#Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

[dontforgetukraine]

Today Ukraine celebrates the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

[anastasiamaru]

🥳 Welcome Home 🥳

🥹The commanding officers who defended Mariupol in Ukraine now

Glory to the Heroes of Ukraine

[princessofthemoooon]

[murderousink23]

08/04/2024 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day 🍪, National White Wine Day 🥂, National Coast Guard Day 🇺🇸, Great American Outdoors Day 🏞🇺🇸, American Family Day 🇺🇸, National Friendship Day 🇺🇸, National Kids Day 🇺🇸, National Health Center Week 🇺🇸, Day of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 🇺🇦

[soon-palestine]

Hostages tortured to death. Parents executed in front of their children. Doctors beaten. Babies murdered. Sexual assault weaponised. No, not Hamas crimes. This is part of an ever-growing list of documented atrocities committed by Israel in the five months since 7 October – quite separate from the carpet bombing of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and a famine induced by Israel’s obstruction of aid. And yet while the western establishment media has been chock full of the most lurid allegations of savagery directed against Hamas, sometimes with little or no supporting evidence, Israeli atrocities are excused or quickly forgotten. Accusations against Hamas are endlessly reheated to paint a picture of a supremely dangerous and bestial militant group, in turn rationalising the slaughter and starvation of Gaza’s population to “eradicate” it as a terrorist organisation. But equally barbarous atrocities committed by Israel – not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood – are treated as unfortunate, isolated incidents that cannot be connected, that paint no picture, that reveal nothing of import about the military that carried them out. If Hamas’ crimes were so savage and sadistic they still need to be reported months after they took place, why does the establishment media never feel the need to express equal horror and indignation at equivalent or worse acts of cruelty and sadism being inflicted by Israel on Gaza – not five months ago, but right now? Israel's torture of doctors, its sexual assaults of Palestinian women, it's leaving premature babies to die after its forces stormed a hospital. Where is the outrage? This is part of a pattern of behaviour by the western media that leads to only one possible deduction: Israel’s five-month-long attack on Gaza is not being reported. Rather, it is being selectively narrated – and for the most obscene of purposes. Through consistent and glaring failures in their coverage, establishment media – including supposedly liberal outlets, from the BBC and CNN to the Guardian and New York Times – have smoothed the way for Israel to carry out mass slaughter in Gaza, what the World Court has assessed as plausibly a genocide. The role of the media has not been to keep us, their audiences, informed about one of the greatest crimes in living memory. It has been to buy time for US President Joe Biden to keep arming his most useful of client states in the oil-rich Middle East, and to do so without damaging his prospects for re-election in November’s US presidential vote. If Russian President Vladimir Putin was a madman and a barbarous war criminal for invading Ukraine, as every western media outlet agrees, what does that make Israeli officials, when every one of them supports far worse atrocities in Gaza, directed overwhelmingly at civilians? And more to the point, what does that make Biden and the US political class for materially backing Israel to the hilt: sending bombs, vetoing demands for a ceasefire at the United Nations, and freezing desperately needed aid? Worrying about the optics, the president expresses his discomfort, but he carries on helping Israel regardless. While western politicians and commentators worry about some imaginary existential threat those brief events of five months ago pose to the nuclear-armed state of Israel, Israel is quite literally wiping Gaza off the map day by day, quite undisturbed.

[snovyda]

[...] A major international media outlet asked me recently to join its educational platform. I had to record a video message in English and talk about my experience of serving in the armed forces of Ukraine, so children around the world could learn English from these videos and accompanying materials. I recorded it and did everything according to their instructions.

I got a cheerful message the other day from the editorial office, saying: “We’ve launched!” I opened the presentation and had a panic attack. The lesson was structured around eight speakers, each talking about their war experience: four Ukrainians (including me) and four Russians. A Russian journalist and armed forces “deserter”. A Russian teacher. A Russian medical director. Another Russian journalist. The lesson ended with a slide. The Russian flag was at the top. The Ukrainian flag at the bottom. The question proposed for discussion: “What similarities and differences did you notice when listening to the experiences of people from Russia and Ukraine?”

The emotional negligence of this makes me want to scream. [...] I am sickened by how my story has become an ideological tool to equalise the experience of the defender and the attacker. [...]

I’ve been living with the acute feeling that the world is tired of restraining its unquenchable love of Russia. The west wants to believe in the Cinderella story, that one day the dictatorship will fall and a wonderful democratic world will emerge.

Instead of imposing further sanctions and restrictions on Russia, the west is ready to crown the film Anora with all the awards, despite the fact that the Russian actor Yura Borisov, who appears in the film, also starred in a biopic of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47, which was partly filmed in Crimea after its annexation.

