(Image by NEIVANMADE)
The Russians conducted another double tap strike on Ukrainian first responders last night:
‼️ In Kharkiv Oblast, russian troops twice attacked rescuers during a fire response.
Drones hit a school in Bohodukhiv, then struck again an hour later, damaging a fire truck and injuring civilians. A second strike set another fire truck ablaze.
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Another day, another war crime.
⚡️Russia attacks Ukraine with 178 drones overnight, targets energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian defense forces intercepted 130 out of the 178 Russian attack drones launched at Ukraine during an overnight assault on March 14 that included attacks on energy infrastructure.
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 15, 2025 at 8:42 AM
From The Kyiv Independent:
Ukrainian defense forces intercepted 130 out of the 178 Russian attack drones launched at Ukraine during an overnight assault on March 14 that included attacks on energy infrastructure.
The attack involved two Iskander-M ballistic missiles launched from Kursk Oblast and 178 Shahed-type attack drones along with various decoy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
The wave of attacks began at 7:30 p.m. local time on March 14 and continued throughout the night. Russia launched the drones from multiple locations including Orel, Millerovo, Kursk, Bryansk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as Chauda in occupied Crimea.
The Air Force reported that it shot down 130 Shahed-type strike drones and other UAVs over fourteen Ukrainian regions including Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts.
An additional 38 Russian decoy drones were reported “locationally lost” without causing any damage.
The attack caused damage in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv regions. Officials have yet to release information about casualties or details of the damage entailed. Reports indicate that the Russian attack hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa Oblast.
Russia has been steadily expanding its air campaigns against Ukraine in recent months, with bombardments by flocks of Shahed drones a nightly occurrence.
Ukraine has recently had some success in counterattacks. On the night of March 10, over 330 Ukrainian drones made it to Moscow. Subsequent strikes have hit Russia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.
I want to highlight the following above the jump because it goes to a larger issue:
Pretty sensible. “Canada is actively looking at potential alternatives to the U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter and will hold conversations with rival aircraft makers, Defence Minister Bill Blair said late Friday” www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7484477
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:32 AM
From the CBC:
Canada is actively looking at potential alternatives to the U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter and will hold conversations with rival aircraft makers, Defence Minister Bill Blair said late Friday, just hours after being reappointed to the post as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet.
The remarks came one day after Portugal signalled it was planning to ditch its acquisition of the high-tech warplane.
The re-examination in this country is taking place amid the bruising political fight with the Trump administration over tariffs and threats from the American president to annex Canada by economic force.
There has been a groundswell of support among Canadians to kill the $19-billion purchase and find aircraft other than those manufactured and maintained in the United States.
After years of delay, the Liberal government signed a contract with the U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin in June 2023 to purchase 88 F-35 jets.
The conversation about what’s best for overall Canadian interests and the defence of the country is currently taking place with the military, Blair told CBC’s Power & Politics.
“It was the fighter jet identified by our air force as the platform that they required, but we are also examining other alternatives — whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35,” Blair told host David Cochrane.
Canada has already put down its money for the first 16 warplanes, which are due to be delivered early next year.
Blair is suggesting that the first F-35s might be accepted and the remainder of the fleet would be made up of aircraft from European suppliers, such as the Swedish-built Saab Gripen, which finished second in the competition.
“The prime minister has asked me to go and examine those things and have discussions with other sources, particularly where there may be opportunities to assemble those fighter jets in Canada,” Blair said.
That was an indirect reference to the Swedish proposal, which promised that assembly would take place in Canada and there would be a transfer of intellectual property, which would allow the aircraft to be maintained in this country.
Major maintenance, overhaul and software upgrades on the F-35 happen in the United States.
What we’re seeing as a result of Trump, his employer/owner Musk, and Trump’s natsec team playing games with the congressionally legislatively required support for Ukraine, as well as threatening allies and partners with invasion, conquest, subjugation, and annexation is that those allies and partners are now looking for other suppliers to get their weapons systems, weapons, munitions, and support packages from. If you were looking to destroy the US defense sector, this is how you would do it. Which, because our spending on weapons systems, weapons, and munitions is the only actual fiscal policy/stimulus we allow ourselves in the post-Ronald Reagan/post-Milton Friedman US, would also destroy the US economy. Not that either Trump, or his employer/owner Musk, actually care, but almost every dollar that went towards supplying Ukraine weapons systems, weapons, maintenance, and support were actually spent in the US. And in doing so, whether you like it or not, the US has been able to run a live fire expo and demonstration of its military wares with the Ukrainians doing all the hard work. What Trump, his employer/owner Musk, and Trump’s team have done in less than a month is make it very, very, very clear to everyone why buy American is no longer a sound strategic choice. The question here is not whether Trump, his employer/owner Musk, and Trump’s team are witting or unwitting Russian assets. The question is what, if anything, would they be doing differently if they were. And the answer to that is nothing.
