#Battle of the Kerch Peninsula | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariacallous · 2 years ago

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Nearly one year ago, a 40-mile-long column of tanks rolled toward Kyiv on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He intended to conquer Ukraine in a few days but instead exposed the weaknesses of his own military. Rather than a further expression of Russian imperialism, the war may now represent a stunning reversal of those ambitions, as Ukraine increasingly considers making an effort to retake Crimea, which Putin seized nearly a decade ago and has since absorbed into Russia.

In March 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was open to discussing “compromises” on Crimea if that ended the war and saved his cities from destruction. This January, however, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelensky said, “Crimea is our land, our territory,” and asked the West for weapons to retake the strategic peninsula.

Successes on the battlefield have emboldened the Ukrainian president to seek military victories before any negotiated settlement. The fact that Russia has routinely used bases in Crimea to attack Ukrainian infrastructure has cemented the belief in Kyiv that regaining Crimea is essential to putting a decisive end to the threat posed by Russia.

One Ukrainian analyst told Foreign Policy that there is credible talk among government officials in Kyiv about attempting to retake Crimea even before fully capturing the Donbas region, where most of the fighting is now taking place. Alina Frolova, the deputy chair of the Centre for Defence Strategies in Kyiv and a former deputy defense minister of Ukraine, said Ukrainian political and military elites have increasingly signaled over the last few months that the reclamation of Crimea is their explicit goal. She added that the government is supported in its quest by some parts of the Biden administration.

“Earlier, our Western allies would say, ‘Yes, it is your territory, yes, we know, but maybe we [can] find a different solution.’ They wanted to discuss Donbas and put Crimea aside. But now we don’t hear any such things,” she told Foreign Policy from Kyiv. “Now the talk is that if we retake Crimea, the front line will change substantially and as will the political process. Moreover, it will give easier access to the east.”

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe, has been among the most vocal advocates of the idea. “Crimea is the decisive terrain—that’s what matters. If Ukraine liberates Crimea, which I believe is possible this year, then everything else will follow,” he told Ukrainian media this month.

Crimea had been relegated to the bottom of the pecking order in the battle plans, the last item on the list to be resolved and perhaps even reserved as a peace offering for Russia. But over the last few months, it has appeared on the radar of the U.S. government as a possible path to end the war this summer and deny Russia a war of attrition. There are concerns in Washington that if the war does not have an end date, then it might be hard to sustain public support for the Ukrainian cause.

There are arguments both for and against Western support to a Ukrainian mission in Crimea, and it is still unclear which way the United States would finally lean, but the Biden administration has reportedly softened its stand and is war-gaming the option.

Military experts say the idea is first to isolate Crimea and then, when the Russian troops are battered, to launch a combined forces operation to reclaim the territory.

This would at first require severing Russian supply lines to Crimea—the Kerch Bridge, built in 2018, and the so-called land bridge that runs through the recently captured cities on the coastline of the Sea of Azov. Both operations depend heavily on the West agreeing to provide long-range attack weapons, among other capabilities.

The 12-mile-long Kerch Bridge was built by Russia to sustain tens of thousands of Russian troops and several Russian bases, including the naval base at Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. (Kerch was already damaged in an explosion last October in an attack that Ukraine said it “did not order,” and the bridge is being repaired by Russia.) Retaking and holding the land bridge, however, would be a much harder operation. Ukraine has HIMARS rocket launchers, which have a range of around 50 miles, and will soon receive GLSDB precision-guided bombs, with double that strike range. Both these weapons can be effectively deployed to take out the command centers, ammunition depots, and rail and road links on the land bridge that connects Russian troops in the east to the south and leads into Crimea.

“With these weapons, and from their existing positions, Ukraine can attack the area of the land corridor [and the north of Crimea], and if they move troops into that area, that could the basis for trying to seize the corridor,” said Neil Melvin, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). But without longer-range capabilities, Ukrainian troops could be sitting ducks. “But equally, the Russians can hit Ukrainian troops in the corridor” from the Caspian Sea, Black Sea Fleet, or even inside Russia, he added.

Military experts say that at the very start of such an operation, Ukraine would need long-range attack capabilities such as the ATACMS, a surface-to-surface missile that has a range of 190 miles. The West would also need to provide other equipment to allow Ukrainians to deploy a large armored force capable of penetrating enemy lines without getting blown up by mines or trapped in trenches dug out by Russians. Presuming such an attack goes as planned, with Russian supply lines cut off, Ukrainians would then carry out a combined forces attack on all remaining Russian troops in Crimea, aiming to defeat them in close-quarter combat and force them to retreat.

Some experts believe this plan could work, but many others are far more skeptical. It is true that Ukrainians have more than once proved they are formidable warriors and have already struck various Russian facilities inside Crimea. But while isolating Crimea is one thing, entering, attacking, and holding such a heavily fortified region guarded by the Russian naval fleet is quite another.

There is no consensus, moreover, among Western nations about providing longer-range weapons to Ukraine. Few believe Russia will resort to a tactical nuclear strike, yet many are worried that any weapon that can potentially be used by Ukraine to launch attacks inside Russian territory may raise the risk of escalation and drag other Western countries into a direct war.

Additionally, Washington is concerned it simply does not have enough ATACMS to spare in the off chance that the United States comes under attack from Russia or an adversary like China. Ukrainians, of course, hope that the United States will once again overcome its anxieties over Putin’s red lines and abandon its reluctance. But there are other problems, too.

Even if Ukrainians are supplied with longer-range weapons and they succeed in pounding Russian bases, ammunition centers, and bridges and railroads, any subsequent land operation would still be a bloodbath. There are two entries into Crimea from Ukraine: the Syvash, also known as the Rotten Sea, which is a large area of shallow lagoons made impassable with mud, and the isthmus of Perekop, which is far too narrow for land troops to survive a Russian onslaught.

William Courtney, a former U.S. ambassador to Georgia and White House Russia advisor during the Clinton administration, said that from a military standpoint, Ukraine will find it difficult to reclaim Crimea even with Western support. “The absence of amphibious combat capabilities and Russia’s ability to block the isthmus would mean, militarily, the attack would be difficult, more difficult than elsewhere in Ukraine,” said Courtney, who is now with the Rand Corp.

In a classified briefing, four U.S. Defense Department officials informed the House Armed Services Committee that Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to recapture Crimea anytime soon. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the probability of a Ukrainian military victory, “defined as kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine to include what they claim as Crimea, … anytime soon is not high, militarily.”

There are other considerations as well. More than 60 percent of the population in Crimea is ethnic Russian, while the rest is a mix of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians. An uprising against Ukrainian rule in Crimea cannot be ruled out, and there is an imminent fear of pro-Russia civilians being killed in the chaos of war. If that happens, “Ukrainians may begin to lose the moral high ground,” Melvin of RUSI added. Crimea’s unique history and demographics make many observers wonder if its status should ultimately be resolved through diplomacy rather than military fighting. What’s not in dispute is that it must be made far more costly for Russia to hold Crimea.

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brookstonalmanac · 2 years ago

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Events 5.8

453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths. 589 – Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church. 1360 – Treaty of Brétigny drafted between King Edward III of England and King John II of France (the Good). 1373 – Julian of Norwich, a Christian mystic and anchoress, experiences the deathbed visions described in her Revelations of Divine Love. 1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War. 1450 – Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI. 1516 – A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murdered Emperor Lê Tương Dực and fled, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended. 1541 – Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519). 1608 – A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer. 1639 – William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island. 1758 – The Maratha Empire captures Peshawar from the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Peshawar. The Maratha Empire was extended to its farthest distance away from Pune that it ever reached, over 2,000 km (1,200 mi), almost to the borders of Afghanistan. 1788 – King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements. 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris. 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn. 1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people. 1846 – Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. 1877 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens. 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine. 1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played. 1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play. 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast. 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded. 1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I. 1921 – The creation of the Communist Party of Romania. 1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania. 1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane. 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement. 1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. 1942 – World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula. 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. 1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic. 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre. 1945 – The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1946 – Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn. 1950 – The Tollund Man was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark. 1957 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem began a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor. 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis. 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. 1970 – The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be. 1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation. 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants. 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. 1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox. 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour. 1984 – The USSR announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries. 1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances. 1987 – The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history". 1997 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people. 2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection. 2021 – A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150.

