source: https://bsky.app/profile/beefeaterfella.bsky.social/post/3mqosknd2hc2p

Read the full editorial here: https://kyivindependent.com/editorial-by-sacking-fedorov-zelensky-risks-turning-tide-of-war-back-in-russias-favor/

The Black Sea has some stunning views these days.

Take a look🙂‍

Featuring:

⚓️ 6 oil tankers — hit

⚓️ 1 cargo ship — hit

⚓️ 1 tugboat — hit

The Tankercide continues💚

Russian paratroopers captured a Ukrainian position and took prisoners. But Ukrainian infantry launched a lightning-fast counterattack, recaptured the Russian-held position, and freed two of their comrades.

source: https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3mqrdyllvz22m

source: https://bsky.app/profile/kingraccoondog.bsky.social/post/3mqqbb2544s2o

source: https://bsky.app/profile/kateinkharkiv.bsky.social/post/3mqroyl73s22i

On July 15, Ukrainians mark the Day of Ukrainian Statehood — a day that reminds us that our struggle for freedom and our own state has lasted not for years, but for centuries. Ukrainian statehood traces its origins back to the Kyivan Rus’, Prince Volodymyr the Great, and the Baptism of the Kyivan Rus’. It continues today in the independent state we are defending from russian aggression. It is no coincidence that this holiday coincides with the Day of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ and the commemoration of Prince Volodymyr — one of the key state-builders in our history. Ukraine was made to be independent. Ukraine was born to be free. And no russia — no empire, no occupation, no attempt to erase our history — will ever be able to take that away. We were free. We remain free. And Ukraine will be free. 🇺🇦

Soldier Yuriy Panasenko, callsign Tikhyi, fell in battle against the occupiers near the city of Kreminna in Luhanshkchyna on July 3, 2023. He was 36 years old.

Yuriy was born on December 28, 1986, in the city of Novoukrainka, Kirovohrad Oblast. He studied at the local secondary school No. 7. Later, he obtained a profession as a tractor driver at the Novoukrainka vocational school No. 40. He got married and moved to the village of Novomykolaivka in his native oblast. He worked as a driller at the Kapustynske granite quarry. In his free time, he loved fishing and repairing machinery.

In March 2023, the man was drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade. He held the position of machine gunner.

"My husband was a very brave, kind, and sincere person," said Olena Panasenko.

The paratrooper was buried at the Alley of Heroes in the cemetery in his native Novoukrainka.

At home, his parents, wife, and daughter were waiting for him.

I know this needs to be delicately washed and air dried outside so it’s all good but again I guess I just wanted to show this.

a non-Ukraine person wearing one. Just want options I suppose from this subreddit. If this gets taken down then oh well, I just wanna know if I’m not being “weird“ or so as I feel.

Also I got told this looked Jewish. Kinda upsetting or so I feel.

I’m an American and while I’ve been following the war not a lot of coverage here is given to Ukraine’s internal politics. Does anyone from the country think that public pressure will push Zelenskyy to undo this decision?

This is a foreign soldier on the Southern Front in Ukraine. He came to Protect a Volunteer with a request for help to repair his vehicle. Many soldiers use their own personal vehicles that they purchased themselves. That's a big financial burden for them and the repairs from the work they do are ongoing.

We helped him out to cover the repair cost. Repairing vehicles is critical to keeping EVERYTHING going. We have far more requests to buy vehicles or repair vehicles than we can handle but you can help.

Donate here to keep soldiers on the Southern Front (they are the most undermanned and under-resourced and where the most foreign troops are helping) keep moving with new vehicles and vehicle repairs:

https://givebutter.com/Southern_Front

This is 501c3 compliant and runs through our partner UFL. Protect a Volunteer makes all purchases and vets all requests for help.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Defense of Ukraine, gave a press briefing today. This is really important, it covers the concept for winning the war, the problems in the military, and the leadership conflicts at the top. Suspilne carried it live, you can watch with english subtitles on youtube. I'm putting some of the key excerpts below (my own translation) with timestamps.

