ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

Saw that.

And as if in response to that

⚡️ Military intelligence: 2 Russian generals killed near Kherson.

According to Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, the military hit a Russian command post near occupied regional capital Kherson, allegedly killing two Russian generals and wounding one.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 23, 2022

Meantime

Big news. Biden’s Pentagon chief and top diplomat set to meet Zelensky in Kyiv next week.

Austin is heading to Germany first for a meeting of up to 40 nations on arming Ukraine. https://t.co/0RPaJn2v3v

— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) April 23, 2022

From Deutsche Welle updates:

Russian forces attempting to storm Azovstal plant in Mariupol
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has said Sunday Russian forces are again attempting to storm the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian forces and civilians are sheltering following a weeks-long siege of the southern port city.

On Facebook, Arestovych wrote, "Russian troops are trying to finish off the defenders of Azovstal and more than 1,000 civilians who are hiding at the plant."

Russian troops have surrounded the plant since early March. On Saturday, Ukrainian officials issued similar warnings and said Russian forces were laying siege to the plant.

Switzerland impedes German arms deliveries: report
Switzerland has blocked the re-export from Germany to Ukraine of Swiss-produced ammunition used in German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicles, according to the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.

The move by Switzerland, which maintains a neutral status, has held up arms deliveries by Germany at a time when Berlin is already under fire for failing to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons to help fight off Russia's invasion of the country.

Switzerland has gone against previous practice and adopted EU sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for its invasion, but has insisted its neutrality does not allow it to send arms to conflict zones. Swiss officials have previously rejected Poland's request for the Alpine state to send arms to Ukraine.

The Marder vehicles are made by German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall but use Swiss-manufactured ammunition.

Ukraine blames Russian troops for forcibly recruiting civilians
Ukraine has accused Russian troops of forcibly recruiting civilians in occupied regions of eastern Ukraine.

In addition to young people, doctors were being targeted in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian military officials wrote on Facebook.

The UK's Ministry of Defense also noted similar conscription practices in the Russian-occupied Donbas and Crimea.

"Any enlistment of Ukrainian civilians into the Russian armed forces, even if presented by Russia as being voluntary or military service in accordance with Russian law, would constitute a violation of Article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention," the UK Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter.

IAEA to provide Ukraine with equipment to keep nuclear plants running
Ukraine has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the equipment it needs to operate nuclear power plants during the war with Russia.

The agency says it includes radiation measurement devices, protective material, computer-related assistance, power supply systems, and diesel generators.

"We will coordinate the implementation of the assistance that the IAEA and its member states will provide, including by delivering required equipment directly to Ukraine's nuclear sites," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
Ukraine has 15 operational reactors at four plants.

Grossi was due to visit the decommissioned Chernobyl plant next week, on the anniversary of the 1986 disaster there.

https://www.politico.eu/article/in-the-face-of-war-ukraine-jews-embrace-a-dual-identity/

Thanks for that! And I didn't know about the European edition of Politico, will be reading more.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/25/ukrainian-refugee-left-homeless-after-uk-host-demanded-bill-money

somebody should have told her a refugee isn't just for Christmas

Big hearted Britain.

What the fuck is happening in Ukraine?
Ain’t nothin going on but the rent

Spent this morning visiting a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Tijuana.

Spent the afternoon at a shelter @ImmDef visits regularly to provide legal services to mostly Haitian & Central American families.

The differences between the two are stark and soul-shattering. 🧵

— Lindsay Toczylowski (@L_Toczylowski) April 22, 2022

A story about the preservation of Ukrainian culture during the war:

https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/putin-russia-destruction-ukraine-culture-heritage-isis-shadows-project-1589358

The latest news from the "European values" front:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/20/germany-refugee-policy-afghanistan-ukraine/

Germany Is Displacing Afghan Refugees to Make Way for Ukrainians

But also more news about Ukraine:

https://english.nv.ua/nation/terror-and-looting-in-the-farming-villages-that-bore-the-brunt-of-russia-s-eastern-push-towards-kyiv-50236045.html

Bumping this up

i expect this will be good in helping to determine what the fuck is going on in the ukraine

I'm surprised more people aren't more bothered about this:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/27/boris-johnson-tempting-evil-revealing-ukrainian-soldiers-trained-poland

It seems a total dick move.

Well, Boris Johnson is a total dick after all.

Of course.