#Events

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savage-kult-of-gorthaur · 2 months ago

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REPURPOSING THE REALITIES OF WAR FOR THE ULTIMATE STATEMENT IN DARK, BROODING, HEAVY, ATMOSPHERIC UK PUNK.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a photograph taken by Soviet photographer Dmitri Baltermants, brutally displaying the aftermath of a German Wehrmacht massacre of Jews in Kerch, c. January 1942. The village women search the bodies for loved ones... the woman standing with her arms out would later find the body of her murdered son.

PIC #2: English crust punk/heavy punk band AMEBIX later repurposed the same WWII image for cover art to their 1984 debut album, "No Sanctuary," released on Spiderleg Records.

PICTURE OVERVIEW: "Kerch, Crimea, January 1942. Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union launched on 22 June 1941, flung some 150 divisions and 3 million men into battle along an 1,800-mile front from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Here, seven months later, at the southern end of the front, at Kerch in the Crimean peninsula (now part of an independent Ukraine), families identify the Soviet dead. Barely one week later, on 10 January 1942, Marshal Zhukov launched the great Red Army counterattack on the central front that forced the Germans to retreat for the first time."

-- THE GUARDIAN, "A history of Europe in pictures: 1900-1945," published March 15, 2011

Photograph: Dmitri Baltermants/Corbis.

Sources: https://brunei.desertcart.com/products/195325405-amebix-no-sanctuary-lp-vinyl, Picuki, & www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/gallery/2011/mar/15/europe-in-pictures-1900-1945.

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newstfionline · 1 year ago

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Tuesday, November 7, 2023

The Pandemic Is Over But Our Pandemic Stress Isn’t (Bloomberg) Survey after survey tells us that Americans are struggling. The latest, the American Psychological Association’s annual gauge of stress in the US, reveals that people continue to feel worse than before the pandemic. And it’s no wonder that people are so stressed out: Humans have finite mental resources, and they’ve been decidedly depleted by years of dealing with Covid and its fallout, plus economic woes and worries about geopolitical upheaval. In the APA survey, which was conducted in August, nearly a quarter of adults reported operating at the highest levels of stress, rating it at least an 8 out of 10. Among parents, self-reported stress was so extreme that nearly half said it was “completely overwhelming” on most days, and 41% reported that it impedes their function. The APA’s survey of adults shows stress levels are highest among those age 18–45, who reported the biggest increases since pre-pandemic times. That group also saw a marked increase in chronic health and mental health diagnoses compared to before the pandemic.

In Israeli-Palestinian battle to sway Congress, only one side wins (Washington Post) As the United States has rushed to aid its closest Middle East ally in the aftermath of last month’s horrifying cross-border attack by Hamas, many American lawmakers have been swept up in a rhetorical feud over the violence. But in Congress, only one side holds majority sway among those who control the funding of American foreign policy. That Israel is winning on Capitol Hill—even as a few dozen progressive Democrats in the House and Senate have grown more vocal in their calls for humanitarian relief for Palestinian civilians—is a reflection, to Israel’s staunchest proponents, of the Jewish state’s moral high ground. Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs and foreign policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said that while the Israel lobby has been active and influential for decades, there is “nothing comparable” on the other side. Pro-Israel lobbyist groups and individuals contributed nearly $31 million to American congressional candidates during last year’s election cycle according to Open Secrets, a Washington nonprofit that tracks campaign finance and lobbying data. AIPAC’s website says that 98 percent of candidates it backed won their elections, and that it “helped defeat” 13 candidates “who would have undermined the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Hold the olive oil! Prices of some basic European foodstuffs keep skyrocketing (AP) Olive oil, a daily staple of Mediterranean cuisine and the life of many a salad throughout Europe, is experiencing a staggering rise in price. It’s a prime example of how food still outruns overall inflation in the European Union. Olive oil has increased by about 75% since January 2021, dwarfing overall annual inflation that has already been considered unusually high over the past few years and even stood at 11.5% in October last year. Apart from olive oil, “potato prices were also on a staggering rise,” according to EU statistical agency Eurostat. “Since January 2021, prices for potatoes increased by 53% in September 2023. And if high- and middle-income families can shrug off such increases relatively easily, it becomes an ever increasing burden for poorer families. “Wages are still failing to keep up with the cost of the most basic food stuffs, including for workers in the agriculture sector itself, forcing more and more working people to rely on foodbanks,” said Esther Lynch of the European Trade Union Confederation.

A Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in Crimea damages a Russian ship (AP) The Russian military said a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in annexed Crimea had damaged a Russian ship. The Russian Defense Ministry said late Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula. Air defenses shot down 13 missiles but others hit the shipyard and damaged a vessel, a statement from the ministry said. Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent months. In September, a Ukrainian missile strike on a strategic shipyard in the port city of Sevastopol damaged two Russian ships and wounded 24 people. Later that same month, a missile strike blasted the Crimean headquarters of Russia’s navy in Sevastopol.

India-Canada diplomatic thaw remains remote despite visa easing (Reuters) Mending frayed diplomatic relations between India and Canada will be a long process after each side adopted maximalist positions, despite New Delhi’s surprise move to ease some visa curbs on Canadians, officials and experts say. While India’s relaxation on visas may have raised some expectations of improved relations, it was not a breakthrough, as neither side has much incentive to hasten a return to normalcy, officials and experts in both countries said. “The relationship is in deep crisis, perhaps its worst ever,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Each side may have a strong interest in the crisis not getting completely out of control, but that doesn’t mean there are strong incentives to resolve the crisis.” The visa curbs are expected to hinder the movement of tens of thousands of Indians and people of Indian origin who live in Canada or plan to study there.

Aid trickles in to Nepal villages struck by earthquake as survivors salvage belongings from rubble (AP) Aid trickled in to villages Monday in Nepal’s northwest mountains flattened by a strong earthquake over the weekend as villagers searched through the rubble of their collapsed homes to salvage what was left of their belongings. The magnitude 5.6 temblor struck just minutes before midnight Friday, killing 157 people, injuring scores and leaving thousands homeless. Authorities on Monday pressed on with efforts to bring food and other supplies, tents and medicines to the remote villages, many only reachable by foot. Roads were also blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake.

Northeast China sees first major blizzard this season and forecasters warn of record snowfall (AP) Heavy snow blanketed swaths of China’s northeastern region, shutting schools and halting transportation in the first major snowstorm of the season. Major highways in the northeastern city of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, were closed and flights canceled, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. Elementary and middle schools also canceled classes for Monday. The National Meteorological Center said Monday that snowfall is likely to “breakthrough the historical records” for the same period.

Israel minister suspended after calling nuking Gaza an option (Politico) Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu was suspended indefinitely after he said in an interview that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities,” the government announced on Sunday. “Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on X. Israel and its military “are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents,” the prime minister added. A member of the ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, Eliyahu earlier on Sunday claimed in a radio interview that since there were “no non-combatants in Gaza,” using an atomic weapon on the Palestinian enclave was “one of the possibilities.”

