Ukraine Update 24 January
Bleak, Friendly Neighborhood Fascism, Turkey!, Protecting Ethnic Ukrainians
Your Friendly Neighborhood Fascist
A doctor in Kamchatka (remember, that all-important territory in Risk?) was having a conversation with a coworker and mentioned that her grandchildren were in Ukraine and being bombed by Russian missiles. Little did she know that her conversation was being recorded, and her coworker turned it in to the FSB. She was fined 30,000 rubles for ‘disparaging the military.’ This is a sign of a dead society, where people are turning against each other, and nobody can speak their minds anymore, even to friends. During the Soviet era, there was a phenomenon known as ‘kitchen speech,’ which is what you could say in the kitchen, which is the only place the KGB (old FSB) wasn’t listening.
In other language news, a 2017 law signed by Putin outlawed the use of non-Cyrillic alphabets when teaching indigenous languages within Russia. The Tartar people had adopted the Latin alphabet for teaching the Tartar language in schools, but this was seen as a ‘sign of separatism.’ They also relegated the teaching of Tartar to ‘foreign language instruction’ instead of a core part of the curriculum. Technically, there are no laws against the teaching of Tartar or other languages in Russia, but the public use of other languages is a mark of extremism, according to Rkail Zidulla, a popular Tartar writer.
Energy Problems
As a result of the fire at the “Zagorodnaya” substation in Russia, 475 apartment buildings, home to more than 99 thousand people, and another 125 private homes were left without electricity.
An oil facility in Bryansk was attacked, but Russia claims that no serious damage was done.
Gerasimov
Today is the 20th day of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia’s non-existence. The Russian Ministry of Rape and Pillage published an article about the Deputy Minister of Defense General Goremykin at an awards ceremony, something that the Chief of Staff usually does.
Funding Cuts
The Russian budget is cutting financial support to the occupied territories from $5.8B to $3.4B, expecting the territories to become more financially independent. During a war. While occupied by Russian troops. Since 2014, the budget of occupied Donetsk and Luhansk has been almost entirely dependent upon subsidies from Moscow.
Expert Trolling
In a move that I can only guess was purely designed to troll the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Zelensky signed an order instructing the Cabinet to develop an action plan to preserve the national identity of Ukrainians within the Russian Federation.
“Today, we must take steps not only to strengthen the unity of Ukraine and our people but also to act for the unity of rights and freedoms, the truth about Ukrainians, the truth about us, and the truth about our history. For this purpose, today I signed the decree ‘on the territories historically inhabited by Ukrainians within the Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, and Rostov regions of the Russian Federation.” he emphasized.
Part of the order reads, “working out the issue of collecting and studying facts and testimonies about crimes committed against Ukrainians who live (lived) in the territories of Russia, historically inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians, about the policy of forced Russification, political repression and deportations of Ukrainians, restoration, and preservation of historical memory, including regarding the formation of a center on the specified issues;”
But Zelensky isn’t the only one trolling the Kremlin. The Kremlin seems to be trolling itself. News headlines on Kommersant, a Russian ‘news’ source, were published as follows: (translation by me)
Deep Strikes
On the night of January 21, 2024, the NPO Splav military plant, located in the Proletarsky district of Tula, was attacked.
Earlier, the media published information about the defeat of the Shcheglovsky Val plant, but some say it was Splav that came under attack. Confusion could arise due to the proximity of the plants to each other. The Splav plant produces, repairs, and modernizes Grad, Uragan, Smerch, and Tornado multiple-launch rocket systems.
The strike was carried out using attack UAVs. As a result of the impact, a fire broke out in one of the production workshops of the plant and at the transformer substation. At the moment, the enterprise is partially de-energized.
However, the main damage to the enterprise was caused not by the fire but by the automatic fire extinguishing system. High-tech and expensive imported equipment used to produce products was flooded.
A furniture factory in Chelyabinsk burned to the ground.
Russia has increased the air defense around St. Petersburg with S-300/400 systems, but these are not terribly useful against drone attacks.
I'm not sure if this should be filed under deep strikes or self-trolling, but an IL-76 fell out of the sky in the Korachanski region. This is just across the border from Ukraine, near Bilhorod (Belgorod).
Mobilization
A social media campaign in Russia highlights the number of sons of high-ranking oligarchs and political movers in Russia who have been seen serving in the military: zero. The number of men that have been registered as simply “missing” is increasing rapidly as relatives have started pressing authorities for answers.
There is no War in Kyiv, But I Won’t Go There
This was the statement of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, a fascist right-winger whose politics have swung towards supporting Putin as Orban’s influence has wanted. He will, however, visit Uzhgorod on the border with Slovakia and meet with UA Foreign Minister Shmyhal.
Turkey has approved Sweden joining NATO, so now Hungary is the only country standing in the way, but there is a nuance. Hungary’s Air Force consists of many aircraft “rented” from Sweden. Hungary has no grounds for refusing membership, but I’m sure they can come up with something.
The USA
The United States of America, in a rare example of cooperation between the Republican party and the Democrat in the White House, has succeeded in destroying the international reputation of the United States through a combination of political infighting and profiteering off of war. The US has become an embarrassment and has lost credibility in the world, which will lead to more wars at a much higher cost in the not-too-distant future.
Instead of simply aiming to arm Ukraine with what it needs to win, the Biden administration’s first priority with Ukraine funding is ensuring that all aspects of the military-industrial complex are satiated with checks.
Republicans, on the other hand, are delaying Ukraine aid in the hope that it will garner support in the November elections by not giving Biden a win. Playing games with people’s lives is par for the course with the GOP. “Some of you may have to die, but I’m willing to live with that.”
In all of this, the American people are to blame for electing people who are not fit to lead a school board, much less a country.
Losses on the Front
Ukraine continues to trade ground for lives. The average square kilometer of Ukrainian territory costs Russia 400 lives. At this rate, Russia will have to sacrifice 241,450,000 lives to conquer all of Ukraine, or roughly double the entire population of Russia. Losses report below by Andrew Perpetua. Note that Russia destroyed two Ukrainian decoys.
