Team USA’s self-deterence approach to helping Ukraine repel Russian invaders is a dud. The pink blobs continue to grow and mushroom in southern, westward and northern direction, depending where you are standing along our nine fronts.
CNN’s Nick continues to duck in and out of root cellars near Lyptsi in Kharkiv region. Asked whether defensive fortifications were prepared before Russia’s latest assault, one soldier says:
That’s a pity.
I enjoyed this chit chat about Z’s five year reign. Portnikov declined to assess the president’s performance, saying the appropriate time would be after new elections are announced.
He also disabused the notion that Andriy Yermak, head of the President’s Office, was usurping power, as intimated in a tldr article appearing in The Washington Post last week1.
More like le Grand Colbert under the Sun King, Louis IV.
In other news, running. Lots of psychopathic running, just like last year and the year before. The weather is wonderful and there are fewer missile alerts early in the morning.
Zelensky’s chief aide flexes power, irks critics — and makes no apologies. Andriy Yermak, a former lawyer and film producer who runs Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime presidential office, is arguably the most powerful chief of staff in Ukraine’s history (May 18, 2024)