As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel’s targeting process (Washington Post) The Israeli airstrikes that hit the Jabalya refugee camp on Oct. 31 sent buildings tumbling down on families displaced from across the besieged enclave. More than 110 people were killed, many of them women and children crushed beneath the rubble, doctors said. The Israeli military said the operation achieved its aim. “We were focused on our target,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said Monday, referring to Ibrahim Biari, a high-ranking Hamas commander. “We know that he was killed.” Since the conflict began, nearly 10,000 Palestinians have already been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, as the IDF presses for the destruction of the Hamas militant group that rules the enclave. Although Israeli officials insist that each strike is subject to legal approval, experts say the rules of engagement, which are classified, appear to include a higher threshold for civilian casualties than in previous rounds of fighting. The consequences of those calculations are spread across the floors of Gaza’s hospitals and morgues. Entire families have been killed; infants are buried with their parents in mass graves. Strikes have hit water towers and bakeries, schools and ambulances. Human rights groups have flagged a growing number of strikes as potential war crimes and urged an international investigation.

If We Can’t See Gaza’s Dead Children’s Eyes, Can We See Children at All? (Haaretz/Israel) Is there a difference between children and children? Are the photos of children killed in Jabalya supposed to shock us less than those of children killed in Be’eri? Are photos of dead children in Jabalya even supposed to shock us, and is it legitimate to be shocked by them? Our own children are dearer to our heart than anything in the world, and the heart of every Israeli is more shocked by Israeli children who have been killed than by any other dead child. That’s human and understandable. But we cannot refrain from leaving room for shock at the mass slaughter of children in Gaza, only because our children were also killed. The killing in Gaza should weigh particularly heavily if we recall who these children are and who brought their disaster upon them? (answer: Israel and Hamas.) What did their lives and deaths look like? (Answer: Children who lived in poverty, misery, under siege, seeking refuge with no present and no future, overwhelmingly due to Israel.) They are Gazan children, and in Israel they are un-children, just like their parents are un-human. When we look at the eyes of the dead children of Gaza, we don’t see our own children. It is doubtful whether we see children at all.

Israel Quietly Pushed for Egypt to Admit Large Numbers of Gazans (NYT) Israel has quietly tried to build international support in recent weeks for the transfer of several hundred thousand civilians from Gaza to Egypt for the duration of its war in the territory, according to six senior foreign diplomats. Israeli leaders and diplomats have privately proposed the idea to several foreign governments, framing it as a humanitarian initiative that would allow civilians to temporarily escape the perils of Gaza for refugee camps in the Sinai Desert, just across the border in neighboring Egypt. The suggestion was dismissed by most of Israel’s interlocutors—who include the United States and Britain—because of the risk that such a mass displacement could become permanent. These countries fear that such a development might destabilize Egypt and lock significant numbers of Palestinians out of their homeland. The idea has also been firmly rejected by Palestinians, who fear that Israel is using the war to permanently displace the more than two million people living in Gaza. More than 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now Israel during the war surrounding the creation of the state in 1948. Many of their descendants are now warning that the current war will end with a similar “nakba,” or catastrophe, as the 1948 migration is known in Arabic.

Minors and social media (Pew Research Center) 81% of U.S. adults—versus 46% of teens—favor parental consent for minors to use social media. Many social media companies do not allow those under 13 to use their sites. Still, there’s a growing movement to develop stricter age verification measures, such as requiring users to provide government-issued identification. Legislators have pushed for mandatory parental consent and time restrictions for those under 18, arguing this will help parents better monitor what their children do on social media.

#headlines #news

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cyberbenb · 2 years ago

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Ukraine war latest: More explosions reported in occupied Crimea

Key developments on Aug. 1:

Explosion reported near Russian naval base in occupied Crimea

Russian attack on Kherson hospital kills 1, injures 5

UN condemns strikes on Moscow

UK Defense Ministry: Russian units ‘struggling with battle fatigue,’ ammo shortages

A drone attack was reported near the Russian ammunition depot in occupied Sevastopol on Aug. 1. The city hosts the Russian Black Sea Fleet base and its headquarters.

Footage published in Russian Telegram channels showed smoke between the hills on the outskirts of Sevastopol in southwestern Crimea.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, a top Russian proxy in occupied Sevastopol, claimed loitering munition was downed.

A Russian investigative outlet iStories reported that the explosion emerged at the site of the Russian Black Sea Fleet arsenal.

Radio Svoboda, Ukraine’s branch of the RFE/RL, also reported that the explosion was heard in the area where the Russian forces keep four ammunition depots.

It was the sixth reported attack in Russian-occupied Crimea over two weeks.

Ukrainian officials haven’t commented on the Aug. 1 explosion.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported the same day that maritime drones “attempted to attack” two Russian patrol ships 340 kilometers southwest of occupied Sevastopol overnight on Aug. 1, claiming all drones were destroyed.

However, the intercepted communication between the Russian helicopter crew evacuating sailors and the coastal aviation services allege that one person was killed and five were injured in the attack, Babel news outlet reported, citing sources, on Aug. 1.

Crimea has been under Russian occupation since 2014, and the Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists who remained on the peninsula have faced regular persecution by occupation authorities.

Ukraine used missiles to hit the bridges connecting Crimea and mainland Ukraine. Prior, the bridge over the Kerch Strait has been damaged as well.

While not acknowledging the attacks, military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov told national television on Aug. 1 that attacks would continue until the entire territory of Ukraine is liberated.

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Russian attacks

The July 31 Russian ballistic missile attack against a residential building in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killed six civilians, including a child, and injured 81 others, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul reported on the morning of Aug. 1.

He said 19 injured, including two children, are hospitalized.

Russian forces struck Kryvyi Rih on the morning of July 31, damaging residential and university buildings, according to the officials.

The municipal services continue to clean the rubble, the mayor said.

Russian forces also attacked Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts on Aug. 1, killing two and injuring seven people, according to the local authorities.

A doctor was killed, and five other medics were injured when Russian forces hit the hospital in Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

Four medical workers were diagnosed with concussions.

Kherson sits on the west bank of the Dnipro River, with the Russian troops holding positions just across the river, deliberately shelling the southern city and other settlements.

Russian forces also struck northeastern Kharkiv Oblast with a KAB-250 guided bomb, killing one and injuring another civilian in Izium, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Aug. 1.

Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with the Shahed loitering munitions overnight on Aug. 1, injuring one civilian.

Kharkiv Oblast has been under Russian attacks on a nearly daily basis due to its proximity to the Russian border.

UN condemns drone attacks on Moscow

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, condemned attacks on Moscow.

“Well, we don’t have any first-hand information on who is responsible for this attack. But certainly, we are against any and all attacks on civilian facilities, and we want them to stop,” Haq said during a press conference.

Moscow was attacked with drones twice in three days.

According to Russian media, the offices of several Russian ministries were located in the building damaged in the July 30 strike. The same skyscraper was reportedly hit in another drone attack overnight on Aug. 1.

In a video message on July 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky said it’s natural and fair that the war is returning to Russian territory.

“Ukraine is becoming stronger. The war is gradually returning to Russian territory – to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process,” said Zelensky.

Read also: Exclusive: New insights point to Hungary’s collaboration with Moscow on transfer of Ukrainian POWs

On the battlefield

The Russian military continues to concentrate its personnel and military hardware in the Kupiansk-Lyman axis, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported on Aug. 1.

Russia has been concentrating powers in these areas since mid-July.

Severe fighting is ongoing on the eastern front as Russian forces attempt to stop Ukraine’s advance toward Bakhmut.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian counteroffensive on the southern front line is underway, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported in its evening update on Aug. 1.

In the southeastern Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, Ukrainian forces are being entrenched at their new position, the military said.

Intense fighting in these two sectors is wearing down Russian troops, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its intelligence report on Aug. 1.

The battle south of the front-line town of Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been underway. And Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army is “highly likely struggling with battle fatigue.”.

Russia’s 5th Combined Army is experiencing “problems of coordination” and is in need of rotation south of Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk Oblast, according to the report.

The artillery ammunition shortages and a lack of reserves are “common problems for Russian commanders” in the south, the ministry said.

