Around the world, we must defend against those who consider people merely expendable – address by the President of Ukraine

23 March 2024 – 22:00

Dear Ukrainians,

Today, throughout many cities and communities of our state, municipal services, repair teams, and energy workers have been tirelessly working on the aftermath of the Russian terrorist attack that occurred on Friday. People have been working continuously for the second day.

At this moment, normal power supply has been restored almost everywhere. There were some problems today in our city of Odesa – there were emergency shutdowns. Everything possible is being done to normalize the situation. Unfortunately, in Kharkiv, it’s still very challenging. Today, there was another missile strike from Russia – these strikes continue daily. And everyone who is working to keep normal life in Kharkiv, in the region, in other border cities and communities, they are all true heroes. I thank every rescuer of our State Emergency Service of Ukraine, all employees of energy companies involved, police officers, local services, volunteers – everyone who is helping. Thank you for your dedication to protecting people!

I want to specifically acknowledge and thank the experts in Ivano-Frankivsk region, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Sumy region, Poltava region, our Dnipropetrovsk region, and Zaporizhzhia. Thank you for your efficient work! Today, I received reports from the regions, from the head of the government, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of course, from our military. The state must ensure a systematic response to every Russian strike.

I also want to recognize all the leaders of states, heads of international institutions, and all our partners who have expressed their support for Ukraine these days. It is important to act together every time missiles and drones attempt to destroy our lives. To act to reduce the potential for terror, to block it. This particularly concerns air defense systems, as well as sanctions. All these Iskander, Kinzhal and other Russian missiles have dozens of components imported for terror from other countries. The missiles used in this attack against Ukraine, against our energy system, had at least three hundred types of components from ten countries. Together with the “Shahed” drones, there were at least seven and a half thousand components in total. Each of them represents a violation of sanctions regimes against Russia, each one represents someone’s attempt to make money from destroying lives. This needs to be stopped.

Another thing. What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious, both Putin and other scoundrels simply try to blame everything on someone else. They always resort to the same methods. It’s been done before. There have been blown-up houses, shootings, and explosions. And they always blame others. They have come to Ukraine, burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine. They torture, rape people – and accuse them. They have brought hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here, to Ukrainian land, they fight against us, and they don’t care what’s happening inside their own country. Yesterday all this happened, and this absolute miserable Putin, instead of attending to his own citizens of Russia, addressing them, remained silent for a day – thinking about how to link this with Ukraine. Everything is absolutely predictable. Those hundreds of thousands of Russians who are now killing on Ukrainian land would surely be enough to stop any terrorists. And if the Russians are ready to silently die in “Crocus Halls” and not ask any questions to their security and intelligence agencies, then Putin will try to turn such a situation to his personal advantage again.

Terrorists must always lose. I thank everyone who truly defends life! I’m grateful to all our people who are fighting against terror. And around the world, we must defend against those who consider people merely expendable.

Glory to Ukraine!

The cost:

Today is the birthday of Olena Kulish, a popular 🇺🇦 radio host & animal rights activist from Luhansk. In 2014, she & her husband were executed by Russians for bringing food to the Ukrainian army. Their home was ransacked. Their six dogs were killed, too.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/vn95JWC8nL

— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) March 23, 2024

The AP takes a dive into Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s energy sector. (emphasis mine)

Russia launches sweeping attack on Ukraine's power sector https://t.co/mLr4BWGrhi

— Carol J Williams (@cjwilliamslat) March 23, 2024

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed one of its most devastating attacks against Ukraine’s electric sector on Friday, an aerial assault it said was retaliation for recent strikes inside Russia and which could signal an escalation of the war just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a preordained election.

Many Ukrainians were plunged into darkness across several cities, at least five people were killed, and damage to the country’s largest hydroelectric plant briefly cut off power to a nuclear plant that has been a safety risk throughout the war.

Russia fired off more than 60 exploding drones and 90 missiles in what Ukrainian officials described as the most brutal attack against its energy infrastructure since the full-scale war began in early 2022.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, sustained the most damage, officials said, and the attack came a day after Russia had fired 31 missiles into the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been urging Western allies for weeks to provide it with additional air-defense systems and ammunition, a period in which $60 billion in U.S. aid has been held up by divisions in Congress.

“With Russian missiles, there are no delays, like with aid packages to our state,” Zelenskyy said. “It is important to understand the cost of delays and postponed decisions.”

