Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

In my day, never was longer.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

So many bastards, so little time.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

We won’t go back.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / China / War for Ukraine Day 920: The Attacks on Kharkiv Continue While the Butcher’s Bill from Yesterday Is Being Tallied

War for Ukraine Day 920: The Attacks on Kharkiv Continue While the Butcher’s Bill from Yesterday Is Being Tallied

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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. The first is that Rosie is still going great. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, despite a fair amount of sleep, I’m still fried. So, just the basics again tonight.

This is the tally of last night’s drone swarm attack:

Today, the death toll in Kharkiv from yesterday’s glide bomb attacks has been revised upwards.

And new victims were added to the genocidal tally.

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

We Need the Abilities to Really and Fully Protect Ukraine and Ukrainians – Address by the President

31 August 2024 – 20:42

Dear Ukrainians!
Today in Kharkiv, the clearing of rubble on the sites hit by Russian bombs continues. In total, yesterday’s strikes took the lives of six people in Kharkiv. My condolences to their families and friends.

Ninety-seven people were injured; all of them were provided with the necessary assistance. And this is just in Kharkiv, and this is just one day of Russian strikes.

Since this morning, Russian terrorists have also been bombing the Sumy region with guided aerial bombs, and again the Kharkiv region. And this terror can be effectively stopped only in one way: by strikes on Russian military airfields, on their bases, on the logistics of Russian terror. And most importantly, it is possible. We talk about it every day with our partners. We convince them. We present arguments.

These days, our Ukrainian delegation is working in Washington: the First Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, representatives of the General Staff, and the Head of the Office. There have been meetings at various levels, and among the primary issues for us is the long-range capability of our Defense Forces, the ability to prevent all this terror that our Kharkiv and other our cities, many, so many communities of Ukraine are forced to go through.

Clearing the Ukrainian skies of Russian guided aerial bombs is a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace. Ukrainian representatives provided all the necessary information, all the necessary details to our partners. And I appeal to the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany: we need the abilities to really and fully protect Ukraine and Ukrainians. We require both: permissions for long-range use, and your long-range shells and missiles. Vital decisions – exactly the ones that can influence events in the right way – cannot be postponed.

We are also talking with our partners about air defense – about systems, we need so much, especially now, before the school year starts, to provide more security for our Ukrainian children in schools, for our cities, for our energy sector. After all, we have the agreements with you, on air defense and on missiles for air defense systems. It is important to implement everything as soon as possible. We are working even harder these days for such news – about additional air defense systems.

I want to thank everyone in the world who is helping! And I thank all the friends of Ukraine who do not keep silent about this Russian terror, who react to all these strikes, who spread the truth about this war and urge the world to be more decisive and therefore more effective in defending Ukraine against Russia.

Today I spoke with the Commander-in-Chief. The Pokrovsk direction faces the highest number of assaults. The situation is also difficult in the Kramatorsk, Toretsk, and Kupyansk directions. Nearly two hundred battles are being fought daily along the entire front. And the most important thing now is to inflict maximum losses on the occupier and to respond to all Russian strikes.

We also discussed with the Commander-in-Chief the details of our offensive operations – active actions in the Kursk region. We continue to replenish the exchange fund for Ukraine and push the war into Russian territory. The resilience of each of our units, the precision of our warriors and the strong decisions of our partners are equally crucial. I thank all our combat brigades!

Glory to Ukraine!

The cost:

“If I don’t go, and someone else won’t go, the Russians will soon be running our yard.”

Oleksii Tyrpak is a Ukrainian serviceman of Roma origin, a scout from Zakarpattia with the call sign “Angel.” He joined the AFU as a volunteer at the beginning of the full-scale war when he was 24 years old. Despite being wounded numerous times, he returned to the battlefield every time. However, during a combat mission at the beginning of 2024, Oleksii died in the Donetsk region.

Eternal memory to Ukrainian Hero

📹: Suspilne

Just so everyone is aware, three days after noted strategic jenyuz Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart to lower the temperature in the region, the PRC Coast Guard rammed another Filipino ship in Filipino waters.