Ukrainian forces are driving the counteroffensive in the eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia oblasts, operating on multiple fronts. They have achieved partial gains since starting in early June.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive lurches forward: Key moment looms as more forces committed

Fresh videos of Western-made armor rolling across open fields, a new settlement liberated, and a lot of noise on Russian military blogger Telegram channels heralded to the world on July 28 that the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive had upped its gear. Almost eight weeks into the long-awaited operat…

The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

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ukrainenews · 2 years ago

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A powerful truck explosion seriously damaged Russia’s road-and-rail bridge to Crimea on Saturday, hitting a prestige symbol of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula and the key supply route to Russian forces battling to hold territory captured in southern Ukraine.

The blast on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, for which Russia did not immediately assign blame, prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials but no direct claim of responsibility.

Russian investigators said three people had been killed, probably the occupants of a car travelling near the truck that blew up.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the 19-km (12-mile) Kerch bridge linking it to Russia’s transport network was opened with great fanfare four years later by President Vladimir Putin, who drove a construction truck across it.

It now represents a major artery for the Russian forces who have taken control of most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region, and for the naval port of Sevastopol, whose governor told locals: "Keep calm. Don't panic."

It was not yet clear if the blast was a deliberate attack, but the damage to such high-profile infrastructure came at a time when Russia has suffered several battlefield defeats and could further cloud the Kremlin's messages of reassurance to its public that the conflict is going to plan.

It also took place a day after Putin's 70th birthday.

The head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted a video of the burning bridge on social media alongside a video of Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy birthday, Mr President".

Since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, Ukrainian officials have made regular allusions to their desire to destroy the Kerch bridge, seen in Ukraine as a symbol of Russia's occupation of Crimea. Ukraine's postal service said on Saturday it would print a special stamp to commemorate the blast.

Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement that its forces in southern Ukraine could be "fully supplied" through existing land and sea routes, and the Transport Ministry said rail traffic across the bridge would resume by 1700 GMT.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kyiv's reaction to the destruction of civilian infrastructure "testifies to its terrorist nature".

The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a freight truck had blown up on the bridge's roadway at 6:07 a.m. (0307 GMT), causing seven fuel tanker wagons to catch fire on a train heading for the peninsula on the bridge's upper level.

It said two spans of road bridge had partially collapsed, but that the arch spanning the Kerch Strait, the waterway through which ships travel between the Black Sea and Azov Sea, was not damaged.

'THE BEGINNING'

Images posted by the Russian Investigative Committee showed one half of the roadway blown away, and the other half still attached, but cracked.

Others taken from a distance showed thick smoke pouring from part of the bridge.

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted a message on Twitter saying the incident was just "the beginning" but stopped short of saying Ukrainian forces were responsible for the blast.

"Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything that is stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote.

Moscow has presented largely Russian-speaking Crimea as a historic and cherished part of Russia and, especially this year, one where Russians could holiday in large numbers, supposedly safe from the war.

On Saturday, hundreds of people who had hoped to drive to Crimea from the Russian town of Kerch were redirected to the ferry port, only to find that high winds were preventing any sailings.

Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy administrator of the Kherson region, said the bridge incident "will not affect the army supply very much".

"But there will be problems with logistics for Crimea," he added in a post on social media.

Mykola Bielieskov of the Ukrainian Institute of Strategic Studies, which advises the presidency in Kyiv, said the Kerch bridge was irreplaceable for Russia's invasion forces, and if it were severed, "the whole Russian southern front will crumble quickly and easily".

Although Moscow's forces have seized a stretch of coastal Ukraine linking the Kherson region and Crimea to Russia, Bielieskov said the transport connections there were poor, and that Russia had preferred to send reinforcements to Kherson along the more circuitous route of the bridge into Crimea.

Russian Railways said trains heading for Crimea would be subject to extra checks, and that it was working with the government to find the "best way to deliver goods to the peninsula".

In a video message Aksyonov, the Crimea governor, said he wanted to "assure Crimeans that the Republic of Crimea is fully provided with fuel and food. We have more than a month's worth of fuel, and more than two months' worth of food".

However, the Russian Energy Ministry said on Telegram that Crimea had only 15 days of motor fuel.

The Russian governor of Sevastopol, which has separate territorial status in Crimea as home to the Black Sea fleet, also sought to reassure locals.

"We are not cut off from the mainland!" Mikhail Razvozzhayev posted on Telegram. "Keep calm. Don't panic."

#ukraine #russian #ukraine war #crimea #Breaking news

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znewstech · 2 years ago

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Russian divers to inspect damage to blast-hit Crimea bridge key to Russia's war - Times of India

Russian divers to inspect damage to blast-hit Crimea bridge key to Russia’s war – Times of India

KYIV: Russian divers will examine on Sunday the damage caused by a powerful blast on Russia‘s road-and-rail bridge to Crimea that hit a prestigious symbol of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula and a key supply route to forces battling in southern Ukraine. Saturday’s explosion on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, for which Russia did not immediately assign blame, prompted gleeful messages from…

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ysbnews · 2 years ago

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Putin Rocked By Devastating Overnight Explosions INSIDE Russia as Zelensky Wreaks Havoc

EXPRESS.UK | 8/20/2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN has been rocked by explosions overnight near military bases deep within Russian-held areas of Ukraine and inside Russia, in a display of Kyiv's growing ability to wreak havoc far from the front lines.

Image via Twitter @igorsushko: Russia has been rocked by more explosions

In Crimea — the peninsula Russia seized and annexed in 2014 — explosions were reported near an air base in Belbek, on the southwest coast near Sevastopol, the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. On the opposite end of the peninsula, the sky was also lit up at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia, with what Putin's forces said was fire from its air defences. Inside Russia, two villages were evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, near the Ukrainian border but more than 60 miles from territory controlled by Zelensky's forces.

Photo © GETTY Images: Putin has been rocked by more explosions

Kyiv has withheld official comment on incidents in Crimea or inside Russia, while hinting that it was behind them, using long-range weapons or sabotage. But it adds to growing signs President Volodymyr Zelensky's troops are stepping up their battle to hammer Putin far from the front lines following his illegal invasion of Ukraine back in February. Russian officials said there were no injuries reported in Crimea or Belgorod. The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, is the main supply route for its forces in southern Ukraine and the base for its Black Sea fleet.

Photo © GETTY Images: Zelensky is continuing his battle against Russian forces

They said they had shot down drones in Belbek and Kerch, and confirmed that they had ordered the evacuation of two villages in Belgorod where they were investigating the cause of a fire. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt posted a video showing huge flames and smoke in the night sky, purportedly at the Russian base in Belbek, saying: "It certainly looks bad — or good — dependent on the perspective." Ukraine hopes its apparent new-found ability to hit Russian targets behind the front line can turn the tide in the conflict, disrupting supply lines Moscow needs to support its occupation.

Map © EXPRESS: Russia vs Ukraine war zone mapped

In recent days, it has been issuing warnings to Russians, for whom Crimea has become a popular summer holiday destination, that nowhere on the peninsula is safe as long as it is occupied. Closer to the front, Kyiv also announced a number of strikes overnight behind Russian lines in southern Kherson province, including at a bridge at the Kakhovska Dam, one of the last routes for Russia to supply thousands of troops on west bank of the Dnipro River. Seriy Khlan, a member of Kherson's regional council disbanded by Russian occupation forces, wrote on Facebook: "The Ukrainian armed forces treated the Russians to a magical evening."

Photo © GETTY Images: UK Howitzers sent to Ukraine Army and effective

Last week, a Russian air base on the Crimean coast was hit by simultaneous blasts that destroyed warplanes and left huge impact craters visible from space. Tourists were photographed at nearby beaches, staring up from cabanas at huge mushroom clouds in the sky. Since last month, Ukraine has been making use of advanced rockets supplied by the West to strike behind Russian lines. The overnight explosions in Crimea and Belgorod are beyond the range of ammunition Western countries have acknowledged sending so far.

