(Image by NEIVANMADE)
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Please don’t forget to thank our warriors in person – address of President of Ukraine
3 June 2023 – 22:39
Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!
Almost every evening, in my addresses, I thank our warriors – particular units, particular brigades, which distinguished themselves the most on the front line or in the defense of our sky in a day or in a week.
And today – more personal words of gratitude to particular warriors.
We should all remember that our defense, our active actions, and the independence of Ukraine are not something abstract. These are very particular people, particular actions of particular heroes, thanks to which Ukraine exists and Ukraine will exist. Thousands and thousands of our strongest, bravest, most accurate people…
Such as soldier Yaroslav Kan, our paratrooper. He fought in the most fiercely embattled spots of the front. Bilohorivka, defense of Lysychansk, defense of Soledar. Battles for Svatove, Kreminna, Bakhmut… Four wounds! Now, he is undergoing treatment, recovering. And ready to return to the front again. It is an extraordinary human power! Thank you, Yaroslav!
Senior Sergeant Yevhen Kepsha, commander of the squad of the anti-tank missile systems platoon. Battles for Bakhmut. Stugna anti-tank guided missile system. Very accurate, very brave. Together with the boys, together with the brothers from his squad have very good results in destroying the occupiers. Thanks for this, Yevhen!
Senior Sergeant Maksym Kuzmenko and Junior Sergeant Anton Andrushchenko are soldiers of the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Battles near Avdiyivka. Very tough fights. Continuous enemy assaults. And this is the result Ukraine needs in defense of our positions. Thank you, guys!
I have already thanked our soldiers from the 55th Zaporizhzhia Sich Artillery Brigade many times. All guys are great. They fight mightily, very efficiently. And today, I will especially mention the artillery company under the command of Captain Mykola Nosach. Avdiyivka direction. They fight off Russian assaults very skillfully. Exactly what is needed. Thank you, Mykola! It’s great to see reports of your accuracy.
Soldiers of our 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Zakarpattia. Battalion commander Lt. Col. Oleksandr Hladysh, company commander Captain Rostyslav Kmet, platoon commander Senior Lieutenant Oleksandr Shytikov, gun commander Junior Sergeant Oleksandr Kryshtapiuk, senior gunner Senior Soldier Yaroslav Niul… Artillery calculations. Always effective. Thank you, warriors!
Our glorious 35th Marine Infantry Brigade named after Rear-Admiral Mykhailo Ostrogradsky… The guys deserve gratitude for almost every day of fighting. And today, I want to note separately the entire 1st battalion of marines of the brigade. I’m thankful to each of you guys! Your strength is an example to all.
And the defenders of our sky. Such as soldier Anatoliy Pavlenko, national guard. The Bureviy anti-aircraft missile battalion. A guy who knows how to shoot down Russian missiles extremely well – and with the help of just an Igla MANPADS. Thank you for this accuracy!
We usually thank the warriors who defend our cities from Russian terror with the help of powerful air defense systems: Patriot, NASAMS, IRIS, and others. And it is absolutely fair – they saved a lot of lives of our people, a lot of infrastructure facilities.
However, soldiers of our fire maneuver groups, which defend various civilian and military facilities, are important – and effective! As, for example, Senior Sergeant Viktor Sidnev is the senior of one of these maneuver groups defending Kyiv. Excellent coordination of actions, excellent combat skills. And there is a result – down the invaders’ missiles. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who is fighting for Ukraine! Thank you to everyone who is on combat posts and on combat missions! Thank you to everyone who constantly trains our soldiers and everyone who provides treatment to our heroes after their injuries!
And I am asking you all: please don’t forget to thank our warriors in person. Thank those whom you know personally. Thank those whom you may simply follow in social networks. Thank those whom you just heard about – and can tell other people about them. Gratitude is always important, and it’s important to hear words of gratitude when you fight for your people like this.
Glory to all our heroes!
Glory to Ukraine!
