Our energy workers, repair teams, and builders worked tirelessly throughout the week on recovery efforts after Russian strikes, saving Ukraine’s normal life – address by the President

30 March 2024 – 21:11

Dear Ukrainians,

A few important points this week:

Firstly, we continue to reboot our state institutions. Several changes have been made this week, and there are still more decisions in preparation. Today, new decrees regarding advisors were issued. I am grateful to everyone for their work. We are making the Office more functional.

Secondly, last night, as almost always during this war, our mobile fire groups, other air defense units, and the Air Force had things to do – successful target interceptions. Thank you to all the soldiers and commanders who defend us, and who save Ukraine from Russian terror. During this day, the warriors of the mobile fire groups in Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kherson, and our Odesa region distinguished themselves. Thank you!

Thirdly, our energy workers, repair teams, and construction workers have worked tirelessly throughout the week. These are the people working on recovery efforts after Russian strikes, as well as protecting energy facilities in various regions. They are many, and they literally save our country’s normal life. These are thermal power plant employees, engineers, grid masters, and electricians. These are the people who restore generation and power. I would like to thank everyone who works so hard to ensure that Ukraine can live normally, with power and the ability to work, in all cities and villages.

Russian terrorists are currently carrying out such heinous attacks in an attempt to drain Ukraine’s power. We sent necessary signals and concrete requests to all of our partners who have the necessary air defense systems and missiles. America, Europe, and other partners all know exactly what we need, and they all understand how critical it is to assist Ukraine in defending itself against these strikes right now. I thank all leaders who are demonstrating leadership right now, especially those who truly uphold our agreements and keep their word.

I also want to personally thank those people here in Ukraine, those workers in the energy sector, who have distinguished themselves with their work in these days and weeks. Vinnytsia region – Yevheniy Kosmyna. Dnipropetrovsk region – Roman Bakholdin, Anatoliy Bondarenko. Donetsk region – Vitaliy Soroka and Oleksandr Nechytailo. Zaporizhzhia region – Oleksandr Babenko, Yuriy Bokhan, Vitaliy Ivanchenko. Kirovohrad region – Oleksandr Zakrevskyi and Yevhen Chernyshov. Lviv region – Andriy Protsiuk. Poltava region – Bohdan Beresten and Serhiy Kuzmin. Odesa region – Anatoliy Murakhovskyi and Roman Poturnak. Kherson region – Ruslan Zhylin, Andriy Riabchenko, Fedir Dorohov. Our Kharkiv region – Yevheniy Diakov, Mykhailo Parfeniuk, Vitaliy Lubianytskyi. Khmelnytsky region – Roman Hnatiuk, Ivan Shvets, Serhiy Mykytiuk. Ivano-Frankivsk region – Vasyl Budnyi, Oleh Danyliv, Bohdan Voytsekhivskyi. Cherkasy region – Yuriy Vlasenko, Vladyslav Holovniov. Thank you, guys!

We must always remember that Ukraine’s strength lies in the strength of our people, in concrete persons who do their utmost so that Ukraine can do its utmost so that we all endure so that we all can achieve common results and protect our state and our lives. Everyone must now do their part – one hundred percent – so that Ukraine largely achieves what is needed. I thank all of you who live by this rule now.

Thank you to everyone who fights and works for Ukraine! Thank you to everyone who helps!

Glory to Ukraine!

The price:

After much internal struggle, I've made a tough choice that I’m now sharing with you. I'm packing my life into one suitcase and leaving Ukraine. It's the hardest decision I've ever made. Some may judge me, and I understand. Others will support me, and I'm thankful.

— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) March 28, 2024

Belgium:

Belgium approved the 25th military aid package for Ukraine, valued at €100 million. The funds will be allocated to the maintenance and support of the #F16s within the framework of the international coalition.

We are grateful to our Belgian partners for their constant support.… pic.twitter.com/Qk3ckMGAVn

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 30, 2024

Belgium approved the 25th military aid package for Ukraine, valued at €100 million. The funds will be allocated to the maintenance and support of the #F16s within the framework of the international coalition.