President Zelenskyy’s addressed the virtual meeting of (nation) state leaders earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
The Path to Peace Must Begin Unconditionally – Speech by the President at the Virtual Meeting of State Leaders
15 March 2025 – 15:53
Thank you so much, Keir, thank you for this meeting, for organizing this meeting.
And thanks to all of you for supporting Ukraine.
I want to start with a few important points to my mind.
First – since Tuesday, there has been a proposal on the table for a ceasefire, a silence from war in the air, at sea, and on the front lines.
This is an American proposal – a full, unconditional ceasefire for 30 days.
And in that time, without killings, it would truly be possible to negotiate all aspects of a real peace.
Well, we talked about who would delay peace and slow everything down – and now we see it clearly. A ceasefire could have already happened, but Russia is doing everything to prevent it.
Putin is lying to everyone about the situation on the ground, especially about what’s happening in the Kursk region, where our Ukrainian forces continue their operations. Our troops have also stabilized the situation on the front in Donetsk region – I mean Pokrovsk. It’s a big work of our heroes and a big success, I think so. Putin is also lying about how a ceasefire is supposedly too complicated. In reality, everything can be controlled, and we have discussed this with the Americans.
The truth is, Putin has already dragged out the war for nearly a week after the talks in Jeddah In Saudi Arabia. And he will keep dragging it out.
This is Russia’s war – more than three years of full-scale fighting and destruction. To stop this, active pressure is needed, not just talks. Pressure on Russia. Strong measures are needed to take even the first steps toward ending the war. This includes sanctions – sanctions against Russia must not only be maintained but continuously strengthened.
And I ask you to take these steps and to work with your partners on this.
Second – we must define a clear position on security guarantees. Security is the key to making peace reliable and lasting. We need to keep working on the contingents that will form the foundation of Europe’s future Armed Forces. Peace will be more reliable with the European contingents on the ground and the American side as a backstop. There must be clear commitments on how this will function.
The same goes for investments in defense production – both in Ukraine, where it is now growing the fastest, and in your countries. Europe needs its own arsenals and the capability to produce the most advanced weapons. It shouldn’t take you 3 to 5 years to produce ammunition when it’s about your defense and it’s about your security. Please do it as soon as possible.
Also, I ask you not to forget about strengthening air defense – both in Ukraine and, in the future, in your countries. We all need protection. I thank each of you who is helping us with this air defense.
And this is a very bad signal – taking Russians’ opinion into account regarding the contingent. The contingent must be stationed on Ukrainian soil. This is a security guarantee for Ukraine and a security guarantee for Europe. If Putin wants to bring some foreign contingent onto Russia’s territory, that’s his business. But it is not his business to decide anything about Ukraine’s and Europe’s security.
And third – we need to unite not only Europe and the G7 but also all other countries around the world for the sake of peace. Many of you have connections across the globe – in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific region. We want to end this war in a just and final way. And we have mobilized diplomacy to the maximum to achieve this. And the world must understand that Russia is the only obstacle preventing peace.
I ask you to talk to everyone – from Brazil to China, from African nations to Asian countries – about the fact that real peace is needed. Peace through strength. Peace through forcing Russia to take all necessary steps for the sake of peace.
For many years, Putin has been lying to the world, claiming that he did not provoke or prolong this war. But now, with the ceasefire situation, everything is very clear. Whoever imposes unnecessary conditions that complicate and delay everything – that is the true cause of the war. Putin does it. The path to peace must begin unconditionally. And if Russia doesn’t want this, then strong pressure must be applied until they do. Moscow understands one language. I ask you to talk to America, to President Trump, to help bring peace faster. This can happen through full sanctions, strong pressure, forcing Russia to make peace.
