(Image by NEIVANMADE)
I’m almost feeling human, but it’s been a long, weird day, so I’m just going to run through the basics.
The cost:
Today is the Day of Mourning and Remembrance for defenders who were tortured, executed, or died in captivity.
OTD in 2022, russia committed a horrific war crime — blowing up “Barrack 200” in Olenivka, where it held captive Mariupol defenders. 54 Azov servicemen were killed. At least 130 wounded.
— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM
For the survivors, the horror didn’t stop. They were sent to torture chambers in Donetsk, Taganrog, even beyond the Arctic Circle. Some were later freed in swaps. Most still remain in russia’s hell.
POWs must be protected under intl law that guarantees humane treatment, medical care, safety.
— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM
But reality is that intl law means nothing if only one side respects it.
3yrs on & no justice, no investigation, no accountability. russia still tortures POWs. Still executes them. Still denies them care.
Impunity breeds more war crimes. This must end.
Eternal memory to those killed in Olenivka.
— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM
From the Office of the President of Ukraine:
President: Starting Today, July 28, We Will Observe an Important Day of Remembrance for Ukrainians Tortured by Russia
28 July 2025 – 17:18
Today, July 28, Ukraine marks for the first time the Day of Remembrance for the Defenders of Ukraine, members of volunteer formations, and civilians who were executed, tortured, or died in captivity.
On this day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the team working to secure the release of prisoners and provide them with support, as well as with servicemembers and civilians who had been freed from captivity, including Azov fighters and defenders of Mariupol, and those who survived the Russian terrorist act in Olenivka on the night of July 29, 2022.
Attending the meeting were: Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov; Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko; Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk; Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets; Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Dmytro Usov; the team of the President’s Office; servicemembers Viacheslav Danilets, Viktor Kuzmin, Andrii Kuzmin, Kyrylo Masalitin, and Oleksandr Verenhotov; Heroes of Ukraine Serhii Volynskyi and Denys Prokopenko; Mykola Hrytseniak, Kostiantyn Myrhorodskyi, Artem Dyblenko; border guards Maksym Shapovalov and Mykola Korol; military medics Halyna Hrytseniak and Dmytro Seliutin; paramedic Yuliia Paievska; and Crimean Tatar civilian Leniie Umerova, who was captured by the occupiers in Crimea.
“It is very important that our children, our present generation, and our future – that no one forgets this day. Starting today, July 28, we will observe a day of great significance for the history of the struggle for Ukraine. It will be dedicated to all our warriors and civilians who were tortured behind bars in Russia, in camps, and on our homeland’s territory – in those areas that are occupied by the enemy for now,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The President called for the meeting to begin with a moment of silence in memory of all tortured Ukrainians.
The Head of State thanked the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the negotiation team, partners, and everyone helping secure the release of Ukrainians from Russian captivity. He expressed special gratitude to the warriors who replenish the exchange fund.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 66 exchanges have already taken place, resulting in the return of 5,857 people. An additional 555 Ukrainians were released outside the exchange process.
“Unfortunately, not all have returned home yet – but we will keep fighting. I want to thank you for your work and your struggle, for standing up for each and every one of those still in captivity. In Olenivka alone, according to our data, around 80 of our warriors remain imprisoned. We will definitely bring everyone back,” the President emphasized.
During the meeting, the participants discussed the necessary efforts to secure the release of all Ukrainians from Russian captivity, the progress of the criminal investigation into the Olenivka terrorist act, engagement with the families of prisoners, support for those released from Russian camps, the repatriation of bodies, and measures to accelerate the identification of the deceased.
Those freed from captivity thanked the entire Ukrainian team involved in the exchanges for bringing them home and for their ongoing efforts to free all Ukrainians from Russian captivity.
“I’m also very grateful that July 28 has now been designated at the national level as a day of remembrance for all those who were tortured, killed, or died in captivity. This matters, because it lays bare the true face of the enemy… I believe this is the right step – above all, for our cultural memory, so that we remember every single one of them,” said Denys Prokopenko.
Those released from captivity also stressed the need to improve the medical examination and treatment system, enhance the process of compiling exchange lists, and update the register of Ukrainian civilians detained by the Russian Federation.
The President tasked the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and the Minister of Defense with reviewing these matters and preparing proposals to resolve them.
Yesterday’s/this morning’s air defense tally:
Last night, Putin’s terrorists attacked with “Kinzhal” missiles and more. Ukrainian air defense shot down 311 aerial targets: 309 attack UAVs and 2 Kh-101 missiles. Hits and debris were reported in several areas. The main strike targeted Starokostiantyniv; Kh-47M2 missiles missed.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
There Was an Extremely Significant Statement by President Trump; And It Is True: It Is Russia Who Is Doing Everything to Undermine Peace Efforts and Drag Out This War – Address by the President
28 July 2025 – 21:17
I wish you health!