We are grateful to our Belgian partners for their constant support. Together, we are stronger.
🇺🇦🤝🇧🇪
@BelgiumDefence

@DedonderLudivin

See the full video herehttps://t.co/7cZWDwP7rv

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 29, 2024

Here’s the full video:

Kharkiv:

Ukrainian border guards, in a symbolic move, raised the 🇺🇦 flag over three ruined towns in Kharkiv Oblast trapped between the lines.

The area is lifeless and flooded with minefields now. pic.twitter.com/sHUtqTozCt

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 30, 2024

Explosion reported in Kharkiv! My parents are still there. I will continue to write about every russian attack on my hometown which still lacks air defense and suffers daily!

— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) March 30, 2024

‘Putin – khuylo’ slogan emerged this day 10 years ago in Kharkiv from a football chant led by FC Metalist Kharkiv and Shakhtar Donetsk ultras, resonating far and wide. That day marked the failure of Russian attempts to establish ‘Kharkiv People’s Republic’. pic.twitter.com/NAXP3WhMKM

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 30, 2024

Novomykhailivka:

What is burning over there?
These are russian occupiers near Novomykhailivka, their another failed attack.

📹: 79th Air Assault Brigade pic.twitter.com/5lFIgzT1lS

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 30, 2024

Avdiivka:

Russian infantry group under attack of Ukrainian FPV drone. Avdiivka front. By the 47th Brigade. https://t.co/rSwXeEPIIw pic.twitter.com/60kSbiN4nn

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 30, 2024

Destruction of the Russian combat robotic platforms by the FPV drones of the 47th Brigade. Also it’s Avdiivka front, not Bakhmut.

On the video, drones are already immobilized and show no signs of activity. It would be interesting to know the reason, whether this was due to… https://t.co/eW7SHt1Ofl pic.twitter.com/bw7SqJ7NjH

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 30, 2024

Destruction of the Russian combat robotic platforms by the FPV drones of the 47th Brigade. Also it’s Avdiivka front, not Bakhmut.

On the video, drones are already immobilized and show no signs of activity. It would be interesting to know the reason, whether this was due to damage received during the battle, loss of signal, work of the electronic warfare systems, or due to other reasons.
https://t.me/brygada47/613

As claimed, the video shows a lucky M109 Paladin shot which hit a Russian BMP-3 on the move. By the 47th Brigade, Avdiivka front. https://t.co/HJv6eNyoVt pic.twitter.com/F78HDrIODD

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 30, 2024

Oleshky forest, Russian occupied Kherson Oblast:

Another example of the use of dummy soldier by Russians from another direction of the front.https://t.co/RBNraObN5G https://t.co/yCrMwwOt6r pic.twitter.com/ilwr9wPIPu

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 30, 2024

 

The sanctions regime is still leaking like a sieve:

Yep – this is what happens when exercises in ‘escalation management’ give a warmongering dictator TWO YEARS to recover from the shock of his initial failure, relaunch his war production and economy, find new markets, adapt to international sanctions, and partner with other rogue… pic.twitter.com/FfkRKjpiCC

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 30, 2024

Yep – this is what happens when exercises in ‘escalation management’ give a warmongering dictator TWO YEARS to recover from the shock of his initial failure, relaunch his war production and economy, find new markets, adapt to international sanctions, and partner with other rogue totalitarian regimes to buy arms and equipment for a total war.

Not that we’ve been saying this out loud all these two years.

Here is the reporting from The Wall Street Journal:

Defense companies around the world have been grappling with ways to source nitrocellulose amid a shortage that has seen prices rise and created chokepoints for production. Only a few countries around the world produce nitrocellulose, since its primary use is in munitions and it is subject to international trade restrictions.

Russia produces little nitrocellulose, the main ingredient in smokeless gunpowder used in artillery, so Moscow’s ability to source it abroad has played a pivotal role in its war against Ukraine, according to U.S. officials and analysts.

“The nitrocellulose that goes into the propellant becomes an artillery shell,” said Bradley Martin, a 30-year U.S. Navy veteran who now heads Rand’s National Security Supply Chain Institute. “The majority of battlefield deaths and a lot of the civilian collateral damage is from artillery,” he said.

