The continuation of the battle between the Ukrainian military and the beaver appeared on the network
Unfortunately, after the enemy was pushed back from the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he struck with renewed vigor, completely taking control of the trench pic.twitter.com/2OZ0xz6DJc
— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) March 29, 2023
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:
Greater unity is needed to defeat tyranny; the democratic world is capable of achieving it – Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address
29 March 2023 – 22:22
Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!
A brief report of the day.
I took part in the global Summit for Democracy at the invitation of President Biden, this is one of the most representative platforms for the protection of our system – the system of free peoples.
This is the second such Summit. In general, we do not have so many representative opportunities in the world to talk specifically about democracy, about the protection of freedom in all its aspects. And it is good that now we have such an opportunity to join forces in order to find more energy, more prospects for democracy.
The position of Ukraine, as always, is very specific, as practical as possible. And in almost all the leaders’ speeches at the Summit, there were apt words of support for our country and our people. I am thankful for this to every leader, every nation who feels as we do that the values of freedom deserve the strongest protection.
Now, thanks to Ukrainian courage, thanks to the leadership of the United States, President Biden, thanks to the Congress of the United States and everyone who works for the consolidation of the world, we have the greatest unity of democratic countries in a long time. And this unity, as we can see, is enough to fight for freedom.
But to win against tyranny, greater unity is needed. I am sure that the democratic world is capable of achieving it. It is capable of winning.
Democracy needs victory! As soon as possible. And all of us together: Ukrainians, all Europeans, our American allies, our friends on all continents – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in Australia – will do everything to bring victory closer. The victory of Ukraine. The victory of freedom. The victory of the rules-based international order.
I spoke today with Giorgia Meloni, head of the Italian government. I thanked her for her principles, for her determination, for the real European strength that is felt in her words and actions in defense of freedom.
We discussed both bilateral relations and the general situation in our defense against Russian aggression. I informed her about the situation on the battlefield, about our needs. Already in the coming months, we can be more active on the frontline. And we will do everything to ensure that the support of our steps by the world is as effective as possible.
Bakhmut. Today, we have something to thank our warriors for, warriors who are fighting in the Bakhmut direction. Fighting firmly and efficiently.
I thank each and every one who is doing everything to increase the losses of the enemy there! And special thanks to the warriors of our Kost Hordiienko 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, 77th separate airmobile brigade and the glorious Kholodny Yar 93rd separate mechanized brigade. Well done, guys!
We are already preparing for the events planned for the second half of this week. I held relevant meetings today. Ukraine has not wasted a single week during the full-scale war – we are constantly strengthening our state, our Defense and Security Forces, our confidence in advancing towards victory.
Today, a step has also been taken to strengthen the spiritual independence of our state, to protect our society from the old and cynical Moscow manipulation of religion.
Ukraine is the territory of the greatest religious freedom in our part of Europe. It has been so since 1991. It will always be so.
I thank everyone who cares about Ukraine and our citizens!
Thank you to everyone who supports the Ukrainian struggle for independence!
Glory to our warriors!
Glory to Ukraine!
And here is President Zelenskyy’s address to the Global Democracy Summit convened and hosted by the US Department of State and chaired by President Biden. English language video below with Ukrainian subtitles followed by the English transcript:
Democracy needs victory already now – speech by the President of Ukraine at the plenary session of the second Summit for Democracy chaired by the U.S. President
29 March 2023 – 21:44
Thank you very much! Mr. President Biden, thank you for this summit – for another step in consolidating the world in defense of freedom.
Dear colleagues!
Now is a decisive time, and it is our joint responsibility – what exactly will determine this time. Will we pass on to our children and grandchildren the values of freedom that we have ourselves, or – will they have to fight for democracy from scratch?
Modern generations of many democratic countries do not know from their life experience that freedom cannot be taken for granted. Most people can only learn about this from history textbooks – from the stories of wars of independence that took place generations ago and battles of freedom won by others.
But the experience of the enemies of freedom is always fresh. They don’t refer to textbooks. They know how to break democracy and destroy life. It is enough for them to have the slightest feeling that they can go unpunished, and then evil acts.
This is where the threat to our values comes from, this is why democracy is in danger.
Ukraine knows what it is to fight for democracy right now. And let our experience of preserving freedom during total war help protect the free world: each of your peoples!
When you see Ukrainian cities burned by Russian aggression and when you see brave Ukrainian soldiers that stop the movement of the aggression through our land, notice – what you are actually seeing.
This is deciding the fate of not only Ukraine, this is deciding the fate of everyone who is used to living freely.
Russian propagandists and accomplices lie that, allegedly, the West is fighting against Russia on the territory of Ukraine. It’s worth understanding – what is really going on.