Russia’s defense ministry called Friday attacks “strikes of retribution.” Ukraine has increased shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region along its northeast border and has launched drone strikes targeting Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities.

Ukraine’s latest strike inside Russia on Friday killed one and injured at least three, according to local officials.

Putin has described Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other regions as an effort to frighten residents and derail the highly orchestrated election that ended Sunday. And he vowed to strike back.

The day after he declared victory, Putin said Russia would seek to create a buffer zone inside eastern Ukraine to help protect against long-range strikes and cross-border raids.

Russia has made progress on the battlefield in recent months against exhausted Ukrainian troops struggling with a shortage of manpower and ammunition along the front line that stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

When Putin invaded in 2022, he called it a “special military operation,” and his officials have mostly eschewed the word “war.” But in a change of rhetoric Friday that may herald a new escalation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a Russian newspaper that “when the collective West became a participant in this on the side of Ukraine, for us it already became a war.”

In the winter of 2022-23, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing frequent blackouts across the country. Many in Ukraine and the West expected that Russia might repeat this strategy this winter, but Russia instead focused its strikes on Ukraine’s defense industries.

While launching the strikes, Russia has combined sophisticated ballistic and cruise missiles with waves of cheap Iranian-made Shahed drones in a bid to oversaturate and weaken Ukrainian air defenses.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of the national utility Ukrenergo, described Friday’s barrage as the largest assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the full-scale war began.

“This attack was especially dangerous because the adversary combined different means of attack, kamikaze drones, ballistic and cruise missiles,” he said.

Kudrytskyi said that Russia “tried to destroy every significant energy object powering the city of Kharkiv,” leaving at least 700,000 without electricity. He estimated that several hundred thousand customers in other regions were also left without power.

More at the link.

Novomykhailivka:

They shall not pass here.

The brave warriors from the 79th Air Assault Brigade continue to repel russian attacks near Novomykhailivka and destroy the occupier's armored columns. pic.twitter.com/gPvxlIUav2

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 23, 2024

Two Russian T-80BV with KMT-7 mine trawls destroyed by Shadow unit. On the Novomykhailivka front. https://t.co/KX9USPUXia pic.twitter.com/sWPpqqGEen

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 23, 2024

More on the Crocus disco attack:

First, I’ve seen the videos and the pics circulating of the men that Russia has detained. YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO AND LOOK FOR THESE, WATCH THEM, OR LOOK AT THEM!!!! These were supposedly the perpetrators of the attack that Russia claims were trying to make it to Ukraine. They weren’t, they were headed to Belarus. Moreover, they most likely aren’t even the actual shooters. ISIS has released their own video from inside the Disco. I have no doubt that ISIS did this. At this point I also have no doubt that Russia not only received the US warning, but that they decided to use it for their own purposes. Specifically they prestaged a bunch of dupes that they could arrange to flee from the attack, then arrest, brutally interrogate, and claim Ukraine was somehow involved. The last bit intended to provide the usual suspects in the US, UK, and Europe to then blame the US, the Brits, and various European states of involvement because they’re all backing Ukraine. David Sacks, Scott Ritter, and Douglas MacGregor have all taken the bit from the Russians.

Putin telegraphed this a few days ago:

Putin (a few days ago) about the possibility of terrorist acts in Russia. ⬇️#Crocus #Moscow #Russia #Putin pic.twitter.com/Gow22iMWFV

— Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) March 23, 2024

All of the suspects, as well as a number of those the Russians listed as wanted and at large, are Tajiks. Many of the identified Tajiks are and have been in Tajikistan. They voluntarily went to the authorities to prove they could not have done this. The men the Russians have arrested and are torturing seem to have no idea what is going on. I expect they are Tajik guest workers who got paid a decent amount of cash to be in the van and driving in a certain direction. Russians do not view the central Asian guest workers as human.

A new manual designed to help migrants from Central Asia has caused a storm in Russia’s second city because of its apparent racist content.

According to RFE/RL’s Russian Service, the local prosecutor’s office in St. Petersburg has launched preliminary investigations into “Instructions for Labor Migrants,” which was recently published in Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek.

The booklet has been printed by the Look Into The Future publishing house and is seemingly intended as an aid for thousands of migrants from Central Asia, many of whom are employed as construction workers in Russia’s major cities.

