Victory Chronicles
-DAY 131

COMBAT HIGHLIGHTS

Above: Ukrainian defenders defend all of democratic Europe.  Photo via Eu Political Report

• Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from Lysychansk to take up fortified positions to the west to defend Slavyansk.  The enemy has increased shelling on the towns and villages in northern Donetsk Oblast, its presumed next military target.
• Orcs heavily shelled Sumy Oblast with more than 230 strikes on mostly peaceful villages, killing and wounding dozens of peaceful civilians.
• Satellite heat maps and reports from the front indicate that Ukraine is beginning to use longer-range artillery to destroy enemy assets behind the front lines.
• A Ukrainian military intelligence officer reported that forward Ukrainian units in the southern theater are now within sniper range – a kilometer or so – of Kherson city’s outer limits.

ARM UKRAINE: TERRITORIAL DEFENSE

Above: Territorial defenders wait in a forest near Slovyansk for the inevitable enemy advance.  Lack of artillery on the Ukrainian side assures that the enemy will come eventually.  Photo via CNN

• A compelling story in CNN discussed the role of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces. In the forest near Slovyansk, Donetsk territorial defenders sleep in trenches and wait for the enemy to come down they are tasked to defend.  They have taken casualties from Russian artillery. The volunteers are armed with short-range anti-tank weapons but lack the artillery needed to stop the enemy advance.
• Since its original creation in 1999 by President Kuchma, the Territorial Defense Command has become a key defense asset.  Today, Teroboron is administered by the Ukrainian military with about 70,000 active duty members in twenty-four oblasts.  However, the majority of territorial defenders are civilians who volunteer to receive regular training and take up public security and combat duties in times of need.
• Territorial defenders are not regularly issued weapons and protective gear.  News photos show territorial defenders wearing a wide variety of gear they have collected themselves, often without helmets or body armor.  But when the fight comes to them, they are on the frontlines.

RUSSIA LIES

Above: The cartoon by James Ferguson does not require any caption except that it was obtained via FT

• The aggressor rolled out a new spin on propaganda, announcing through various Kremlin mouthpieces that Kyiv lost the chance to preserve its sovereignty by rejecting Russian demands within Minsk agreement negotiations. “Kyiv regime will not get a second chance”, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
• Kyiv responded by clearly laying out the new reality.  Ukraine’s conditions for negotiation include immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of z-troops from Ukraine’s territory, return of abducted citizens, extradition of war criminals and reparations.

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES

Above: The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office released new data on the number of war crimes under investigation. The vast majority are against defenseless civilians.  Russian world is filled with cowards.  Graphic via Euromaidan Press

RUSSIAN GREED AND CORRUPTION

Above:  Ukrainian forces have neutralized a high percentage of enemy tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers.  Photo via Asia Times

• Two of Ukraine’s strongest allies are Russian greed and corruption.  Ukraine’s military intelligence described the enemy’s tough situation for repairing damaged armored vehicles and tanks.  Enemy forces are supposed to collect vehicles from the battlefield for shipment to repair shops back home.  But when the vehicles arrive, they have been stripped of anything that can be sold or bartered.  Occasionally, charred skeletons show up for repairs.  Under such conditions, repair shops refuse to accept the equipment.  Even mobile field repair units failed to overcome rampant profiteering.