Dude’s got to go. In fact, we’d be better off if all of Biden’s senior natsec appointments were shown the door immediately.

Six more Israeli hostages were returned today. Dead. They were reportedly alive as of six days ago. Last night, Bibi rammed a new policy through the Israeli cabinet that the IDF will occupy the Philedelphi corridor indefinitely. The lone dissenting vote was Defense Minister Gallant’s. This new policy guarantees the ceasefire negotiations are dead and any attempts at this point are just kabuki. When asked about it, Biden said:

Biden told reporters the IDF is still working on identifying the bodies that were found in Gaza. “It’s time this war ended”, he said. Biden added he is “still optimistic” about the Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks and said “We think we can close the deal, they’ve all said they agree on the principles”

We’d probably be better off if Biden went too.

In that vein, the Georgian Legion has a message for VP Harris:

Here’s the full text of both tweets in the thread:

Happy Ukrainian Air Force Day.

These are sad days for this branch of service and us all, but we remember and are incredibly proud of all the extraordinary things that our Air Force has demonstrated in this war.

Facing such an overwhelmingly superior enemy, having as little as they got to fight with… and yet still fighting hard with honor and opening new chapters in the history of modern warfare, against all odds.

Frankly, I don’t think it will be a huge overstatement if we call Ukraine the world’s most experienced and masterful air defense force.

Because yeah, good luck repelling the largest missile attacks in modern history with a handful of old S-300s, PATRIOTs, IRIS-Ts, SAMP/Ts, and NASAMS. And good luck having obsolete MiGs and Su-27s and combating Russia’s attempts to enforce its air domination.

Moreover, it’s remarkable that the Ukrainian Air Force manages to weasel its way out of its critical shortcomings and successfully adapts to using Western-provided advanced munitions with decades-old Soviet machines—and moreover, masters new advanced weaponry within months to use it on battlefields on the go.

And:

It should be noted that today is a celebration day not only for the military but also for civilian aviation in Ukraine.

It will take many years, if not decades for Ukraine to recover from the deadly aftermath of the Russian war… our airports lay in ruins.

Of course, the day when we see civilian aircraft roaring in our skies again will be the happiest day of our lives.

The Kursk cross border offensive:

Kyiv:

Pokrovsk:

Novoselovka Pervaya, Donetsk Oblast:

Kharkiv:

WARNING!! WARNING!! GRAPHIC CONTENT!! WARNING!! WARNING!!

The family of the 14-year-old girl who died in a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv had just begun to recover from another loss — the girl’s father had previously gone missing in the Donetsk area, her relative Olga told Ukrainian media ‘Suspilne.’

In the video, the girl’s mother is sitting on a bench, in complete shock and tears, after the loss of her only child. At the time of the attack, the schoolgirl was sitting on a bench near a children playground.

In the picture is a photo of the deceased girl with her head torn apart by the explosion of a russian bomb. On the right are mocking comments from cheering russians.

russians — are not human in any form or way. They are nothing more than sick, twisted animals, bringing pain and suffering and collectively supporting Z-war — a war against the civilized world.

ALL CLEAR!!!!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron.

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

Open thread!

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  • Adam L Silverman
  • AlaskaReader
  • Another Scott
  • Aziz, light!
  • Bill Arnold
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  • YY_Sima Qian

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    17Comments

    7. 7.

      YY_Sima Qian

      Adam, are you saying that Sullivan shouldn’t have gone to Beijing? The frequency & intensity of high level contacts between the PRC & the US have already been concerningly low since mid-way through the pandemic. I for one am glad that the Biden team appears to want to leave a more stable Sino-US relationship to his successor (Harris/Walz as we all hope) than he found it. I just wish this was done in ’21 rather than ’24. & all the efforts at stabilization rests on an increasingly shaky foundation, as the overall valence of the relationship continue to deteriorate, w/ the continuing escalation of trade & tech wars, continued attempts at economic decoupling, & worsening security dilemma(s) across the Pacific & across E. Asia. Of course, easily reversed should Trump win again in Nov.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Bill Arnold

      @Jay:
      I would be surprised at any serious Swiss shift from neutrality, but the re-export ban might be altered or lifted.