First of all, I would like to thank all our warriors who are defending Ukrainian skies. Overnight, our warriors neutralized another three hundred Russian drones – many of them were shot down. There have been good results in downing ‘shaheds’ with interceptor drones. Army aviation, Air Force aviation, and mobile fire groups did a good job. We are ramping up everything that can provide additional protection for our cities, our Ukrainian communities. Thank you to everyone who is helping.
Yesterday, in my conversation with President Macron, we agreed that Ukraine will provide a clear and detailed outline of our current funding needs for drones. The updated document is already being presented to our partners – the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, together with the team from the President’s Office, has prepared everything. The drone-related objectives set for this year will be fully met.
Today, I spoke with the President of Estonia. I thanked him for the support, and I especially value Estonia’s position, the position of all the Baltic states, in relation to European integration. A clear and principled stance. The same goes for our other friends in the European Union – thanks a lot. Ukraine delivers on its promises.
Today, there was an extremely significant statement by President Trump. And it is true: it is Russia who is doing everything to undermine peace efforts and drag out this war. Every night there are strikes, constant Russian attempts to hurt Ukraine. Indeed, peace is possible if we act strongly and decisively, and we have repeatedly said – and all partners know this – that sanctions are a key element. Russia factors in the sanctions, factors in such losses. Peace through strength is possible. Ukraine, as always, is ready to work with America, with President Trump, in the most productive way possible, to end this war with dignity and lasting peace. I thank everyone in our Ukrainian foreign policy team who is working for this – for a truly meaningful relationship with America.
A few more things.
Today, I signed a law that strengthens the Security Service of Ukraine giving it greater capacity to carry out combat tasks, eliminate the occupier, and conduct special operations to defend Ukraine. The number of personnel is being increased, particularly for the “A” Special Operations Center of the Security Service of Ukraine. These are among our most effective warriors. I also signed the law we discussed with the families of Ukrainians held in Russian captivity – and with our warriors themselves, those who were freed and have returned home. The law restores justice. It resolves the financial issue, ensuring that warriors who were taken prisoner receive the same financial guarantees as all other defenders of Ukraine.
Today, I was at the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. We held a special meeting dedicated to this particular day – the Day of Remembrance, the Day when we honor the memory of those killed in Olenivka. At that time, the Russians committed one of the biggest massacres – over 50 Azov fighters were killed in Olenivka in an explosion and fire, and nearly 150 others were severely wounded. An absolutely heinous crime. From now on, every year, Ukrainians will honor the memory of all our people who were killed – those who were executed or tortured in Russian captivity, in Russian prisons, in Russian camps, and on the front line. Today, the Headquarters team reported on the current status of our people – those we are searching for among the prisoners and those we are bringing home. Some of those already returned were also present. Taira, Leniie Umerova, Azov fighters, warriors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Military personnel and civilians. We discussed what needs to be done to improve the rehabilitation of our people after captivity. We talked about how we can make the organization of prisoner exchanges more effective. Following this discussion, I instructed the preparation of draft laws to provide more rights and opportunities to those released from captivity. There are decisions that can be made by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health, the military command, and the negotiation team. I expect implementation and reporting by the end of the week. We have already brought back 5,857 of our people through exchanges. We are looking for every single name. We must bring everyone home. Ukrainians deserve to live in peace, in their own home, in an independent Ukrainian state.
Glory to Ukraine!
Georgia:
For the 243rd consecutive day, the main avenue in Georgia’s capital is blocked. Protests continue nationwide. 🇬🇪✊
— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
📢 TI_Georgia has published a report detailing the businesses and assets owned in Europe by current and former members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, as well as businessmen closely affiliated with the party.
👉 transparency.ge/en/blog/what…
#Georgia #GeorgiaProtests #RepressionInGeorgia— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) July 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
🚨 Lithuania Adds 10 More Individuals Linked to Georgian Dream Government to List of Undesirable Persons, Bans Their Entry Until 2030
Previously, Lithuania had imposed visa sanctions on 102 individuals from #Georgia.
#GeorgiaProtests
#RepressionInGeorgia— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) July 28, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Rumours grow that judges dealing with the regime prisoners are increasingly unsettled, socially speaking. Closing sham trials for the media didn’t help.
It’s indicative that only a few handle most of the cases, an overstretch that wouldn’t normally be the case. 1/2
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Not to say that the system isn’t completely rotten, though. 2/2.
— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Lithuania:
Russian drone flying at about 200m over Vilnius in Lithuania July 28, having gone off course and entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. As fascist Russia’s Blitz air raids on democratic Ukraine increase in size and intensity, such incidents are bound to become more frequent.
— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Russian Gerbera drone casually flies over the Lithuanian capital this morning.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Ooopsie!
The US:
Trump on Putin: “We’d have a good talk, and it seemed on let’s say three occasions that we were gonna have a ceasefire and maybe peace and you’d divide it up and you’d do whatever you have to do to get to the end. And all of the sudden missiles are flying into Kyiv.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 28, 2025 at 9:18 AM
And there it is, what we used to call a Kinsley gaffe. Trump had been discussing partitioning Ukraine with Putin.