It is Ukraine that tyrannical Russia is able to reach with its bloody hands – with missiles and artillery, bombs and tanks. But the Kremlin’s ambitions do not end just where its hands reach.
Russia has been at war with all of you for a long time – with the democracies of the world.
It fights via disinformation, election interference, espionage, corruption exporting, cybercrime, by trying to trigger an energy crisis and price explosions in markets that will hit your people with insane electricity or gas bills. Look – the Kremlin is trying to turn even food provision into a weapon – blocks the sea to create a shortage in the global food market.
Why is this happening? This is war, ladies and gentlemen. This is war precisely against freedom and democracy.
Every foe of freedom acts in the same way. I emphasize: they act.
The enemies of freedom have not lost a single year in recent decades! They channeled all their time and unlimited money, which they gained in trade with the free world, – to weaken and to corrupt and to undermine democracy.
But have all the efforts of the free world been aimed at limiting the aggressive potential of tyrants and autocrats and at bringing them to legal responsibility for their crimes? Unfortunately – no.
We have to fix it.
Democracy must be able to act – and act in advance. Democracy must learn to be uncompromising in the face of evil. The spirit of democracy is to find a compromise, but this only works for internal freedom in a given country. We should get rid of the illusion that compromising with evil can give something to freedom. The enemies of democracy must lose, and only this can be the basis of true security for democracy.
Embrace this Ukrainian determination!
Ukrainian democracy maintains absolute internal unity even in the face of a total war against our people. To win – is our national goal. What does it mean to win? Our answer is clear: to preserve freedom, to preserve dignity, to preserve our land.
But what is the strategy of the free world in relation to totalitarian Russia, which is looking for how to create more totalitarian allies in the world? Is there such a clear strategy? I will tell you what it should be. Clear answer: evil must lose the war. If it loses now, it will know that it will always lose everywhere.
First. We should not think how to save Putin’s face in order to allegedly reduce the cost of fighting him. We should think how to preserve respect for democracy in those countries where freedom has yet to win.
Second. When a fire breaks out, firefighters cannot wait months for fire trucks to be provided, or accept that fire hydrants should be mandatory only for short distances. It works the same way in war. The more restrictions on the defenders, the more casualties and destruction, because the flames of aggression know no bounds. That is why the defense of democracy must have all the weapons that will reliably guarantee the defeat of the aggressor.
Third. Russians must contribute to protecting the world from the Kremlin, whose impunity they have tolerated. It is necessary to look for, freeze and direct for recovery not only individual assets of the aggressor state and individual related parties, but all assets of Russia and Russian wealthy who have traded silence for increasing their wealth. They must have a motive to act in defense of freedom, and to bring an end to this aggression and the Kremlin’s terrorist rule.
Dear colleagues!
War makes things crystal clear. These days I visited our regions near the frontline. There you can see what aspects of leadership are needed now.
When our fighters repel the assaults near Bakhmut, they cannot wait for weeks before firing an artillery shot in response to the enemy’s actions. The fire must be immediate and neutralize the threat. All our decisions should be just as quick.
But for some reason, sanctions against Russia are much slower than Russia’s aggression. Global pressure on the Russian elite is weaker than its motive to accept the Kremlin. Support for Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches is less far-reaching than the weapons of the terrorists acting against us. And your own willingness to defend your democracies is less resolute than the intentions of those who want a world war against democracy.
Democracy needs a victory. Now! This year! Not some other time. Not over time. Now!
And we are able to ensure this. Ukraine and everyone who helps. And I am sure we will!
But act, act please, colleagues!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Thank you for your support, Mr. President! And to all colleagues!
Glory to all who fight for freedom!
Слава Україні!
Here is an update from Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Malyar. The machine translation is from the Ukrainian MOD’s Telegram channel:
Forwarded from Anna PainterThe enemy continues to concentrate its greatest offensive capabilities in the Bakhmut direction.In parallel, they accumulate all their media efforts around the topic of battles for Bakhmut.
Actually, this is what the informational and psychological reinforcement of military actions looks like.Currently, the enemy is working on three media tasks:
✔️to undermine the trust of our society and the military in the decisions of the Bakhmut command
✔️to demotivate and psychologically weaken our army
✔️to provoke our military leadership to take wrong actions.To do this, they try to shift the emphasis on the topic of Bakhmut and neutralize what is our advantage – intelligent and competent planning of operations.
The shifted emphasis is to consider Bakhmut as an apocalyptic event and to divide reality into “before” and “after” from these battles.
This psychological trick is used to suggest the desired ideas and narratives of the enemy.When society perceives the battles in Bakhmut as a factor that will ultimately affect the course of the war, it gives the enemy the opportunity to promote scenarios of our actions that are beneficial to them in the information field.
