Vovchansk is turning into another Bucha as citizens' dead bodies lie everywhere, shot for the crime of being Ukrainians.

Send these pictures to all of the occupation supporters and "surrender already" crowd.

@operatyvnii, AFU drone

La Fédération de Russie a décidé de déplacer la frontière avec la Lituanie et la Finlande dans la mer Baltique

Ukrainian officials watched for weeks as the Russians massed near the Ukrainian border, unable to use U.S.-supplied weapons to conduct a preemptive strike due to Washington’s policy. The Biden administration, as a condition of sending the long-range weapons to Ukraine, said they could not be used to strike inside Russian territory.
 
“The main problem right now is the White House policy to limit our capability” to strike military targets inside Russia, David Arakhamia, chair of the ruling Servant of the People party in the Ukrainian parliament, said during a visit to Washington on Tuesday.
 
Russia is well aware of this limitation, and was able to mass at least 30,000 troops and equipment on the border without fear of being hit by long-range U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, which Ukraine has used to devastating effect on Russian troops inside Ukraine.

US House Intel Chairman Mike Turner & 12 co-signers (GOP & Dem) have sent Secretary of Defense Austin a letter asking that the Biden Admin lift the embargo on Ukraine using US weapons to strike strategic targets within Russian territory.  
 
They're also asking for additional Ukrainian pilots to be trained on the F-16 in the US, and for expedited delivery of additional air defense resources (noting that Ukraine is asking for at least 7 more Patriot batteries).

My company and I are involved in the battle for Vovchansk, Kharkiv oblast. When I one month ago have «predicted» that RUAF will attack in Kharkiv oblast I didn’t expect to take part in this. I was sure about Donetsk oblast
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Frankly speaking, it’s very painful to watch this. People just had no time to evacuate in a proper way. They had a supper at their tables. Very unpleasant feelings. «Papa’s kitty house» it is written.

Our president said that we have no problems with artillery shells and no one complains. That’s not true and I see no point of lying in this situation. Our artillery is firing, yes. But it’s incomparable with Russian artillery. They may fire 6 SPG at once.
 
Most of their artillery (2S19 and 2S43) are located in Belgorod region, Russia. And, unfortunately, we cannot fire them with American HIMARS (for example). So we just suffer, resist and bite. If we only could fire Russian targets at their territory…
 
Very strange emotions I feel. Right now our army is fighting where Germans and Soviets fought during the WWII. German helmet.

But when Russians arrive to Ukraine — they burn.

Quarante-cinq artilleurs ukrainiens étaient en France pour apprendre le maniement du canon français Caesar et leur formation a pris fin le week-end dernier. Alors que Paris dans le cadre de la coalition « Artillerie pour l'Ukraine » a déjà livré depuis janvier six canons automoteurs Caesar à Kiev et assure pouvoir en produire 72 autres dans l'année, l'armée française se met en ordre de marche pour former les soldats de Kiev au cours d'une formation expresse de quinze jours seulement.

« Chaque seconde qu'il passe sur la position de tir, c'est chaque seconde où ils peuvent se prendre un obus ennemi. Le délai pour un tir de contrebatterie actuellement sur le front [se situe] entre trois et quatre minutes », indique le capitaine Marc. « Vous avez vu la rapidité du Caesar ? Ça permet de tirer avant même que les obus aient atteint le sol. Ils ont déjà quitté leur position. »

Premier coup pour régler la hausse et l'allonge, puis le Caesar peut délivrer six obus à la minute avant de filer se mettre à couvert. « C'est pour ça que le Caesar est formidable en termes de capacité de mouvements », insiste le lieutenant Alexis. « À partir du moment où on a tiré le dernier coup, l'obus n'est pas encore tombé que le Caesar peut déjà être reparti. »

Cinq artilleurs pour un canon : un chef de pièce, un pointeur, deux artificiers, un pilote... et quasiment un formateur français pour chaque soldat ukrainien. Une formation expresse de 15 jours et ça marche, dit le général Jean-Michel Guilloton, chef de la coalition Artillerie pour l'Ukraine.
 
« L'armée ukrainienne, en volume, c'est la première armée européenne et c'est une armée déployée au combat depuis deux ans. Ce sont des gens qui connaissent leur métier et s'ils donnent leurs artilleurs à former en 15 jours, c'est qu'ils estiment que c'est suffisant », explique-t-il.
 
« Personnellement, je trouve qu'en 15 jours, on a largement de quoi former le personnel au service de la pièce. Après le reste viendra avec l'expérience en déploiement opérationnel. On leur donne ce premier vernis de compétence qui sera complété, j'imagine, sous responsabilité directe de l'armée ukrainienne », ajoute le général Jean-Michel Guilloton.

La France a déjà formé près de 400 artilleurs ukrainiens, et formera dès septembre et sur le temps long des officiers d'artillerie.