Peace is possible. It’s possible when we all work, and work together – for peace, for security guarantees, for ensuring that the aggressor gains nothing from this war.
Thank you so much! Thank you for your support!
Glory to Ukraine!
Zelensky, at a briefing following the UK-initiated summit, emphasized that Ukraine will not recognize occupied territories as Russian. The US raised this issue in Jeddah and received Ukraine’s firm position.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 12:16 PM
He also revealed that Russia is attempting to encircle Ukrainian Armed Forces units in Kursk from Ukrainian-controlled territory, highlighted a persistent missile shortage, and stressed that if Russia violates a ceasefire, Ukraine will continue defending itself as it does today.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Georgia:
Day 108 of continuous protests—Rustaveli Avenue is blocked again. Today protesters hold banners in support of demonstrators in Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia.
#GeorgiaProtests
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Day 108. New, free and fair Parliamentary elections, and the release of the regime prisoners. #GeorgiaProtests
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Local media outlet manager Gela Mtivlishvili reports that he was attacked by armed special forces person on the highway, and that the car is just behind him. Mtivlishvili is trying to escape the chase.
#terrorinGeorgia— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Gela Mtivlishvili’s media outlet, Mtis Ambebi, published a video of the attack on him. The footage shows an armed man dressed in black cursing:
“Khareba [Head of the Special Tasks Department], I’ll f**k the mother of anyone who doesn’t like him […]”.
#TerrorinGeorgia
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
1/ On the night of March 14-15, a man was killed on Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi. Eyewitnesses told Publika that an unknown person shot him multiple times with a firearm. Several passersby narrowly escaped the bullets.
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 2:16 AM
2/ The investigation has been launched under articles related to premeditated murder and the illegal purchase, storage, and carrying of a firearm.
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 2:16 AM
According to `Formula TV’ this is the person who killed a man on Chavchavadze Avenue last night. His face is uncovered, yet no one has been arrested.
— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM
The US:
News of the termination of funding for RFE/RL, emails placing Voice of America employees on indefinite leave, and the shutdown of the Wilson Center, on the same day, are a devastating blow to democracy and a major gift to anti-American authoritarian regimes worldwide
— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Voiceless America.
Trump has shut down Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
This is more alarming than one might think.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Putin’s first move as the President in 2000 was crashing an independent TV channel NTV and establishing government control over it. The channel set high professional standards, broadcasting live coverage and analysis of current events.
By 1999 the audience achieved 102 million.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM
During parliamentary elections in 1999 and presidential elections in 2000, NTV did not support Putin.
In May 2000, tax police, backed by officers from the general prosecutor’s office and the FSB, stormed the Moscow headquarters of NTV.
In April 2001, Gazprom took over NTV.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Within the next couple of years, two independent TV channels which absorbed the former NTV journalists, were also shut down.
Putin arrested and exiled the oligarchs and shareholders of the NTV channel and appointed his classmates and friends to managerial positions.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Of course, Putin and Trump did not invent it.
In 1917, Lenin issued a Decree on the Press, giving the government the emergency power to close down any newspapers that supported the counterrevolution. Security services could imprison and execute journalists and editors.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
A monopoly on minds is crucial for totalitarian states.
Voice of America brought reality to those living behind the Iron Curtain. I remember my father listening to it in the kitchen at night. I would try to hear through the wall. It was the only way to know what was going on.
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Now, America has no voice.
Who’s next?
— Zarina Zabrisky (@zarinazabrisky.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
‘as Dmitri Medvedev, the former Russian president, said on social media the other day, “If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud.”’ www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/u…
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
From The NY Times: emphasis mine)
In a span of only 50 days, President Trump has done more than any of his modern predecessors to hollow out the foundations of an international system that the United States painstakingly erected in the 80 years since it emerged victorious from World War II.
Without formally declaring a reversal of course or offering a strategic rationale, he has pushed the United States to switch sides in the Ukraine war, abandoning all talk about helping a nascent, flawed democracy defend its borders against a larger invader. He did not hesitate when he ordered the United States to vote with Russia and North Korea — and against virtually all of America’s traditional allies — to defeat a U.N. resolution that identified Moscow as the aggressor. His threats to take control of the Panama Canal, Greenland, Gaza and, most incredibly, Canada, sound predatory, including his claim Tuesday that the border with America’s northern ally is an “artificial line of separation.”