It just seems like a move that will get people killed.

A somewhat thorough rundown on diplomatic negotiations so far, and the effects of Bucha atrocities, sinking of the Moskva, and other events on said discussions for either side:

(article is in Russian but chrome has a useful translate function, hope it's available in other browsers)

https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-61241525

"The Ukrainian work that pre-dated the seizure of Crimea was a continuation of existing programmes, and we know the Russians seem to be using other marine mammals, including belugas in the Arctic," Lambert added in an email.
And Russia isn't the only country to do this kind of work with marine mammals. In fact, the U.S. Navy has a history of similar programs, and it trains dolphins as well as seals for similar purposes to this day. Here's a look at why dolphins make good defenders and which countries rely on them.

Reminds me of this movie, and Dr. John Lilly, who I knew via his writing about acid and dolphins, which the Pentagon wanted him to train for Vietnam, but he was like gross fuck you---as wiki sez:

As of March 2022, The Day of the Dolphin holds a rating of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews.[17]

Differences from the novel and other sources of inspiration
Merle's novel, a satire of the Cold War, is supposedly the basis for this film, but the film's plot was substantially different from that of the novel. The movie is instead inspired in part from the scientist John C. Lilly's life. A physician, biophysicist, neuroscientist, and inventor, Lilly specialized in the study of consciousness. In 1959, he founded the Communications Research Institute at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and served as its director until 1968. There he worked with dolphins exploring dolphin intelligence and human-dolphin communication.

See also Bottlenose dolphin communication and John Lilly and cetacean communication.

Let’s talk about the state of the war and one of the most underreported yet crucially important issues:

Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and resulting strangulation of the country’s economy 🧵

— Dmitri Alperovitch (@DAlperovitch) April 30, 2022

Really interesting bigger pic

As ever it's second hand and then some but the Twitter feeds I've been following on the conflict have been noting over the last couple of days that whatever the Russian big advance was supposed to have been seems to have slowed noticeably. Probably explains why Gerasimov's been sent there but it doesn't seem to have changed anything else. Some points of note:

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 30 April 2022

Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/TU1DzgHpEu

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/mfMgJGMqAL

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 30, 2022

If these Ukrainian claims are at all accurate (it should be noted that documented, photographed claims of Russian losses are about two thirds of those claimed, so they certainly should not be out by much) then the Russians have lost 217 tanks and 404 APCs since the battle started

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) April 30, 2022

Even if they are exaggerrated by 20 percent, Russian losses would be extreme, around 20 full strength BTGs worth? And according to the Pentagon, the Russians have 92 BTGs in Ukraine. https://t.co/OfxADElCBF

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) April 30, 2022

Meantime, supposedly another Russian general's been killed:

Ukrainian sources are claiming this artillery strike on a 2nd Army Russian command post near Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, killed Major General Andrey Simonov.

It's yet to be confirmed by Russian sources but it's significant they named a specific general. pic.twitter.com/bohq0iX56G

— Jimmy (@JimmySecUK) April 30, 2022

Those O'Brien tweets are excellent quality.

He's been solid these past few months. And I appreciate his regular noting that what happened with Syria shouldn't be ignored now that everyone's paying more attention.

“Where there is war, you’ll find a Palestinian, a Yemeni and a Syrian. So here we are in Ukraine,” said Vail Albekhesi, 51, a Palestinian who came in 1989.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/28/ukraine-muslims-decry-russian-invasion/

A couple pieces from March on Chechens fighting for Ukraine:

https://oc-media.org/features/we-have-only-one-enemy-this-is-russia-the-chechens-taking-up-arms-for-ukraine/

https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/chechens-fighting-chechens-in-ukraine/

Last month, on BBC Worldwide, a Chechen guy was saying, "It's Chechens versus Chechens," fighting on both sides, his tone was like, "Business as usual," if not, "Duh."

Interesting. Per this short thread, turns out that the Russian general killed yesterday was collateral damage because they were actually trying to get Geramisov, and he was apparently wounded at least per reports, though no full confirmation yet.

The Ukrainian ability to process and act on important intelligence reaches to the top of the Kremlin. Maybe now they might have an idea of the country they so stupidly chose to attack. https://t.co/HbqldvijFn

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) May 1, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-denounces-lavrovs-hitler-comments-summons-russian-ambassador-2022-05-02/

watching the old campist left go on and on about denazification as if all 44 million ukranians are azov has been embarassing

To put it mildly!