According to Ukrainian media Liga, Zelensky said today that "none of the brigades are complaining about the lack of artillery shells. This has been the case for the past two months." This is out of touch with reality and a result of positive reporting promotion in the top brass

But they are complaining - I hear about it every single day from people on the frontlines, from multiple units. There are situations where units can't hit identified targets because they either don't have ammo or have reached their limit

I'm not talking about soldiers but about people on senior levels, both operational-tactical and operational-strategic. If you believe they would publicly contradict the Commander-in-Chief or Presidential statements, you're mistaken

I am not an authorized person or official representative to make statements on behalf of the military or the entire country, but I want to share the concerns expressed by many on the frontlines, from privates to colonels. They often ask me: where is the promised aid?
Thread:
Considering that I talk to many analysts and experts worldwide, many of my friends and acquaintances hope I can provide them with comprehensive knowledge and answers in private. However, the truth is, I don't have an answer. I might criticize my President for his mistakes, but he's right on multiple issues. One of them is foreign aid— it's too little, too late.  
 
It causes an effect that I coined as the "vaccination effect," where small weapon deliveries don't tip the balance but let the enemy adapt. This situation also creates an environment where battlefield failures are blamed either entirely on the US for not providing enough aid or on the Ukrainian government for poor or delayed wartime political decisions, such as delayed mobilization or lack of fortifications.  
 
At this point, it's not uncommon for me to hear theories suggesting that the West, especially the US, is deliberately withholding aid to force Ukraine into negotiations. It's also believed that the US influences European partners, causing delays in aid from Europe as well. Whether I agree with these theories or not is irrelevant.  
 
What's more concerning is that such narratives are present among Ukrainian soldiers and officers, who do not understand why they can't engage Russian forward bases and concentrations of forces with the provided weapons. One could argue that it's not the US's responsibility to provide more aid to Ukraine However, if that's the case, then the leaders of the free world should be transparent about it: "This war has made you a burden, and you should handle it on your own from here". Once more, I may partially agree, fully agree, or disagree with this sentiment. I aim to transmit these sentiments I've heard from dozens of people. The strategic miscalculations of our leadership don't excuse our partners from their previous commitments and transparency.

Q: Russia's army is 15% larger and they have reinforced the 20% of Ukrainian territory that they hold. Is the Republican Party responsible for those setbacks?  
 
Mitch McConnell: Yeah, we took too long. All the Democrats were for Ukraine.

The Russian authorities have decided to unilaterally change the country’s maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea, according to a draft government resolution published on the portal of legal acts.
 
According to the document prepared by the Ministry of Defense, Russia intends to declare part of the water area in the east of the Gulf of Finland, as well as near the cities of Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region, as its internal sea waters.
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The current geographic coordinates established by the USSR Council of Ministers in 1985 “do not fully correspond to the current geographical situation,” the authors of the project claim. The points were recorded “using small-scale marine navigation charts,” which, in turn, were based on work from the mid-20th century, and this “does not allow us to determine the external boundary of the internal sea waters” of the Russian Federation, the document says.
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The 40-year-old resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers regulating the borders in the Baltic Sea is proposed by the Ministry of Defense to be partially “recognized as inoperative” (section “Baltic Sea”).
 
The border revision document, which has not yet been officially commented on by the Finnish and Lithuanian Foreign Ministries, was presented for public discussion almost simultaneously with the start of exercises on the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that they launched in the Southern Military District with the participation of Iskander complexes and aircraft armed with Kinzhal missiles. The purpose of the exercise is to prepare personnel for the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, as well as to respond “to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials,” the department’s press service said.et

Brussels officials are pushing to begin formal negotiations over Ukraine joining the European Union as early as next month, according to people familiar with the matter.

Behind the scenes, diplomats from the EU and from Kyiv are working intensively to try to persuade the Hungarian government to give its approval to opening talks on Ukraine’s accession.  
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According to the diplomats, both Brussels and Kyiv are engaging in intensive bilateral diplomacy with Budapest to address concerns about Hungarian minorities in Ukraine.  
 
Following talks in April between Andriy Yermak, the powerful head of the Ukrainian president’s office, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, “the parties noted the positive dynamic of the dialogue,” according to a Ukrainian summary. Kyiv has responded to a list of 11 points laid out by Budapest and is awaiting Hungary’s response, per one diplomat.
 
One EU diplomat speculated that Hungary may want to get the matter of Ukrainian accession talks out of the way before it takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. “There was a sense of not doing this before the [June 9 European Parliament] election because it could become an election issue,” said the EU diplomat, capturing the mood felt among many officials in Brussels.
 
“Now we’re looking for this slot in June. If you’re the Hungarians, you would rather have it [discussions around Ukraine’s membership] out of the way before the presidency.”
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At the same time, Hungary is keen on a successful presidency of the Council of the EU, the diplomats said. The Belgians, who currently have the rotating presidency, are also trying to convince Hungary this is their political interest as well, especially as Hungary could use one of several methods to block Ukraine’s accession later on if it wanted to.