Photo via @chp_sevastopol: Explosion rocked Sevastopol in annexed Crimea

Meanwhile, Russian forces have stepped up their shelling of civilian areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, in recent days, in what British intelligence described as an apparent attempt to force Ukraine to keep troops in the area. Seventeen people were killed and 42 wounded in two separate Russian attacks there in the past two days. Five more rockets hit the city early on Friday killing at least one person. Moscow denies targeting civilians.

Photo © GETTY Images: Residents evacuating the village of Mayskoye, Crimea

Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to flee since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, saying it aimed to demilitarise Ukraine and protect Russian speakers on what President Vladimir Putin called historical Russian land. Ukraine and Western countries view it as a war of conquest aimed at wiping out Kyiv's national identity.

Photo © GETTY Images: Russia launched an illegal invasion of Ukraine in February

Read more of Ukraine War News on EXPRESS + Watch VIDEO: “Russian Ammunition Warehouse Erupts in Huge Fireball”

▶️ https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1657487/Putin-Russia-explosion-military-bases-picture-video-Belgorod-Volodymyr-Zelensky-Ukraine

#putin #devastated #sevastopol #ukraine #russia #russia is losing #russia ukraine war #ukraine will win #slava ukraini #🇺🇦

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orangegreet · 3 years ago

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No Minor Miracles | Chapter 4

On the Other Side of the Fold

In which we get a glimpse into what Alina has been up to all these years.

Three Years Ago

Alina opened her eyes.

It was well past midnight now. The sounds from downstairs told her people were still up but she couldn’t bring herself to leave the bed.

Who would she be once she stood from it? She could not say for sure anymore.

Ten years without looking upon his face. The jolt of adrenaline at seeing him left her off-kilter.

Had he always been so passionate?

Her breath was quick thinking of it. Of his hands. Of his mouth. His eyes alight with a touch of madness, desperation. Yes, he had always been this passionate.

With her—always.

His passion was never the problem. It only made being away from him harder.

It was the passion he evoked in her that was dangerous.

Alina forever fought an internal battle to contain the Light inside herself. That was what she called it, anyway. Though it was not altogether pure or holy, this Light.

It was easier when she was younger. Before she had seen so much pain and horror. These experiences only built the energy up inside, made it harder to contain. Alina tried to wield her powers in ways that brought justice and healing.

A handful of situations called for her to use her Light to eradicate; deliver annihilation and nothing less. She tried to be frugal with these instances.

More often than not in her adult years she felt she was a poorly constructed lamp. Full of something combustible which thirsted for the flame. A constant state of anticipation kept her limbs jittery and her mind alert for the next opportunity to ignite.

Seeing her Shadow Summoner, speaking candidly with him about what they both wanted—their future together, eternity—made containing the blaze feel dangerously precarious.

She had claimed him as hers and in that singular moment her Light exploded with a possessiveness that frightened her. Every molecule of her would gladly burn anything in the way to getting what she wanted—him.

Now she was here in her bed again, listening to the sounds of people in the boarding house.

Scared to move. Scared to stay. Scared to speak and string together any words. For the words would surely be lies. What could she say to her people? It would be better not to speak at all.

Everything about this was tiring.

Using the tether was not like falling asleep. She was not rested. That was the longest she had ever stretched the connection. The most she had touched Aleksander in years.

But they had not really touched, had they?

Enough soft touches were exchanged between them to know it was real but the lingering feelings of skin on skin were fading quicker than steam.

Does it all happen in her mind? It felt so real.

A moment before she had been experiencing that pleasant soreness between her legs. The feel of Aleksander’s fingers sliding and pressing inside her were so vivid. On this side of their visit it was terribly muted.

Where before she elated in the satisfaction in his presence, she felt now that she had been denied. Orgasm undone.

What witchery was this shit?

Reaching her hand down, she parted the dress uncovering her thighs. He had done just this; she felt the way the fabric slid over her skin.

She did not have his hands now. She did not have his mouth, nor his tongue. She did not have the wild look in his dark eyes. Full of promise of what was to come.

Saints, she really might kill to learn what would come next under his direction.

The wetness smeared between her thighs told her at least that her mind made it as real for her as possible.

With memories of him so recent it was easier to finish than it had been in years.

“Are you feeling okay?” Tamar was staring at her.

Alina pulled her eyes away from her plate.

“Yes. Tired is all.” She untucked the hair from her ear and let it cover her face while she ate.

“Timur said you went to bed early last night.” Tamar kept the accusation out of her tone, but Alina knew a press for information when she heard it.

Behind her hair she tried to calm the rush of blood and heat to her face. Things would have to end with Timur. Soon.

“I wanted to be alone. I did not know there would be an interrogation about it.” Alina looked at her friend.

Tamar held up her hands in surprise.

“Lay down your weapons, Sun Queen. I’m not trying to corner you. Just don’t try to tell me that something isn’t going on after that reaction. Tell me you want me to stay out of it but don’t lie to me about it.”

Alina stared back at her and then nodded, “Fine. You’re not wrong. I don’t want to talk about it and I want you to stay out of it.” Her voice sounded cold, even to her, and Tamar’s face hardened but she acknowledged the request with a nod.

After a moment’s pause Alina continued, “I’m sorry. I’m not myself.” Then, as she remembered more details of the night before added, “I need to ask you to do something.”

Tamar was alert again. “Send word to our envoys in the West. Warn them against staying in camps near the Fold for longer than two nights. They’re drawing attention.” Tamar nodded though covered her confusion at the instructions by looking away.

Alina stood and collected their plates, retreating to the kitchen without word. Lunch was nearly over and the other people dining did not try to get her attention as she passed; her aura gave off a sense of foreboding.

She relieved the young squaller on kitchen duty and began filling the basin with water and soap.

It was mercifully quiet in the empty kitchen save the occasional click of new dishes stacking by the dining window at her back and the thud of a plate sinking to the bottom of the basin underwater.

This was the best time to think—hands busy with their own purpose and a sense of satisfaction at dirty dishes made clean.

Why did it feel like penance?

Should she feel guilt for wanting to see him? For going to him when he called to her?

For staying? For taking her pleasure? Promising herself to him?

It was her right to pledge herself to whomever she wished. She was her own person. She would be her own person long after all these people turned to dust.

The flame inside her flashed in approval.

She was her own person and no one else understood the weight of eternity like she did. Like Aleksander did. Like—

“You do not fool everyone as well as you think.”

Alina straightened her back. Her hands stilled. She did not turn.

“You mistake me. I am not trying to fool anyone.”

Suds ran down her fingers and dripped into the dirty water.

“I feel the shadows stirring inside you, girl.”

Alina took a breath. She turned, head held up with dignity. She would not be cowed or reprimanded.

“Your observations are wasted. It is not your place to monitor me, nor guide me.”

Baghra stamped her cane against the ground and Alina twitched a fraction.

“Yet you take my advice when it is offered, do you not? You are not wholly a fool.”

Of course she was bringing up the very thing which plagued Alina’s conscience for the last month. The thing which Baghra ultimately swayed them on.

“It remains to be seen how that advice will play out. The Council has never been so divided as it was after that meeting. It has yet to recover.”

Baghra scowled and if she would younger might roll her eyes to match the disdain. Alina held her ground, unwilling to pretend it was the simple matter that was being presented.

The transportation portion of their enterprise had been in something of a bind when they lost a ship to a storm at sea. Moving refugees under the noses of several government entities, across three and four countries, was delicate work. One snag in the system and lives would be lost.

They were desperate and in need of a new ship to turn around and collect the refugees who were already on route to the rendezvous point on the Arkesk peninsula.

It was under such duress in their ranks that they allowed a known Grisha slaver to pick up this run at their discretion. The group was to be delivered within three days time and until then, they would all be on edge.