The world is ready to listen to Russia again: a UK television channel last year released the film Ukraine’s War: The Other Side by Sean Langan. The film doesn’t just give the other side a voice; it gives a human dimension to the stories of the occupiers and repeats the narratives of Russian propaganda. This is as consistent with journalistic standards as asking an executioner, how are you feeling as you do this, and do you miss your family who are waiting for you at home?[...]

[...] If during the first term of Trump’s presidency we talked of the post-truth era, now we find ourselves in a world in which the truth is taken out, tortured and shot. This means that there will be no justice. This means that anything goes.[...]

[...] The world is looking at the body of truth that is dying and bleeding before our eyes. I beg you, if you can’t stop the bleeding, at least don’t turn away from the sight of blood.[...]

[unofficial-estonia]

Today, Estonia marks 107 years since the Declaration of Independence from the Russian empire. Meanwhile, a thousand kilometres south, Ukraine enters the fourth year of full-scale war against the same aggressor.

February 24th is Estonian Independence Day, a day of pride and celebration. No rotten rudiments of an empire can take this day from Estonians.

On this day of celebration, we also remember that freedom is never self-evident, and always comes with a price. Estonia understands this all too well and stands firmly with Ukraine. The truth is undeniable — Estonia knows who the oppressor is, who the aggressor is, and who bears full responsibility for this war.

Estonia stands with Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty and justice. The only acceptable outcome of the war is a Ukrainian victory, with full territorial integrity restored. Anything less would be a victory for tyranny and a threat to all free nations.

You can support Ukraine by donating directly to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Elagu Eesti! Слава Україні!

[qqueenofhades]

I really really REALLY need to see more people makimg the connection between trump and his russian handlers tbh.......like i know we've somehow gone through the looking glass of putin apologia but that piece abt the NYT you just posted, the bots, the interference: in the bag for trump? Yes. But i dont believe its due to his or even republican power or popularity or forcefulness.......this is a man with so much debt and kompromat thats only getting worse!! Not to sound kwazy BUT WE ARE BEING FULLY INFLITRATED and at the risk of conspiracizing i think the russians are ALSO behind the Times's demise along with so many other information centers etc. Like i KNOW these leftists love him but like. Wouldnt they care a LITTLE abt being manipulated like this???

Trump is 100% an active, willing, and eager Russian agent. That's not even paranoid conspiracy theory, that's just the only reasonable interpretation of the facts:

NOT TO MENTION that in the next two years after the Helsinki conference where Trump kowtowed to Putin in every way, the CIA admitted to losing huge and unusually high numbers of classified informants around the world (not CIA agents, but people secretly working for the American government in often-hostile countries):

Once again, this all happened when Trump was in office, when he was actively handing over CIA intel to the Kremlin against the wishes of the entire national security establishment, and which other experts have suggested was directly as a result of Trump handing over the identities of American informants to Russia, including those stationed in Russia itself:

Now, I could go on, but you get the point. Not to mention that Trump just lost a major UK-based lawsuit against Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who was the first to provide documents linking Trump to Russia in the controversial "Steele dossier":

And now: Trump is deeply in hock for hundreds of millions in legal fees and punitive judgments that are only increasing by the day, he somehow just came up with $90 million to appeal the judgment against E. Jean Carroll (nobody knows where he got this money either), and Russian state TV spends all their time openly salivating for Trump's return to the presidency (so he can hand over Ukraine and the rest of NATO and, as he literally said, "let Russia do whatever the hell they want.") I know we're largely numb to all the awful treasonous shit that Trump does, but like. This isn't a conspiracy theory, this is just what's going on in plain sight, and while the Online Leftists have recently become so stupid that I honestly can't tell if it's just terminal brainworms or active Russian psyops, it's strongly indicated that it is in fact a mix of both:

So, like. Just some food for thought.

[suratan-zir]

MAGA: Ukraine has no cards

Ukraine: fights back, targeting russian war capabilities and credibility, demonstrating that it can deal damage if russia doesn't want peace

MAGA: that's escalation!!! You shouldn't anger russia!!!

Then how the fuck is Ukraine supposed to obtain any "cards" (i.e. leverage at the negotiation table)?

By giving russians everything they want? Well, that's simply impossible because all they want is for Ukraine to cease to exist entirely. It's not about any particular regions - they demand dismantling of the Ukrainian armed forces so that they can swallow Ukraine whole. No amount of seizing territory is going to satisfy russia while Ukraine exists as an independent state.

So if you hear this "escalation bad!! russia must be appeased to achieve peace" rhetoric from anyone - know that they're lying to you. Because there are no concessions from Ukraine that would make russia leave Ukraine alone.

