Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s a doggy dog world.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

The lights are all blinking red.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

We still have time to mess this up!

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

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

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

In after Baud. Damn.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 962: Flying Falcons on the Hunt

War for Ukraine Day 962: Flying Falcons on the Hunt

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A painting by NEIVANMADE of a smiling F16 Flying Falcon emerging from clouds in the top left of the painting. Below the F16, in the center to bottom right, "Sweet 16" is written in blue over yellow scroll art.

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A quick housekeeping note. We are all still safe and as comfy as possible at the hotel. The girls are doing well. So is the Mominator. My friend is going to go over and check on my house tomorrow morning. Power restoration is still estimated to be on/by 17 OCT. My friend’s power, which did not go out during the actual hurricane, went out yesterday, but is now back on. Reports like this are coming in from all over the area. My friend also texted that the traffic lights at one of the main entrances to where I live is out. Also, someone got a gas delivery to the Walmart gas station in a 1/4 mile from that entrance. A number of fights broke out, the police were called, and armed guards were brought in to prevent rioting. Floriduh! man is alive and well.

Also, if you wind up in Tallahassee, I highly recommend Food Glorious Food. I took mom there for dinner/break fast tonight after Yom Kippur ended. The food was excellent and so was the service. Melissa took great care of us! If we’re here a few more days, which is what I expect as there’s no point going home if there’s no power, no gasoline, etc, that we’ll be going back.

I’ve been offline most of the day, am still fried, and am going to just run down the basics.

The Ukrainians appear to have brought down a Russian Su-34. The Russians are claiming it was brought down by a Ukrainian F-16.

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

This Week, We Added New Arms Agreements for Ukraine – Address by the President

12 October 2024 – 20:44

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today I am already in Kyiv. I spoke with Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi: he reported on all frontline directions and our Kursk operation.

The Pokrovsk direction – well done. Every soldier, every sergeant, every officer who ensures the defense of our positions.

In general, the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia directions are facing very difficult conditions, fierce enemy actions. But our units’ resilience is crucial. It is our resilience that makes all the difference.

As for the Kursk operation: there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions. But we are holding the defined lines.

This week, we added new arms agreements for Ukraine, and not just supplies – it is also production. Every foreign visit is always a conversation about investment in Ukraine’s industrial sector.

Our industrial capacity allows us to produce far more drones, more shells, and military equipment than our country’s financial capabilities allow. But at the same time, there are many partners who, for objective reasons, cannot help with arms supplies – they do not have their own weapons, but they can help us with financing. Also, some partners have special technologies that can be used in Ukraine right now – in defense, in our active actions. There is leadership among countries that brings together others in the world for our joint production work. I thank every partner of Ukraine who has already invested in our Ukraine’s defense industry. Thanks to such investments we have already significantly increased our production, especially of drones.

Now, in France, we have discussed a new model of cooperation – the creation of joint Ukrainian-French production facilities in our state. This is being elaborated at the level of the Defense Ministries. The Danish model already works, when the governments of partner countries attract investments in arms production, and we consider the new French model as an opportunity to attract investments specifically to establish new production facilities. We count on this result for Ukraine, and it is a personal task for the Minister of Defense and the Ministry of Strategic Industries – to ensure that all our agreements are implemented.

Today I want to commend the warriors of our National Guard of Ukraine who are fighting alongside everyone else on the frontline and who have proven themselves especially well these weeks. The 12th special purposes brigade of the National Guard, and in particular Senior Soldiers Roman Zdebskyi and Vladyslav Rusenko. The 15th brigade of the operational assignment – Junior Sergeant Bohdan Petrenko and Sergeants Yurii Kolosovskyi and Yevhen Kuznetsov. Also, the 1st presidential brigade – Junior Sergeant Vladyslav Skorobahach and Lieutenant Colonel Volodymyr Zhdanov. As well as the warriors of the special forces of the 2nd and 4th detachments of the Omega Special Purpose Center of the National Guard, who are fighting in the Kharkiv and our Donetsk regions. We cannot reveal their names now: the guys have particularly sensitive tasks, special work against the enemy. And the result is exactly what Ukraine needs. Thank you, guys!