Nitrocellulose is also used for civilian purposes in inks, paints, varnishes and related products, but analysts believe that the surging imports are meant for arms, given that the Russian economy has been reoriented for wartime production.

Oleksandr Danylyuk, with the Center of Defense Reforms, a Kyiv-based security think tank that has studied Russian nitrocellulose imports, said Russia’s military is driving the imports.

“All of this demand is either for direct production of projectiles or substitution of nitrocellulose which was originally produced by Russian factories,” said Danylyuk, a former defense and intelligence adviser to the Ukrainian government.

China increased supplies of the compound to Russia in the wake of U.S. and European Union sanctions prohibiting exports of any kind for Moscow’s military. But companies from the U.S., Germany and Taiwan are also among those producing the nitrocellulose shipped to Russia in the past two years, according to trade data.

“China does not sell weapons to parties involved in the Ukraine crisis and prudently handles the export of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, said in a statement. “China-Russia economic and trade cooperation does not target any third party and shall be free from disruption or coercion by any third party.”

One small company in Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is responsible for nearly half of Russia’s imports of nitrocellulose since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the trade data.

One Russian importer, Analytical Marketing Chemical Group, received nearly $700,000 worth of nitrocellulose from Taiwan in the past two years, according to shipping data. According to the company’s website, the importer is a regular partner of Russia’s Kazan State Gunpowder Plant, which produces an array of weapons, according to company social-media accounts.

A director for Analytical Marketing Chemical Group said in a message to the Journal that the company hadn’t supplied cotton pulp to defense enterprises since 2019 and that it imports nitrocellulose for civilian purposes.

Before the expansion of the Ukraine war in 2022, Turkey provided less than 1% of Russia’s nitrocellulose imports. By the middle of last year, however, a single Turkish company, Noy İç Ve Diş Ti̇caret, provided nearly half of Russia’s imports of the product, according to Russian customs records provided by trade database ImportGenius and viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Most sales by Noy, which is based in Istanbul, were to Russian companies that are registered contractors for the government in Moscow, according to corporate records.

The company didn’t respond to requests for comment. Turkey’s embassy in Washington didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Noy’s first nitrocellulose exports to Russia shipped within three months of Putin’s invasion, and it is through Noy that a significant portion of nitrocellulose manufactured by Western allies has made its way to Russia.

German subsidiaries of New York-based

sold at least 80 tons of nitrocellulose to Noy, which then shipped the material to Russia last year.

A spokesman for International Flavors & Fragrances said the company was surprised to learn that shipments to Russia of its nitrocellulose products, which it had suspended in April 2022, had continued through a third party.

“We were unaware of this and are reviewing the conditions of this sale and the relationship with this customer,” the spokesman said in a statement to the Journal.

The company said that its product doesn’t have sufficient nitrogen to make it military grade.

 

Russia:

According to Izvestia, Russia will stand up counter-UAV mobile anti-aircraft groups equipped with pick up trucks with HMGs, trucks with ZU-23-2, EW systems, and smoke producing vehicles. It sounds similar to Ukraine's successful development of mobile anti-aircraft units.… pic.twitter.com/xxRQJ8iaIL

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 30, 2024

According to Izvestia, Russia will stand up counter-UAV mobile anti-aircraft groups equipped with pick up trucks with HMGs, trucks with ZU-23-2, EW systems, and smoke producing vehicles. It sounds similar to Ukraine’s successful development of mobile anti-aircraft units.
https://iz.ru/1673410/aleksei-mikhailov-iuliia-leonova-roman-kretcul/zenitnaia-rasstanovka-v-armii-sozdaiut-mobilnye-gruppy-dlia-borby-s-bpla

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

I’m saving the new Patron tweet for tomorrow, so here’s some adjacent material from the Ukrainian MOD:

To have a furry assistant is the best way to boost morale.

📹: Steel Hundred unit pic.twitter.com/6Bx5Cb5AJz

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 30, 2024

To those of you who observe, have a happy and healthy Easter!

Open thread!