Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands; an African delegation that visited here is now in Moscow.
Our main character today is Svetlana Goi, who risks her life to take care of left-behind animals in an area that is now a focal point of the counteroffensive.
Orikhiv is now one of the main focal points of the ongoing counteroffensive, as Ukrainian forces try to push south against dug-in Russian positions. You can see it in the below ISW map, between the two full circles.
Svetlana held out as long as she could. She spent ten months in the city – “screaming and shouting and falling on the floor,” are the most vivid memories she had during that time of fighting.
The shelling was constant. The military urged her to evacuate. But she held out. Like so many Ukrainians, she had been working for her home for a lifetime – and she wouldn’t leave it unless she had no other choice.
But the war slowly made a painful split inevitable.
Still, it all nags at the septuagenarian. Home is home. And she still voluntarily travels back to the ruins of her town – a dangerous journey only done to her love of animals.
“There’s a basement, and it has a lot of cats there, because they came from the houses where people live,” she said.
“But the dogs, they don’t sit in the basement. They’re everywhere in the city; but they know that I’m bringing them food… so the dogs are running [to greet me].”
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During the recent seven-nation African delegation to Kyiv, the spokesperson for the South African President caused quite a stir when he dubiously claimed that he had not heard a missile attack that just occurred
@timkmak trust me... as a South African, Never trust our political spokespeople. They lie and lie and lie and then still have breath left to lie some more.....
LATEST FROM KHERSON: Kakhovka Dam breach was likely "an inside job," The New York Times reports. Evidence suggests an explosive charge in the concrete block at the dam's base destroyed the dam.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, the head of the Kyiv School of Economics, sparked an online firestorm not long ago when he posted a Twitter video showing a busy Mcdonald's in the center of Kyiv.
He was trying to show how Kyiv remained vibrant and resilient despite the war; Ukraine detractors quickly seized on the images of a glistening McDonald's to suggest that the war in Ukraine wasn't that bad at all.
It’s a critical notion to understand about modern living in Kyiv: yes, you can get a Big Mac here. But after you eat dinner, everyone heads home before curfew and waits for the likely bombardment in the city to start. There are open-air terraces, AND there is terror.
Ultimately, though, reality delivered the most relevant comeback. This week, a group of four Kalibr missiles were launched by Russia, striking a residential complex, an educational institution, a business center… and a McDonald’s.
As we’ve said, William Glover Weiss has arrived in Kyiv for a reporting stint. But forget about running our social media account, doing research, and interviewing subjects – his most important task was to import the most valuable goods that we could bring into Ukraine…
x24 Spicy Shin Ramen, of which I have already eaten five packs in the last two days. Praise be to Will! He also brought hamburger gummies, and some less important stuff, like CBRN equipment, gas masks, and a Geiger counter (if you subscribed to help us pay for that, THANK YOU).
That’s the PRO column for Will.
On the CON column, HE LEFT THE SRIRACHA AND TABASCO IN THE UNITED STATES. The Counteroffensive strongly believes in calisthenics as corrective action. Will owes us four hill sprints, two for each bottle he carelessly left behind.
Today, due to Svetlana’s love of cats, we’re going with a Cat of War: this cat we saw on the street near Hostomel Airfield, the site of an important battle in the initial stages of the war.
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@timkmak
Praise be to the #FlyingSpaghettiMonster (Parmesan be upon Him) for memes. I'm old enough to remember when #Russia was supposed to be this 500 pound gorilla in #InformationWarfare. Meanwhile #Ukraine'ians have been #trolling the Russians so hard you can't help but admire their handiwork.
@timkmak I had "streetviewed" that dam months ago where there were news of a bomb. It damaged only the roadway near the sluice gates where the road is almot a separate bridge. The recent explosion did not damage the western section of the dam where sluice gates are, it obliterated 2/3 of the power station where the turbines are. (there are 6 "alcoves" on southern wall out of which comes power going to power lines. Only 2 such alcoves remain.
@timkmak Power from the 2 westernmost alcoves went to western side of the river (Ukraine) and the other 4 went to eastern side of river (Russia).
Just up from the dam is entrance to canal that fed water to large section of Crimea. Lowering river level likely means no more water flowing trhough the canal, unless russians install some major pumps.
So this dam destruction will hurt Crimea, though mostly western portion where canal runs, not Sevastopol.
@timkmak Normally, they would try to get all the water to flow through the power generating turbines. But when you shut down soe turbines, it would be normal to open some gates to let that amout of water flow. It wuld be expected Russians would have cut the turbines whose power went to western side of river.
Blowing up dam also cuts off boat navitation on river. They'll have to dig a canal from the locks to the centre of river where there will still be water.
@timkmak There was also a railway over the actual dam. (whereas road was on southern side of it. Blowing up the power station also destroyed any means to cross river by rail next crossing is at town of Dnipro some 230km north or 300km following river. Blocking militry equipment movements cross river from either side.
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