Trump: “I’ve always gotten along with President Putin. I had a great relationship with him. And he went through the Russia Russia Russia hoax too. We used to talk about it.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 28, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Putin didn’t go through a hoax with Trump, Putin orchestrated and directed his intelligence and security services to undertake a year’s long influence campaign to 1) prevent Clinton from being elected president because he was angry she had criticized his 2011 (re)election and 2) to boost Trump’s chances of becoming president.
Trump on Putin: “I’m gonna make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 28, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Putin gets his own infrastructure week!
Back to Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, since the 3rd Brigade was reorganized into a corps, losses of units have dropped by half, even as combat intensity has grown. He credits the change to increased trust in leadership, better tactics, organization and reporting
— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Ukrainian heavy drone with 250kg air bomb
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Sumy:
The reality of life in Ukraine: in Sumy, a wedding ceremony takes place under the sound of a russian drone overhead.
— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Russian forces struck a food store in Sumy region with a drone, injuring a vendor.
Why? What did it achieve them?
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Kharkiv Oblast:
In Kharkiv region, a Russian FPV drone struck a civilian car, killing the 75-year-old driver and injuring a 51-year-old passenger.
Since the drone was an FPV russian operator knew exactly what he was doing. Bastard.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad Oblast:
A building and equipment belonging to one of the State Emergency Service (SES) units in Kropyvnytskyi have been damaged in russian attack.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Kyiv:
People are hiding in Kyiv metro stations from russian drones and missiles.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Air alert in all of Ukraine – MiG-31K in the air, reported to have fired a Kinzhal aeroballistic missile. There’s a thunderstorm in Kyiv, so you can’t tell easily if there are explosions, or the sound of interceptors launching – very disconcerting.
— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Odesa:
Odesa. People pull pieces of downed Russian Shahed from the sea
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Kakhovka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:
The Kakhovka main canal near Yakymivka, once brimming with water, is now dry and overgrown due to the Russian-led destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Plant. A stark reminder of occupation’s impact on Ukraine’s environment.
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Russia:
/1. Aeroflot’s operations have been brought to a standstill following a cyberattack that hit during the night of July 28. Internal IT infrastructure has been effectively destroyed. Most systems remain non-functional.
The photo shows a message left by hackers after the airline was hacked.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 8:09 AM
/2. Computers are down both at airports and in offices. Flight planning is impossible. Aircraft cannot be refueled. The basic coordination between crew members has broken down — flight teams are unable to locate one another, and no one knows which planes are supposed to fly, where, or with whom.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Only a few flights with pre-calculated logistics are managing to take off. Other crews arrive in complete uncertainty, receiving no instructions. Many are being sent home. Others remain stuck on board, waiting for updates that never come.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM
/4. The airline’s headquarters in Melkisarovo has had its electricity shut off — a likely attempt to prevent further access to compromised systems. Staff have been ordered not to use corporate email or internal devices.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM
aeroflop 🤌
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 11:25 AM
More from russian ‘Aeroflot’ collapse.
Enjoy your fucking war.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
/1. Russian media report a massive cyberattack on Aeroflot, the country’s largest airline.
The version about a hack has now been officially confirmed — Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the disruption was caused by a cyberattack.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 6:28 AM
/2. Hacker groups Silent Crow and the Belarusian Cyber Partisans have claimed responsibility, saying they spent a year planning the operation. Around 7,000 servers were destroyed, and 20 terabytes of data were stolen, effectively crippling Aeroflot’s IT systems.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 6:29 AM
/3. Aeroflot is currently unable to issue refunds for canceled flights. The refund system will only become available once the airline restores its internal services.
Aeroflot has also asked passengers on canceled flights not to come to airports, to avoid making the already difficult situation worse
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 6:30 AM
After ‘Aeroflot’ collapse:
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia:
🔥 Something is burning in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia, within the grounds of the 210th Interservice Regional Training Center.
This facility serves as a training center for the engineering troops of the russian AF.
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Salsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia:
Something is on fire in Salsk, Rostov region of russia 👀🔥
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 9:10 PM
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.
I love sharing videos of these kitties from Kharkiv Ecopark. While they are, of course, adorable, I also share them because they represent wonder and new life in a place overshadowed by war, violence, and loss. It somehow gives me hope. And also, they are so adorable!
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Open thread!
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
Westyny
Thank you, as always, Adam. That new heavy drone looks like a crop duster!
Adam L Silverman
@AlaskaReader: @Westyny: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
Gonna get the grime hosed off and rack out.
YY_Sima Qian
@Adam L Silverman: Glad you are recovering.
Adam L Silverman
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks.
dnfree
One thousand two hundred fifty days. Awful.
dimmsdale
Thanks as always, Adam.
Jay
As always, thank you, Adam.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
Thank you Adam.