Along with legal information concerning Russian rules and regulations, the booklet also provides some social advice.

Among other things, it warns labor migrants not to spit in the street, not to squat, not to litter, and not to wear bathrobes or tracksuits in public places.

The booklet’s illustrations also depict labor migrants as tools commonly used in the construction industry, such as hammers, brooms, paintbrushes, and paint scrapers.

Somewhat controversially, the pictures portray these immigrants being met at the airport by real human beings wearing the uniforms of Russian customs officials and border guards.

Here’s the image being referred to in the RFE/RFL reporting:

You may remember that in October 2022, there was a shooting at a Russian military training base in Belgorod Oblast, Russia. This was blamed on Tajik guest workers who had “volunteered” to join the Russian military and fight in Ukraine. It is illegal under both Russian law, as well as the central Asian states, for the guest workers to join the Russian military and fight for the Russian military in the genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine. I will not be surprised if the Russian narrative evolves that the Crocus disco attackers were trying to get revenge for the two Tajik guest workers and that the Ukrainians somehow organized the whole thing.

Putin accuses Ukraine of preparing an escape route for the terrorists that attacked the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region last night. pic.twitter.com/7RQ0SQehO7

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) March 23, 2024

The Putin administration has instructed Russian state-funded and pro-government media to emphasize possible “traces” of Ukrainian involvement in their reporting on Friday’s Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, according to Meduza’s sources.https://t.co/llPDCnOYhO

— Meduza in English (@meduza_en) March 23, 2024

What's especially funny is that the suspects were trying to make it to Belarus, and that was the initial claim, and the Lukashenko regime's officials confirm that.

But hey, when that piece of inhuman scum needs that, it's Ukraine.

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 23, 2024

 

I’m pretty sure Putin himself prepared his “address” on the Moscow mass murder.

Sure, ISIS attackers had a “window” to flee into Ukraine through, just across minefields of the war zone of the Russian-Ukrainian border and hordes of the Russian military and the border guard that were apparently supposed to let them leave.

ISIS itself has just published a new, extremely gory video (I recommend against watching it) made by Crocus City Hall terrorists themselves during the mass murder.

Now watch all that inhuman trash on "X" spin around and yell that Ukraine is actually behind the Islamic State.

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 23, 2024

It is honestly insane that we live in a world where ISIS can commit a terrorist attack, claim responsibility, release bodycam footage from the attack and you still have cRiTiCaL ThInKeRs going “It is definitely not ISIS”.

— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) March 23, 2024

Looks like Russia’s response to the Moscow terrorist attack will be to restore the death penalty. Which could then be used against “traitors” at home, in a time-honored Soviet tradition. https://t.co/zbqSpLuBWb

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) March 23, 2024

Here’s Tatarigami’s assessment. First tweet from the thread, the rest from the Thread Reader App. There is some graphic imagery in here. So keep that in mind as you read through.

Amidst the growing number of confirmed civilian casualties from the recent terrorist attack in Moscow, Putin and state-affiliated media and bloggers continue to link it to Ukraine. Given the gravity of these implications, we need to examine key details and assertions. 🧵Thread: pic.twitter.com/CzJqHsGlvA

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) March 23, 2024

2/ Firstly, on March 7th, the US Embassy in Russia issued a public warning regarding extremist plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts. Subsequently, after the attacks, the US confirmed sharing this info with RU security forces. US officials suspect ISIS-K

3/ From the outset of the attack, there were efforts to link it to Ukraine. This included the circulation of the van photos with Belarusian license plates, blurred to insinuate Ukrainian origin, as well as claims in RU media suggesting Slavic attackers with fake beards were seen

4/ Prominent Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan, closely tied to the Kremlin, pushes the narrative of Ukrainian ties. This echoes Putin’s speech about ‘Ukrainians leaving the open window at the border for terrorists’, confirming that the narrative originates in Kremlin

5/ The group was allegedly detained in the same white car in Bryansk Oblast. The journey typically exceeds 4 hours. Given the number of traffic cameras for identification on the way, it’s astonishing they made it that far. It’s either severe incompetence or deliberate malice

6/ The attack occurred mere minutes away from a major base of the militarized police (Rosgvardia) in Moscow, yet armed units arrived significantly later, allowing the perpetrators to flee in the same vehicle they arrived in. It’s either deliberate negligence or gross incompetence

