“Shaheds” in the Skies Above Ukraine Sound Identical to Those Over the Middle East – Address by the President

15 April 2024 – 20:41

Dear Ukrainians!

A few summaries of the day.

I held a meeting of the Staff. Two key topics now are the frontline and the energy sector.

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi delivered a report on the areas where the situation is the most severe.

Special attention was paid to the battles for Chasiv Yar, the battles in the Pokrovsk and Kupyansk directions.

I am grateful to every soldier and commander, to all our units who are defending our positions and doing everything to stabilize the situation.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Umerov reported on the implementation of contracts for the supply of shells and drones, as well as electronic warfare.

Today, the Staff had a separate and detailed discussion about the use of electronic warfare and the protection of critical infrastructure. This applies, in particular, to the energy sector – what is protected and what was, unfortunately, not sufficiently protected. Appropriate conclusions will be drawn.

We analyzed the necessary actions to restore generation and key power facilities.

There was also a report on the state of protection of critical infrastructure in the areas near the frontline and in the border area.

There were two important intelligence reports – by Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Ivashchenko and Chief of the Defence Intelligence Budanov – on Russian actions in the spring and summer. On what we must be prepared for – in all formats of possible hostile actions. Obviously, the madness in the Kremlin is still rampant, and the occupier will try to intensify assault and offensive actions. We will retaliate.

Today I also held meetings on our work with partners in the coming weeks. As before, the top priority will be air defense and weapons for our warriors on the frontline. Also, the consolidation of partners and the unity of the world will remain a priority.

The entire world witnessed allied action in the skies above Israel and neighboring countries. It demonstrated how truly effective unity in defending against terror can be when it is based on sufficient political will. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Jordan acted together and with maximum efficiency.

Together, they prevented terror from prevailing. And they are working together, and in coordination with others, to prevent further escalation.

Israel is not a NATO member, so no action, such as triggering Article 5, was required.

And no one was dragged into the war. They simply contributed to the protection of human life.

“Shaheds” in the skies above Ukraine sound identical to those over the Middle East. The impact of ballistic missiles, if they are not intercepted, is the same everywhere.

European skies could have received the same level of protection long ago if Ukraine had received similar full support from its partners in intercepting drones and missiles.

Terror must be defeated completely and everywhere, not more in some places and less in others.

I thank everyone in the world, every leader and state, who truly assists us with air defense and missiles necessary to protect our skies, as well as training our pilots on F-16s. All of this already works and will continue to work to save lives. However, we can now see how unity can work truly a hundred percent, and how almost a hundred percent of “Shaheds” and missiles can be intercepted. We will discuss it with our partners.

One more thing. Today the Norwegian Foreign Minister is on a visit to Ukraine. I had a meeting with him. I expressed gratitude for the truly significant and principled support for Ukraine. Our teams have finalized negotiations with Norway on a bilateral security agreement, and we are preparing to sign it with the Norwegian leader. We are also working on expanding defense cooperation, in particular to bolster our air defense. We also appreciate that Norway provides Ukraine with long-term financial support – all forms of resilience are important in times of war.

I am grateful to everyone in the world who stands with Ukraine! I am grateful to everyone who has the determination to truly defeat terror!

I thank everyone in Ukraine who fights and works for our victory.

Glory to Ukraine!

LTG Budanov, the Director of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), sat for an interview with ICTV. It starts at the 4;37 mark of the reporting.