Now trump says that poor kindhearted putin, who previously wasn't giving orders to bomb Ukrainian cities day and night, will be forced to retaliate. Now killing of civilians and destroying purely civilian infrustructure will be completely justified and understandable. I mean, have you seen those little innocent warplanes? Violated like that by barbaric Ukraine for no reason at all.

But that same trump was quacking about "no cards" in Ukrainian hands. How on earth is Ukraine supposed to get these cards, huh? If not by showing force and hitting russia where it hurts? Oh, that's right, Ukraine is supposed to roll over and take it like a good victim.

No matter how russia takes "revenge", you just know these dumb fucks will say that Ukraine deserves it. Fucking rapist logic.

[city-of-ladies]

"In the seventeenth century the words ‘a brave woman’ were more and more frequently used in sermons with reference to women who were constant in their faith, practising such virtues as modesty, devotion to the family and thrift – women who were bringing up a large progeny well. But in the social mentality these words had a broader meaning. They were associated with the type of woman who appeared at the end of the sixteenth century, particularly in the south-eastern territories of the country endangered by the incursions of the Turks and Tartars. It was a type of courageous Amazon who could mount a horse and wield a sword no less competently than a man – a woman who could defend her own and her family’s interests and fight an enemy not with women’s, but with men’s, weapons. This Polish virago had her counterparts in Western Europe. The femme forte was glorified in France in the seventeenth century, the mujer varonil was lauded in Spain; the virago became the heroine of countless dramas and poems.

Mannish women in Poland had many opportunities to display their talents. The most famous among them was Marina, the daughter of Polish magnate, Jerzy Mniszech. In 1605 she married Dimitr, the alleged son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and in 1609 was crowned in Moscow. After Dimitri was murdered, she married the second impostor and, when the latter also died, she tried to keep the throne for herself. Beautiful and greedy for power, Marina ended her stormy life in a prison and soon became the heroine of numerous legends and poems. The period of Russian civil war enabled her – a woman with a dominant personality and great imagination – to surpass the passive role accorded to women in general.

Life in the eastern and southern borderlands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth offered many opportunities for women to display their energy and courage. A legend about an energetic bride, Beata Dolska, relates how, on her wedding day in 1577, she saved her native town of Dubno from a Tartar attack. Told about the enemy, the courageous bride rushed on to the ramparts, loaded a cannon and fired a shot which hit the tent of the Khan himself. As a result, the Tartars lifted the siege.

Another famous ‘borderlands’ lioness’, Mrs Teofila Chmielecka, fought bravely at her husband’s side against the Tartars in the 1620s. Unfortunately, she was also a notorious organizer of forays against her neighbours and an extremely cruel mistress: she mutilated one of her servants, a certain Anna Walicka, by cutting off her nose. When her son fell in love with a beautiful girl whose father refused to agree to the marriage, she abducted the girl and arranged the marriage by force. Another lady, Anna Dorota Chrzanowska, wife of the commander of Trembowla castle, roused the defenders of the fortress to action during the siege in 1675 and personally led them in sallies against the Turks; she threatened the soldiers that she would blow up the fortress if they capitulated. In the Ukraine some women took up arms during the Chmielnicki uprising. During the Swedish invasion many women all over the country took part in the war activities.

In times of peace, too, women surpassed their official female roles and, in this respect, we have already mentioned the battles organized by Mrs Chmielecka. In addition, W. Łoziński’s book presents many Polish women engaged in military actions. Forays and armed attacks led by females were by no means a rare occurrence, especially in the borderlands. A. Gradowska has recently come across an interesting example of a fierce family quarrel in the eighteenth century: Mr Kazimierz Drohojowski sued his aunt, Mrs Antonina Księska née Drohojowska, for the sums bequeathed on his village, Bestwinka. The trial continued for 30 years. In the end, the aunt administered justice herself, organizing an attack on her nephew’s house. Drohojowski was shot during the fighting and died from his wounds."

Maria Bogucka, Women in Early Modern Polish Society, Against the European Background

[saywhat-politics]

The U.S. decision to suspend the flow of military intelligence to Ukraine this week has aided the Russian advance along a critical part of the front, weakening the negotiating position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and killing many Ukrainian soldiers in recent days, according to five senior Western and Ukrainian officials and military officers familiar with the situation.

“As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” one of the officers told TIME in an interview on Friday in Kyiv, asking not to be named when discussing sensitive military operations. “The biggest problem is morale,” he added, as the armed forces of Ukraine are being left to fight without some of their best weapons systems, not as a result of Russian attacks but American pull backs. “It’s really causing an advantage for the enemy on the front line.”

