Ramping up our production is meant to protect the lives of our warriors and expand our capabilities at the front – address by the President of Ukraine

14 February 2024 – 20:16

Dear Ukrainians!

A summary of this day.

First of all, I thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the warriors of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine – Group 13 of the 9th Department. Today we have increased security in the Black Sea and added motivation to our people. This is important. Step by step we will clear the Black Sea of Russian terrorist objects.

Second. Today, I held a special, lengthy meeting on one of the key issues of this war, namely, our Ukrainian capabilities to counter Russian drones. The meeting was attended by Syrskyi, Umerov, Sukharevskyi, Shmyhal, Kamyshin, Fedorov, Yermak, Korosteliov, representatives of manufacturers, and intelligence officials. I listened to the report on current developments. We are working on both electronic warfare systems and air defense systems. Already about half of the existing systems are Ukrainian-made, developed by our people. Of course, there are also joint projects with partners. And, in fact, there are quite a few productions launched and developments slated for production. The key thing now is to integrate all of them into the practice of applying at the front. Proper adjustment and reconfiguration based on real combat needs, proper deployment, proper and systemic integration into combat tactics. Proper interaction between the demands of the front and the capabilities of our industry. Maximizing our production capacity. Ultimately, this means protecting the lives of our warriors and expanding our operational capabilities at the front. From countering Russian “Orlan” drones to destroying Russian electronic warfare. This year must yield more results for Ukraine – exactly the ones that will restore security for Ukrainian operations. I am grateful to all our developers and manufacturers, to everyone who develops a modern technological component in the Defense Forces. The state will take all the financial, organizational and regulatory steps required. And we must realize that everything that our state and our people will now learn to produce for the sake of our Ukrainian goals in the war will definitely become part of Ukrainian exports after the war, after we achieve our goals. Absolutely fair ones. Ukraine’s global role is to be a security donor, a security exporter. Ukrainians know how to be strong and will always be strong and help others.

Third. Another expansion of our international coalitions, including the drone coalition. The Netherlands, Germany, and Estonia have joined the UK, Latvia, and Sweden. The foundation of the coalition is strong, and the coalition is already working. And today, by the way, is a new meeting of Ramstein. Increasing joint production and speeding up deliveries of drones and air defense are the top priorities of this Ramstein.

And one more thing.

Last night, Russian terrorists brutally shelled the city of Selydove in Donetsk region, hitting apartment buildings, ordinary civilian neighborhoods and a hospital. A targeted Russian strike on the city. At the time of this strike, there were almost 150 patients in the hospital, three people were killed – a mother with a little son and a woman who was preparing to become a mother. My condolences to the families and friends! The Russian state will definitely face retaliation for this strike.

We must win, we must fulfill our Ukrainian objectives. Security can only be gained through strength and by the strong.

Glory to all who fight for our country and people! Glory to all who work for Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!

For those of you wondering what is going on with the drone coalition:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1757859562424574074

Quote tweet:

Latvia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, and Sweden will help Ukraine by delivering drones, testing equipment, and training soldiers within the Drone coalition.
The coalition aims to provide one million drones for Ukraine.

Also, within the year, Latvia will invest at least 10 million euros in the development of the drone coalition.

We are grateful to our partners for strengthening our defense capabilities. Drones play a key role on the battlefield and bring Victory closer.

Quoted tweet:

Allied countries joined Latvian and Ukrainian drone coalition which aims to provide one million drones in support of Ukraine 🇺🇦.
With Danish, Dutch, Estonian, German, Lithuanian and Swedish Allies, we will help Ukraine by delivering drones, testing equipment, and training soldiers.
Together with @rustem_umerov we look forward to productive partnership and other countries joining our drone coalition.
Razom do peremogi!
#StandWithUkraine #StrongerTogether

Also, there is a new demining coalition:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1757853539374686369

Patron is going to have all sorts of new friends to lick!

And the air defense coalition:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1757813446983270852

France and Germany will co-lead the coalition in support of Ukraine’s air defense within the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Air defense is crucial to saving the lives of Ukrainian people.
We are grateful to our partners for their unwavering support. Together, we are stronger.
@Armees_Gouv

@BMVg_Bundeswehr

And not to be left out is the Air Force capability coalition:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1757789773463199807

🇨🇦🇺🇦 Canada will make a new contribution of $60 million to the Air Force Capability Coalition.
The funds will support the setup of a sustainable F-16 fighter aircraft capability and source vitally needed supplies such as spare parts, weapons stations, avionics, and ammunition.

We are grateful to our Canadian friends for their staunch support. Despite the significant distance between our countries, we are bonded by shared values and a love of freedom.

The cost:

https://twitter.com/UKRINFORM/status/1757756425940386079

Diana Wagner, a combat medic from Germany, is being farewelled in Kyiv

The reason:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1757730908143292819

NPR has the details on Valentine’s Day in Ukraine at war:

A week before Valentine’s Day, Inna Yermolovych and Yulya Dmytrieeva booked train tickets from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, to the east, where they will meet their husbands — soldiers who serve in the same unit.

“On this day, we usually expect presents and flowers, cards and hearts,” says Inna, a 30-something import manager and hat-maker. “Not this year.”

She and her husband, Dima, are newlyweds. She hasn’t seen him for a month. Seeing him for even a couple of days, she says, “recharges me.”

“It’s amazing, these moments,” she says. “I enjoy even how he’s drinking tea or how he’s putting on his shoes or, like, how he’s moving, just to see he’s breathing.”