Ugh, seriously.

the russian zip-up uniforms are mas macho

Interesting thread, especially the final points.

Kirill Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence (GUR), sat down with NV for a rather long interview. Here are some of the key takeaways for me. /1https://t.co/9LdSlRF4wS

— Mattia Nelles (@mattia_n) May 2, 2022

watching the old campist left go on and on about denazification as if all 44 million ukranians are azov has been embarassing

Don't put the cart before the horse.

https://i.imgur.com/5RGTbeQ.png

An eyesore for shore.

Russia doubling down on Lavrov's comments. Lecturing Jews about the Nazis, not a great look, to be honest.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/moscow-under-fire-for-hitler-comments-says-israel-backing-neo-nazis-in-ukraine/

Expecting a good faith discussion with Russia is foolish

me having read (the almost unendurable) bloodlands a month ago or so, that lavrov shit is unfuckingbelievable. feeling actual fury.

The only reason it doesn't enrage me more is that it's pretty hard to be like, "ok THAT'S it, THAT'S the last straw" after the kind of rhetoric they've used from the outset

It's like with Trump, when every straw is the last straw, it's harder to recognise, process or even care about the massive fuckery. It's tiring by design.

But even so it's not helping them. Whatever the Great Big Push plans in the Donbass were seems to have burned out.

In any event, a sobering read

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/05/03/feeling-around-for-something-human

I'm glad they came out with the English translation for this - I kept waiting for it to happen, feels like it's been a couple weeks at least.

Meanwhile, just having a normal one:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/russian-state-tv-shows-clips-simulating-ireland-being-wiped-out-by-nuclear-weapons-1.4867631

Problems problems

This is really remarkable. Soldiers from South Ossetia openly stating that the complete chaos and incompetence of the Russian command in Ukraine led them to desert and return home. They say huge amounts of equipment simply do not work. https://t.co/yXYygYGLIl pic.twitter.com/7cZpUG7Ia1

— Neil Hauer (@NeilPHauer) May 4, 2022

Typical Big Huge Galeev thread but brings up a variety of points new to me:

May 9, the Victory Day is a crucial symbolic date. We should expect the Victory Parade and Putin's speech to the nation on that day. What is he gonna say? Many are pondering whether he will:

1. Declare war on Ukraine
2. Declare mass mobilisation in Russia

Let's discuss both🧵 pic.twitter.com/LUvqRyUsLu

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) May 4, 2022

Of which I thought this was especially of interest:

In practical terms that means that the ability of Russia to regroup, withdrawing its forces from the North (Kyiv) in order to send everyone to the East (Donbass) was probably exaggerated. Many of those who already been to Ukraine and were returned to Russia simply won't go again. pic.twitter.com/LgFQFBuWcf

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) May 4, 2022

Some good on the ground stuff here if you have WSJ access

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-retakes-villages-near-kharkiv-easing-pressure-on-battered-city-11651669856

That Meduza link is quite something, its been sitting with me for a while

Good article on a less-reported component of US military assistance to Ukraine, intelligence that has allowed them to target high-value Russian assets, such as senior commanders on the ground:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/us/politics/russia-generals-killed-ukraine.html

xpost -- yeah it's not surprising, sadly, but it is clarifying.

Extensive O'Brien thread on things (worth reading from the start) which then notes this new key point

Ukrainian commander in Chief Zaluzhnyi now saying far from the Russians being just stalled in the Donbas, that the Ukrainians are now counterattacking around Izyum. (We already new about Kharkiv) https://t.co/kUOCHMjOZD

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) May 5, 2022

To say it so publicly, the Ukrainians must feel really confident. And tbh, the Russian forces have been so tentative and halting in their advance, there is reason for the Ukrainians to be confident

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) May 5, 2022

Meantime, fog of war stuff but (if accurate) an interesting read. A little context: the author is supposed to be a volunteer from one of the two occupied breakaway regions in the Donbass pre-war, and PMC is 'private military company' aka Wagner group. Sounds like it's not exactly happy for them about now.

You may remember an account from an LPR volunteer in Rubizhne from a week or so ago.

There was another post from him about Wagner Group involvement in #Popasna offensive.

I've translated it here: pic.twitter.com/coEvn5bNrs

— Dmitri 🇺🇦 (@mdmitri91) May 5, 2022