Here’s a machine translation into English of what was covered during the entire broadcast:

00:00:00 – The beginning
00:00:11 – Air alert in the regions – launch of the Shaheds
00:01:21 – How the intelligence of the Rubizh brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine works in the defense of Chasovyi Yar
00:04:37 – Budanov: In May-June, Russian troops plan to intensify fighting on the front line
00:05:16 – Shelling of Dnipropetrovs’k region on 15.04.24 – consequences
00:05:40 – Ukraine and Bulgaria hold Black Sea security conference
00:07:16 – Floods in the Russian Federation reached another region – Tomsk region
00:08:00 – A storm passed through Ukraine – consequences
00:08:37 – Ukraine to sign memorandum with Italy on restoration of historic center of Odesa
00:09:32 – In Odesa, a combat medic opened an Unbreakable coffee shop with the help of a microgrant
00:12:51 – Photo exhibition in memory of fallen soldiers opened in Vinnytsia

The cost, the price, and the reason:

https://twitter.com/United24media/status/1779795387672318154

https://twitter.com/OlehNikolenko_/status/1779513008265310557

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1779749030177722400

More stupidity from members of the House GOP majority caucus:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1780008892556063148

And some stupidity from the Biden administration:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1779821829223309321

Washington Post adds a new wrinkle to our @FT scoop last month that the US warned Ukraine not to attack Russian oil refineries with long-range drones. Our original report: https://ft.com/content/98f15b60-bc4d-4d3c-9e57-cbdde122ac0c

WaPo, confirming FT reporting below, reports that VP Kamala Harris asked Zelensky personally to not strike Russian refineries.

https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1779811520504889477

New: When Kamala Harris met privately with Volodymyr Zelensky in February, she told him something he didn’t want to hear: Refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic U.S. officials believed would raise global energy prices and invite more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine.

The request irritated Zelensky and his top aides, who view Kyiv’s string of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities as a rare bright spot in a grinding war of attrition. Zelensky brushed off the recommendation, but in subsequent weeks, Washington reinforced the warning in multiple conversations with Kyiv, including by Jake Sullivan, who traveled to Ukraine’s capital in March.

Instead of acquiescing to the U.S. requests, Ukraine doubled down on the strategy, striking a range of Russian facilities, including an April 2 attack on Russia’s third-largest refinery 800 miles from the font.

The incidents have exacerbated tensions in an already-strained relationship and come as Biden ramps up his reelection campaign amid a six-month high in oil prices.

Defenders of Ukraine’s strategy accuse the White House of prioritizing domestic politics over Kyiv’s military goals. U.S. officials say the rationale behind their warnings is more nuanced than critics suggest, noting that Moscow’s counterattack has hurt Ukraine more than the refinery attacks hurt Russia.

More details here:
https://washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/15/ukraine-russia-oil-refinery-attacks/

Dudette’s gotta go!

Harris’s strategic malpractice likely explains this statement from Ukraine’s Foreign Minister:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779982676587385007

“If partners tell us: “We’re giving you seven Patriot batteries tomorrow, but we have a request to you – can you not do this and that?”, then there’s something to talk about.

But if we don’t have the batteries, don’t have air packages, and we’re being asked not to do something… then what do we have to talk about? Then everyone does whatever it takes to survive…

I cannot believe and I think no one in Ukraine would believe a power as large as the United States military does not have a single Patriot battery to save infrastructure worth billions of dollars, as well as priceless Ukrainian lives.”

– Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister @DmytroKuleba

https://twitter.com/OzKaterji/status/1779899163288756549

By the way, it’s been 4 months since the last authorised US military aid package for Ukraine, and lots of very ridiculous “foreign policy realists” insisted that Ukraine and Russia would broker a peace treaty if Ukraine was finally cut off.

All that has happened is that more Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been killed because Ukraine now lacks the ammunition to sufficiently defend itself, while Russia continues to rearm through its allies. The war is not only still ongoing, but Russia is gaining the upper hand.

Helping Ukraine or abandoning Ukraine. Those have always been the only two options on the table. There is no magic third approach which leads to peace, no matter how many times you’ve been fed that lie by charlatans.

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1779974158073364608

Not only is Tatarigami correct here, but I expect that the Baltic states, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland are all working very quietly on how to remedy this deficit. I also expect Ukraine is doing the same. If the leaders of these states have not ordered the appropriate folks to work this problem set, then they are fools.