And today I also want to acknowledge the Ukrainian military chaplains. The spiritual fathers of different confessions who serve so that our warriors have spiritual support and appropriate advice, bright hope. It is very important that more representatives of churches and religious communities, all those who work for the spiritual independence of Ukraine, join the military service for Ukraine, be closer to the guys at the front – primarily in combat brigades, exactly where they are needed most. I thank every military chaplain who serves in this way – with our Ukrainian warriors.

I thank everyone who makes Ukraine strong! And only in strong positions will we achieve true peace, just peace.

Glory to Ukraine!

The EU:

Here’s what a Russian missile looks like when our sanctions are taken seriously. We can’t afford any loopholes or weak spots in our export controls. It’s time to align our trade policy with our sanctions policy to cut off all technology transfers fuelling Russia’s war machine. No tech for terror.

Poland:

⚡️Poland’s 2025 EU presidency to focus on Ukraine’s integration and EU expansion, Duda says.

Polish President Andrzej Duda held the Arraiolos Group summit in Krakow on October 11, with multiple European heads of state in attendance.

Duda announced at the conference that the key priority of Poland’s EU presidency in early 2025 will be the European integration of Ukraine, transatlantic relations between the EU and the U.S, reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, and energy security in the EU.

https://kyivindependent.com/polands-2025-eu-presidency-to-focus-on-ukraines-integration-and-eu-expansion-duda-says/

From The Kyiv Independent:

Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that a key priority of Poland’s EU presidency in early 2025 will be the European integration of Ukraine and maintaining an “open door to Europe” policy for new members.

During the Arraiolos Group summit in Krakow, an annual informal gathering of presidents from parliamentary and semi-presidential EU member states, leaders discussed these issues.

“The question of how to act so that Ukraine not only survives the terrible aggression of Russia, which it is currently facing, but also how to act so that Ukraine is accepted into the EU as soon as possible, was raised repeatedly,” Duda said.

The discussions also focused on strengthening EU-U.S. ties, rebuilding Ukraine after the war, and ensuring energy security in the EU.

Other leaders, including Estonia’s president, echoed the call for supporting Ukraine and pushing for EU expansion to include Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans.

The European bloc granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022, and EU leaders agreed last December to open accession talks with the two aspiring members.

Poland will chair the EU Council between January and June 2025, taking over the six-month presidency of Hungary.

The Hungarian prime minister and his top diplomat, Peter Szijjarto, have repeatedly frustrated their European colleagues by obstructing assistance for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, claiming that arming Kyiv will lead to “escalation” and prolongation of the war.

Orban has become something of a black sheep in the EU, regularly lashing out against “Brussels bureaucrats” while drawing criticism about the domestic rule of law issues and democratic backsliding.

North Korea:

Here’s the full text of the quoted tweet:

Several thousand soldiers from the DPRK are currently undergoing training in Russia and may be deployed to the front in Ukraine by the end of the year — The Washington Post.

North Korean soldiers are reportedly supporting Russian troops on the ground, with some possibly already killed or wounded in Ukraine, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials. This development raises questions about whether military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has entered a new phase.

An unnamed representative of Ukrainian intelligence indicated that North Korean officers are present in the occupied territories of Ukraine to oversee Russian troops and study the battlefield, although Kyiv has not yet observed any North Korean units actively engaging in combat operations.

During a National Assembly session, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun called reports of North Korean military assistance to Russia “highly probable” and noted that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more personnel to support Russia’s military efforts.

On Tuesday, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that North Korea had already sent troops, including military engineers monitoring the use of weapons, and that “some of them have already died.”

A representative of Ukrainian military intelligence stated that it remains unclear where the combat units undergoing training in Russia will be deployed along the Ukrainian front. The representative suggested that Moscow might use these troops in Russia’s border regions, thereby freeing up Russian forces for combat in Ukraine.

Some South Korean experts view this scenario as very plausible.

South Korea’s Ministry of Defense added that the presence of North Korean technical advisers could indicate that Pyongyang is supplying Russia not only with artillery shells but also with more advanced weaponry, such as armored vehicles, missiles, and rocket launchers, which require on-site guidance.
United24

Iran and North Korea are supplying Russia with offensive weapons and now also soldiers.

But the West is mainly supplying Ukraine with weapons for defense.
That doesn’t work.

Chasiv Yar:

From United24 Media:

According to Forbes, Ukrainian troops in the eastern region of Ukraine recently encountered a rare Russian Okhotnik stealth drone that crashed near the town of Chasiv Yar. This drone, which boasts a wingspan of 65 feet and a jet-powered design, is one of the limited number of units in existence.

