I thought this conflict could be over by now….
I was wrong….
Yes….
The two sides have been going at it for almost SIX Months…
In my Update for the 166 day of the Ukraine/Russia conflict I linked to a extensive Washington Post piece that recounted how America presented intelligence to the Ukraine President that the Russian President WAS arming up….
Then?
It became apparent that the Russian President wanted to, and then would launch an effort to overrun the Ukraine after the demise of the old Soviet Union and his grab of the Crimea ….
President Zelensky at first couldn’t believe the Americans….
Neither did some Western European leaders…
But when thing’s got close to the Russia move?
Zelensky was stoic and did NOT want to alarm his people…
The Washington Post piece has been seen across the Ukraine and has garnered questions Ukrainain’s on why he did not act on the warnings from the American’s and British….
Ordinary people tweeted their experiences of chaos and dislocation after an invasion for which they were unprepared, and described how they might have made different choices had they known what was coming. Public figures and academics wrote harsh critiques on Facebook of his decision to downplay the risk of an invasion, saying he bears at least some responsibility for the atrocities that followed.
In the interview with The Post, published Tuesday, Zelensky cited his fears that Ukrainians would panic, flee the country and trigger economic collapse as the reason he chose not to share the stark warnings passed on by U.S. officials regarding Russia’s plans….
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Many Ukrainians took exception to the implication that Zelensky had prioritized the health of the economy over their well-being, and suggested that many lives might have been saved had the government adequately prepared the population for war….
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There have been more attack’s against Russian military assets in the Crimea and close in Russia to the Ukraine….
That Ukraine offense promised?
Seems to be developing BEHIND Russian military lines…..
Key developments
- Guterres met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to review the grain deal they signed last month and discuss diplomatic ways to end the war. The leaders reported few tangible outcomes. In a news briefing after the meeting, Erdogan declared support for Ukraine.
- Zelensky discussed conditions at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with both Erdogan and Guterres. The Ukrainian leader described the situation there as “nuclear blackmail” and “deliberate terror” on his Telegram account. The U.N. atomic energy watchdog has warned of a potential disaster and appealed for access to visit the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russia said a proposal for a demilitarized zone around the nuclear plant was “unacceptable.”
- Ukraine on Thursday warned that Russia was planning a “large-scale terrorist attack” on the power plant. Ukrainian officials said Moscow would blame the strike on Kyiv, and State Department spokesman Ned Price said such a false flag operation is the “Russian playbook — accuse others of what you have done or what you intend to do.”
- Posts on social media captured booming sounds in two parts of occupied Crimea — near a Russian air base outside Sevastopol and around the Kerch Strait close to mainland Russia. The Kremlin-backed leaders on the peninsula said the explosions came from Crimea’s air-defense systems. Sevastopol’s governor said a drone was shot down and that there had been no injuries.
- Blasts were also reported in the southern region of Kherson and in Belgorod, a Russian province bordering Ukraine. There, the regional governor said an ammunition depot “caught fire” and videos shared on social media, the authenticity of which could not immediately be confirmed, appeared to show a massive blaze….
Battlefield updates
- Ukraine is activating a unit under the command of its special forces to attack far behind Russian lines, its defense minister said in an interview. Kyiv hopes this will undermine Russia’s ability to hold the front lines ahead of a potential counteroffensive, he said. Explosions in Crimea over the past week drew attention to the strategy as Ukrainian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Post that special forces were responsible.
- Kharkiv had one of its “most tragic” nights in the war, the region’s governor said early Thursday, describing Russian strikes that shook sleeping residents awake and battered their homes. Oleh Synyehubov said shelling in one part of the region killed seven people and injured 17 others. In a district of the city of the same name, a strike on a dormitory killed two people and injured 18 more, he said. A local official said the dormitory housed residents with hearing impairments who could not hear the sirens.
- Rescuers worked through the night in Kharkiv to douse fires and clear rubble, photos showed. An escalation in artillery fire prompted Human Rights Watch to denounce the assault on the northeastern region this week. The U.S.-based group said it documented attacks on health-care facilities and populated areas using explosive weapons and cluster munitions.
- In gas masks and hazmat suits, Ukrainian emergency workers conducted a nuclear response drill in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine’s interior minister has said the country must prepare for any scenario, as recent shelling in the region around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant triggers alarm.
- Russia has reportedly replaced the commander of its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. The order came from Putin, it reported….