Day 4
A brutal night throughout Ukraine. Cities hold, for now. Street fighting in Kharkiv. Zelensky appeals to people of Belarus. West cuts Russia off SWIFT and freezes Russian Central Bank assets.
I wish I could give proper credit to this incredible meme but alas, it was just making the rounds yesterday and I had to use it. Ukraine was reportedly pulling down highway markers so as to confuse approaching Russian troops. In this sign, all directions point to “fuck off” “fuck off again” “go the fuck back to Russia”. Very quickly everyone online is learning the depth of Russian and Ukrainian swearing from all those horrific videos we are seeing of a war filmed live on smartphones through apartment and car windows.
Ukraine survived another brutal night of attacks, but battles are still ongoing, Kyiv is coming under attack from at least three directions, and Russian tanks and troops are already engaging in street warfare in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
The map of occupied territories as of early this morning (and also link to a thread with more videos and images from this morning):
This morning Zelensky spoke directly to the people of Belarus. Dictator Lukashenko is holding a referendum today. Belarus is hosting the Russian army, air strikes are being launched from Belarus, Russian wounded are being treated in Belarusian hospitals.
Russia offered peace talks in Minsk. Zelensky refused, saying there can be no talk of peace in the capital of a country that is firing rockets at us. Any other city, he said, he would be open to talks.
The west finally acted decisively late last night, agreeing to cut Russia off of SWIFT (with a German-imposed carve out for Gazprom so Russian gas can keep flowing to Europe), and even more surprisingly, freezing the Russian central bank’s assets. Expect the Russian rouble to open trade tomorrow morning in free fall. The entire EU airspace cut off its airspace to planes from Russia. The impacts of both economic and physical isolation will be felt very shortly in Russia.
This morning I am also thinking about what stops Putin. I still believe the war doesn’t ultimately end until Putin is gone. Like gone gone. Forever. In the meantime, I am thinking about the career army generals, the ones who were too afraid to tell him the truth about what an all-out invasion of Ukraine would look like, and now could theoretically act to stop this madness, if they acted in unison.
Incredible reporting by BBC Russia yesterday showed that the Chechens knew about the plans to invade Ukraine before many of the Russian commanders. How do we know this? The Chechens sent each other voice memos in WhatsApp that were then intercepted. We are starting to get a better picture of how the US had such good intelligence.
Meanwhile, it was reported the Chechen fighters in Ukraine suffered losses yesterday, and one high commander was killed. I found something else fascinating. Kadyrov not only had his Instagram with 4.5 million followers blocked yesterday, he then went live on TikTok to praise the Ukrainian army, what great equipment they have, how bravely they are fighting. Can’t make it up.
There was also a fascinating exchange last night between Ukraine’s digital minister and Elon Musk. In short, Ukraine asked for secure, satellite internet, and Musk promised to deliver.
Ukraine is also now providing information to Russian families about the whereabouts of their boys. Russian families can call a hotline or search a website to find out if their sons are prisoners of war, wounded, or have been killed. This is a direct response to the Russian government telling families nothing about the fate of their boys. Russia reports no casualties. It doesn’t report anything. It just keeps spreading lies.
Meanwhile, Russia has continued to hit civilian targets indiscriminately. Zelensky talked about that this morning. Here is a link to his video with English subtitles. This is a photo of an unexploded bomb next to a playground. Taken this morning.
There has been extensive damage to residential buildings. There is fighting right next to apartment blocks in major cities. Russian artillery hit a hospital in Kyiv last night that was caring for pediatric cancer patients. They killed innocent civilians:
This thread from last night paints a picture of what Ukraine is going through now. I try to take videos from Telegram and TikTok to give you an idea from around the country. This image of residents standing in front of Russian tanks long enough that the tanks simply turn around is the stuff legends are made of.
Finally, I am also thinking of all the people fighting on both side of this conflict started by one madman. One madman started it, but the world must come together to end it. I saw a TikTok yesterday that is haunting me. Russian baby soldier standing in the snow in uniform eating kasha and bread out of white plastic bowls in the middle of nowhere. A pause before they will be sent in like cannon fodder to fire on a brotherly nation. I can’t get the image out of my head. They don’t want to be there. They don’t know whey are there. They have been lied to.
One wounded Russian solider said yesterday, when interviews in a Ukrainian hospital, they were sent to exercises near the Russian border. Their commander told them the Ukrainian army had attacked Rostov. They believed him, and went off to battle. The Russian boys (I cannot stress enough how many of them are untrained conscripts drafted out of poverty with no choice) do not want to be killing Ukrainians. Most of the Russian conscripts are in an information bubble and we don’t know what they have been told.
As for Ukraine, it is fighting back with everything it has. Ukrainians are returning home from abroad to sign up to fight with their army. People across the country are making Molotov cocktails. This photo. This photo is haunting.
The rest are trying to stay safe in bomb shelters. Many simply could not leave the country in time, and know the roads are destroyed, bridges blown up, no way out. This made me smile, as did this TikTok about being stuck in a bomb shelter with your mother-in-law.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you so much for your updates and stories.