      Bern bans the sale of weapons to countries at war, and that’s had a ripple effect on relationships with other countries wanting to send arms to Ukraine that might include Swiss components.
      “The re-export ban must be lifted,” urges the report.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Another Scott

      @Jay: Thanks for the pointer.

      Here’s the press release and landing page for the Swiss report (scroll down for the link to the PDF.

      The main recommendations

      The Commission notes a sharp deterioration in the situation in Europe, marked by power politics, increasingly destabilised crisis regions and, above all, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Its recommendations therefore concern, among other things, neutrality, international cooperation, the orientation of security policy instruments and armaments policy.

      • Orientation of security policy instruments: The coordination of security policy instruments requires a comprehensive defence concept that clarifies the tasks and interactions of military and civil defence, promotes the resilience of the economy and administration and raises awareness among the population of the deteriorating security situation. Combating disinformation and influence activities is of great importance in this context. The army must be focused on its defence capability. By a large majority, the committee recommends increasing the defence budget to 1% of GDP by 2030. Foreign economic policy and economic policy in general must be considered as part of the country’s economic supply. A majority also proposes merging the civil service and civil protection, an option currently being developed as part of the in-depth work on the compulsory service system. The committee also recommends focusing the protection of the population on the deteriorating security situation and the mission to be fulfilled in the event of war.

      • Armaments policy: The Swiss arms industry must be strengthened and better adapted to the threat. To this end, innovation must be encouraged and access to EU and NATO cooperation projects must be guaranteed. A majority would like to lift the ban on re-exports for the countries listed in Annex 2 of the Ordinance of 25 February 1998 on war material (OMG; RS 514.511). The committee considers – unanimously and by a large majority respectively – that energy and bilateral agreements with the EU are part of the country’s economic supply.

      • International cooperation: Cooperation with NATO and the EU must continue to be deepened with a view to achieving a common defence capability and becoming genuine defence cooperation. To this end, expectations regarding its own defence capability and the counterparts that Switzerland could offer to a cooperation partner must be defined. In this context, military peace promotion must also be developed. Finally, it is about consolidating cooperation not only at the military level, but also at the diplomatic level, particularly in the context of international arms control activities and the regulation of new technologies.

      • Neutrality: The neutrality policy must be revised, more focused on its security function and applied more flexibly. A majority of the committee also recommends that the neutrality policy be better aligned with the UN Charter and that greater account be taken of the distinction between aggressor and victim. Finally, a large majority is in favour of a fundamental revision of the Federal Law of 13 December 1996 on War Material (LFMG; RS 514.51) in order to be able to monitor the development of the neutrality policy.

      1% of GDP for defense and all the rest means that they’re not going to be joining NATO anytime soon, but they clearly are saying that their neutrality policy isn’t a suicide pact. How they modify their neutrality policy to fit all the rest would seem to be a challenge, especially since it’s such a huge part of Swiss history.

      I have no idea how much popular support this change would have. The Swiss people can be contrarians and not want to change…

      We’ll see what happens.

      Thanks again.

      Cheers,
      Scott.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Gin & Tonic

      I know the rules of this blog and of this nightly thread, but looking at the posted reactions of “ordinary” russians to the scene of a dead 14-year-old girl in Kharkiv makes it very, very hard to stay in line. These people are worse than animals – an animal acts on instinct, and you can’t expect any kind of rational thought – these are allegedly humans, who were raised by parents, went to school, very likely went to church at some point, and are acting like this?? Fucking monsters.

      I better stop here.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      YY_Sima Qian

      The China Coast Guard (CCG) playing bumper boats w/ the Philippines Coast Guard (PCG), & Chinese Maritime Militia (CMM) fishing vessels doing the same w/ chartered Filipino resupply vessels, have been a daily occurrence for the past year+.