The U.S. stopped providing intelligence to Ukraine shortly after the Presidents of both counties, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, clashed in the Oval Office on Feb. 28. During the meeting, Zelensky questioned whether the Russians could be trusted to abide by any ceasefire. President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance responded by berating the Ukrainian leader on camera. “You don’t have the cards," Trump said. "You’re gambling with World War III.”

In the days that followed, the U.S. suspended military aid to Ukraine, including intelligence sharing. Questioned about that decision on Thursday, President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, said the Ukrainians had “brought it on themselves.” The U.S. response to Zelensky’s position was “sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose," Kellogg said. "Got their attention."

The impact for the Ukrainians has been most acute in the Russian region of Kursk, where the Ukrainian armed forces are struggling to hold a swath of territory that they seized in a shock offensive last August. That assault marked the first foreign invasion of Russian land since World War II, humiliating the Kremlin and drawing thousands of North Korean troops into the war to help Russia regain control of the area.

[dontforgetukraine]

The 114th Tactical Aviation Brigade released a video dedicated to Ukraine's Independence Day.

Source: the Air Force of the AFU

[anastasiamaru]

Independence

Yesterday Ukraine celebrated Independence Day

On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence. It can't be said that this independence came easily to us. For centuries, we fought for independence. And now, we are also fighting for freedom. Our people are strong and determined not to give up. I believe that we will prevail in this struggle.

Thank you to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for protecting our lives and Freedom

[sayruq]

Today was a big for the resistance. It seems people were right, they were waiting for Biden to leave so they can respond to the Ah Ahli Hospital massacre (the tweets below are arranged from the earliest reports I saw to the latest in order to show the coordination between different groups in different countries and the escalation)

Like I said, a big day for the resistance

And I see no signs of things slowing down

The Palestinian resistance has a list of objectives for this operation including damaging Israel's economy, forcing Israel citizens to flee the country, and slowing down immigration to Israel in the long term (because that leads to new settlements)

In other news, Biden's bloodlust was enough to disgust an arms dealer.

Several of his staff have also expressed discomfort with the administration's choices the past few weeks

Nonetheless, American troops have been told to prepare for deployment

The past few days I've been pointing out how Russia has gone from pro Israel to carefully neutral to increasingly critical of Israel and now we have this.

I'm so glad that Israel has continued to shoot itself on its foot by isolating itself from Russia and China

Russia is actively intervening to ensure that America and its allies can't use the Black Sea to counter the resistance in West Asia which is a big deal

So far, all signs are pointing to a regional conflict

This has to be a huge blow to Israel seeing so many countries, even a NATO nation, coming together to ensure that it can't annihilate Palestine.

More importantly, it shows that Palestine does not stand alone.

[murderousink23]

08/06/2023 is National Fresh Breath Day 🇺🇲, National Root Beer Float Day 🇺🇲, National Wiggle Your Toes Day 🇺🇲, National Sisters Day 🇺🇲, American Family Day 🇺🇲, National Friendship Day 🇺🇲, National Kids Day 🇺🇲, Day of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 🇺🇦

[mariacallous]

Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk on Nov. 18 declined to accept the Magnitsky Human Rights Award due to the statements of his co-recipient, Yulia Navalnaya, regarding Western military aid to Ukraine.

Khlyvnyuk, lead singer of the Ukrainian music group BoomBox, joined Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and now serves in the National Police.

In a Facebook post published Nov. 18, Khlyvnyuk thanked the jurors of the Magnitsky Award, which honors journalists, activists, and politicians working to advance human rights.

"I sincerely thank all the founders and jury of the influential international Magnitsky Award in London," he said.

"You have noticed and noted my contribution to the race for freedom of speech and fundamental human rights, as part of the struggle for the independence of the Ukrainian state, which is insignificant compared to other people and foundations."

Khlyvnyuk then explained that despite his gratitude, he could not accept the award, which was also offered to Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late dissident Alexei Navalny.

"(A)s the father of two children living under missile strikes and a private in the defense forces of Ukraine ... I cannot receive this award together with other laureates who are 'not sure' of the need to provide my country with Western weapons, vitally necessary to repel Russian aggression," Khlyvnyuk said.

Navalnaya said in an interview with the German outlet Zeit that she was not sure whether or not it was correct to supply arms to Ukraine.

"It's difficult to say," she said.

"The war was unleashed by Vladimir Putin, but the bombs are hitting Russians too."

Following her husband's death in a Russian penal colony, Navalnaya has become a more visible leader in the Russian opposition movement. She received a 2024 Magnitsky Award under the category "Courage Under Fire."

Khlyvnyuk's statement comes a day after Russia on Nov. 17 unleashed one of its largest aerial attacks against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war. The combined missile and drone attack targeted the country's energy grid and left multiple civilians dead or injured.