(Image by NEIVANMADE)
A brief Rosie update: She is much improved over yesterday and the weekend. The medication to stimulate her appetite is helping, though we’re feeding her multiple smaller meals a day for right now so as not to overdue it all at once. Thank you all again for the good thoughts, well wishes, and for those of you praying, that too.
Before we dive in, I want to briefly touch on a lively discussion from the comments that happened either last night or the night before. Someone mentioned and referenced a source that the US had provided what it determined Ukraine needed, not what Ukraine wanted. I have no doubt that reporting is true. But it shows a flaw in the Biden administration’s strategy in regard to Ukraine. The US’s understanding of war, the doctrines and concepts that serve as the foundation for that understanding, are based on how the US military would fight an interstate war. It assumes something between air superiority and air dominance. It assumes the ability to spend days degraded the enemies capabilities on the ground from the air and the sea before the Land component begins its operations in a theater that has been shaped to fully enable American Land Power. A great deal of this American way of war influences NATO’s understanding and way of war because of the US’s dominance of the alliance. None of this is the Ukrainian understanding or way of war. The Biden nat-sec team’s mirroring of America’s understanding and way of war onto Ukraine is a failure of strategic understanding. The Ukrainian have been developing their own understanding and way of war since 2014. One that works for them given who their adversary is and what their own advantages and limitations are. It may be that it is not that the Ukrainians just want something, but that based on their understanding and way of war they know that they need it.
The Russians once again unloaded on Kharkiv today:
Russia strikes again in Kharkiv's city center with gliding bombs, the second assault in a row in daylight. At least one killed and several injuries. This is pure intimidation, with zero military purpose pic.twitter.com/BJCDaskVZZ
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 30, 2024
Russian forces launched two guided aerial bombs at Kharkiv, killing a 25-year-old man, a railroad worker, and wounding eight other civilians.
The attack caused damage to civilian infrastructure, garages, an educational institution, and an administrative building. pic.twitter.com/JFk622AK39
— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) April 30, 2024
UPD. One civilian was killed and seven were injured in russian arial attack on Kharkiv, the mayor reported. Rescue efforts are ongoing.
— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) April 30, 2024
They also unloaded on Odesa again:
⚡️Russian missile attack on Odesa kills 3, injures 3.
Russian forces attacked the southern port city of Odesa with ballistic missiles the night of April 30, killing three people and wounding three others, regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.https://t.co/ElwbQUXzbs
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 30, 2024
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.