On May 10, 2024, the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 807th day.
Yesterday, May 9, Moscow held the Victory Day parade, as usual.
This is the third since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The parade was attended by about 9,000 military personnel, 1,000 of whom had fought in Ukraine. Due to the excessive loss of equipment, the parade was attended by armored vehicles with the smallest number of military vehicles in modern Russian history, especially tanks, with the exception of a World War II T-34.
However, despite the snow, the aviation part is still going as planned, and it seems that although the plane has been shot down a lot by Ukraine, it has a relatively thick foundation and can continue to hold up a façade.
At the parade, Putin surrounded the officers of the troops accused of committing atrocities in Ukraine:
Directly behind Putin is Major Boris Dudko, who served in the 76th Guards Air Assault Division. In March 2022, the division captured Bucharest, near Kyiv, and was accused of mass killings, torture, and looting – in total, more than 600 civilians were killed;
To Putin's left is Senior Captain Chalem Chuldum-your, a senior officer of the 55th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, which in March 2022 held 350 residents of the village of Yahidni in the basement of a school in concentration camp-like conditions. When the Russians abandoned the village, ten hostages died before the captives were released.
In order to "cheer up" Russia, Ukrainian drones continued to ignite Russian oil refineries on May 9.
In Russia's Krasnodar region, two oil depots caught fire in the early hours of May 9 after a Ukrainian drone attack in the village of Yuriivka, near the city of Anapa. These oil depots, located not far from the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, are transshipment points for the supply of fuel to the forces of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Crimea;
This is a satellite image of the oil depot before the attack:
According to the Anapa Mayor's Office, "about 6 drones were suppressed, but several fell on the territory of the oil depot, as a result of which an explosion broke out and caught fire."
Until the next morning, smoke was billowing from it.
On the morning of May 9, Ukrainian drones attacked Gazprom's Saravat refinery, nearly 1,300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Here's the moment the drone flew over the refinery:
Saravat Oil Refinery is one of the largest oil refineries in the Russian Federation, mainly engaged in the processing and production of petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel.
SBU sources said that the attack was an operation of the Ukrainian security services, and "the cotton season at Russian refineries and oil depots is in full swing." The SBU will continue to reduce Russia's economic and logistical potential for waging war".
In addition to the refinery, a number of military targets in Bilhorod were also attacked last night. Local authorities reported that the air defense system had to be activated several times.
Back to the Ukrainian battlefield.
Over the past few months, the Russian offensive has been mainly focused on the Donetsk region. According to statistics, in the past April, the Russian army increased its attacks in the area by 17%, especially against the strategic heights of Chasov Yar near Bakhmut, but only minor tactical results were achieved.
The governor of the Donetsk region, Vadim Firashkin, warned that the capture of Chasov Yar could allow Russian troops to advance further into central Ukraine, and Ukraine would do everything possible to prevent the city from falling. Recently, the Ukrainian army has continued its counteroffensive and achieved a lot of results south of Ivanovsky, and it seems that it is rushing to cut off the rear route of the Russian army.
On the Avdiivka front, preliminary information indicates that a Russian Su-25 was shot down yesterday.
Over the past few days, Russian forces have continued to advance west of Avdiivka and have raised their flags in the settlement of Uman'ske, west of Orlovka.
In addition, the area south of Semenivka and west of Orlivka is also considered to be under Russian control.
However, the situation here is expected to improve after the recent arrival of artillery shells on the Avdiivka front, the Ukrainian artillery has begun to work intensively and with quite good results.
Let's take a look at the other news.
The President of the European Parliament, Messola, arrived in Kyiv for Europe Day and held a joint press conference with Zelensky on the air defense alert.
Ukraine successfully converted a light aircraft into an attack drone.
Former Commander-in-Chief Valeza Luzhny was appointed Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom and was relieved of his military service yesterday morning by Zaluzhny.
The United States is developing a new defense assistance program for Ukraine.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing: "We are preparing additional assistance packages. I think you can expect that we'll go back to the pace we had before the funding outage."
The UK will contribute an additional €23 million to the Ukraine Energy Finance Fund. The funds were used to purchase equipment to repair damaged energy infrastructure, enhance physical protection and provide backup power.
Pavel said that the first batch of 180,000 artillery shells will arrive in Ukraine in June as part of the Czech initiative.
Slovak NGOs have raised more than 4 million euros through an ongoing crowdfunding campaign to buy artillery shells for Ukraine.
The first Ukrainian pilots are about to complete their F-16 training and are ready to perform missions.
Yesterday, on the day of the victory over the Nazis in World War II, Zelensky awarded the Medal of Honor to the wives, children and families of those who died defending the country in the Russian attack, saying:
"At the end of the Second World War, the whole world said it would never happen again. But as Europe commemorates the day, Russia is invading a neighboring country of 40 million people, including a massive attack on energy infrastructure this morning.
As a nation that represents the hopes and possibilities of a free world, we must truly ensure that 'no recurrence' is repeated, in words and deeds today and every day."
I have to say that in the past three years, Zelensky has indeed been the flag bearer of human freedom.
Finally, with a sentence that I like very much, I would like it to Zelensky and all readers and friends:
"I am willing to hide the roses behind me, the wind rises and falls, and from then on the flowers are given to myself, and the horses are stepping on the flowers to freedom."
Text/West Building Drinking Moon
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