A quick Rosie update. As we’re now almost two months post-stroke and since she was interested in going that way, we increased tonight’s walk by 2/10ths of a mile. So she’s now up to 1.7 miles. Prior to the stroke she was doing right around 2 miles in addition to shorter quick walks around the block a couple of times a day. Now she’s curled up and preparing to snooze. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers for Rosie and donations to retire the vet bills for Rosie’s stroke. For those still considering donating, here’s the link.
Here are some of tonight’s outgoing Ukrainian fires:
IT’S TIME 👊🔥 DroneBomber
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) April 22, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Ukrtransnafta says the Druzhba pipeline is ready for operation.
The Ukrainian company is prepared to resume oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) April 22, 2026 at 8:02 AM
Media report that the EU ambassadors have launched a written procedure on the €90B Ukraine Support Loan. That will unblock the funds for Ukraine’s defence and resilience.
Finally.
FINALLY.— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) April 22, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Last night Parfigliano asked:
What do we spend trillions of defense dollars on if we can run out of munitions in 2 weeks?
Do I even want to know ?
US defense spending is a mess and has been for a long time. There are a number of overlapping reasons for this including:
- Congress is on an annual budgetary and appropriations cycle, while much of the military’s material requirements need to be funded for much longer periods.
- Congress has a lot of trouble actually making its annual budgetary and appropriations cycle.
- It takes a long time and a lot of resources, especially time and money, to get US military equipment, weapons systems, weapons, munitions, vehicles, planes, ships, boats, etc approved let alone built.
- Some of this is because our defense industrial base has evolved to service congressional needs for reelection. This means that parts for items have to be made in factories in dozens and dozens of congressional districts and states rather than consolidated.
- Some of it is because of particular pathologies that have evolved in our defense industrial base companies, which is why our shipyards can’t produce ships, or at least not on schedule or why we have exactly one subsidiary company making all of our pistol and rifle ammo, which is right now closed because the workers are on strike.
- Some of it is because almost nothing goes from proposal by the Services or, in some cases, from requirements established by Congress regardless of what the military wants, to fully tested and ready to field final product without a lot of reengineering, trial and error, and often a determination that the whole idea won’t actually be useful by the time it finally goes into final production. Which is why we keep ordering ships, they get bogged down in the phases between design, test, and evaluation, which puts them behind schedule, which then leads to them either being cancelled completely or only one or two being produced.
- The F-35 Strategic Strike Paperweight of Death. Nuff said!
Also, I don’t know who this Nuff guy is, but he’s always saying stuff.
President Zelenskyy did not give an address today.
First Lady Zelenska hosted a roundtable regarding the National Multi-subject Test (NMT).
Olena Zelenska Presented the Guide “Support for Everyone Taking the NMT”
22 April 2026 – 20:27
A round table discussion titled “From Teen Requests to Solutions: Support During the National Multi-Subject Test” was held at the youth space “12–21” in Bila Tserkva, moderated by First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska.
During the event, the guide “Support for Everyone Taking the NMT” was presented. It was developed as part of the Olena Zelenska Foundation’s project to expand the network of youth spaces “12–21,” in cooperation with the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program “How Are You?”, with the expert participation of psychologist Svitlana Roiz. The guide offers practical advice, self-support techniques, and recommendations for teenagers, parents, and teachers.
It was created in response to graduates’ concerns about fatigue, anxiety, overload, and pressure during NMT preparation – issues that the “12–21” team has repeatedly heard about. According to the “How Are You?” research conducted in partnership with UNICEF Ukraine, around 34% of respondents name exams as one of the main sources of stress.
Representatives of state institutions, educators, psychologists, and teenagers took part in the round table. They discussed psycho-emotional challenges and concrete steps that can be implemented already today.
“We want teenagers to grow and develop despite all circumstances, but not at the cost of their mental health,” Olena Zelenska noted.
The guide is available for download at the following link:
War for Ukraine Day 1,518: The Freeze on Funds ThawsPost + Comments (8)