Strategy

14:52 "And overall our task ... is to maximally stop the advance of the enemy, to make it so as to force the enemy to stop. We called this doctrine the "Air-Land Economy". To maximally intercept cruise missiles, drones, ballistic missiles. To stop the advance of the enemy on the battlefield. And to make it so that Russia cannot finance the war."

23:07 "I hope that this will be the basis of the drone-assault units, in the sense that the technologies fight and we lose drones, not people, and then the infantry moves in. Because we need to fight for every person. We simply won't be able to do the same amount by mobilization as the Russians do. We need to hit asymmetry. Everything that works for us relates to technology and asymmetry."

Problems

18:12 "The problem of supply is cardinal, because over the last five months we purchased more drones than in the entire previous year, and yet most units did not feel this, because the distribution of the resource happens manually, in manual mode. So, the loyal one received, the disloyal did not receive."

20:21 "We built, for the first time, such a system of real-time analysis of losses on the battlefield. We began to receive daily reports on losses, but the decision of whom to support and whom not to support, whom to reinforce and whom not to reinforce, is not made on the basis of data. They are made on the basis of loyalty, and you cannot develop a system based on this."

Conflict with Syrskyi

28:17 "When the president said that he does not plan to change Syrskyi - this is his decision as Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And I fully agreed with this decision and said: "Then I will learn to work with him, because after all, we serve the Ukrainian people, and not some other, and not someone else." And that's why one has to work. But we ran into the fact that all the initiatives we propose, they began to be blocked. And Syrskyi, given all the problems we talked about today, is not ready to personally, to your face, openly talk about problems. He is ready to go personally to meetings, to weave intrigues, to think that someone ordered some campaign in the media, and not [to acknowledge] that the problem is in the actions that are taking place. And this led - this led to the fact that in effect he set an ultimatum, yes, as you and I know. And instead of figuring out how to asymmetrically defeat Russia - which is the task of the Commander-in-Chief - he figured out how to split the country where you and I are today. And in this there is a big problem, because I, by my character, don't, like, go to complain about the problems that exist. There is analytics, I came, [and said]: "Here, if we want to win, we need to do this." But I did not set conditions, like "either me or Syrskyi." I said: "Then we'll be defeating Russia with this Commander-in-Chief." Because actually Syrskyi in '22 saved our country. He, among other things, conducted the Kyiv operation ..."

(Let me know if you catch any other interesting parts of the video I should add here - just post the timestamps in a comment)

Bohdan Krotevych, Lt. Col (retired), former chief of staff of 12th brigade "Azov", and defender of Mariupol, posted this yesterday evening.

Translation:
"The President has announced that tomorrow he will speak with the commanders of combat brigades. Therefore, today I want to address the personnel of these brigades.

Tomorrow your commanders will have the opportunity to tell the truth about what is happening in the army, or to keep silent. You know far better than I do the price of such silence and understand what consequences it can lead to.

I recognize that not every officer is prepared to take on such responsibility. Some are concerned about themselves and their position. Some fear for their unit, understanding that after a frank assessment of the actions of the Commander-in-Chief, their people may be directed toward a failing sector or left without proper supplies.

At the same time, in unofficial conversations, the majority of commanders express their true attitude toward the situation. They speak about it among themselves, write in personal messages, even those who publicly posted complimentary posts.

Therefore, I appeal to the military personnel of combat brigades: help your commanders find the courage. Talk with them. Ask them tomorrow to say exactly what they actually think. What they say to you, to your fellow soldiers, and write in private messages.

What hangs in the balance is the existence of Ukraine. The Army remains the principal guarantee of our state's existence. Concealing the real state of affairs today creates a threat to the entire country.

You swore an oath to the Ukrainian people. Your commanders bear responsibility for you, for your lives, and for the combat readiness of their units. That is precisely why their honesty before the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is part of this responsibility.

Help your commanders take this step. Help them speak the truth. The future of Ukraine depends on their courage and your position."