(Image by NEIVANMADE)

We’re forecast for some nasty weather and my sinuses are killing me, which I think is correlated to the weather change, so I’m just going to run down the basics so I can rack out.

Before we get to the basics I want to start with what Putin and Russia have been doing with their recent drone swarm, missile, and bomb strikes on civilian infrastructure. These strikes are intended to sap Ukrainians morale by terrorizing them through striking over and over and over at all hours of the day, but especially in the small hours of the night. Ukrainian air defense has done amazing work blunting these attacks, so Russia has adjusted its targeting.

In addition to striking a transport depot in Kharkiv, russia also targeted a humanitarian aid warehouse in Izium, as well as homes and a farm in the Chuhuiv district — a deliberate assault on both civilian life and survival.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:06 AM

Russia has recently intensified attacks on Ukrainian food supplies:

– Grain and potato storagas in Chernihiv
– A farm in the Mykolaiv region
– A humanitarian aid storage in Kharkiv region.

All in the past week.

Using hunger as a weapon. Classic Russia.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 2:44 PM

Putin, his inner circle of trusted agents, advisors, and catspaws all know of the Soviet fueled and exacerbated famine of the Holodomor. Targeting agricultural and food infrastructure probably seems like a good way for them to achieve the effect of terrorizing the Ukrainians.

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

Not a Single Day Must Be Lost, Because Every Day of Russia Undermining Diplomacy Costs Human Lives – Address by the President

30 May 2025 – 21:27

I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, there was a lot going on throughout the day – both in internal work and in external affairs.

There was a visit to Ukraine by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye – we discussed diplomacy with him; we discussed all the real opportunities that exist and those that must be created. Currently, to be honest, neither we in Ukraine nor Türkiye, as the host country, have any information about Russia’s so-called “memorandum.” For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. Frankly speaking, this is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format. Apparently, they in Moscow have completely lost the habit of diplomacy. They keep doing things to prove that they are the most inadequate actor in the world. But that is precisely what convinces everyone that new pressure is needed – pressure on Russia.

My conversation with President Erdoğan of Türkiye is also scheduled for today. We are trying to add real substance to a potential meeting. Not a single day must be lost, because every day of Russia undermining diplomacy costs human lives.

Today, I also had a meeting with U.S. Senators Graham and Blumenthal. It was a good meeting. I thank them for this support – support of Ukraine, for the bipartisan support, for their support for diplomacy, and for their efforts to bring moral clarity to the situation. It was Russia that started this war. It is Russia that must stop the killings and the destruction of lives. It is very important that this is voiced in the media, that this is voiced in Congress, and that this is voiced in all the world’s influential offices. If Russia continues to speak in the language of ultimatums, if they try to blackmail the world with the continuation of war, Russia must receive a strong response – a response from the United States, a response from Europe, a response from everyone around the world who wants peace and who, by the way, has declared their support for a ceasefire and for diplomacy. I thank everyone in the United States who is working for a dignified and just peace, and for peace as soon as possible.

Also today, together with Minister of Foreign Affairs Sybiha and the team of the Office of the President, we coordinated meetings and coordinated negotiations for next week with our EU partners. Maximum efforts in all areas of work – this is a task for everyone.

And one more important thing.

For quite a long time – and unfortunately, more out of inertia than sincere commitment – Ukraine has marked Children’s Day on June 1st. Although each year, more and more civil society organizations and educational institutions have been focusing on Universal Children’s Day, which is marked in the fall, on November 20th. I have signed a decree that aligns Ukraine’s practice with the global one. It was precisely on November 20th that the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1959, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. But what we will do soon in June – in the early days of June – is we begin to award not only adults who have distinguished themselves, but also children. The bravery of Ukrainian children, their resilience, and often the maturity of our children truly deserve recognition and gratitude. There will be a special award in Ukraine – “The Future of Ukraine” – and Olena and I will present it for the first time next week to the bravest of our boys and girls. To those who helped save people. Who showed extraordinary personal resilience. And whom we can all only be proud of.

Next week, I will personally thank them on behalf of all of Ukraine, and we will make such a distinction, such an expression of gratitude, our new tradition. I thank everyone who stands with Ukraine! I thank everyone who defends our state and all our people.

Glory to Ukraine!

Georgia:

Day 184 of daily #GeorgiaProtests.

