The past week has seen the usual chess pieces being played—The Baltic states giving Ukraine whatever they can, with Lithuania offering to dismantle power stations to give Ukraine parts they need, while other countries are still worried about escalation. Finland has decided to close the borders with Russia permanently which is not a surprise, but is what happens when war is imminent. At least Finland has learned from the mistakes of others by failing to close borders earlier rather than later. Meanwhile, Ukraine reinforces the borders it shares with Belarus and Russia as they expect another offensive attack aimed at Kharkiv. Already the Russians are attacking the surrounding area, and using missiles to destroy the city in order to occupy it.
Zelenskyy has said in a speech that if the US $60 billion funding bill is not passed, then Ukraine cannot win the war. At least he has been honest, but the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson has postponed the vote again until after the Easter holidays which is now. Many believe he will keep stalling while knowing the bill is essential to prevent an actual world war because he is so short sighted in wanting funds for the US border. The US system of checks and balances doesn’t always work as this move shows, and while some politicians are seeking to remove Johnson, many are wondering if it is too late? The US government keeps pledging support, but deeds not words are necessary to save lives and Ukrainian land being occupied. One wonders if there is Russian interference as no sane person would stall a bill that will help stop a world war?
We hear of the Baltic states offering more aid packages, and while they are necessary and appreciated, they are not on the scale of what the US funding can provide. Zelenskyy has even said that if there was a choice of all the weapons for free in a year versus funding offered on a loan basis, he would choose the latter as there may not be a Ukraine next year. Ukrainian troops have said that they have run low on shells and ammunition for weeks now, and supplies must be so low that they can no longer defend themselves and must retreat. As a historian I can only roll my eyes and shake my head in disbelief that this is happening in real time. The Czech Republic and Estonia have sourced supplies of ammunition to supply to Ukraine but need funding—surely NATO should have been doing this but allocating ammunition to their members states to provide to Ukraine? While there were calls for production to be ramped up months ago, it shows how unprepared NATO was for this situation and technically it is peacetime for NATO still—how would it cope with a full blown war?
It is a concern of mine when a UK General states that if Britain had to defend itself against Russia, then we wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks due to insufficient troops and military equipment. While NATO countries are supposed to come to the aid of others, I can see Hungary and Slovakia (who have just voted in Peter Pellegrini, a Russian friendly president) dragging their feet and stalling on aid, just as both countries now do not offer any military aid to Ukraine. Slovakia was once a staunch ally with the former liberal government, but has now been replaced suddenly by a pro-Russian PM and president who believe that Ukraine should cede Crimea to Russia and seek peace negotiations with Russia, and who also have stated they do not believe Ukraine can win the war.. I doubt they would say the same if Russia was occupying territories in their lands.
Day 771 (4 Apr)
Finland announces the indefinite closure of its borders with Russia.
Latvia has pledged €1 million worth of drones to Ukraine via the drone coalition, and €11 million to the Czech led initiative purchase of ammunition.
Ukraine continues to rename places with Russian or Soviet names to Ukrainian standards. 44 villages and 7 cities will be renamed as backed by the Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development.
On X (Twitter) NATO, World War 3 and Article 5 are trending topics as people accept that the war will continue until Russia is defeated and that means NATO intervention.
India is said to be receiving 2 Russian warships which would violate sanctions. Russia and India are looking at ways to bypass the sanctions.
Day 772 (5 Apr)
The Morozovsk airbase in Rostov, Russia, housing Su-27 and Su-34 was a target for the Ukrainian forces and destroyed 6 aircraft and damaged 8 others. Reports claim 20 Russian soldiers were killed or injured.
Zelenskyy visit Chernihiv where there are borders with Belarus and Russia as he inspects the new fortifications to protect the borders. Ukraine can no longer plan any offensive actions due to a lack of ammunition and equipment and can only build fortifications to defend itself. It needs 25 patriot air defence systems rather than the F-16s right now.
Reports state that in 2024, Russia has struck Ukraine 30,000 times. Daily attacks on Kharkiv begin as it is the next target to be occupied by Russia.
In Donetsk, Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian. organisation was bombed and completely destroyed.
The military have begun calling up those who are aged 25 years of age, and all must undergo medicals and have their details put on a database.
Lithuania is to provide €15 million to help rehabilitate injured soldiers and will purchase 3,000 FPV drones that are manufactured in Lithuania.
More Russian spies—the SBU arrested 2 foreigners who work for the FSB and who were assisting on a missile attack on the Ukrainian army in Odesa.
Stoltenberg for NATO has said that Russian personnel have been expelled from NATO headquarters for espionage rather than carrying out diplomatic duties. Honestly, what dod NATO expect?
Day 773 (6 Apr)
Peter Pellegrini, a pro-Russian, has become the new Slovakian Prime Minister alongside Fico, another pro-Russian who was recently elected as president. This effectively means that Slovakia will no longer provide aid and support in military terms to Ukraine under this government, and who have called for western support to stop, suggesting a ceasefire and for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and cede Crimea to them. Only a year ago, Slovakia donated the entire fleet of MiG-29s to Ukraine, and now there will be nothing.
German fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea. They had been based at Lielvarde in Latvia, and intercepted a Russian IL-20 that had been flying without a transponder.
A pipeline in Rostov was blown up, where it pumped oil to tankers in the Azov sea port. This is how Ukraine is defending itself, but in turn it is causing an immense amount of destruction and pollution, but it has no choice.
Zelenskyy meets a US Congress delegation in Chernihiv, where he stressed how important it was for the $60 billion bill to be passed. We all know what the issue is, and some Americans who voted their representatives in also shoulder some of the blame here knowing full well how they would behave.
The Russian Orthodox Church has officially sanctioned the ‘special military operation’ as a holy war. The decree contains Nazi rhetoric and denies the existence of Ukraine, claiming the war is against a ‘Satanic West’. Christian leaders around the world have failed to comment on this.
Day 774 (7 Apr)
There have been 3 direct missile strikes at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, where Ukraine has stated it is not responsible, and it could have been a Russian false flag.
China, according to reports, has been increasing its support to Russia in terms of supplying military components, and providing intelligence. When will people accept that China cannot be trusted?
Estonia has found a source to supply a million shells at a cost of €2-3 billion. If the allies can find the funds, then the purchase can go ahead.
Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine will lose the war if US Congress doesn’t pass the bill for funding at a fundraising meeting for United24.
It is necessary to specifically tell Congress, that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war.
Day 775 (8 Apr)
Kharkiv is being attacked daily and appears that the aim is to turn it into a grey zone where everything is destroyed and the place is not habitable in order to occupy the land.
Lithuania has offered to dismantle energy stations to provide Ukraine with the parts it needs to repair damaged energy infrastructure. Russia has targeted more energy plants to knock out the system to deprive people of power.
Day 776 (9 Apr)
Russia has destroyed more than 60,000 hectares of Ukrainian forests. Damage has been done to the Kreminna Forest (Luhansk) and Svyati Hory National Nature Park (Donetsk). It will take decades for nature to replenish what has been destroyed despite the cost
Ukraine’s Ground Forces Commander, Oleksandr Pavliuk has called upon people to join the armed forces as mobilisation doesn’t appear to be working (which we could have told Ukraine). Seriously, if people were going to volunteer, they would have don it by now. Ukraine doesn’t help itself by stating workers considered as ‘critically important’ can defer military service, and that includes people working in a circus and other cultural bodies. I struggle to see the logic in that…
Bottom line, Ukraine's fate lies in the hands of members of the U.S. Congress.