He cut Ukraine off from arms and even American commercial satellite imagery, partly out of pique over his blowup in the Oval Office with President Volodymyr Zelensky, but largely because the Ukrainian president insists on a guarantee that the West would come to his country’s aid if Russia rebuilds and reinvades.
Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs on his allies after describing them as leeches on the American economy. And he has so damaged trust among the NATO allies that France is discussing extending its country’s small nuclear umbrella over Europe, and Poland is thinking of building its own atomic weapon. Both fear the United States can no longer be counted on to act as the alliance’s ultimate defender, a core role it created for itself when the NATO treaty was written.
No one knows how successful Mr. Trump will be in ripping asunder what every American president since Harry Truman has built — an era of institution-building that Mr. Truman’s secretary of state memorialized in a book entitled “Present At the Creation.” To live in Washington these days is to feel as if one is present at the destruction.
It could be four years or more before we know whether these changes are permanent or whether the guardians of the old system will hunker down, like soldiers seeking to survive in the trenches of Donbas. By then, the Western allies may have moved on from an America-centric system.
Or, as Joseph S. Nye Jr., the political scientist known for his work on the nature of soft power, said of Mr. Trump recently, “He is so obsessed with the problem of free riders that he forgets that it has been in America’s interest to drive the bus.”
“The big debate now is whether this is a tactical move to reshape our foreign policy or a revolution?” said R. Nicholas Burns, the American ambassador to China under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and to NATO under President George W. Bush.
“I’ve come to think it’s a revolution,” he said. “When you are voting with North Korea and Iran against NATO allies, when you are failing to stand up to Russian aggression, when you are threatening to take the territory of your allies, something has fundamentally changed. There is a breaking of the trust with allies we may never be able to repair.”
But Europe has dug in deeper with the Ukrainians, essentially dividing NATO’s largest power from all but a few of its 31 other members. Not since the Suez crisis in 1956 — when France, Britain and Israel invaded Egypt — has the United States found itself on other side of a conflict from its closest allies. But this breach has been deeper, and more fundamental.
One senior European official, speaking shortly after the Munich Security Conference last month, said that it was clear that Mr. Trump’s real agenda was to simply get a cease-fire — any cease-fire — and then “normalize the relationship with the Russians.”
The prospect so concerned European officials, who believe they could be next in Russia’s sights, that Friedrich Merz, the longtime promoter of the trans-Atlantic alliance who is poised to be the next chancellor of Germany, declared on the night of the German elections that his “absolute priority” would be to “achieve independence from the U.S.A.”
“I never thought I would have to say something like this,” he said, but he had concluded that the new administration was “largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Other members of Mr. Trump’s national security team have talked about a “Monroe Doctrine 2.0.” That suggests a world in which the United States, China, Russia and perhaps Saudi Arabia take responsibility for their distinct spheres of influence. Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6, the British spy agency, said in a BBC interview that it reminded him of the Yalta Conference — the meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin in 1945 — where “the strong countries decided the fate of small countries.”
“That’s the world we’re going into,” he predicted, adding “I don’t think we’re going back to the one we had before.”
Of course, such an arrangement has long been a dream of Mr. Putin’s, because it would elevate the power of his economically declining state. But as Dmitri Medvedev, the former Russian president, said on social media the other day, “If you’d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud.”
More at the link.
Trump appointed Keith Kellogg, who seems not to be liked by Moscow, as special envoy to Ukraine. He’ll deal directly with Zelensky and Ukrainian leadership. Previously, Kellogg was Trump’s special representative for Russia and Ukraine.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:14 PM
First, it’s Lieutenant General Kellogg, he’s only got three stars. Second, this is a consolation prize because Putin has already vetoed Kellogg’s appointment to be the lead for trying to negotiate with Russia and Ukraine.
Germany:
⚡️Germany to commit $3.2 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Merz says.
A parliamentary coalition has agreed to support the new aid package, part of a plan to dramatically scale up Berlin’s defense spending, incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on March 14.
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Germany’s incoming Chancellor Merz to approve supply of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine #Ukraine
— AmplifyUkraine 🔱🇺🇦 (@amplifyukraine.eu) March 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
From UAWire:
Upcoming leader Friedrich Merz, slated to become Germany’s chancellor in the coming months, is set to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles, according to a report by Der Spiegel.