      The confrontations started at the 2nd Thomas Shoal, where the Filipino Navy beached a WW II era landing ship (the BRP Sierra Madre), w/ a small contingent of Filipino Marines, in ’99 in a bid to assert physical control (in contravention of a regional modus vivendi at the time for the rival claimants to refrain from permanently occupying new features in the Spratly Islands, & thus not a move welcomed by the Philippines’ neighbors). That move was itself likely a delayed response to the PRC wrestling de facto control of Mischief Reef from the Philippines in ’94 (which formed the impetus behind the regional modus vivendi to stop permanently occupying new features in the late ’90s), & construction of permanent structures on it in ’99. The Filipino Navy had been regularly resupplying the small garrison there since. There was a confrontation early in Duterte’s administration where the PLAN interfered w/ Filipino resupply mission, the Duterte eventually negotiated w/ Beijing an unpublicized “gentlemen’s agreement” where by the PRC would not interfere w/ Filipino resupply of the garrison, & the Philippines would not try to reinforce the structural integrity of the decaying landing ship to extend its viability as an outpost.

      The new modus vivendi held until the Marcos, Jr. administration, who reversed the pro-PRC lean of his predecessor. The Philippines started trying to ship structural reinforcements to BRP Sierra Madre, w/ the Marcos, Jr. administration either not aware of Duterte’s secret “handshake deal”, or calculated that they could overcome PRC opposition w/ sufficient US support. That resulted in a long running period of confrontation between the CCG & the PCG at the 2nd Thomas Shoal, w/ Chinese vessels “shouldering” Filipino vessels to force them to change course, & blasting them w/ water canons. The Philippines executed a PR strategy of meticulously documenting the aggressive maneuvers of the CCG & the CMM, while refraining from reacting in anyway (since it will lose any such “grey zone” physical altercation, anyway). The strategy was effective in mobilizing rhetorical & symbolic support from the governments of the US, Japan, Australia & the UK, but not so much in the SE Asian region. Externally, the Filipino government emphasized that it has been trying to secure its Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) rights at the 2nd Thomas Shoal, on which the UNCLOS is clearly favorable. However, internally, the Filipino government communication to the domestic population has been that it is trying to protect sovereign Filipino territory (a long standing Filipino position dating back to the ’70s). On the latter position the UNCLOS is unfavorable, just as w/ sovereign claims of the PRC & other claimants, & the US/JPN/AUS/UK do not support any such sovereignty claims (at least not officially).

      The PRC suffered further repetitional damage in the West, but the Philippines failed to secure any material support that would strengthen its position at the 2nd Thomas Shoal. So, in July, both sides decided to deescalate, & reached a new provisional “gentlemen’s agreement”, whose terms remain secret. The PRC claims that the Philippines agreed not attempt to structurally reinforce the BRP Sierra Madre & will notify the CCG in advance of any resupply missions, which the Philippines strongly dispute. The Philippines claim that they have already completed enough reinforcements to allow the beached landing ship to last another decade, on which the PRC is credulous. It seems like both sides are trying to satiate the nationalist passions that have been riled up, lest it abort the new modus vivendi, but confrontations at the 2nd Thomas Shoal has largely ceased.

      OTOH, there has been a new series of confrontations at Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands (& occasionally at Scarborough Shoal NW of Luzon, another hot spot). Since Apr. ’24, a PCG cutter has been stationed there, seemingly emulating PRC practice of “squatting” CCG & CMM vessels at features in the Spratlys to assert de facto control, w/o violating the letter of the late 90’s regional modus vivendi of no permanent occupation of new features. What Adam posted is the latest of these confrontations at Sabina Shoal. “Shouldering” is a time worn tactic employed by naval/coast guard vessels around the world. What makes PRC actions aggressive is not the specific tactics, but motivation behind them, which is the use of physical intimidation/coercion to dissuade the Philippines from certain courses of action that the PRC deems not in its interest. The latest out of Manila (on 8/19) is that the Marcos, Jr. administration is studying whether the provisional “gentlemen’s agreement” between the PRC & the Philippines at the 2nd Thomas Shoal could be extended to the rest of the Spratly’s.