Despite pushes from Poland and the Czech Republic to fast-track Ukraine's NATO membership, NATO accession is most likely a post-war goal for Ukraine
Ukrainian officials, such as Oleksii Reznikov, are framing Ukraine as a de facto NATO member but are wary of summit participation
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) June 3, 2023
President Zelenskky gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal, which is paywalled. Fortunately The Kyiv Independent has excerpts.
“We are ready” for the counteroffensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal released on June 3.
“I believe that today we are ready to do this (to conduct a counteroffensive),” Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal in the southern city of Odesa before he headed to the European Political Community Summit in Moldova.
“We would like to have some things, but we can’t wait for months. We really believe in success, I don’t know how much time we really need,” he said.
While the president didn’t indicate what Ukraine was waiting for, he stressed that Russia has air superiority over Ukraine.
“The lack of protection from enemy aircraft means that many soldiers will die during the counteroffensive,” Zelensky said
As anticipation for a Ukrainian counteroffensive builds up, Zelensky urged allies to isolate Russia as much as possible – including the banning of visas – to help Ukraine.
“It’s not Ukraine or Russia,” Zelensky said. “Choose values, and support the country, whose values of which are closest to you.”
Regarding the July NATO Summit in Vilnius, to which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed in April that Zelensky accepted the invitation, the Ukrainian leader said “there is no point” in Kyiv’s attendance unless the alliance offers a membership invitation or “some kind of signal.”
“If we are not acknowledged and given a signal in Vilnius, I believe there is no point for Ukraine to be at this summit,” Zelensky said.
The Russians have once again opened up on civilian targets in Ukraine.
Dnipro:
.@ZelenskyyUa
Dnipro.
The russians attacked the city. They hit between two two-story residential buildings. Unfortunately, there are people under the rubble.#russiaisaterroriststate pic.twitter.com/9SlIXcz4wB— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 3, 2023
Air raid alerts are currently up for Sumy, Chernihiv, and Poltava oblasts, and Oleksandriia. Artillery shelling has been reported in Nikopol.
⚡ Russian forces attack 4 communities in Sumy Oblast, injuring 1.
Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast 10 times on June 3, conducting 87 strikes on the communities of Bilopillia, Yunakivka, Velyka Pysarivka, and Krasnopillia, the regional military administration reported.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 3, 2023
The Kyiv Independent has also reported that the Swiss government has voted against allowing the re-export of Swiss manufactured weaponry to Ukraine.
⚡️Swiss parliament votes against re-export of Swiss arms to Ukraine.
The National Council, the lower house of the Swiss parliament, has voted against an amendment that would allow the re-export of Swiss-made weaponry to third countries, such as Ukraine, the news agency Swissinfo…
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 2, 2023
Here’s the full text of the tweet:
⚡️Swiss parliament votes against re-export of Swiss arms to Ukraine.
The National Council, the lower house of the Swiss parliament, has voted against an amendment that would allow the re-export of Swiss-made weaponry to third countries, such as Ukraine, the news agency Swissinfo reported on June 2.
I understand that the Swiss are exceedingly dedicated to their official neutrality. However, they’re putting their European neighbors in an exceedingly difficult position. By bottling up the supply and resupply of Swiss made armaments and weaponry to Ukraine they are either going to force their European neighbors to just ignore them and supply Ukraine or fail to live up to their commitments to supply and resupply Ukraine. There are three longer term problems that the Swiss are creating for themselves. The first is that their ongoing refusal to be reasonable given Russia’s genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine is going to force the Europeans, almost all of whom are NATO members at this point, to face the reality that purchasing weapons from Switzerland is a no win situations. Sure, they’re high quality, but you have to jump through your grommet to get permission to resupply your allies and partners in a crisis and even then the Swiss are more than likely to still say no. As a result Switzerland’s European neighbors will be forced to both seek other providers rather than deal with Swiss red tape and this provides an incentive to expand and/or reinvigorate their domestic armaments industries so they are not at Switzerland’s mercy. The final problem the Swiss are creating themselves is that in the 21st century the geography that kept them safe and provide them with the privilege of being neutral cannot and will not protect them. Leaving aside that Russia’s military is overextended right now in Ukraine, Putin could care less about Switzerland’s neutrality. And I’m sure he’s not the only one. As such, a great deal of Switzerland’s protection is not coming from its centuries old neutrality. It is coming from proximity to its European neighbors who are in NATO. One would think a little enlightened self interest would kick in here, but apparently that is not the case. Finally, should the European NATO members decide to just ignore Switzerland’s dictates, what exactly is Switzerland going to do? The only thing they can do is stop selling weapons to these states. Which just feeds back into the first and second problems I delineated that the Swiss are creating for themselves.