7/ Despite claims, there is no concrete evidence linking these attacks to Ukraine. Regardless of the actual perpetrators, it’s likely that Russian authorities will exploit the attack to propagate a “Ukrainian trace” narrative, prioritizing political agendas over facts 

8/ Any statements made by detained suspects lose credibility due to FSB pressure applied towards them. For instance, one of the detainees, Shamsutdin Fariddun, already admitted receiving payment to carry out the attack from an anonymous person who contacted him through Telegram

9/ In one of the videos, a detained person is shown having his ear cut off by Russian servicemen. Undoubtedly, under such pressure, they will confess to anything, whether it be ties to Ukraine, the CIA, or even admitting involvement in the assassination of Kennedy.

10/ If the described failures are indeed due to gross incompetence, it reveals significant vulnerabilities in Russia’s ability to counter such threats, posing a risk of future attacks. If it was intentionally overlooked, it will likely continue as well. 

11/ Additionally, Russia’s history of supporting terrorism in various regions, including Ukraine, Syria, CAR, and Mali, as well as assassinations in countries like the UK and Germany, underscores the ongoing threat posed by Russian state-sponsored terrorism

12/ This tragedy also underscores the Russian state’s inconsistent approach to terrorism, maintaining relationships with organizations like Hamas, Taliban, and Houthis despite their history of terrorist activities. Such ambiguity always leads to unintended consequences. 

13/ In conclusion, while the loss of civilian lives in such attacks is tragic, the Russian government’s priorities seem to lie elsewhere, sacrificing the lives and safety of its citizens for broader geopolitical goals under Putin’s regime. 

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Kuybyshev refinery, Samara Oblast, Russia:

https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1771411360200769837

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1771406960845304014

Here’s the full text of the first tweet:

/1. After a short pause, drone strikes on Russian oil refineries have resumed. Kuybyshevsky oil refinery in Samara region of Russia, 900km from the frontline, is on fire as a result of drone strikes. Russian media claim that “columns are on fire”. Kuibyshev Oil Refinery is one of the largest enterprises in the oil industry in the Samara region. The refinery’s design capacity is 7 million tons of oil per year. The range of products produced by the Kuibyshev Refinery includes more than 20 types of petroleum products. The main ones: gasoline, diesel fuel. P.S: Kuybyshevsky and Novouybyshevsky oil refineries are located just ~10km apart therefore, at first there was confusion about which refinery was hit.

And the second:

/2. The Governor of the Samara Region about the Drone attack on the oil refineries:
“Tonight there were drone attacks on the oil refineries in the region. As a result, a primary oil refining column caught fire at the Kuibyshevsky Oil Refinery. There are no casualties or injuries. Emergency services and law enforcement agencies are working on the spot, and an operational headquarters has been created.
At the Novokuibyshevsky Refinery, the attack attempt was repelled. There was no damage to the technological equipment.”

 

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1771497316416991668

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1771480981762871708

So, given all the fuss over ongoing Ukrainian strikes on Russian petroleum refineries, the Kremlin is putting insane pressure upon the U.S. administration.

I’m pretty sure that Russians, via their unofficial back channels, yelled the same old magic words like ‘escalation’, ‘retaliation’, and ‘nukes’, and vowed to stir up troubles in the global oil and gas market amid U.S. presidential campaign.

And, of course, it has been easier to just twist Ukraine’s arms and absurdly demand that it doesn’t strike the Russian oil refining industry, an essential part of the Kremlin’s war economy, even with weapons of Ukraine’s own making.

This only means Ukrainian drones are now really hitting where it hurts.

Especially given the fact that Russia urgently halted all gas exports and that, for instance, large Indian refineries now decline to work with Russian crude oil due to sanctions.

It’s also quite possible that the recent large-scale missile attack on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure was again ‘an act of retaliation’ for the painful drone attacks.

As of now, we have at least 11 Russian refineries damaged or knocked out of operation by Ukrainian strikes all across Russia’s European area.

Given the fact that the latest strike took place just last night at the Novokuibyshevsky refinery in Samara Oblast, Ukraine probably respectfully declined to keep the Kremlin’s precious oil pleasantly fine and safe.

Now keep watching the Kremlin’s war money burn.

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Belgorod:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1771644021409984519

For you drone enthusiasts.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1771547952290615533

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets or videos tonight. So here is some adjacent material from the Ukrainian MOD:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1771523289350918370

Open thread!