      Zooming out, I suspect the main reason behind the PRC’s more aggressive stance toward the Philippines is Marco, Jr.’s lean toward the US, specifically the decision to allow US access to 3 Filipino bases in norther Luzon, clearly aimed at their utilization in a Taiwan scenario (though the Philippines disputes the characterization). Nothing gets Beijing riled up & starts to behave in a less than cold & calculating manner than perception of directly intervening in Taiwan’s behalf. Of course, the PRC’s aggressive behavior tend to produce the opposite effect wrt the Philippines, & the nationalist passions there can tie Manila’s hands just as much as Chinese nationalism can constrain Beijing’s.

      What I find curious is the regional reaction to this year+ series of Sino-Philippines confrontations in the Spratlys. Not a single ASEAN capital has voiced sympathy to the Philippines. This is in sharp contrast to the mid-’10s, when the PRC started its massive land reclamation at its already occupied features. There was near unanimity across maritime SE Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, & Vietnam) in voicing concern at & admonition toward PRC behavior. Perhaps it is because the Philippine’s assertion of sovereignty over the Spratlys rival their own claims. Or perhaps they recall how the BRP Sierra Madre got to the 2nd Thomas Shoal. Or perhaps because the Trump Administration made Sino-US Great Power Competition the central driving force of US policy, including in the “Indo-Pacific”, a policy largely continued & in some aspects further escalated by the Biden Administration; thus, regional capitals fear that it is the US largely driving the cross-Pacific security dilemma that is imperiling regional peace & prosperity, more so than the PRC’s greyzone tactics at specific disputed features. (Which is not to say they are not concerned by PRC behavior, that is why they all want the US/JPN/AUS/IND/EU to remain engaged in the region.) Or perhaps because the PRC has become even more central to the regional supply chains, trade flows, & realization of developmental goals in the past decade, & this applies even to the Philippines.

      Whatever the reason, Malaysia under Anwar Ibrahim has been tilting more toward the PRC, Indonesia under Prabowo continues to delicately balance between the US & the PRC but expanding cooperation w/ the latter across all spheres, Singapore under both Lee Hsien-long & Lawrence Hwang have spent much more of their energy warning against the US from pursuing Great Power Competition w/ the PRC to sustain its primacy, & Vietnam continues to prioritize relations w/ the PRC while embracing partnerships in all directions (including the US, Japan, Australia, India & Russia).

      Equally curious is that Vietnam is now engaged in land reclamation at a couple of its occupied features in the Spratlys, at a scale that appears to rival the PRC’s activities in the mid-10s. It is still early in the process, but the PRC has not lodged any public protests or attempted to interfere w/ Vietnamese efforts, which the former is perfectly capable of doing. Perhaps the Beijing has calculated that it is not its interest to confront both Vietnam & the Philippines at the same time. Perhaps Beijing has calculated that Vietnam does not really have the wherewithal to truly build out, man & utilize artificial islands of the size that the PRC has managed (& it is probably right).

      I think the most effective way to pressure the PRC to rein in its most aggressive behavior is to get most of maritime SE Asia to criticize such behavior. The PRC will not jeopardize relations w/ all of them. However, that might paradoxically require the US to try to improve the valences of the relationship w/ the PRC. Otherwise, the main fear in the region would be that geopolitical rivalry & economic decoupling will threaten their economic prosperity & developmental objectives. Vietnam has been a main beneficiary of the supply chain “de-risking” activities, but not if the US goes all the way to “w/ us or against us”.

      No US administration will invoke the mutual defense treaty w/ the Philippines to aid in the latter’s attempt to assert sovereignty claims that the US does not officially recognize.

      Reply

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