It had been an ugly council meeting, one in which Baghra had issued a persuasive argument.

Use the man. Know his faults but use him just the same. Determine his routes, his suppliers and his commissioners. Use his boat and his crew for the time-being. We will dispose of him when the time is to our advantage. If we are lucky we will take down others in his network after.

They voted to do so in the end. They would use him, posing as wealthy merchants looking to transport indentured servants to Kerch the long way around. It was either that or they would have to forfeit some twenty Grisha lives who lingered a little too close to the Fjerdan border.

Baghra continued, waving her cane at Alina, “You know that I know what is best. For us, for Grisha. Even if it is not the bowl of sunshine you wish for. That slaver may be a beast of a man but he has been a beneficial resource for us when we needed it.”

Alina’s temper flared.

“Your advice comes with caveats and darkness all the same. He is a beast. One I will have to put down soon along with his crew. I would not boast about having a hand in it, if I were you.”

He would be put down. In the next week based on the impending timeline.

“You do not like the things I say but you need to hear them anyway. I have some years on you yet, girl.”

Baghra was getting haughty and it drew another sneer out of Alina.

“You overestimate your usefulness. You are here to serve, not to dominate nor direct.”

Baghra pointed a gnarled finger at her, “No, I am here to stop you making as big a blunder as my son—“

“You are here at my invitation alone. I did not request your presence nor your guidance.”

Baghra’s face twisted into a scowl.

“Just as haughty and prideful as he is. Don’t forget who told you the truth of him, girl. He would have played you for a fool were it not for me.”

Keeping the fury off her face was a struggle as her hands glowed and heated like white hot irons.

How many times had she heard this?

It was demeaning. An impudence on her very character. On Aleksander's too. Neither woman could be sure what would have happened because there was no option for it to play out.

“I have not forgotten anything about that time, Baghra. If you believe the worst of your son, that is your choice. I have the same facts as you and I will interpret them as I see fit.”

The old woman stamped her cane again, her face showing an increasing desperation.

“Listen to me, Sun Summoner—“

“No. You listen to me now.”

The authority echoed around the small kitchen as the fury of her Light poured out of her pressed against every surface.

Heat emanated from the pores of her body and the golden hue of her eyes flashed with her power.

When she spoke it was quiet but no less effective.

“You are here at my allowance. It was you who requested we transport your Grisha soldiers out of the army and into safety. It was you who decided to stay and lend guidance to those who wanted to help. But it was at my word—“ she paused for a breath, staring the woman directly in the eyes, “that we granted you room and board and station among us.

“This operation was running long before your arrival and it will continue to run in the event that either of us leave or perish. That is the mark of the strength of it’s foundation. Do not attempt to control me or assert your years. I do not need them and neither are they vital to the continued success of this mission.”

Baghra’s face was still twisted into a scowl but she banged her cane once more against the floor and left in a huff.

Alina closed her eyes and inhaled deep. Her light withdrew and the kitchen was quiet and cozy once more.

She turned back to her task and continued to wash, eyes drifting up to the window overlooking the savannah around them. It was a beautiful day in Novyi Zem.

Banishing Timur from her bedroom was more difficult than she thought it would be. He did not want to go.

The Heartrender stroked her skin and spoke in soft tones and attempted to convince her things could remain casual.

These days all she felt was the itch of the tether inside her. Pulling taut, falling slack. As if one or both of them would pick it up and then let it go over and over. It was consuming. It was invigorating.

Alina blinked and pulled her wrist away from Timur again.

“You will make your next partner very happy and quite satisfied,” he smirked at her words and she pressed against his shoulder to keep him from leaning close again.

“I am leaving soon. I cannot say for certain how long I will be gone but you are to remain here and coordinate transports.” She said.

“I could go with you, look out for you.”

Alina strived to keep the annoyance off her features. As if she had need of him to keep herself alive.

“You are needed here with those who are far more vulnerable.”

Her tone sealed it. She no longer looked sentimental or even charmed by him. Timur furrowed his brow and pulled away.

“Very well, I will make you proud.” He bowed to her and her body ached to cringe at the gesture but she held still. A gracious nod was returned to him before he left her room.

Alina relieved the building tension in her body that evening. Her confrontation with Baghra, her tiff with Tamar and her dismissal of Timur had exhausted her for the week. More reminders of the reality of the mortal life span. Sometimes it did all feel petty. Small scale.

She longed for the comfort and longevity of Aleksander.

The newest round of refugees were safely delivered and ‘paid for’ the night before. Now it was time to cut ties with the slavers and get their money back.

A moment of combustion was upon her and she left the safety of the boarding house to channel the fury.

The light bent around her body as she crept onto the slaver’s boat. He kept a skeleton crew—just down to four or five men now.

When she entered the crew’s quarters, none of the men stirred. If any had been awake in that moment, they would have seen an Angel of Death.

They could have watched as she cast her eyes up toward the sky as if in supplication. They could have seen how she returned from that moment with light gathered in her palms. Could have gaped in awe as she squeezed the energy into twisting solar charges.

The charges hung in the air over the body of each man, writhing and coiling with barely controlled vitality. Two of the men at least did open their eyes at the sudden brightness. The bolts of sunbeam struck each crewman in the heart. One moment of awe, the next moment compressed by death.

The Captain’s quarters were locked. Nothing a flash of steel-melting sunlight couldn’t handle.

“Who’s there?” He sat up in his bed, a revolver pulled from under his pillow.

Alina was invisible again. She came to stand behind him, her light burned the hand with the revolver and it fell to the floor. Capitalizing on his distraction, she trapped his wrists and secured them with rope.

He yelled and thrashed but she remained invisible to him. No one could hear him scream anyway. He did not yet know that.

She bound his feet to the bed and his wrists to the low ceiling so he sat half up in his bed.

When she revealed herself, his face bore confusion and betrayal.

“You crazy bitch! I did your run and you got what you paid for!”

“Your use has run its course. Your men received a merciful death. It was quick and silent. You will not be so fortunate.” She said. Her voice was hoarse but she continued, reaching up to tighten the holds in his wrists.

He began to thrash again and paused only when her hand began to glow.

She pressed the fiery palm to his mouth and his muffled scream vibrated in his throat.

Alina held her hand to his face until the fat melted under her touch and the skin curdled like dry parchment over a flame.

When she pulled her hand back, she admired the outline of it burned across his disfigured face. He tried to move his mouth but screaming had become too painful for him. His visage was melted into a permanent grimace.

“The Sun’s Palm over your face silences your cries just as you silenced the cries of the Grisha you captured and sold. Just as you branded them for captivity, so you are branded for judgement.”

Tears streamed from his eyes as he watched her tower over him.

“The ropes at your hands and the ropes at your feet represent the binds of slavery which you have sentenced upon thousands of Grisha in your lifetime.”

Alina raised a blade above his heart and looked into his face.

“When I carve out your heart, it will be a humble sacrifice to the Saints. A meager offering of penance for the thousands of hearts you have carved from the chests of the Grisha who trusted you. Those who believed you would deliver them to safety, to refuge, to freedom.”

She glowed. A subtle, quiet glow that covered her skin and caused his eyes to grow wide as they continued to water.

“And perhaps the Saints will have mercy on you. I cannot.”

As her hands pushed the blade through the hardy barrier of his sternum, she tried not to luxuriate in the satisfaction.

As she left the ship rocking quietly in the harbor, she bent the light around herself again and retreated back to the boarding house. The bodies were disposed of and it was safe to send in the clean up team to retrieve the valuables on board and begin preparing the ship for a new name and new heading.

No one would ask after the slaver or his crew. No one admitted they existed. A grim reality which was to their advantage now.

As she walked the dirt paths back home she thought of the face of the slaver. Recalled the moment the light left his eyes. Pabel would be dismayed to see her. His little Sun should not find pleasure in murder.

