Ukraine Invasion: Part 19

[MagicFox]

Welcome friends, still going

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61048256
Inside Chernobyl: We stole Russian fuel to prevent catastrophe

"We had to constantly negotiate with them, and try hard not to offend them, so that they allowed our personnel to manage the facility," said engineer Valeriy Semonov.

When the power to the station was cut off for three days, Valeriy said he scrambled to find fuel to keep the generator running, even resorting to stealing some from the Russians.

"If we had lost power, it could have been catastrophic," Oleksandr explained. "Radioactive material could have been released. The scale of it, you can well imagine. I wasn't scared for my life. I was scared about what would happen if I wasn't there monitoring the plant. I was scared it would be a tragedy for humanity."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61038811
Ukraine mother: I saw my daughter killed, then was held captive in basement

Nine days into the war in Ukraine, as the fighting raged, Viktoria and her husband Petro had finally decided to flee Chernihiv, in the north of the country. They wanted to keep the children safe. Twelve-year-old Veronika was Viktoria's daughter from her first marriage. Her other daughter, Varvara, is just a year old.

They took what they needed, and drove away from their family home. As they left the outskirts of the city, heading south near the village of Yahidne, stones in the road blocked their path. Petro pulled over, climbed out and started to haul them out of the way.

Seconds later, their car was fired on.

"My older daughter Veronika started to cry, because my head had been cut by a piece of flying glass and I was bleeding," says Viktoria. As she speaks, she points to a spot high on her left cheekbone, a small, twisted red scar.

"Veronika started to shout, her hands were shaking, so I tried to calm her. She got out of the car and I went to follow. As I got out I saw her fall. When I looked, her head was gone.

The car had been struck by a Russian shell and burst into flames.

"I tried to stay calm, I was holding my baby daughter and I needed to get her to safety".

She didn't see Petro again, but his silence told Viktoria that her husband too was dead.

Well I see they've put some shifty evil general who 'did well' in Syria in charge of operations now

If those is true about the children - and there should be more evidence of it first- then the line is crossed.

This is genocide.

The UN is pathetic. Its not their fault. We don't want a strong UN, consider Dag Hammarskjold. But they really are useless.

[quote ScrollingLeaves]@RedToothBrush

Zarina Zabrisky @zarinazabrisky*
#Deportations Russia prepares changes to the legislation to simplify the adoption process. They will give away the children w/o special checks, hiding the traces of Ukrainian children. This is a gross violation of Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child*

This is the very worst atrocity I’ve heard of yet. Child stealers. Child soul murderers.[/quote]
We, all of us, are standing timidly by and allowing this to happen.

All those ceremonies all those Holocaust Remembrance days, the "must never happen again" and yet we backed down when it came to stopping it.

Even now, we will not open the Black Sea or provide the Ukrainians with the weapons they need, because they are "Offensive" NOT "Defensive" weapons, so we send a handful of Armoured vehicles but bar the MiGs and advanced anti ship/aircraft systems

Beyond shameful.

Chernobyl a problem for all humanity.

What on earth are we waiting for.
The special troop's should already be there sent in by international nuclear safety.
How thick and stupid to not even put a proper team there with nuclear experience. how exhausting dealing with such gorilla's trying too Keep them calm And explain a nuclear site

The UN is pathetic. Its not their fault. We don't want a strong UN, consider Dag Hammarskjold. But they really are useless

Russia has a veto and plenty of Allies, UN was set up under the mistaken assumption that the 5 permanant members would obey their own rules.

It is NATO (and thats us) who have stood by & been "useless"

the Sky ex General who commentates on Ukraine said a few weeks ago "We will soon face a choice, intervene and stop the carnage or watch" he said this in relation to when Russia starts using its heavy weapons.

MOD saying Russia increasing use of air power in the East and South of the country... so where are these anti aircraft systems? Cruise missiles being fired from ships in the Black sea, Odesa under curfew.

As a former Ukrainian ambassador is saying live right now, NATO is not courageous and spends its time telling Putin what it wont do, when asked about the Black Sea & stopping russia using its navy.

The Czech have sent 4 tanks?
Australia has Also refurbished some tanks and sent them.

I thought we had sent some armoured vehicles and the USA is setting up a special lease loan policy so they can get what they need faster.

NATO has been useless but it's a defensive alliance and Ukraine Just isn't in it!

The UN however has sent peace force's into other countries and is best place to go in here to protect Chernobyl, and hold the line from areas of Russian retreat.

Surely it's the shelling the Ukrainans need help to stop.
Munitions to shop that.

Never have I wanted to get on a aeroplane more than I do now. Genuinely. To stand in whichever is Kyiv's most central square and say 'no more genocide.' I know you will say it's madness, it would be ineffective etc but honestly that's what I would do. I can't fight, I'd be a total liability in that regard, but I do have a voice even if it's a small insignificant one.