The circumstances surrounding the drone’s downfall remain unclear. Ground footage reportedly shows a warplane launching a missile at the Okhotnik, leading to its descent. While it may seem likely that a Ukrainian fighter was responsible for the strike, there is also a possibility that a Russian aircraft engaged the drone. Should the Okhotnik have experienced a malfunction, Russian forces might have opted to destroy it to prevent it from crash-landing largely intact within Ukrainian territory.

More at the link.

The Kursk cross border offensive:

Russian occupied Luhansk Oblast:

Odesa:

United24 Media has the details:

Russian missile strike on Odesa region killed 9 people and injured 11, hitting a civilian cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid for Palestine, reported Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Vitaliy Koval on October 10.

The Panama-flagged vessel was transporting 45 containers of packaged sunflower oil, meant to be part of a humanitarian aid shipment organized by the UN.

The ship and its cargo sustained significant damage, marking the third Russian attack on a civilian vessel in Odesa region in just four days.

“Even amidst war, Ukraine supplies food for 400 million people all over the globe,” said Koval, highlighting the critical role Ukraine plays in global food security.

Koval also pointed to the need for supplying Ukraine with enhanced air defense systems, stating that “protecting Ukraine’s food supply is key to ensuring the world’s food security.”

Despite Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian seaports, which began with its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine independently resumed its sea exports, with the Armed Forces guaranteeing the safety of the temporary sea route from the ports of Odesa.

Earlier, Russian troops launched a ballistic missile attack on Odesa’s port infrastructure, hitting a civilian vessel, killing 1 person and injuring 5 people.

Here’s a largely unremarked reality of targeting commercial shipping. Whether in Ukrainian ports, the Black Sea corridor, the Bab al Mandeb, or the Red Sea: a lot of the commercial agricultural products, food, and other essential supplies being shipped are for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, Sudan, and a few other places. Whether it’s the Russians targeting Ukraine’s ports and granaries or the Houthis targeting commercial shipping going through the Bab al Mandeb into the Red Sea or in the Red Sea, all they’re doing is worsening the humanitarian crises.

Kharkiv:

Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

Kherson Oblast:

Grozny, Chechnya:

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

Here’s some adjacent material from the Ukrainian MOD:

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

11Comments

  1. 1.

    Gloria DryGarden

    I love that you quoted Gibran, on love, for John and Joelle, on the shower thread.
    I trust that you have had a meaningful and blessed Yom Kippur.
    thanks for all you do here.

  3. 3.

    Freemark

    Here is hoping you can soon return to an intact home. I appreciate you keeping up the daily updates even through a hurricane.

  5. 5.

    weasel

    Hooray! So glad to hear FGF is still in business. Love that place but haven’t been there for probably fifteen years. So few of the good things I remember from my twenty years in Tallahassee are around any longer.

  8. 8.

    wjca

    @Jay: Given everything, can we call them Orc’s yet?

    On balance, no.  Orcs, after all, were effective fighters in person.  Not meat cubes with a side of sadism while behind the lines.

  9. 9.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Thank you, Adam, for continuing these updates with everything storm related you’re handling and observing Yom Kippur. I hope you all get back home safe soon, and to minimal damage.

  10. 10.

    NutmegAgain

    Totally trivial response: I’ve read that foxes are actually closer to being like cats than dogs. Also, they can giggle when scratched

     

    (eta, thank you once again Adam for all this hard work. (optimistic) when the war ends I really think there is a book in all these day by day observations. It’s really incredible.)

  11. 11.

    way2blue

    Apologies if this suggestion was offered in an earlier post (I’ve been traveling), but Tim Miller had an engaging conversation with Timothy Snyder on his podcast last week.  They covered a range of topics, including his new book, On Freedom.  I found the historical context Tim gave regarding the West’s misread of Ukraine’s willingness to fight back especially clarifying.  Plus how he frames the need for the U.S. to stop considering themselves (ourselves) the center of attention which he links to the sluggish pace of the U.S. giving Ukraine the tools it needs to prevail…   Take a listen.
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bulwark-podcast/id1447684472?i=1000672265418
    The Bulwark Podcast | Timothy Snyder:  The Politics of Impotence

Comments are closed.