Rustaveli Avenue is blocked again. ✅

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 2:25 PM

Fireworks were set off in protest outside the gates of Tbilisi City Court, where several political trials are taking place today.
#GeorgiaProtests
#TerrorInGeorgia

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM

2/ Some of the citizens attending the trial, including family members of political prisoners, were also forced to leave the court. Some of those present were court bailiffs, while others were in civilian clothes, and several were wearing police vests.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 6:57 AM

One of the leaders of Coalition for Change Nika Melia, who was in fact kidnapped yesterday so that we’d attend his sham trial

Splashed the judge with water.

I’m hoping to lay my hands on a good video recording as well.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:46 AM

“You will only obey the court clan” — During the trial, Nika Melia threw water at the judge.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:08 AM

Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov, who has been held in extradition detention in Georgia for nine months and has been on a hunger strike for 161 days, arrived in Batumi to attend the trial of Mzia Amaglobeli.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 4:50 AM

1/ The Rule of Law Centre has released a report assessing the conduct of law enforcement agencies. The report analyses the government’s complete inaction in response to crimes committed by law enforcement officers following the suspension of Georgia’s EU accession process.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:29 AM

2/ The findings reveal that both protesters and journalists were subjected to systemic violence, ill-treatment, torture, excessive use of force. The report concludes that these abuses by law enforcement were not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated and systemic pattern.

— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:29 AM

The US:

Senator Richard Blumenthal today In Kyiv promises to put 500% tariffs on anyone who is buying russian oil or gas 👀

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 3:09 PM

This is why Senator Blumenthal is threatening tariffs:

Good job world (not)

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 12:34 PM

His heart is in the right place, but it would be very nice if any elected and/or appointed officials from either political party in the US had even the most miniscule understanding of macroeconomics.

Kellogg says NATO expansion is a security concern for Russia.

Russia invaded Ukraine before NATO membership was ever established as a constitutional goal. That objective emerged solely in response to Russian aggression, meaning Russia’s only real concern with NATO is that it would

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:32 AM

make further conquests impossible or at least much riskier.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:32 AM

It would also be nice if they had the slimmest of grasps of actual historical events. Russia’s initial and partial invasion of Ukraine was only eleven years ago. Kellogg lived through it.

Back to Ukraine.

The cost and the reason:

13yo Kyrylo, who saved people from a burning bus during the russian attack in Sumy on Palm Sunday, has just won silver at the European Youth Beach Wrestling Championship. His mom told Suspilne that just weeks after surgery, Kyrylo was back to training, starting with stretches & breathing recovery.

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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 6:38 AM

Fields strewn with fiber-optic threads from FPV drones on the front lines in Ukraine. The threads, which allow drone operators to evade radio signal jamming, are another threat to Ukraine’s environment and wildlife resulting from Russia’s invasion.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 4:48 PM

Will give photo credit when I track it down (it wasn’t me). Very powerful image if you know the context.

— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 5:05 PM

Interception of the Russian ‘Privet-82’ kamikaze drone filmed from the side. By the @wildhornets.bsky.social

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM

AASM Hammer air strike on the positions of the Russian drone operators t.me/soniah_hub/1…

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:43 AM

Two FPV drones intercept a Russian Lancet loitering munition.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 6:48 AM

Kharkiv Oblast:

❗️Last night, russia unleashed 51 drones on the Kharkiv Oblast in yet another relentless assault on civilians, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 6:54 AM

It’s about punishing cities simply for existing and shattering the rhythm of everyday life.

Last night, eight russian drones struck a transport depot in Kharkiv, damaging 38 trolleybuses. Over 30 residential buildings were also affected by the blast wave.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 4:08 AM

Kharkiv after last night’s russian drone attack on the trolleybus depot in our city.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:29 AM

Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast:

Today russia struck Zolochiv in the Kharkiv region with a drone, destroying a house. No one was in it, thankfully. Why did they do it? Bloodlust? Compansating? Who knows, but they keep bombing Kharkiv region every day.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 10:31 AM

Sumy Oblast:

A Russian “Lancet” loitering munition strikes a checkpoint in Sumy Oblast near Ukraine’s border with Russia on May 27. Ukraine says Russia is amassing a force of 50,000 troops near the border for a summer offensive in the region.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:07 AM

It was earlier reported that the officer manning the checkpoint was presumed dead, but now it’s now known he survived and is undergoing treatment. A photo of the officer has also appeared online. He suffered multiple burns, as well as head and neck injuries (Source: UNIAN)

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:11 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera…

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— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) May 29, 2025 at 2:25 PM

From The Washington Post:

KYIV — Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv’s top diplomat made a very personal and little-known policy decision: He encouraged Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry staff to bring their dogs to work.

