destroyed the power and heating infrastructure supplying Kharkiv and its region. Currently, local power plants are unable to generate enough electricity to cover all consumer needs, so Kharkiv supplies it from other regions.

Terekhov noted that the day before, there was a meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on preparing Kharkiv for the heating season. Participants discussed the city’s experience in decentralizing heat, water, and energy supply systems.

“Today, our municipal companies are working on this [installing energy generation facilities] almost around the clock. We have held procurement procedures and are waiting for the equipment, as manufacturing takes some time. Meanwhile, we are building the foundations and connecting the networks,” said Ihor Terekhov.

According to him, Kharkiv will continue to work on decentralizing supply systems next year.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced a new financial contribution of $100 million to help prepare for the winter season for displaced and war-affected people in Ukraine.

To prevent further displacement and ensure people remain safe and warm in their homes, UNHCR has launched a comprehensive winter response plan as a part of a broader UN appeal to provide people with cash, help them repair homes or insulate them before the winter season, and pay energy bills.

Kherson Oblast:

 

 

Yekaterinburg, Russia:

The NPO Avtomatiki, a Roscosmos subsidiary, is on fire in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The roof of a chemical production facility is on fire. The area of ​​the fire is 1000 sq.m.

NPO Avtomatiki one of the largest enterprises in the Russia in the field of development and production of electronic control systems for missile complexes.

On June 12, 2024, the company was included in the US sanctions list as a manufacturer and supplier of control systems and electronic equipment to Russian military customers.

Kursk Oblast, Russia:

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

First, some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense:

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Робити влог з Карпат?😌⛰️🍃 🐾 #песпатрон

♬ suara asli – ˢᵃᵈⁿᵉˢˢ – ˢᵃᵈⁿᵉˢˢ

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

Making a vlog from the Carpathians? 😌⛰️🍃 🐾 #песпатрон

Here’s the video of Forever Young by Alphaville, which is the music in the vid above, as well as was the theme for my senior prom.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  4. 4.

    zhena gogolia

    Что стало поводом для подозрений, не уточняется.

    is all I find on Meduza. “What the grounds for the suspicions are has not been defined.

  9. 9.

    Carlo Graziani

    On the Yekaterinburg strike, just, wow. That’s about 2000 km (1250 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine. Those guys have gotten really good at long-range strike drones. And at finding legitimate, unprotected targets.

  10. 10.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    Russian infrastructure is falling apart. Chinese banks are refusing up to 80% of Russian transactions in yuan. Ukraine keeps hitting Russian oil refineries & other, war related, factories. Then the Houthis, of all people, sunk a Russian ship. Despite the grim realities of the frontlines, I can’t believe this isn’t having some affect on Russian operations in Ukraine. Perhaps that’s naive. I don’t have the expertise to judge. That’s why I read Adam’s updates.

    Speaking of lack of expertise, more than one person on the ‘Net has suggested a mass drone attack, all out, as many drones as Ukraine can muster, in the Donbas might drive Russian forces back. Again, I don’t know. Is this wishful thinking? 🤔 Someone who does know what they’re doing, please enlighten me.

    Thank you as always Adam. Despite last night’s disclaimer, I really wish you were still commenting more on BJ.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: This issue with a massed drone attack on Russian positions in Donbas, is are you talking Donetsk Oblast, which is partially occupied, or Luhansk Oblast, which is completely occupied? Either way, how do you mitigate harm to your own civilians that are trapped under Russian occupation? This isn’t even civilian harm mitigation of the adversary’s civilian population, which is required under international humanitarian law/laws of armed conflict. Rather, it is about not killing your own people who are suffering under occupation.

  13. 13.

    Jay

    re. Rogov, not the first time the ruZZian enemy has been inside, not outside. And what a place to be inside.

    Now that Intel Agencies are finally paying attention to the threat within,…….. they will be sweeping up more people, because after decades of “nobody caring/ruZZian oil and gas/trade with ruZZia”, it seems that the ruZZian spies have gotten sloppy, sloppy drunk in some cases.

    https://www.direkt36.hu/en/az-orosz-kemfonok-fia-magyar-lakcimet-kapott-meghozza-rogan-regi-jobaratjanak-ceges-ingatlanaban/

    Don’t worry, it’s in english.

  14. 14.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
    Related, the (Russian) Duma is enabling sanctions evasion through Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Also, allowing mining; unless the electricity demand is very well managed, with automation, this could cause grid issues in Russia, particularly if instabilities due to other causes (natural and/or human-caused) are in play. Mr. Putin had been negative about power-consuming cryptocurrency mining a month or two ago; the political currents are not simple.
    Russia Legalizes Crypto Mining and Brings an Experimental Regime – The State Duma passed two bills on Tuesday. (CoinDesk, Amitoj Singh, Jul 30, 2024)

    Russia’s lower house of the Federal Assembly, known as the State Duma, has passed two crypto-related laws on Tuesday, a Russia based policy expert told CoinDesk and Ria Novosti, Russia’s state-owned domestic news agency reported.
    The first law fully legalizes cryptocurrency mining in Russia from Nov. 1, 2024. Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs registered with the Ministry of Digital Development can engage in mining, while those who are not registered can only operate mining rigs if they do not exceed energy consumption limits, Ria Novosti reported.
    …
    The second law, which comes into effect on Sept. 1, 2024, is a special experimental regime which hands the Bank of Russia powers to allow authorized companies to conduct cross-border settlements and exchange trading in digital currency.

  16. 16.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    @Adam L Silverman: There you go! I said I wanted enlightenment & I got it. Thank you Adam. I knew there had to be some other factor involved given how brilliant Ukraine is with drones. It’s too easy to forget about the people living in the occupied territories, that an unknown percentage of them are not there out of choice.

  18. 18.

    wjca

    …ballistic missiles subs are in position to launch an Air-Sea missile attack on Ukrainian targets.

    Any word on where those subs are? I mean, are they in the Black Sea, or somewhere out of reach?

Comments are closed.