We are now supporting a field kitchen in Kharkiv. The man running it cried when we said we would help him. They have run out of fuel, their cars are broken and they didn't even have salt. Yesterday, they were able to feed 80 troops and their local hospital. Humanitarian aid is not getting through according to my contacts.

The child deportation reports fill me with horror. It is as a pp stated, killing a child's soul.

This has to STOP.

That's a huge worry hill a that humanitarian aid not getting through.

To stand in whichever is Kyiv's most central square and say 'no more genocide.'

Its not the central square in Kyiv this needs to be said in.

@Alexandra2001

MOD saying Russia increasing use of air power in the East and South of the country... so where are these anti aircraft systems?

1. Starstreak (for use against low level attack) is being supplied..

www.euronews.com/next/2022/04/04/starstreak-what-is-the-uk-made-weapon-being-used-in-ukraine-and-how-does-it-compare-to-sti

1. S-300 a battery of that long range system (variant pretty much as per the Ukrainian inventory) - missiles, launchers, radars, etc has been supplied by Slovakia.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovakia-gives-s-300-air-defence-system-ukraine-prime-minister-2022-04-08/

I cannot begin to tell you how much I have been asked to source. Bullet proof vests nearly sent me over the edge. It was going to take 6 to 8 weeks to make 1000 vests here in the UK and I needed a supplier with the export licence. In the end, they have had to try making their own and testing them in action. Like wtaf.

There was literally no thyroid medication to be found in Ukraine. So we imported it from Romania and that some working around as Ukraine is not an EU country. I think the pharmacies are stocking it again. The list of medications required is depressing. It's never ending. It includes the need for cancer drugs and baby food for poorly babies. The casualties of this war go way beyond the bombings.

My contacts have not been able to source basic NATO military kits in both Odesa or Kharkiv.

There is genuinely a dire lack of resources in both the east and west.

@RedToothBrush where would you say it?

Even now, we will not open the Black Sea or provide the Ukrainians with the weapons they need, because they are "Offensive" NOT "Defensive" weapons, so we send a handful of Armoured vehicles but bar the MiGs and advanced anti ship/aircraft systems

We cannot open the Black Sea, there are international conventions that cover that and in addition to that the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles are in Turkish waters. This has been stated many, many times on the threads.

10 humanitarian corridors agreed today, including out of Mariupol. Wonder how many, if any, will hold.

Lengthy article on smaller villages www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/09/after-russians-retreat-scarred-ukrainian-village-recounts-month-of-terror
After Russians’ retreat, scarred Ukrainian village recounts month of terror

One section thats caught my eye in this:

Sometimes, the Russian soldier in charge of guarding the prisoners there was friendly, but at other times he got drunk and became violent, Didyk recalled. Didyk said he was beaten, hit over the head with bottles and forced to sing Ukrainian folk songs at gunpoint. Eventually his captor took a shine to him and allowed him to sit upstairs in the building, not in the cellar. He was even given proper food to eat.

On 30 March, the day before the Russians left, a group of them had a party not far from the outhouse where the prisoners were held, Didyk recalled. “They sat and grilled meat, and they were drinking a lot. They were packing their bags and preparing to leave and were celebrating their departure. But then their mood got worse; they said their positions had been hit,” he said.

The soldier in charge of the prisoners, who never gave his name or rank, appeared and said he had been ordered to provide “four corpses”, Didyk recalled.

“He said he didn’t want to do it … he had tears in his eyes … but he said it was his orders and he had to shoot four people. He asked for volunteers.”

The soldier marched 10 prisoners out of the hut in pairs, walking them to the cemetery across the road. He later told Didyk he had shot four of them and allowed six to slip away, ordering them to sleep in a barn and then escape in the morning, when the Russians had departed, so that his superiors would not know he had spared them.

@RedToothBrush

Lengthy article on smaller villages www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/09/after-russians-retreat-scarred-ukrainian-village-recounts-month-of-terror After Russians’ retreat, scarred Ukrainian village recounts month of terror

One section thats caught my eye in this:

Sometimes, the Russian soldier in charge of guarding the prisoners there was friendly, but at other times he got drunk and became violent, Didyk recalled. Didyk said he was beaten, hit over the head with bottles and forced to sing Ukrainian folk songs at gunpoint. Eventually his captor took a shine to him and allowed him to sit upstairs in the building, not in the cellar. He was even given proper food to eat.

On 30 March, the day before the Russians left, a group of them had a party not far from the outhouse where the prisoners were held, Didyk recalled. “They sat and grilled meat, and they were drinking a lot. They were packing their bags and preparing to leave and were celebrating their departure. But then their mood got worse; they said their positions had been hit,” he said.

The soldier in charge of the prisoners, who never gave his name or rank, appeared and said he had been ordered to provide “four corpses”, Didyk recalled.

“He said he didn’t want to do it … he had tears in his eyes … but he said it was his orders and he had to shoot four people. He asked for volunteers.”

