This morning I heard in the news that Ukrainians had shot down two cruise missiles near my native city of Cherkasy. I called my parents and they said the missiles targeted the bridge across the Dnieper (the only bridge for about a hundred miles, since the river is very wide there). In the end, one missile fell into a field, and another one into the river. My parents are now at their dacha across the river, a couple miles away from that bridge. If it were to be destroyed, they'd be stuck on the other side.

I spoke with my parents over Skype with video; the connection at the dacha was pretty good. Like most Ukrainians in May, they are working on their garden. They proudly showed me lots of tulips, veggies, and all the fruit trees in full blossom - cherries, apples, and pears. But they're not sure they'll be able to harvest them when the time comes. The future is very uncertain to them.

Russia is now massively targeting Ukrainian transport infrastructure - railroads, bridges, electrical hubs, and train depots, apparently in an effort to obstruct the shipments of Western weapons to the frontlines. But experts say this shelling isn't very effective. Russians have stopped flying planes over Ukraine-controlled territory for fear of being shot, so they're mostly relying on cruise missiles, but hitting narrow bridges or rail tracks isn't that easy from hundreds of miles away. Even then, repairing railroad tracks is a simple task and much cheaper than the cost of a cruise missile, and where the electrical grid goes down, diesel engines can replace electrical locomotives.

My dad used to build roads, and he says that the bridge and the causeways across the Dnieper, even if they were hit, could still be repaired within days.

Good to know they are alright, as well as not being stranded. We all hope they get to harvest their crops in peace later this year. 

Ronitchka wrote: ↑

5/6/2022, 4:35 pm

Good to know they are alright, as well as not being stranded. We all hope they get to harvest their crops in peace later this year. 

Amen to that, comrade.

I don't know if you've heard about this, Oleg, but I came across an amazing but unconfirmed report today that a Russian frigate was hit by a Ukrainian missile, in the Black Sea. The ship is reportedly the Admiral Makarov. If true, it would make it the 9th ship sunk by Ukraine. Not bad for a nation that essentially has no navy right now, thanks to Russia impounding the majority of it's ships after the invasion of Crimea and blockading the Black Sea.

Yes, Kapitan. And, in fact, the Moskva cruiser was built by Ukrainians in Nikolayev, and Russian planes are flying with Ukrainian jet engines, and the cruise missiles shot at Ukraine have once been moved from Ukraine to Russia as part of the Budapest agreement when Ukraine unilaterally disarmed trusting the guarantees by the Western nuclear powers and Russia. That's how much those guarantees were worth.

A local snapped this shot of a Russian cruise missile exploding in the water near the Cherkasy bridge. Missed it by a hundred feet, looks like. We got lucky.

Red Square wrote: ↑

5/6/2022, 9:07 pm

Yes, Kapitan. And, in fact, the Moskva cruiser was built by Ukrainians in Nikolayev, and Russian planes are flying with Ukrainian jet engines, and the cruise missiles shot at Ukraine have once been moved from Ukraine to Russia as part of the Budapest agreement when Ukraine unilaterally disarmed trusting the guarantees by the Western nuclear powers and Russia. That's how much those guarantees were worth.

That's how weak (or maybe duplicitous) the Democrat run State Dept. is. It's not a coincidence that Putin attacks Ukraine when Democrats run The White House and the State Dept. I don't know much about the politics of Ukraine so I don't know who was in charge or what his/her views towards Russia were when that Budapest Agreement was signed but giving up those nukes and disarming was the worst decision ever made by a national leader on the border of a clearly belligerent and well armed nation.
 

Madness!

jackalopelipsky wrote: ↑

5/7/2022, 6:56 am

Madness!

Indeed it is but Ukraine did not start this. They're simply defending themselves and their liberty. The United States of America would not exist if it wasn't for Americans wanting to do the same thing.
 

Kapitan Kangaroo Kourt wrote: ↑

5/8/2022, 2:29 am

jackalopelipsky wrote: ↑

5/7/2022, 6:56 am

Madness!

Indeed it is but Ukraine did not start this. They're simply defending themselves and their liberty. The United States of America would not exist if it wasn't for Americans wanting to do the same thing.
 

That's what's so mad about just driving by as a missile misses an important to everyone Ukrainian bridge, on an otherwise beautiful spring day in Ukraine. As a young somebunny, the people's schools were 'practicing' disaster drills, not just for hurricanes...

Russian Missiles targeting Mississippi River industry like a water fueled hurricane were the disaster feared. Here is a picture of the "old" Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge from 'pelipsky's bunny years. Traffic would be backed up, providing ample time to study the whole iron and rivets engineering holding the whole shebang together so that people could drive across a really wide river, to get to the other side. And, then back again.


And Red Square posts a photo of an important to real people bridge, over a really wide river, near his Ukrainian hometown, being fired upon by RUSSIAN missiles.


It's like some wormhole of Russian Missile Crisis Management is going on in the horned lagomorph's mythical mind. It seems, important to real people bridges, over really wide rivers, allowing travel from one side of river to other side, and then back again, (as in Red Square's parents) are threats to be bombed in order for Russian Communism to bring liberation to free people.

Comrades??

It seems, important to real people bridges, over really wide rivers, allowing travel from one side of river to other side, and then back again, (as in Red Square's parents) are threats to be bombed in order for Russian Communism to bring liberation to free people.

We're dealing with a physically sick man, Putin, who is reportedly suffering from both cancer and Parkinson's Disease, and seems to think that what he's doing is the last great hope for Russia.

We were dealing with the same thing with Hitler, who was apparently suffering not just a mental disorder but also syphilis, which apparently causes people to eventually go insane (so I've read), if it's not treated. Bad combination.

And the free people of the colonies, that eventually became the United States, were dealing with a king, George III, who had serious health issue, porphyria (a genetic blood disease), that caused him to eventually become insane.

We are not dealing with a sane man, which is why he launched a war he had no ability to win. I just hope his generals are sane enough to refuse to launch nukes.

A lot of his troops are refusing to go into battle. Many are seeking ways to disable their own mechanized equipment. They are destroying bridges to prevent the Ukrainians from pushing forward with their offensives to push the Russians out of Ukraine, Which means the Russians have destroyed their own ability to push back against the Ukrainians.

It is madness and it didn't need to happen. But Putin is a madman.

The destruction he's wrought on Ukrainian cities and towns is is amazing to behold. Many of them are completely destroyed and turned into nothing more than rubble and burnt out shells of buildings. I can't describe how much that angers me.

It's like a jealous ex-boyfriend/husband saying to a woman, "If I can't have you, nobody else can either," and then killing her. That's what Putin is trying to do to Ukraine.

Ukraine is telling the ex to "Go fuck yourself!" I'm fully in support of that.

It's not always easy to have a sense of humor about this terrible war but don't give up on it. It's what helps gets us through. 

I'm not a fan of Rachel Maddow. I saw this on YouTube and had to click on it. 

#UkraineRussiaWar in a nutshell.