Ukraine Invasion: Part 36

[MagicFox]

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 Thanks as usual to all contributors and lurkers

Yeh that’s what I suspected, especially given the tank announcement. No idea why the need to sensationalise on Twitter though.

Simple soul's (i.e. likes of me) quick guide to why all the Challenger talk from the 90 second point of this Sky News piece:

The male explainer is Michael Clarke a former head of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Yes, very odd.

Hope you feel better soon @katem98 , nothing serious I hope

Thank you. Just a tooth extraction, nothing serious but feeling a little sorry for myself now!

ow, never fun! heal up quick!

thanks for that clip @notimagain Clear, concise.

My contacts have up days, down days and steady days, insofar as their conversations with me go. None have left Ukraine, but it does get discussed.

@MMBaranova are your contacts free to leave Ukraine? Are they in Russian occupied territory? It must be so hard for them either way. I wish this war would end soon.

I know how you feel; I've had a few pulled. Ibuprofen is great for bringing down swelling and reducing soreness.

@Igotjelly, I think Surovikin is taking the blame for the defeat in Kherson. The infighting within the Russian army must be fierce at this point. And I'm sure they hate Wagner.

Taken from Desdamona's #Arestovych and #Feygin daily broadcast
Posted on 11 January 2023

🔥China & India
China has eased sanctions against Australian coal, signing a new contract with Australia after more than 2 years of an economical cold-war.
The US is conducting secret negotiations with China which is the only party that could help Putin. Now, there are signs that China is willing to “restore relationships with the US”. China trying to normalise relationships with the West while ignoring cheap Russian oil & gas is an alarming development for Putin’s regime.
Moreover, India (one of the main buyers of Russian oil) is considering joining sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil.

Is this true, especially the part about China negotiating with US and wanting to normalise relationships with the West? Seems at odd with everything else I have read so far (which is not much).

mobile.twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1613232775552962561 I have seen the video he mentions and please be warned and don't go looking for it. Russians in Ukrainian uniforms

@MissConductUS Thank you, trying everything in my power to avoid dry socket. Wish me luck!

@blueshoes I found this interesting too. As of recently, it seems Russia and China have been deepening ties but I've read a few things over the last few days about China having little faith in Russia etc as mentioned yesterday (I think) on @ReleaseTheDucksOfWar's takeaway.

Daily Mail reporting that the Wagner Group have apparently found the body of one of those 2 missing Brits

mobile.twitter.com/Tendar/status/1613275621471174656 Polish President Dude welcomed like a rock star to Lviv

@katem, good luck with the healing. Always good to sort out the teeth even if you dread it. They get more troublesome as we get older and so expensive too.

That is uplifting. Poland has done so much for Ukraine. The people know the tanks are the game changer they are waiting for and not a minute too soon.

It seems as further info came out that Poland has committed to sending the tanks but only as part of the coalition

Similar stories in the Wall Street Journal and on Sky about China.

news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-russias-pro-war-military-bloggers-dispute-kremlin-claim-that-strike-killed-600-ukrainian-troops-12541713?postid=5211107#liveblog-body

@blueshoes wrote: are your contacts free to leave Ukraine? Are they in Russian occupied territory?

I composed a reply that seems to have vanished before posting. If it reappears this is another version of it.

All but one family group I keep in touch with are in free areas. Most of my family are in the Dnipro area, some Kyiv and some elsewhere. I almost exclusively exchange messages with women because we know each other more and the men are either retired or serving in some way in the armed forces or fairly essential services. No way would I want to ping the phone of a soldier near the front.

So if any of the women I am in contact with wanted to leave Ukraine I am sure they could, once they got together the funds and worked out a route (if you are closer to the front for instance, transport is challenging for the first leg). While they have discussed possibilities they don't really want to.

Continued....

... the exception is the family group S West from Nova Kakhovka in occupied Kherson oblast. I have had only sporadic contact in recent months, the situation is grim, some bad things have happened that I won't go into here, and the son of the family is in the Ukrainian army.

What I keep noticing is the utter mess the formerly occupied areas are in. They were trashed and the economy, such as it is during a war, is less than semi-functional from any first hand report I have had. Two days ago a relative went down to Chuhuiv / Chuguev S East from Kharkiv taking supplies. The place was occupied by Russian forces for two weeks near the start of the war and has been in Ukrainian hands therefore for ten months. It isn't on the front, but is in the trashed zone. She sent me a location that day (have scribbled over her face) because I didn't have a good answer to 'where do you think I am today?'

@MMBaranova I am glad to hear your contacts are mostly in free areas. So long as they can leave if they want to (after sorting the logistics), I can understand not wanting to make a decision. I was afraid they might have to undergo 'filtration' to leave but hopefully not. I am not sure if they have children with them but I am guessing if they did that would be a big factor especially if the children might be called up or separated if they stayed. Again, if they are in a free area, I assume that is not in issue. It would be an emotional wrench to leave their partners behind to take their chances in a strange and potentially unfriendly country (like the UK!). I am just thinking about all the factors and hard choices to be made in that situation. They must also struggle daily under shelling, cold and possibly lack of water. I hope that they have access to food and humanitarian aid. I am so sorry all this has been forced on them.

Just read this. What destructive animals the Russians are. They cannot build anything, only steal and destroy. I wonder about the 'trashed zone'. We see photos of the wreckage, but who or how will it be cleared up? What about mines. Isn't it dangerous to go driving around to deliver humanitarian supplies, not just mines but random shelling?

Just when I think I can't depose them anymore.

Scum

>Isn't it dangerous to go driving around to deliver humanitarian supplies,

Not excessively. The main roads are clear. There's always a risk but people need support. She's involved in organised relief, it isn't ad hoc. There's a big drive to restore cut off power etc. but not everything else just bounces back.

More American air defense equipment has been ordered for delivery to Ukraine later this year. The Vampire system has been optimized for use against the Iranian drones.

twitter.com/MIL_STD/status/1612789735017304068