The Kremlin must get used to the fact that terror does not go unpunished for them – address by the President of Ukraine

12 March 2024 – 21:21

Dear Ukrainians!

The rescue operation after the Russian missile strike is still underway in Kryvyi Rih. A part of a nine-story apartment building was destroyed, as well as the ceiling between floors. There was a fire. Many people were injured – over 30. There are severely wounded. Everyone is being provided with the necessary assistance. Unfortunately, there are fatalities. My condolences to all family members and friends.

We will inflict losses on the Russian state in response – quite rightly. They in the Kremlin must get used to the fact that terror does not go unpunished for them. Nothing will cure these sick men of their evil, but they will feel the losses. The Russian state will lose, and only this can make it safe for its neighbors. Not only for Ukraine. For different nations, our actions are now life-saving.

Today, Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi made a report about our actions on the battlefield, the actions of our reconnaissance officers, and the performance of our drones. The Commander-in-Chief is now at the front. And there is a necessary dynamic of actions for Ukraine. Today, I also received preliminary results on the use of our drones from the Armed Forces, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine. I think everyone can see our drones in action. Particularly in a long-range action. I am grateful to everyone who makes this possible. Our long-range capabilities are a real step closer to safety for everyone.

I held several important meetings throughout the day. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Interior Minister Klymenko, and other government officials. I agreed on further steps in the development of our State Border Guard Service and, accordingly, our border guard forces.

I am proud of every Ukrainian who serves in the border guard forces and protects the interests of our country and our national independence. We will increase the number of border guard forces, in view of both the current tasks of countering aggression and the long-term protection of our country’s borders after this war.

In addition, today I would like to recognize the units and warriors of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine who have been particularly effective in these weeks and months. In particular, the border guards of the Sumy Detachment who counter Russian subversive groups and strengthen our defensive positions on the border. I am grateful to all of you, warriors! Sergeants Artem Pedora and Oleksandr Poroskun deserve special gratitude. Chernihiv Border Guard Detachment: Master Sergeant Serhiy Khomenko and Senior Sergeant Serhiy Shvets. Thank you! Kharkiv Border Guard Detachment: Senior Soldier Valekh Zarbaliyev and Chief Sergeant Andriy Syzonov. Thank you, guys, for destroying Russian equipment and clearing the area of Russian mines! Of course, I am also grateful to everyone who is fighting at the front along with all units of our Defense Forces. The warriors of the Rapid Response Border Commandant’s Service of the Volyn Border Guard Detachment, the “Revenge” and “Steel Border” brigades, as well as the warriors of the special unit DOZOR. Well done to all of you.

The Minister of Internal Affairs reported on the key current security issues within the state, including the work of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on demining. It is extremely important for saving the lives of our people – for protecting them from Russian mines and unexploded ordnance. I am grateful to each and every person involved in this work of clearing Ukrainian land.

There was an important economic report on our resource and energy sectors. We are making good progress. Various assets that have not been working for our country for decades are now producing the necessary results for the budget. And this gives everyone in our country more power.

And a few other things.

Yesterday I signed the law on lobbying. This was one of the prerequisites for further progress in relations with the European Union – we have fulfilled everything. And, as agreed with the President of the European Commission, today the Negotiating Framework for Ukraine was approved. We are one step closer to the European Union. The decision now rests with EU member states. We continue to prepare for the accession negotiations.

Today, I also want to thank the United States and all Americans who value freedom for the U.S. defense assistance to Ukraine. I am looking forward to our country receiving the new military aid package.

We are making every effort to strengthen Ukraine and Ukrainians while inflicting maximum losses on the occupiers.

Glory to everyone who is in Ukraine and with Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

My Stupid Wild Ass Guess (SWAG) is that today’s strike on civilian targets in President Zelenskyy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih are reprisals for the recent spate of successful attacks in Russia that have been attributed to Ukraine. Such as last night’s strikes:

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1767411987674288133

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1767479133519364595

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1767527126041760255

Reuters article regarding the attack on Nizhny Novgorod oil facility:

Industry sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the main crude distillation unit (AVT-6) at NORSI was damaged in the attack, which means that at least half of the refinery’s production is halted. Lukoil declined to comment.

NORSI refines about 15.8 million tonnes of Russian crude a year, or 5.8% of total refined crude, according to industry sources.

