#stand with ukrainians

[alephskoteinos]

It's now been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. I know it's fashionable to act like Ukraine is doomed to fail in resisting Russia, but even though there may be plenty to worry about, two years on I still can't see how Russia's invasion can be called a success.

Despite everything, Russia still controls probably less than 20% of Ukrainian territory. Russia remains stuck in eastern Ukraine, in the so-called territory of the DPR and LPR. All the while Ukraine appears to have regained territory that Russia did manage to capture. Looming over the shadows of that, of course, is the apparent wavering of "the West" when it comes to political and economic support. It's not universal, but there do seem to be countries where the people and parts of the political establishment are losing interest in Ukraine. It's often viewed in terms of profit and loss, two years of engagement with uncertain "returns" for "the West".

Based on what people have told me, I think Russia might actually be counting on that doubt, in that the Russian army is holding out as long as it can until "the West" gives up on Ukraine. But is that really sustainable? Think about it. The war is such a massive drain in resources for Russia that it begs the question of just how long Russia can sustain the war effort, especially when "the West" still basically supports Ukraine. Russia is waiting for everyone to abandon Ukraine so that they can move in for the kill and conquer Ukraine unopposed. But ask yourself, is that really happening?

As for those who continue to exploit every kernel of doubt against Ukraine's struggle against Russia, I once again ask: what exactly do you want to happen to Ukraine? You say you want the war to end and the fighting to stop, but you have no idea what that should mean for Ukraine. All movements like the IMT and certain individual left commentators have to offer Ukrainians, at best, is some performative display of pity directed towards the tragedy of war. It's meaningless bullshit, and everyone can see it.

There isn't a peaceful way out for Ukraine, and the "anti-imperialists" don't have one to offer: or at least certainly none that doesn't involve some unacceptable concession on the part of Ukrainians, perhaps on terms decided by other nation states and not Ukrainians. Ukrainians need to be able to decide their own destiny. They need and demand autonomy and freedom. And the harsh reality is that, for Ukrainians to have that, Russia has to lose. They're not going to negotiate. The Russian invasion has to be broken and Russia must face defeat.

The only one who could maybe change that is Russia, and only if Russia leaves Ukraine completely and abandons its invasion. But that's not on the cards. Otherwise, no one can change this. Not any intervening nation and not any useless pundit.

[anastasiamaru]

🇺🇦🇧🇬 A 100-meter blue ribbon, framed by a hundred yellow roses, was unfurled this morning on the square in front of the City Library in Sofia, Bulgaria, on the 100th day of russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria Vitalii Moskalenko and Deputy Mayor of Sofia Miroslav Borshosh honored the memory of those who died

100 days of War in Ukraine

[sophiamamamia]

Yevhenia Serdiuk tells the story of how the residents of her village, Pidlypne in the Sumy Region, didn’t let a Russian convoy pass through the village.

It all started on February 24. My son and I packed for school, but then everyone started calling: war. I say: “What war? I need to catch a bus at 7:15.” Not even 15 minutes later, the head teacher calls: “The classes are canceled, the war has started.”

And already that night, Russians were driving through our village. They were passing through non-stop for about four days, day and night. Maybe with some one- or two-hour breaks. We’d never seen the things that were passing by us, not even in pictures. We were scared, hiding, but looking out the windows—the trees were still bare back then. We had our own chain to pass on what drove past, how many, where exactly.

And then, on the fifth day, they knocked down a power post in the village center. It fell and dragged two more posts with it. Bare wires were on the ground, and they were afraid of being electrocuted. So they drove through the church, knocked out the gate. But only armored vehicles could get through, and trucks with ammunition got stuck.

Calls went out to everyone in the village, and literally within 15 minutes, about 500 people came. People drove there from all corners, by vans, by cars, because a rumor started that we were blocking the column.

So I stand by the window watching men rushing past my yard on bikes, on mopeds, on whatever they could get. I ran there, too, in whatever I was wearing—old hat, old jacket, I put on my son’s boots. I stand at the edge of the crowd, and the guys shout at me: “Zhenia, film it on your phone, let people see that we’re not afraid, enough with the fear!”

The video is literally just a minute long, but they argued for a long time, almost half an hour: “Show us the road to Kyiv.” But I have a brother in Kyiv, his wife, my nephew, so I scream: “What Kyiv!? I’m not letting you get to my brother!”

They started yelling: “But we’re Russians, we’re normal.” There were many of them, and not like they show us on TV, dirty ones in galoshes, but properly dressed, like the military: helmets, bulletproof vests, military boots, automatic guns. And not 19-year-olds, there were older ones—as we understood, these ones had experience.

They pointed guns at people—but people weren’t afraid anymore. Adrenalin probably did its job. Only in the evening it dawned on me that anything could have happened, they could have actually shot us all.

Well, we made them turn around. And we chased them back, right up to the lake. And dogs walked with the people then. Walked and barked. They didn’t run around, didn’t run to the tanks, they walked with the people, next to their legs, and barked.

But by the time we reached it, something was already coming down the street, like an armored vehicle. And this funny Buryat crawls out of it: “Let me pass! I need to pass!” So our guys tell him “in French,” climb out now, we’re going to let you pass. Apparently he was sent for reconnaissance to check if there were people. So we figured out right away that we had to put up fortifications. We blocked all passages. We found concrete slabs, tires, the willows by the lake were picked up by a hundred men and brought there. We had such spirit, such strength—go figure where we got it from.