Dmytro Kuleba’s rule meant employees didn’t have to leave their terrified dogs at home during missile and drone attacks.

And it meant Kuleba’s new rescue, a gray French bulldog named Marik, scooped from the wreckage of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, would spend the next couple of years overhearing foreign policy discussions as he waddled around the office.

Such an arrangement might seem unusual for a foreign minister — but not in wartime Ukraine.

Russia’s invasion has made the security of pets a national priority. Families in front-line towns often flee Russian shelling with multiple pets in tow, and soldiers feed and care for those left behind. Volunteers then risk their lives to evacuate them to safer cities, where they are often adopted into Ukrainian families or sent abroad.

The lengths Ukrainian troops and volunteers have gone to rescue vulnerable dogs has spurred a massive cultural shift, transforming Ukraine — once criticized for its treatment of animals — into an extraordinarily dog-friendly country. Gone are stuffy old rules banning pets from many places. Kuleba resigned in 2024, but the Foreign Ministry confirmed that his dog policy remains in place.

Dogs are also now welcome inside most restaurants, cafes, beauty salons, grocery stores and hotels in major Ukrainian cities. They’re often greeted with water bowls and treats or, in some cases, their own menus.

And, like Marik the French bulldog, and Kuleba’s later rescue, Puzan, who is from the eastern town of Lyman, many of these dogs were rescued from the front lines. In Kyiv’s sprawling parks, families now trade notes about their four-legged mutts’ hometowns, describing dramatic escapes from war.

Ukrainians’ commitment to saving front-line animals “literally changed how we as a nation are perceived abroad,” Kuleba said.

Here are some stories of the dogs of war.

A pack of abandoned dogs roamed the nearly empty village close to the eastern front where Ukrainian soldier Mykola Kulivets was stationed in 2022 — but the smallest, with her long black fur and pointy ears, stood out from the rest.

One April morning, she appeared all alone at the door of Kulivets’s makeshift base. He fed her a sausage and she never left. He cleaned her dirty, matted fur, named her Zhuzha, let her move inside — and two months later woke up to her giving birth under his cot.

The timing could not have been worse: Kulivets’s battalion was about to relocate to a village near the front-line city of Avdiivka, and he now had six dogs — including five puppies — in his care. His commander, a dog lover himself, told Kulivets to bring them along.

For the rest of the summer, as fierce battles took place mere miles away, the dogs distracted Kulivets and his fellow troops from the horrors of war. “To have some little one to take care of — I think it’s a basic need for every human being,” he said.

From afar, Kulivets’s mother helped find homes around Ukraine for the four male puppies. His grandparents agreed to adopt the only girl, whom they named Asya. In late August, when the puppies were 2 months old, Kulivets drove to Dnipro to pass them off to his mom — his first time seeing her since he had deployed. He returned to war the same day with only Zhuzha left.

Back east, Kulivets moved with Zhuzha to the city of Bakhmut, which Russia later destroyed and seized. Under intense shelling, he would hurry her outside for bathroom breaks. His team grew so attached that it named the command center Zhuzha, and her name appeared in official military orders.

Kulivets and Zhuzha eventually demobilized, and both have settled into civilian life in Kyiv. “When my commander calls me, his first question is not about me — it’s about Zhuzha,” Kulivets said.
In villages outside Kyiv, Elina Sutiahyna, 64, and Nadiia Tkachenko, also 64, friends who ran small kiosks in the same market, heard through volunteers about Zhuzha’s front-line puppies who needed homes.

Sutiahyna adopted one and named him Avdyusha, after Avdiivka, the city Kulivets’s battalion defended. The dog now assists Sutiahyna’s husband, who had a stroke, acting “as his eyes and ears,” she said.
Tkachenko took another and named him Archie.
“To me it was important to help an animal from the front line,” she said. “If you see these videos of soldiers with animals, you can’t help but just cry.”

There is much more at this archived link, including pictures and vignettes.

Open thread!