The Czech Republic:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1779970066290749928

From The Financial Times:

The writer is prime minister of the Czech Republic

The Czech ammunition initiative has attracted considerable international attention. This is a positive thing. At the moment, European nations buying additional artillery ammunition from other countries is the only way to quickly provide Ukraine with urgently needed rounds.

The situation in Ukraine is critical. As the war enters its third year, the country’s armed forces are under unprecedented pressure. They are running out of ammunition, meaning they are forced to make difficult decisions every day. This makes it extremely hard to hold their lines — the very lines that will decide the security and future of the whole of Europe.

Russia, on the other hand, has plenty of military assets. How many more rounds is the aggressor firing at this moment? One estimate gives the Russians a fivefold advantage.

Fortunately, western democracies recognise that it is impossible to be impartial in this conflict. In addition to financial, humanitarian and refugee assistance, we have not hesitated to deliver much-needed arms and ammunition from the beginning.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to move as quickly as Ukraine needs, and our defence industries have not yet been able to meet such high demand.

We are therefore looking for new ways to overcome these challenges. The Czech Republic’s answer to this question is the ammunition initiative. Its purpose is to find hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds as quickly as possible on world markets (where they are still available in abundance), to finance their purchase with co-operating western states and to get them to the front without delay.

The scheme is deceptively simple, which is why it has achieved significant success so soon after its launch. We are working to secure a further 300,000 rounds and have already contracted the first 180,000. These will be delivered to the Ukrainian front in the coming months. We could never have achieved such promising figures without the strong initial support of Denmark and the Netherlands — and some 20 other countries who later joined us in pledging their help.

The Czech Republic has been supporting the defenders of Ukraine for a long time. Over the past two years, we have supplied them with more than 1mn large-calibre ammunition rounds. This shows that our current initiative is not a one-off stunt. We are striving to create a robust ammunition supply mechanism that will directly help turn the tide on the frontline. To do so, we are leveraging our unique expertise, grounded in long-standing support for Ukraine, the strength of our defence industry and our historically established contacts in third countries.

This initiative also has another, equally important, aim: to give the west more time to adapt. War is changing our world; the days of complacency are over. This means we can no longer avoid fundamental changes at home, such as strengthening societal resilience and rebuilding sufficient defence capacity. We need to get used to the fact that a responsible security policy must include much greater investment in defence to deter attackers. Otherwise, we will not fare well in an era of resumed competition with Russia and other aggressive actors.

Luckily, all these changes are taking place: we are investing much more in security and modernising our defence forces. Nato is expanding. And even those actors in individual countries who until recently believed it was possible to negotiate sensibly with Russia are now fully aware of their share of responsibility.

The Czech initiative is part of these efforts. Its aim is to fill the ammunition gap, especially until Europe can produce enough ammunition on its own. We will not shrug off this responsibility.

There were air raid alerts across Ukraine again this morning.

https://twitter.com/K_Loukerenko/status/1779865763857256804

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779970173224558605

Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast and Dnipro:

https://twitter.com/IrynaVoichuk/status/1779662349370077644

Kharkiv:

https://twitter.com/IrynaVoichuk/status/1779877876541653159

Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1779791748408942720

Serebryansky Forest, Luhansk Oblast:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1779998751848837196

 

Moscow:

https://twitter.com/victoriaslog/status/1779820213984174129

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1779982654177194106

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1779984772921426143

Here’s the full video:

Last night Subsole asked:

So if Israel decides to go War of the Cities, what sort of defenses does the Iranian theocracy have (besides some impressively hardened facilities and a scaldingly comprehensive disregard for their citizens’ lives)? I have read they have pretty solid air defenses, but I don’t know if that refers specifically to aircraft, or includes everything else.

Because if one side has defenses, however imperfect, and the other does not…that is a fire Iran may regret playing wwith. Along with a great many others.

Here’s something some guy named Silverman wrote about this back in 2018. That guy’s making me look bad!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

First some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1779918860449382541

Little dusty in here.

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok:

@patron__dsns

🤝🏻 #дснс #патрондснс

♬ original sound – A2 – A2

Open thread!