Mykhailivka:
/1. Yesterday, information began to appear that in Mykhailivka, Zaporozhzhia region, a couple more colobarants were liquidated. Serhiy Dydovydyuk and his 33-year-old daughter Yana were killed as a result of detonation of IED which was placedunder a car.
https://t.co/QiO33Bb2oS pic.twitter.com/oB7ijV0oec— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 3, 2023
/3. Coloborants died as a result of detonation of the IED installed under the car. The incident occurred, as reported, in Mykhailivka. Also photos of allegedly IED devices that were used appeared in the media today. pic.twitter.com/YvXQpjllEz
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 3, 2023
That’ll buff right out…
Shebikino, Russia (near Belgorod):
Rosyjska miejscowość Szebikino pod Biełgorodem. Na wieść o pojawieniu się ukraińskich grup dywersyjnych w okolicy lokalna rosyjska patriotycznie nastawiona ludność rozpoczęła szabrowanie lokalnych sklepów, aby uchronić towar przed Ukraińcami 👌😉
Na nagraniu kobieta mówi, że… pic.twitter.com/ZXsyWrhP7n
— Aryo (@SomeGumul) June 2, 2023
Here’s the machine translation of the tweet:
The Russian town of Shebikino near Belgorod. Hearing about the appearance of Ukrainian sabotage groups in the area, the local Russian patriotic population began looting local stores to protect the goods from Ukrainians 👌😉
In the recording, the woman says that she shows the “Larisa” store near the railway station, that “our people did it”.
More from Belgorod:
Putin's military continues its chaotic shelling of Belgorod region. In an attempt to somehow hit our forces, the enemy is flooding settlements with fire, disregarding civilian casualties.
Already today there have been artillery strikes on the settlements of Shebekino, Novaya… pic.twitter.com/8bD3sKb8Nv
— "Liberty of Russia" Legion (@legion_svoboda) June 3, 2023
Here’s the full text of the Free Russian Legion’s tweet:
Putin’s military continues its chaotic shelling of Belgorod region. In an attempt to somehow hit our forces, the enemy is flooding settlements with fire, disregarding civilian casualties.
Already today there have been artillery strikes on the settlements of Shebekino, Novaya Tavolzhanka, Murom and others…
A special tik-tok unit, Akhmat, has been redeployed to the area of combat operations to conduct information operations. This is a special force used by Putin’s generals solely for staged videos. Therefore, in the near future we expect to see dramatized videos in this style from the regime’s troops.
⚠️ Given the threat to civilians, we have agreed with the Ukrainian command to open humanitarian corridors for Belgorod residents who suffer from shelling by the regime’s army. Аnyone who needs assistance for voluntary consent can be evacuated deep into Ukraine to provide shelter and all necessary basic needs.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Ukrainian red fox with a donut! Wait, what?
"People have forgotten this truth,» the fox said. «But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
🎥 @operativno_ZSU pic.twitter.com/L0cSN900cr
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 3, 2023
Your daily Patron!
We have already given half of your gifts to the children. I went to the Okhmatdyt hospital, and the children were so happy! Thank you❤️ pic.twitter.com/kvUkx06KA1
— Patron (@PatronDsns) June 3, 2023
Here’s the original appeal:
🙁made a typo: PatronBox will be given to orphans or children in hospitals (depending on how many boxes can be collected)
— Patron (@PatronDsns) May 25, 2023
There is also a new video at Patron’s official TikTok, but once again it doesn’t want to embed. So click across if you want to see it.
Open thread!