Kyiv has long requested these missiles from Berlin, aiming to strike deep behind Russian lines. Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been adamantly opposed, citing potential provocations against Russia. In contrast, Merz appears more decisive. Back in December 2024, as the head of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, Merz pledged to approve the missile transfer should he assume the chancellorship—a promise he remains committed to, according to Der Spiegel.
Recently, major German political forces have agreed on a €3 billion increase for Ukraine’s military aid, some of which may be funneled towards acquiring Taurus missiles for the Ukrainian military.
Additionally, they’ve agreed to establish a €500 billion special fund to streamline defense project funding.
With Ukraine navigating turbulent ties with the United States, the Taurus missiles, weighing in at 1,400 kg and capable of hitting targets up to 500 km away, are seen as critical. Ukraine’s Air Defense has already started working on integrating the Taurus missile system into its Su-24 and F-16 fighters.
France:
Macron told Le Parisien that Europe could send troops to Ukraine without Russia’s consent. The Franco-British plan already interests several countries. The goal isn’t a mass of soldiers but a few thousand for training in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv. It’s our support.
www.leparisien.fr/politique/tr…— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Serbia and Hungary:
Mass protests are reported in Serbia and Hungary right now. In Belgrade, 500,000 demand Vučić’s resignation after the Novi Sad tragedy, with special forces surrounding his residence. In Hungary, thousands oppose Orbán over corruption and ties to Russia. Both leaders maintain pro-Russian stances.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 1:27 PM
❗️Mass protests against Orban are taking place in 🇭🇺Budapest. Hungarian Opposition Leader Peter Magyar: “Spring is here, the spring of the Hungarians, and together we will end Orban’s winter.”
— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@militarynewsua.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Back to Ukraine.
Experimental Ukrainian interceptor drone armed with shotguns.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Chernihiv:
Apartment building is on fire in Chernihiv, after tonight’s russian drone strike on the city.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast:
⚡️Russian attacks in Nikopol kill 1, injure 3, including children.
Two girls, aged 11 and 3, were injured in the attacks, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said. The children are being treated at a medical facility in Dnipro. A 57-year-old woman was also injured.
A woman, 70, was killed.
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 15, 2025 at 1:57 PM
From The Kyiv Independent:
Russia attacked the town of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast over a dozen times on March 15, killing one woman and injuring three people, including two children, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.
Two girls, aged 11 and 3 years old, were injured in the attacks, Lysak said. The children are being treated at a medical facility in Dnipro.
A 70-year-old woman was killed, according to Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors have launched a war crimes investigation as a result of the civilian casualties.
Another woman, aged 57, also suffered injuries, but is receiving outpatient care, Lysak said.
Russia attacked Nikopol and the surrounding communities with artillery and drones on March 15, according to Lysak. The attacks damaged a religious institution, five homes, two outbuildings, 15 solar panels, a car, and a power line.
Nikopol, located on the banks of the destroyed Kakhovka Reservoir, just across from Russian-occupied Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is a regular target of Russian attacks.
Oleshky, Kherson Oblast:
/1. Ukrainian air strike on bridge across the Konka river in Oleshky, Kherson region. Today. (46.6362164, 32.7227914)
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:52 AM
/2. Recently, Russian attempts to conduct offensive actions in the direction of the Dnipro river from the Oleshky side have intensified. I assume that this is why the attack was carried out now.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Pokrovsk:
A volunteer known by the call sign “Dutchman” has shared powerful new footage from the frontline city of Pokrovsk—battered but unbroken, a steadfast symbol of Ukrainian resilience.
Full video: t.me/wartranslated— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Donetsk Oblast:
The Kyiv Independent spent two weeks in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors of the front line in Donetsk Oblast, speaking to infantry and artillery commanders, medics, and the civilians now coming into Russia’s line of fire.
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNiV…
— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 15, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Krasnodar Krai, Russia:
Zelenskyy: Long Neptune” has passed tests and has been successfully used in combat. Distance – 1000km.