It also refines about 4.9 million tonnes of gasoline, 11% of Russia’s total, 6.4% of diesel fuel, 5.6% of fuel oil and 7.4% of the country’s aviation fuel, according to industry sources.

https://reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-launches-drones-oryol-fuel-facility-other-regions-russia-says-2024-03-12/

Reuters has more details:

MOSCOW, March 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine pounded targets in Russia on Tuesday with dozens of drones and rockets in an attack that inflicted serious damage on a major oil refinery and sought to pierce the land borders of the world’s biggest nuclear power with armed proxies.

Russia and Ukraine have both used drones to strike critical infrastructure, military installations and troop concentrations in their more than two-year war, with Kyiv hitting Russian refineries and energy facilities in recent months.

In one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia to date, Moscow said it downed 25 Ukrainian drones over regions including Moscow, Leningrad, Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Tula and Oryol. Waves of drone attacks continued through the day, the defence ministry said.

Russian officials reported attacks on energy facilities, including a fire at Lukoil’s (LKOH.MM), opens new tab NORSI refinery and a drone destroyed on the outskirts of the town of Kirishi, home to Russia’s second largest oil refinery.

Gleb Nikitin, governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, posted a picture of a fire truck beside the NORSI refinery and said emergency services were working to put out a blaze there.

“A fuel and energy complex facility was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles,” Nikitin said on Telegram.Striking Russian oil facilities is a problem for President Vladimir Putin as he faces off against the West over Ukraine, with domestic gasoline prices sensitive ahead of a March 15-17 presidential election.

Russia imposed a six-month ban on gasoline exports on March 1.

Along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S., Russia has vast energy reserves but has, since oil was discovered in the wilds of Western Siberia in the 1960s, often relied on Western technology to exploit and refine its crude.

The Kremlin said the Russian military was doing everything necessary and that what it calls its military operation in Ukraine would continue.

Russia says it has destroyed more than 15,000 Ukrainian-launched drones since the start of the war.

The Biden administration. First tweet from the thread, the rest from the Thread Reader App:

https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1767610492611141970

This is possible because of unanticipated cost savings in contracts that DOD negotiated to replace equipment we’ve already sent to Ukraine through previous drawdowns. 

We’re able to use these cost savings to make this modest amount of new security assistance available. 

Right now without impacting U.S. military readiness. And the President has directed his team to use these cost savings. This emergency package that we’re announcing contains a large tranche of artillery rounds and (inaudible) for the Himars. 

It is assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks, and to push back against the continuing Russian onslaught in the Eastern and other parts of Ukraine. 

This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period it is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the weeks to come. 

It goes without saying this package does not displace and should not delay the critical need to pass the bipartisan national security bill. 

As you all know, …& President Biden said it to the entire nation in the State of the Union last week that we cannot provide ongoing assistance to Ukraine without significantly impacting our military readiness, absent congressional action. 

That remains the case, despite this modest amount of cost savings that we are putting to use on an urgent basis.

Congress must act. The House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental as soon as possible. 

We all know that if it came up for a vote, it would pass on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, just as it did in the Senate.

And there is no other way around this. 

The House has got to pass the supplemental as soon as possible to allow us to continue the flow of vital security…assistance to Ukraine to replenish the US military’s munitions stocks, to invest in our industrial base and to support jobs in 40 states across the United States. 

The clock is ticking and we need to see action as rapidly as possible, even as we do everything in our power to get Ukraine what it needs in its hour of need.

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1767466673102020737

William Burns, Director of the CIA, about providing aid to Ukraine:

“With this supplemental assistance, Ukraine can put itself in a position… to achieve an outcome in which Putin’s goal which was to subjugate Ukraine and to control its choices would be denied.

Without supplemental assistance…lies a much grimmer future…you’re going to see more Avdiivkas, and that, it seems to me, would be a massive and historic mistake for the United States.”

About damn time!

The EU and Washington DC:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1767616124013699173

The Financial Times has details:

EU countries are set to agree a new €5bn top-up to a fund used to finance military shipments to Ukraine, as the US managed to scrape together $300mn more in ammunition and artillery for Kyiv.

The EU deal, which needs formal approval at a meeting of member states on Wednesday, unlocks fresh cash for the reimbursement of arms supplies to Kyiv by countries in the bloc as a $60bn package is being held up by US Congress at a critical time for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

“[The] Ukrainians are struggling without ammunition,” a senior US defence official said in reference to recent advances by Russia and warnings from the Ukrainian military that it is rationing shells. “There was an imperative to act.”

