Day 889
Active defense, dead hanging
Step into my office.
The fact that Ukrainian soldiers are still repulsing dozens of head-on attacks daily along front lines stretching hundreds of kilometers is impressive. But strategic defense, per se, appears to be lacking. This explains the abundance of heroism and chaos.
We can only wonder what the beefy head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak whisperered into the ear of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky during their photo op in Kharkiv region earlier in the week.
Yesterday, Z travelled to Volyn in western Ukraine to inspect fall-back fortifications, the kind of cement-filled pillboxes the President’s Office promised to start erecting in eastern parts of the country (where Russians are actually attacking).
Some UAH 1.2 billion ($31 million) were allocated to build rear defensive lines in Donetsk region in late 2023. But they still barely exist on the Pokrovsk axis, just as they barely existed in northern areas of Kharkiv region attacked in May. As ever, lots of handwringing and zero accountability. The lack of well-prepared positions means retreating Ukrainian units are forced to fight out of disconnected pits they dig themselves. Not ideal.
Uncle Joe’s special representative to Ukraine for economic recovery announced her termination in Kyiv. What advice she actually gave Ukraine’s president and top managers was long ago disregarded. The economy is a mess. Rule of law is over. No one wants to invest. We’re in the market socialism/unfettered laissez faire phase of development, relying on private citizens to pay higher taxes and fund the production/procurement of fpv drones and radio-electronic jamming devices.
Ceasefire. Don’t count on it. Same goes for peace talks with Putin. It’s a war of attrition and endless Skala buggy races around bombed-out cities like Vovchansk and Chasiv Yar and hopefully not Toretsk.
We are unfortunately still following the script of the latest post-apocalyptic installment of the Road Warrior franchise, following the archetypical "Western” frontier movie motif, as deepwoken young men liquidate over-paid marauders hired by Putin’s war machine.
Several large, healthy-looking trees tipped over last night in Kyiv’s Shevchenko Park, killing one woman and severely smushing others.
Looking on the positive side, dead hanging. I have started hanging from a bar to improve grip strength, stretch the upper body and relieve shoulder pain (from a million frisbee throws). The exercise also improves elasticity and helps with rock climbing. My record is three minutes. I figure I can improve to at least 20 minutes before the war ends.