Day 812

Into the black

Photo by Pavlo Dorohoi

Zero (0) good news to report, except for running, so we’ll start with that. May 20 marks the end of this year’s first 3-month block to get us limber again. We are a couple minutes faster than last year, thanks to the girlie sneakers with J-Frame(TM) technology that underpronates our feet.

Map c/o Deepstate

Team Russia has decided to flatten Vovchansk in northern Kharkiv region, 5 kilometers south of the border. There will be little left standing for the town’s 15,000 evacuated residents to return to.

Most of the fighting continues in areas of eastern Ukraine, around Chasiv Yar and in the direction of Pokrovsk:

During the last 24 hours, 145 military clashes took place. The situation on the front remains difficult. The enemy, using its advantage in manpower and equipment, with the support of aircraft is intensively attacking our positions. Ukrainian defenders are holding back the onslaught of the occupants, inflicting maximum losses on the enemy. — AFU

c/o Ukraine State Emergency Service (May 15, 2024)

I don’t know why Tony decided to play “Rocking in the Free World” last night. The review by The New York Times caught my eye¹.

Maybe this YouTube version of “Out of the Blue,” our Song of the Day, would have been more appropriate, esp considering that Ukraine’s energy-generating DTEK group has announced (and then un-anounced) the resumption of electricty rationing, putting customers into the black.

1. In Kyiv, Blinken Adds Rock Notes to a ‘Free World’ Message. The secretary of state, a longtime guitarist, strummed along to a song chosen to underscore a central message of President Biden’s foreign policy (The New York Times, May 15, 2024)