Overwhelmed by the approach of the “end”, the frightened society must begin to put pressure on the military-political leadership to stop defensive operations.
This is Ipso in its purest form with the aim of influencing military decision-making.
☝️What messages is the enemy using now:
– it is alleged that the decision to keep Bakhmut is political
– it is alleged that there is no point in keeping almost everything in Bakhmut there
– it is alleged that the heroism of Ukrainian fighters is inflated by Ukrainian propaganda☝️which two surnames are endlessly exploited in the Russian Ipso on the subject of Bakhmut?
– The President of Ukraine
– Commander SyrskyWith the aim of undermining trust in them and introducing conflict into the military leadership of the state. After all, it is not written in the Russian manuals that military decisions are not taken alone. There is a military command headed by the Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of the General Staff. In addition, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander constantly meets – where operational decisions are also made with the participation of all warring power structures.
So what is actually happening and how should information about the battles in Bakhmut be perceived?
This is the active phase of the war. It is just as active as in other directions in the East, where a full-scale enemy offensive has been ongoing since January 2023.
We defend Bakhmut as loyally as any other settlement. The use of our forces and means is determined not by political expediency, but by what resources are needed to repulse the enemy and perform combat tasks in this direction.
The defense of Bakhmut is currently determined by operational and tactical expediency, and the decisions are taken competently, balanced and aimed at the implementation of actual defense tasks.
What can be the defense tasks?
– maintaining the occupied lines and positions
– preventing the enemy from advancing deep into the territory
– inflicting significant losses on the enemy
– creating conditions for the transition to a counterattackWe will defend Bakhmut as long as it is necessary for us from the point of view of fulfilling military defense tasks.
And it is our military command, not the Russian Ipso, that will determine how long the defense of Bakhmut will be carried out.And the most unpleasant information for the enemy. Battles for Bakhmut are not apocalypse. This is another heroic page of the powerful Ukrainian army in the war against the Russian Federation.
Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situations in Avdiivka and Bakhmut:
AVDIIVKA AXIS /2200 UTC 29 MAR/ RU forces were rebuffed at Novokalynove, Krasbohorivka, Stepove, Sieverne and Pervomaiske. UKR forces conducted counter-battery fire against RU artillery and carried out a precision strike against RU logistics on Donetsk city. pic.twitter.com/qJx75hLzDd
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 29, 2023
BAKHMUT AXIS /1415 UTC 29 MAR/ UKR air defenses downed a Russian Su-24 strike fighter near Bakhmut. Wagner /RU continued attacks along the M-03 HWY axis, and were again defeated at Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Bohdanivka. Russian VDV / units were rebuffed at Ivanivske. pic.twitter.com/0SNvFCAIu4
— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) March 29, 2023
Bakhmut:
Update from Bakhmut from Ukrainian "Bakhmut Demon" on the morning of 29 March:
"Reporting.
Serious battles continue for Ivanivske and on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Firefights and artillery shelling. While I’d love to tell you something that would blow you https://t.co/BMFnQK0iS4… pic.twitter.com/rMxpXu1Z4G
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
Here’s the entirety of Dmitri’s translation from the tweet above:
Update from Bakhmut from Ukrainian “Bakhmut Demon” on the morning of 29 March: “Reporting. Serious battles continue for Ivanivske and on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Firefights and artillery shelling. While I’d love to tell you something that would blow you away, the battle for Bakhmut is now a positional meat grinder. Medics are our heroes. Assault actions of the Russians have no success. The tactical and strategic situation has not changed at all, only more destruction. No one will leave Bakhmut.” Follow him for regular updates on TG: https://t.me/bahshid2023
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Milley tells lawmakers that roughly 6,000 Wagner group mercenaries are currently fighting in Bakhmut, with 20k-30k more recruits. Says they are seeing "enormous" casualties as Ukrainians inflict "a lot of death and destruction on these guys."
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) March 29, 2023
Kharkiv:
Kharkiv, a city 30 km from the russian border. russians expected to capture it in a day. When they failed, they took revenge on the city with relentless terror. The story of those who resisted in the 8th episode of the "Kids of Bomb Shelters" series by @ulybinyulian
1/4 pic.twitter.com/3GU4bnnbZu— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Shells, missiles, bombs… russians sought to turn the lives of the city’s residents into hell. They were shelling residential areas and infrastructure daily to make cold and darkness into russian allies. 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian
2/4 pic.twitter.com/a41tjbPqYW— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Due to broken elevators, hungry elderly people were trapped in their cold and dark apartments for weeks. Children spent months living in basements and subways due to shelling. Besieged Kharkiv in the 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian
3/4 pic.twitter.com/nBbd1iXztV— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
They survived. The Synenko family – Oleksandr, Olga, and their five children from Kharkiv – in the 8th episode of the «Kids of Bomb Shelters» series by @ulybinyulian. They may have run out of food and candles, but they never ran out of love.