It was not pleasure, she would argue. It was justice.

It was a small taste of satisfaction in the name of justice. For Grisha. For her parents. For herself.

He would fret over his memories of a General he knew. One who murdered frequently.

Alina pondered this herself but for a different reason.

When the Darkling exacted his vengeance, it was cold and expressionless. He executed with pens and ink and moving pieces on a map. She admired that about him.

For all she tried to distance herself, her vengeance was too personal. It was alive. She breathed and it moved and when she set on the path of destruction she could hardly contain the intensity of her Light from clawing out of her being to burn everything along the way. It frightened her.

For the rest of the evening she battled with her own will. Always after battle—murder, she found that though she quelled the combustible thing inside for a while, the urge to seek out carnal pleasure was nearly insatiable.

This is why she sent Timur away from herself. She could not continue to exercise this out with him. He wanted too much. Took her thirst for pleasure as something to do with him. Alina could not allow him to see that side of her any longer. It did not belong to him.

The need to seek out Aleksander, to relish in the glory of her bloodlust, was strong. Though she knew if she did reach out to him, if they came together through tether or by the mercy of the Saints, she would not be able to stop herself.

She would sit herself astride him and she would ride her body against his own. Together they would revel in the righteous justice she wrought and in the cosmic pleasure that belonged to them alone and she would not let him stop until she passed out.

If she started she would not stop.

Alina cursed the strength of her will all night.

It was deep in the hold of a merchant ship that she felt him call. A real and distinct pull from within her. She gave her excuses to Tamar and retreated to her bunk. She tucked herself in the corner of her bed and let herself fall out of space and time and consciousness and into him.

He was sleeping.

The black silk fabric of his sheets slithered between his legs and his torso was covered in a cold sweat. Alina crouched by the bed, unwilling to wake him.

Her eyes devoured every detail of his beautiful face. He would not be happy to wake and find her here, she was sure. Their game of chess was predicated on having the upper hand and to be invited into his presence at the height of his vulnerability would crush him.

The burn of her own victory was pleasant though. She tried not to laugh out loud.

She watched his face in repose for hours just thinking of a time when she would not have to hide this desire from him. From anyone.

Alina left before sunrise.

The next time he called she was already in bed and alone. She went to him immediately.

He was asleep again.

Well. This was too irresistible. She climbed in next to him and gently brushed her fingers through the strands of his dark hair. His face relaxed and she smiled.

She was not sure how long she stayed, only that she woke up in her own bed to see dawn over Kerch.

The third time it happened she was not so pleased anymore.

The success she was feeling initially on her mission in Kerch was waning. Finding a sponsor for herself among the upper class was proving to be difficult.

If she continued to meet dead ends, she would need to follow up with their contact in West Ravka. Though Alina found that option to be the most promising for the sake of strategy, she was not ready to return to her home country.

When she felt the tug she went eagerly.

All she wanted was to see his eyes. Open for a change. She wanted to see him seeing her again.

And yet he was asleep.

His rest looked fitful. He tossed in the bed as she watched him and though she wanted to see his eyes and to hear his voice, something inside her told her that he would not be kind tonight.

Perhaps it was the feelings he felt inside himself that she was sensing. Guilt and anger and torment. Crippling aches of sadness.

It hurt to be so close. The little glass dome within herself was brittle. To be hurt by him could break it permanently and she might lose control over what would come pouring out in response.

She did not have the strength to endure it tonight.

Alina allowed herself a gentle stroke to his ear, only enough to trace the curve of it and to rub the lobe between her fingers where his skin was soft.

He stirred.

She left.

West Ravka was nothing like she remembered. Admittedly, the ballroom before her was nothing she could have come close to seeing in her youth. Much less as she was now: an honored guest.

Alina sipped her wine and turned on the spot, her eyes caught on the gilded dome above the sea of people.

“Anya.” Alina turned.

“Xenia,” Alina said, sighing a bright smile and reciprocated kisses to her cheek. “I was just coming to find you. They will be seating us soon.”

The blonde tresses of her friend brushed against Alina’s face and Xenia whispered in her ear, “This is the man I spoke of to you.”

Xenia pulled away as a man in formal army attire approached, a bashful smile on his face. “Commander,” Xenia was beautiful when she smiled and the man did not take his eyes from her face, “this is my dear friend, Anya.”

Alina extended a hand, “A pleasure, sir. Xenia has nothing but glowing things to say about you.”

The man blushed further, “Xenia is exceedingly kind. I understand her family have been hosting you the last couple months now you’ve graduated university. Tell me, how are you enjoying West Ravka, Anya?”

Alina pulled a simpering look, “The society is everything I have been missing and more. When Xenia and her family agreed to take me in as their ward, I was deeply honored. To gain such a lovely sister as a result was beyond my wildest daydreams.”

Xenia kissed her on the cheek again and the Commander looked on fondly.

Alina ran her fingers over the gold necklace Xenia had placed around her neck that evening.

If you will represent our house, Anya, you will do so as a most treasured ornament. Xenia had said as Alina sat at her vanity.

Alina had laughed, feeling sincerely endeared to her host and lamenting the secrecy which kept them unequal. Xenia dear, we all know you are the true ornament of any gathering. I am happy to be bystander to your beauty.

Beauty I have in spades, I suppose. However, it is companionship I wish for most. I have never had many true friends before. Xenia said honestly.

Alina stared back, speculation on her face and a little pity as well. I appreciate the hospitality your family has extended to me, Xenia. Similarly, I hope you know I think of you as more than a means to an end. You may trust me.

Xenia looked taken aback at the bluntness of the statement and then quite pleased. Very well, I shall confide in you. I do have someone special whom I would like more time with but without the presence of a chaperone, I am doomed to see him only in passing for the rest of the season.

Leave it to me. Alina had told her.

Over dinner, Alina continued to facilitate conversation between the couple before her. The Commander and the blonde woman who was a real jewel of Ravkan society this season.

They were beautiful together and Alina felt twinges of absence missing her own beautiful person.

The tether had been pulled taut for a weeks but there was no true tug and she could not leave in this moment in any case.

“Anya has completed her studies in public services, education and accounting.” Xenia said, looking at Alina. She blushed in response, taking a demure stance to keep from needing to elaborate.

“Saints alive!” the Commander said watching her now with interest and puzzlement. “What is it you intend to do for Ravka with such a background?”

“Reformation to orphanages mostly, Commander. With the Fold and the War, many of Ravka’s children are left without parents, education or even proper nourishment. As a woman, I believe there is good work to be done on the home front while our brave soldiers continue to guard and protect our freedoms.” Alina said.

She added a blush to her cheeks for effect. “I had hoped to meet the First Army General tonight. It’s foolish, I know. He’s a terribly busy man, after all. I simply hoped to discuss ideas with him where our pursuits might overlap.” She carefully brushed around her mouth with her napkin, eyes lowered in deference to the Commander.

“You don’t say?” The Commander looked at her like he wished to laugh but it was lost to him. Alina was not so pleased at the calculating look she found on his face now. She much preferred his ambivalence to this development but there was no turning back now.

The comrade in uniform seated next to him gave him an elbow to the chest and added, “Sankta Anya, is it? What a treasure you are, lovely. I’m sure the General would love to make time for you.” The man’s speech slurred and the Commander looked at him with wary eyes before deciding to abandon the discussion as a whole.

Alina seized the chance to turn the conversation back onto Xenia.

Late that night, long after dinner was finished and Alina had made acquaintances with several more diplomats and senior military, she took the carriage home. Xenia slept against her shoulder and the women held hands loosely in her lap.

The evening was a success. The Commander would be joining them for dinner in a fortnight and even if she could not get an audience with the General himself, she had time to plan at least. A Commander was nothing to scoff at in the scheme of things.

Alina let her head rest against the window.