The soldier marched 10 prisoners out of the hut in pairs, walking them to the cemetery across the road. He later told Didyk he had shot four of them and allowed six to slip away, ordering them to sleep in a barn and then escape in the morning, when the Russians had departed, so that his superiors would not know he had spared them.

That’s incredibly tragic on lots of levels.

@Hillsmakeyoustrong

There is genuinely a dire lack of resources in both the east and west.

Good point, I think some calling for 'kit' now, and lots, especially the high end stuff, don't realise that you can't just click your fingers and make sophisticated specialist equipment just appear....the western militaries haven't generally made a habit of over ordering or keeping much old kit mothballed just in case..

It gets even more complex if by supplying equipment from your current inventory you reduce your own capabilities/protection for your own Forces.

The Slovakian S-300 supply is a case in point. they have no doubt been watching what is going on to the east and have probably only felt comfortable in donating that battery because the Americans are willing to step in and backfill Slovakian defences with a Patriot system with trained (American) crews..

Anyhow, hope you are successful - I know what you are trying to do isn't simple or easy.

@Hillsmakeyoustrong

Odessa I think is also largely in the clear, they will get the occasional sting, but I think that's largely because the Russians want to keep the Ukrainians tied up there, instead of being able to go to Mariupol or the Donbas basin.

My friend in Odesa says they don't think they are in the clear and that they expect further attacks in the next day or so.

Sorry, when I wrote "in the clear" I mean no major offensive. Russia doesn't have the power for that, they keep fucking with Odessa to tie up Ukrainian forces, but trying to take it will be far too difficult.

[quote Hillsmakeyoustrong]@RedToothBrush where would you say it?[/quote]
Alice Thompson @alicettimes
'First we had the catastrophic injuries from the bombs, then the shooting, next the mines scattered along the roads but worst of all are the stuffed toys filled with explosives.'

My interview with Ukrainian surgeon Oleksandr Yatsyna in Kyiv.
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-russians-are-determined-to-kill-our-civilians-and-children-too-they-booby-trap-teddy-bears-939ndsf35
‘The Russians are determined to kill our civilians and children too — they booby trap teddy bears’
A surgeon in Kyiv gives a harrowing insight into what hospital staff are facing, the horrendous injuries and the bravery of the Ukrainian people

“The Russians want to make the situation as unstable for us as possible, economically and mentally, to twist our minds,” he explains, flinching only momentarily when a siren starts blaring. “They want to terrify us with their barbarity but they don’t understand the more they try to frighten the people the braver they become. The stories I hear will haunt me for ever. There is no way back. We will never be pro-Russian now after this nightmare.”

And

The first few weeks of war, he says, went by in a blur. “It was horrendous. I can’t distinguish between the operations, bodies after bodies. When it is an entire family you are trying to save, that is the worst: sisters, brothers, grandparents. [The Russians] must have been given orders to do this, they can’t mistake these children for soldiers. There are so many violations we have seen as doctors. We hardly had time to drink a cup of coffee or sterilise the instruments between operations.”

And

When Yatsyna tentatively asked whether she could try to find him a generator, she didn’t hesitate. Soon, with three other London-based consultants, she had sourced a generator which Yatsyna collected at the Polish border. Now staff have raised funds for a portable ultrasound machine. “They will be vital in saving lives by helping us ascertain internal bleeding from rocket attacks and bombs,” Yatsyna explains. “I don’t want to sound greedy but we need more.”

Next on his list are bulletproof vehicles so they can send out teams to the red zones where the fighting has been most intense, and treat and rescue the injured. “People were coming here in wheelbarrows or slung over shoulders, many more are unable to move and must be in great pain. We would love to buy some old second-hand Land Rovers or maybe those armoured bank security vans you have. The normal cars are destroyed too easily. We fear losing too many medical staff if we send them now, but that means we are leaving the injured to die who could have been saved. An armoured ambulance could save at least ten lives a day but they are very expensive and the British have already done so much. We won’t forget your kindness.”

Yatsyna’s next great fear is a chemical attack. “In this situation we are not prepared at all, we don’t have the masks, the antidotes — that’s what we will need next,” he says, thinking aloud, absent-mindedly.

Now, they are in a temporary lull. “We have civilian and army patients and once we have operated we move them to rehabilitation centres to free up space. We were full until this week but the Russians are liars and terrorists — they will strike again.”

There is a link at the end of the article which MN rules won't allow me to share I believe as its for donations. Uk doctors supplying Ukraine with medical kit is the name though.

Hillsmakeyoustrong
@RedToothBrush where would you say it?

Every other square around the Western world...

Russia has no fear about committing further war crimes. What is gong to happen? Putin is untouchable and he doesn’t care if his people suffer under further sanctions.

I thought I would be able to keep reading about the war in Ukraine but www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61038811 has broken me.