Video shows strike on Russian Tuapse oil refinery. Based on the powerful explosion and the roar of the jet engine before impact, I would strongly suggest that this is the combat test in question.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Oil refinery in Tuapse continues to burn. Like Putin likes, Russians never get bored. Can easily imagine the next one coming to Moscow
— Maria Avdeeva (@mariainkharkiv.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Tuapse Oil Refinery. Second day on fire🔥
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Seven more days and we get a new Ukrainian Jewish holiday. I do not make the rules.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!
@patron__dsns Wiwiwi!🐶 #песпатрон
Open thread!
John S.
Another Jewish holiday? We just celebrated Purim! Thanks for the updates. Hope you’re having a good weekend.
Adam L Silverman
@John S.: You’re welcome.
Citizen Dave
Thanks for all of these updates night after night after night. I’ve had the same thought re: trump/musk and putin. I wonder if there are any patriots left among the Republicans in Congress, and when they might exhibit said patriotism.
I know orange man cut Biden off from briefings. Are Obama and Bill Clinton still receiving intel?
Jay
As always, thank you, Adam.
Adam L Silverman
@Citizen Dave: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: You’re welcome too.
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/Gerashchenko_en/status/1900812327126966298#m
YY_Sima Qian
Personally, I consider the RFA to effectively be a USG propaganda outlet, the VOA to a lesser extent, & not the independent media outlet they present themselves to be. However, defunding these organs is such an own goal as far as advancing US interests is concerned.
Viva BrisVegas
Back here in Oz, questions are being raised about AUKUS. The question being not whether we were screwed over by the US, but by how much?
The deal was done by ex-PM Morrison. The most incompetent, corrupt, self-serving, Trump loving PM the country has ever had. That is unless the current Opposition leader gets elected this April or May.
We just took delivery of the last of 75 F-35As. So now we have an Air Force that depends on the whims of Trump and Hegseth for software and logistical support.
The Gripen is a very good plane and half the cost of a F-35. Go to it Canada.
Jay
@Viva BrisVegas:
About A$628 billion so far, for stuff you can’t use with out Fat Nixon’s say so.
Renie
If European countries and Canada stop buying weapons and planes from the US is this going to affect more red states than blue states?
Adam L Silverman
@AlaskaReader: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Renie: Yes, but. The production facilities are pretty well spread out around the continental 48 states. This way the majority of senators and representatives have reasons to not support cuts as it will cost jobs, revenues, state income, sales, proper, and other taxes, etc. That said, there are still more in the red states.
YY_Sima Qian
@Viva BrisVegas: Albanese also chose to continue the deal, I suppose believing that Biden represented a return to the normal in the U.S., rather than Trump being the new normal. Of course, Morrison had burned the bridges w/ the French by then, but the ALP opposition had supported the AUKUS deal before winning the election, perhaps not wanting to be wedged.
karen gail
Not only is the US the major arms dealer to the world very few people realize just how much the building of weapons affects the US economy; we tend to think of the big name companies that make the news and are part of the stock market. What people don’t realize is just how many small companies, depend on building of weapons to keep them in the black. In Wisconsin alone there are a number of small tool & die shops, machining shops that produce small parts that are part of weapons. I can personally say that I know at least four shops that produce thousands of small parts that are for weapon controls; since ex and his family are all working in that industry. They produce small lots of tens of thousands parts and then when design changes happen they can quickly build the dies and tooling’s needed for a new part, a small shop can do quick turn around of new parts that large companies can’t and remain successful. I know one shop owner told me that they would not have been able to stay in business nor expand if it wasn’t for making parts for weapons.
So the family down the road with the new truck can thank the government for funding a war that puts money in their pockets, food on the table and excellent health insurance.
MountainBoy
Thank you for sharing your reports here night after night Adam. I still read your posts every night since stumbling onto you and BJ soon after Russia invaded further into Ukraine in ‘22.
I (like many others who follow your reports) just cannot fathom that this information (ahem…atrocities) are not part of the regular MSM daily reports in our country.
I am truly ashamed to be a citizen of the US at this point in my life.
I check in every night hoping for news that it may all end favorably for Ukraine (and for you) soon.
Again, thank you for all that you do do here!
Jay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEef94B5Qt8
Ukrainian Airforce long video,
bjacques
@Renie: from last night:
This is good news for Raytheon.
David Collier-Brown
@Viva BrisVegas: Mr Blair is being (typically) very polite about “examining other alternatives — whether we need all of those fighter jets to be F-35”.
It reminds me of the comedy sketch