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Russian stuff blowing up: 197 Ukrainians return home [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-19

A prisoner swap has brought home 197 Ukrainians.

x 175 Ukrainian POWs have been freed, along with 22 more returning outside of exchanges. Among them—severely wounded soldiers & those persecuted by Russia. This is one of the largest swaps, with troops from Azovstal, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson & beyond.

[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) March 19, 2025 at 9:11 AM

That incursion by Ukraine into Belgorod — that was thought to be disinformation yesterday — has been confirmed. Where they are going and how long they will stay there is up in the air.

Speaking during a video conference with the Associated Press, Zelenskyy emphasized that as the enemy amasses troops for new attempts to breach Ukraine’s border, the Ukrainian Defense Forces are taking preemptive measures to prevent Russia from opening a new front on Ukrainian territory.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine continues to operate in the Kursk area.

x What #Belgorod People's Republic doing? Those sneaky cockroaches thought they would accumulate forces for a flanking maneuver into #Sumy but caught on fire instead. #OSINT #Russia #UkraineWar

[image or embed] — OSINT Intuit (@urikikaski.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 8:12 AM

Russians tried to enter the village of Pischane south of Pokrovsk but didn’t get very far.

The ceasefire on energy infrastructure that was agreed upon yesterday has apparently not gone into effect yet.

x ⚡️ Ukraine to compile list of energy sites Russia must stop attacking, Zelensky says. "And if the Russians don't hit our facilities, we won't hit their facilities," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 19, 2025 at 7:42 AM

Ukraine bombed this oil pumping station in Kuban, Russia, which is near Krasnodar and west of the Kerch bridge.

In case you were wondered what happens to all those fiber-optic cables used to guide drones.

Another 1,060 Russians who should have stayed home, plus 12 tanks and 64 artillery systems.

There used to be a town there called Bilohorivka.

Russia said it wouldn’t target energy infrastructure, but they didn’t say anything about hospitals.

x Yesterday, a Russian drone hit a hospital in Sumy. Thankfully, the patients and doctors were safe as they went into a shelter. But 147 sick people, many of whom are elderly, had to be evacuated.

[image or embed] — Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 3:13 AM

Of the seven drones used in the attack on the hospital, five were double-tap strikes intended to kill first responders.

x Russia targeted a medical facility in Krasnopillia, Sumy region, with two drones tonight, following up with a second assault using five additional drones while firefighters were on the scene. Fortunately, there were no civilian casualties.

[image or embed] — Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 6:59 AM

This is Russian crucifixion.

x 1/ Bureaucracy and perverse incentives in the Russian army make it easier for an officer to shoot a troublesome soldier, tie him to a tree, or send him to his death as a punishment, than to go through formal disciplinary procedures, according to a Russian commentary. ⬇️

[image or embed] — ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 3:24 PM

2/ A Russian soldier (likely an officer) writes to the 'Philosopher in ambush' Telegram channel to explain why commanders deliberately send their men to their deaths as a punishment: 3/ "What tools do junior commanders have? In the event of a disciplinary offence, the commander is obliged to conduct an investigation (where to find the time?), approve it with a lawyer and a political officer, who will find fault not only with a comma,… 4/ ...but with the distance between words (this is not hyperbole). All this results in multi-day shuttle trips from the temporary deployment point to the headquarters. 5/ "Where to keep the troublemaker all this time, if he is socially dangerous? At the end of the paper epic, the commander is obliged to take him to the guardhouse or another place of punishment at his own expense. 6/ "And as the cherry on the cake, this same commander gets a reprimand for a soldier's troublemaking with the possibility of losing his bonus. That is, you brought order, and for the same you were punished. "Insufficient control over personnel." 7/ "Informal methods of maintaining discipline are criminally punishable. So the only legal way to punish offenders is to transfer them to more dangerous places of service."

This is going to leave Russian commanders a lot less to steal.

x 1/ Public donations to the Russian war effort have recently collapsed, according to unhappy Russian warbloggers. They blame this development on the current talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, which seems to have convinced many Russians that peace is imminent. ⬇️

[image or embed] — ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM

The EU steps up.

x The EU plans to supply Ukraine with at least 2 million units of artillery shells each year, — EU Diplomatic Chief Kaja Kallas. — Orion412 (@orion412x.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 8:24 AM

I hope this was just gross incompetence instead of the evil it looks like.

x The U.S. ended funding to track thousands of Ukrainian children whom Russia has abducted, and officials or contractors may have deleted a database about them. — Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 8:26 AM

Javelin lights up a Russian BMP.

Two Russian soldiers go big bavovna.

Ukrainian naval drones launch drones that target Russian equipment in Crimea.

Blatant interference.

Radio Free Europe goes to court.

x ⚡️ RFE/RL sues Trump administration over funding cuts. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) sued the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) on March 18 over the termination of grant funding, calling the action unconstitutional.

[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 19, 2025 at 7:04 AM

Imagine you are sitting in your seat waiting for your flight to take off. You look out the window and see an airport worker trying to knock ice off the wing using an orange traffic cone.

Do you stay on the flight?

The Serbians protesting encases against their corrupt government see some results.

x ‼️ “The Serbian government led by Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has resigned amid growing protests in the country” But not the President, Aleksandar Vucic. (Or at least not yet) www.moscowtimes.ru/2025/03/19/p...

[image or embed] — Prune60 (@prune602.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 11:57 AM

Witkoff has looked into Putin’s soul and sees sincerity. 🙄🙄🙄

I have a bridge I’m gonna sell this moron.

x At this point you have to just sit back and laugh. “I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith. He said that he was going to be operating in good faith to the President yesterday and I take him at his word.”

[image or embed] — Oliver Alexander (@oalexanderdk.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 10:27 AM

This is Putin’s way of avoiding an end to the war.

He also demands that Ukraine halt its mobilization.

If China wants to help Ukraine, they can quit helping Putin.

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