Yulya and her husband, Vadym, have been together for almost 14 years. “He’s incredible,” says Yulya, who’s 49, works in IT and has red-tinted dreadlocks. “He’s creative. And he makes people around him happy.”

The women board a train headed to the Donetsk region, where the war’s fiercest fighting is going on. It’s filled with the partners of soldiers fighting there. The route that starts in Kyiv and ends in the city of Kramatorsk is sometimes called the “train of love.”

Inna and Yulya are due to get off at the train’s second-to-last stop. Inna’s husband, Dima, arrives first.

“She’s the best thing in my life,” he says. “She’s what I’m fighting for and what I live for.”

Then Yulya’s husband, Vadym, arrives, running to the train of love to meet her. Like Yulya, he also has dreadlocks, but his are dyed blue and yellow — the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Vadym’s face lights up when he sees his wife. She jumps into his arms and they kiss. Inna and Dima hug each other tightly.

There are reunions all day at the Sloviansk station and at the train’s final stop, in Kramatorsk. Every day is Valentine’s Day here. Shops that sell flowers and chocolates are always busy, making as much money as they did before the war.

It’s snowing, so Dima and Vadym take their wives to a cafe to warm up. They try to see their wives as often as possible. They lament that wartime separation has ended too many marriages.

“Some wives go abroad and build new lives,” Dima says. “And sometimes, women who stay here cannot understand how their husbands change on the battlefield.”

Vadym brings up a soldier in their unit who divorced his wife.

“She made all of us these,” Vadym says, holding up his wrist to show a knitted friendship bracelet. “After we returned from a difficult combat mission, something snapped in him and he said he could no longer talk to her.”

Much more at the link, including pictures.

Lifting Ukraine has a deep dive on a Ukrainain female bodybuilder who is also rescuing stray animals in Ukraine.

In the southern Ukrainian city Mykolaiv, Anna Kurkurina has developed something of a reputation. It’s midweek, 10 a.m. at Grand, a powerlifting gym and fitness center. As she sets down an enormous barbell, the muscular 57-year-old lets out a quiet, satisfied laugh. She’s just curled 55 kilograms (121 pounds), the equivalent of two window air-conditioning units.

It’s a stunning weight that draws stares from some and admiring glances from those who know Kurkurina, a regular presence at the gym. Her trainer offers praise and a high five, but she shrugs it off. She is here to work.

Kurkurina’s phone rings, one of more than 150 times it will demand her attention that day. The caller, desperate, has found a badly injured dog and doesn’t know what to do. Could she help?

The call ends, and Kurkurina resumes her workout, a grueling routine of chest, back, and biceps exercises. In between reps she attends to the phone; its alerts haven’t stopped since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

An hour later, as Kurkurina exits the gym energized and focused for the day ahead, an elderly woman intercepts her. Distraught, the woman has more than 20 war-orphaned cats in her small apartment, but no money for food or litter. Could she help?

Later in the evening, as Kurkurina stacks large bags of dog food, a van stops in front of her home. The side door opens and a wheelchair-bound man dressed in a camouflage top rushes into a lengthy appeal. He’s taken in more than 10 dogs abandoned during Russia’s bombardment of Mykolaiv. His income isn’t enough to feed all the new mouths. Could she help?

Something of a celebrity sans vanity or a desire for fame, Kurkurina cuts a striking figure. A three-time powerlifting world champion, she is one of the strongest women in the world, a label that’s bolstered by at least 14 world records.

Following Russia’s invasion, Kurkurina dedicated herself to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming cats and dogs found roaming the region’s war-torn streets. Now she is known for more than just her physical strength. She’s known as someone who will never say no when called upon for help.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, was bound to upend life in Mykolaiv, a strategically important port city on the Black Sea. In order to project its power into Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Russia needs to control this body of water; the assault on Mykolaiv aimed to render the city uninhabitable. Airstrikes have leveled residential and government buildings, the city’s clean water infrastructure was destroyed, and electricity remains unstable.

After Russia’s 2014 invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, a nationwide spirit of volunteerism emerged across Ukraine. This ethos evolved into a movement known loosely as the “volonteri,” an informal network of helpers that is a central force in Ukraine’s fight for freedom and identity.

Kurkurina is more than just a symbol of this social crusade. In a time of war, she’s one of many citizens who have built networks of mutual aid and horizontal cooperation that have proved more effective and reliable than Ukraine’s battle-worn government institutions.

“What can I tell you? People here, we cannot just sit and wait,” Kurkurina says. “We must make our own contribution to [the future of] our nation.”

Much much more, including pics and video, at the link!

Avdiivka:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1757830886362325072

 

A fresh update from @Deepstate_UA.

Russians have proceeded with their breakthrough between Avdiivka and the coal plant and are moving fast towards the alternative ground lines of communication to the west.

Critical, grueling shortage of munitions and many other key necessities continues taking their toll.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1757789316569289023

“As for why the ZSU is not withdrawing from Avidiivka: well, contacts deployed there say it’s better to continue fighting inside the town, where there is plentiful of cover, than to withdraw west of it – into the open, where there is no cover… even field fortifications there wouldn’t offer as good protection as the ruins of Avidiivka and the Coke Plant.”
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/ukraine-war-14-february-2024-showdown?r=29p5bp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR2Nu9EyXZLivtwnR179Dky8NiegVysik50dzPlsO9oR6ZUr5W_GmbtPj9g

 

 

President Biden receives his highest level endorsement yet:

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1757891826017862093

This is great news for either John McCain or DougJ.

Poleyeva, Kursk Oblast, Russia:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1757901745475268869

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1757902753160982954

I’m not seeing a downside here.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1757798286801482107

That’s enough for tonight.

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