And then another convoy showed up from the direction of the church. I wasn’t filming anymore, I was jumping on a tank—I didn’t care. The first one driving was an armored vehicle, the second one was probably the same, or maybe a tank. They were followed by four fuel trucks and the last two tanks. People blocked everything, so we didn’t let them pass either, they turned around and drove back.

That’s how we won back our village. They drove into the fields and stayed there on the outskirts for two or three weeks, shooting at each other. There were so many of them, up to a thousand vehicles. When we posted the video online, people told us that we should have disarmed them and taken them prisoner. But these commenters don’t get that they’d have shot from the field and there would be casualties.

[sweetaprilbutterfly]

Ukrainian aesthetics

[kashiomi-art]

Not gonna lie, my morale is at the lowest point it's been since the beginning of the invasion. Russians are successfully occupying more and more territories and shell frontline regions every day. People are dying, our culture and herritage is destroyed. International aid dwindled significantly because of american bullshit. Mobilization law has been signed and there is a chance that my family members get conscripted soon. Don't even get me started on internal political problems. A bunch of articles in foreign media talking about our defeat and "peace talks" (what a joke).

It feels like there were no at least moderately good news in a while. On top of that, the feeling that we are screaming into the void is stronger than ever. I'm happy when I see a foreigner online supporting us and spreading the word, because it gets rarer. Ukrainians feel like none of what's happening gets outside our info bubble. Most likely no one but Ukrainians will see this post either. Honestly don't know what to make of all of this.

[folklorespring]

Students of Mykhailo Boychuk Art Academy drawing their school that was hit by russian missile

[swamp-cats-den]

Will never forget how long the 2-metre walk from my bed to the window in the morning of 24.02.2022 felt as I was desperately trying to persuade myself that the booming, earth-shaking sound was just an unusually vicious thunder, and simultaneously thinking 'what if I pull the curtains open and there is no rain?' I pulled the curtains open, and there was no rain. No thunder clouds. Just the faces of neighbours also woken up by the missile explosions looking out of the window. That's when I understood that the war began.

Here's a reminder that Ukraine still needs donations badly to fight off the invasion.

United 24 and Come Back Alive are both verified charities that support the Ukrainian military. They offer various options, for example, collecting money for medical equipment, humanitarian demining and rebuilding Ukraine if someone doesn't feel comfortable donating towards weapons.

[thyinum]

Good fucking morning from Ukraine after the massive shelling by russia with almost everything they've got. I personally heard pretty loud explosions over my head. Thanks to our air defence I am alive.

But still there are lots of injured people across all the country as well as some dead.

"Gentle" reminder that russia is a terrorist state

Upd: the numbers of injured and killed are growing

[kana-de]

im so tired of seeing that Ukrainians are "white privileged." WHERE. WHERE THE FUCK. JUST WHERE. Ukrainians and Ukrainian culture whas been OPPRESSED. Ukrainian language and culture has been BANNED from everything by russia CENTURIES AGO. Ukrainian artists and writers have been KILLED AND OPPRESSED AND BANNED from writing literature in Ukrainian. we are literally being KILLED just because we are Ukrainian. what the fuck do you mean by white privilege.

[perishrad]

thank you, trans community! thank you for absolutely STUPID and USELESS act of so-said "trans activism" you are MORONS. As an ukrainian, I hate you even more after that.

[adskadrochilnya]

"russia has a great culture! where are the Ukrainian artists?"

russia killed them.

[anastasiamaru]

😺PetArmy of Ukraine🐱😻😽😻

🇺🇦Stand with Ukraine 💙💛

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Our intelligence has gained the information that Russia is considering committing a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - a terrorist act with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this.

Unfortunately, I already had to remind more than once that radiation knows no national borders, and who it hits is determined only by the direction of the wind.

We are sharing all available information with our partners - everyone in the world. All the evidence. Europe, America, China, Brazil, India, the Arab world, Africa - all countries, absolutely everyone must know this. International organizations. All of them.

There should never be any terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants, anywhere. This time it should not be like with Kakhovka: the world has been warned, therefore, the world can and must act.

- Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 22.06.2023 11:47

[cheesehambu]

I survived another russian missile attack(again again and again)

[anoonimthepoorchad]

Night time air raid. Kharkiv is being attacked with ballistic missiles, there had been 15 missiles already! It's like russians are trying to destroy the city to the ground along with everyone living there. There has been no electricity for days in the city and in the region, the infrastructure is damaged almost beyond repair.

We're at the shelter as well here in Kyiv because all of Ukraine has had an air raid alert because of the long distance guided missiles. To remind you, these are the ones that can change their trajectory at any time. Part of them are flying through the Kyiv region rn, hopefully everything will be okay. I'm still having my seminars and lessons in the morning though, plus it's the middle of the night, so here is a picture of our dog, mom and me napping on the floor of the subway station.

[folklorespring]

Oleksandra Kostetska, widow of a fallen Ukrainian soldier Kostyantyn Miroshnichenko, did a photoshoot with the same photographer who took their pictures as a couple.

"I will show you my new reality. As a widow. Igor Yefimov, you started photographing us as a couple at the beginning of our relationship, now you have taken the end for me. Mirosh [Kostyantyn's military call sign] taught me a lot, now the last lesson is to live without him and remain strong. But it's hard without his warmth/smile/laughter/hugs/bedtime talks, and my favorite, running my fingers across his cheeks and stroking his beard. I love, but I am no longer loved".

Source