The EU fund, known as the European Peace Facility, will prioritise weapons manufactured inside the bloc but not exclude those from non-EU countries if they are the only option, officials familiar with the matter told the Financial Times said.

The fund been a critical part of European military supplies to Ukraine since February 2022, but has been depleted and talks about a top-up have been ongoing for the past three months. One official said the agreement was about “flexibility by need and not by design. Driven by Ukrainian needs.”

The US has also run out of money to replenish the weapons sent to Ukraine and needs about $10bn in funds from Congress to replace weapons it has already sent, senior officials said. But recent savings from army contracts have allowed the US to cobble together about $300mn in additional assistance, they said.

“We do have funds . . . that can cover the cost of one more package, but this is a bit of an ad hoc or one time shot. We don’t know if or when future savings will come in, and we certainly can’t count on this as a way of doing business,” the senior US defence official said.

In the past the US was sending much larger packages about every two weeks or so to sustain Ukraine’s fight. Before Tuesday’s announcement, the US had provided $44.2bn in military assistance since Russia’s full-blown invasion in February 2022.

It has not sent any new assistance since December and the Biden administration is still hoping Congress will act to pass some $60bn in new assistance for Ukraine.

Some Republican and Democratic House lawmakers are working to force a vote on the $60bn package this week, which has passed the Senate but has been stalled in the House.

While Europe can plug some of the gaps the lack of US assistance leaves, ultimately it cannot provide what the US can, said Radosław Sikorski, foreign minister of Poland, in Washington on Tuesday.

He said: “We physically don’t have the weapons that are needed at the front. You have the weapons, so on Europe is crucial on the financial side. The United States is crucial on the military side.”

More at the link.

Poland:

https://twitter.com/mmagierowski/status/1767617788770730300

I hope President Duda gave them an earful! Like this:

Denmark:

https://twitter.com/rustem_umerov/status/1767584281570811933

I am grateful to Minister @troelslundp and all the people of Denmark for the new sizeable military aid package for Ukraine valued at 2,3 billion DKK ($337 million).

Denmark will co-finance additional CAESAR artillery systems in cooperation with France and 155-mm ammunition with Estonia and the Czech Republic. The package also includes 120-mm self-propelled mortars.

Thank you for strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

Russia has posted it’s high value target list:

https://twitter.com/markomihkelson/status/1767576697266647524

While I don’t think he’s on the list above, Leonid Volkov, the Chief of Staff for the late Alexey Navalny, was violently attacked earlier today.

https://twitter.com/nadyariot/status/1767648965917294950

Leonid Volkov @leonidvolkov – my dear colleague and a member of Alexei Navalny’s team – has just been attacked outside his house in Europe.

Someone broke a car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker started hitting Leonid with a hammer.

Leonid is now at home, police and ambulance are on their way to him.

Been just chatting with Leonid like 30 minutes ago and WTF WTF WTF

HITTING WITH A HAMMER WTF
PUTIN IS A KILLER

 

https://twitter.com/Kira_Yarmysh/status/1767646481018724362

https://twitter.com/PaulaChertok/status/1767654712701006012

Ivanovo Oblast, Russia:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1767506052894072859

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1767523290585739269

Here’s the full image of the meme above.

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1767564102690382314

Kursk Oblast, Russia:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1767515065815634316

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1767535179713614328

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1767492070455824585

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1767431738479812646

Reuters has reporting on the cross border incursion by these Ukrainian aligned Russian militias.

Russia said Ukrainian proxies had sought to cross the Russian border in at least seven attacks that Russian forces had repelled. The Russian-speaking Ukrainian proxies said they had breached the border, a claim denied by Russia.

Russia said its forces prevented incursions from Ukraine in the western Belgorod and Kursk regions and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, after Ukraine-based armed groups said they had launched cross-border raids.

“Ukrainian terrorist formations, supported by tanks and armoured combat vehicles, attempted to invade the territory of the Russian Federation simultaneously,” the Russian defence ministry said.

At least two Ukraine-based armed groups purporting to be made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin said they had launched an incursion across Russia’s western border on Tuesday.

Russia denied that the groups, which Moscow casts as puppets of the Ukrainian military and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, had penetrated its territory, but said the border had come under attack in several places.

The TASS news agency cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying Russian forces had killed 100 people and destroyed multiple armoured vehicles when fighting off attempted incursions.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had fired eight RM-70 rockets and one Tochka-U missile at the Belgorod region.

That’s enough for tonight.

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