4/4 pic.twitter.com/Bemr4cvN1X— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 29, 2023
Toretsk:
A marksman from the 24th Mechanized Brigade positioned near Toretsk shows off his Dragunov rifle. He told me that it is a very valuable tool, as Russian positions are located a little over a kilometer away. The situation in the area was calm today, save for some distant shelling. pic.twitter.com/ZbKIYceoUJ
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
Besides a Soviet-built mortar and PK machine guns, the infantrymen of the 24th rely on some Western-supplied anti-tank weapons, as well as older rocket-propelled grenade launchers. pic.twitter.com/i7PvzdiNSy
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
The beginning of my interview of Roman, the officer in charge of the unit, was interrupted by the sound of machine gun fire. “It’s our guys who are shooting”, he told me. pic.twitter.com/hLl1XAMwRO
— Guillaume Ptak (@guillaume_ptak) March 29, 2023
Belarus:
The Russian military are trying to stage provocations on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. This is evidenced by a new SBU interception. A soldier of the Russian Federation, who is "touring" along the Ukrainian border in Belarus, tells about this to his acquaintance in the Donetsk… pic.twitter.com/gfRkargspT
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
And here’s all of Dmitri’s tweet above:
The Russian military are trying to stage provocations on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. This is evidenced by a new SBU interception. A soldier of the Russian Federation, who is “touring” along the Ukrainian border in Belarus, tells about this to his acquaintance in the Donetsk region.
The latter is waiting for his comrade’s unit to be transferred closer to help.
Such actions show that the Russian Federation does not stop trying to involve Belarus directly in the war against Ukraine and is doing it by any means.
Pelym, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia appears to have had an unfortunate smoking accident.
Explosion and fire at the gas pipeline in the north of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, town of Pelym. Commentary by the witness. pic.twitter.com/G7u2YHin1g
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 29, 2023
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), which is sort of Britain’s version of the Institute for Defense Analysis, has released a new report on preliminary lessons learned from Russian unconventional operations in Ukraine over the past year.
Good section. We need to be careful drawing modern warfare lessons from Feb-March 2022 because Russia committed a number of mistakes based on poor assumptions that other countries likely won't. Many of the initial casual explanations for why Russia's invasion failed were wrong. https://t.co/APs0RnmjHk pic.twitter.com/v345EAhcoM
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 29, 2023
This is why I thought arguments that tanks were obsolete based on the first month of the war were wrong. Your conclusions are only as good as your data, and the data from Feb-March are not necessarily that applicable to other potential wars.https://t.co/NkoCIX8seW pic.twitter.com/rL3YVstiHA
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 29, 2023
Here’s the link to the full pdf.
This part on p. 34 is very important: (emphasis mine!)
However, there are also clearly considerable deficiencies in Russia’s approach to unconventional warfare. At a fundamental level the Russian special services lack self-awareness, or at least the honesty to report accurately about their own efforts. In the case of Ukraine, a plan was attempted that was critically dependent on unconventional methods when the preconditions for success had not yet been achieved. This reveals wider cultural problems in the Russian services. That they are directed to bring about an outcome without independently assessing the viability of the plan creates a reporting culture where officers are encouraged to have a significant optimism bias. Furthermore, there appears to be a systemic problem of over reporting one’s successes and concealing weaknesses to superiors. This is evidenced by the overly optimistic assessment of the proportion of Russia’s agent network that would be proactive in supporting Russia in the context of a full-scale invasion. The fact that this lack of self-awareness in the Russian services contributes to blunders can certainly be exploited by counterespionage officers, but is far from comforting as it leads to a situation in which the Russians are difficult to deter because they have an unrealistic estimation of the likelihood of their success.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
There are no new Patron tweets or vids tonight, so here’s some adjacent material from Ukrainian Army Cats and Dogs:
One of the heroes of the defense of #Azovstal.
Great warriors love cats too! pic.twitter.com/JQpoN8dhle
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Ukrainian SOF dog. pic.twitter.com/vRUXkbiH4P
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
☺️#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/Q77vyeMmEX
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Live in together in trenches.#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/zxPwv78pYh
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
😍#Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineWar #Leopard #CatsOfTwitter #CatsOnTwitter #RussiaisATerroistState #UkraineWarNews #UAarmy #ukrainecounteroffensive #Zelensky #UkraineRussiaWar️ pic.twitter.com/xTJkCGOd9w
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) March 28, 2023
Open thread!
War for Ukraine Day 399: The Strategic Strike Beaver! Wait, What?Post + Comments (67)