Loneliness had stolen over her strongly throughout the evening.

It was difficult to tell if it was her own.

Frankly, hiding under the cover of a fake name with false pretenses would have that effect on anyone. And yet her thoughts strayed to Aleksander and the loneliness—and longing—intensified.

She retreated to her bedroom and stripped herself of her overlaying dress. Just as she began to take down her hair, the tether inside gave an almighty tug and she could not help herself for how quickly she followed.

He did not see her immediately. She took advantage of his distracted state to watch him. Her Aleksander was finally awake. The Light inside herself brightened and expanded.

His attention was fixed on letters in his hands and she lingered on the planes of his chest on display through the gap in the fur he wore.

Alina’s eyes lifted to his face again. Something in his expression quieted her.

“Hello Aleksander.”

When he finally looked at her, she sighed at the sight of his eyes again. Too long. It had been too long.

Something had shifted inside him. At first she only knew that something had but by the time he was yelling an accusation that she was there to spy on him, a realization set in.

That mask of indifference which was once fixed on his face was at last broken.

She honored the transformation by taking him to his bed and cradling his head in her lap.

There she held his face with utter reverence and when he responded by pulling her around him, she went happily as his shield.

There was no one in the world except they two right now. She needed him. Her Light danced.

When he asked her once again to tell him details of her life she felt her control cracking.

How could she tell him now, while he appeared to be on some mental precipice no less, that her entire life was smuggling Grisha out of several countries, East Ravka included. That she helped them dodge the draft, helped them escape—far outside of his purview. An operation which was founded primarily with the help of deserters from his Second Army.

Alina could not betray her people that way.

Alina could not reveal her own treachery to him. Not when they were so fragile. The shame she felt at feeling more sympathetic to him than to her own mission and people was not lost on her.

She should have known Aleksander would not let go once he latched his jaw to something raw. In an attempt to dismiss the conversation, she only invited him deeper.

“You should also know on this side of the Fold, there are those you have harmed who would seek retaliation on you. I do not know that I can stop them.”

“Those I have harmed? Who exactly do you mean?”

She shrugged a shoulder, wanting him to drop it and move back into less dangerous territory. “Does it matter? I do not think you notice or think of it as harm. You do things as a General in war and those actions hurt people. People who are dear to me.”

“Tell me which people are dear to you and I will see that it is stopped.”

“Do not mock me.”

“Perhaps you could draft a list? First and last names please, followed by their exact locations and their specific relationship to you.”

The heat of her light was intensifying inside her, roiling just thinking of the stories she knew about this General.

First hand accounts of his ruthlessness reaching back decades before her even. She had heard so many over the years.

The first she knew of the General at all were stories from Pabel. Pabel who raised her, who loved her, who warned her.

Pabel who once stood by the General where Ivan stands now.

Aleksander did not even stir in recognition of the name. Pabel was not an uncommon name—it was silly to think he should even have a recollection of the man. He may well remember him but only as a soldier he thought long dead.

The idea that he could have forgotten about Pabel at all made her upset.

Perhaps it was her own guilt but she was angry with him now. Angry at the way his actions would continue to keep them apart.

“You know, for as long as I have desired you and wanted to keep you for myself, you have made it very difficult for me to be able to do so in good conscious. It seems that you do nothing but set up more obstacles for us.”

He tried to appeal to her, “Surely you can meet me halfway on this, Alina. Tell me how to make things right for us right now and I will do everything in my power to see it through. You cannot leave me in the dark forever.”

The frustration was mounting in them both. The negotiation went on. Alina tried in vain to give him a glimpse into the way things had to change—show him how she had changed.

She felt that she was doing her part for them already, why could he not see that? Why did he make things worse on his end?

The Light was licking up her insides and she was almost vibrating to contain it. She would use anything to make him understand.

Alina considered telling him about the slavers from just a few months before. If he could see her in her darkness, would he believe then that she did not see herself above him?

Would he understand that to keep her in true balance was a more convoluted task than her Light and his Dark? It was not so clean anymore.

The conversation was out of her hands. It was moving too quickly. He brought up the past. His plans for her hoping that she would—what? Feel guilty for screwing him out of his plans to dominate her? To control her? He was a fool.

She did not expect the Cut.

Whatever was said, whatever state he was in, she did not expect this.

Alina tackled him to the bed. “The Cut? Saints, Sasha. What were you going to do if that actually killed me?”

“We both know it wouldn’t have. Best case, it would have severed our connection and I could get some bloody peace for once. I could finally think.”

He hid his eyes from her again. The fire inside her was at capacity, she had seconds of composure left. Seconds before she burst, before she tried to strike him with lightning for hurting her. Why did it always have to end this way for them?

Life-threats made, old wounds recut and one or both of them begging the other for some sort of mercy.

Underneath the tempest and brewing storm, she found a core of shadow. The fire raged inside her but at it’s center was a cooling black vapor. Alina burrowed in. The vibrating stopped. The roaring in her ears and the agony of desire which was present just a moment ago slowed like cooling lava.

“You’re right.”

Pulling herself off, she held her knees to her chest on the bed beside him.

“It is selfish to keep coming back here when I know I am not ready.”

The way Aleksander was looking at her made her feel like that small girl from years ago. The one who got her hopes too high for him. The girl who managed to forget all the pain that came before her. The girl who fell in love with him in the first place, even when everyone in her life had warned her away.

When she first arrived at the Little Palace, all confidence and determination, she was hoping to get the drop on him. She was pleased that she did.

Aleksander hadn’t heard rumors even of the existence of a Sun Summoner. Much less one who was fully grown and undeniably powerful. It filled her with mirth to see his confusion and awe openly on display.

At the time it was easy to think she was ready to face him. He was nothing more than a boogeyman. An idea of a person molded in her mind by his former foot soldiers, his critics, his victims.

It was exhausting to hold all these accounts in her head and not have one of her own to compare. She begged Pabel to allow her to meet him but he refused. He said he worried too much about what would become of her once The General knew she had arrived in the world.

Once Pabel died she could endure only a couple years of mourning. Once her heartache subsided, the vibrating need to act had returned and she could not delay meeting the Shadow Summoner any longer. They were the only two of their kind in this generation of Grisha.

And Pabel had left her alone in the world.

More than that, his very being seemed to call to her.

Across land and sea and amplified by the Fold, he called. When she was finally close, she found peace. And then she already loved him. It did not take long.

And yet all the people she knew and loved—all the people who had ever loved her—identified this one man as the enemy.

It was humiliating how quickly and easily she fell in love with him despite this fact. Alina was thankful Pabel was not alive to ask her about him. She never was able to lie well to her adoptive father.

How could she explain to anyone that being with Aleksander made her feel like she existed outside of time itself, protected from its costs. She was seen by him there. Stripped down and bared in her entirety, unguarded; only for him.

It was that vulnerability that broke her. Aleksander would break her further if she stayed. When she left, she collected herself. Rebuilt stronger and more durable. They would come back around again. He would come back around.

It was painful to sit on his bed now. It was painful to look into his empty eyes. It was painful to love someone, to reach for them with every molecule of power inside herself and to know that it was not enough.

Not for now, anyway.

“We should go back to how things were before. It’s cleaner.”

He didn’t disagree. He didn’t say anything.

When she opened her eyes, she was still in her bed in West Ravka. The fire was crackling and there was a warming pan between the sheets. Tamar must have come by because a note was left unopened on the nightstand.

Alina rolled away from it. Her body curled into itself.

The loneliness that hung around her like a fog these last months finally swallowed her up. It coated every inch of skin and left her chilled.

Alina cried until the salt burned and dried in her lashes and her throat ached for rest.

The next day she moved and spoke as if nothing of significance had happened. Xenia tittered about the Commander and Alina played her part recounting the details of every exchange. They prepared for the impending dinner and Alina converged with Tamar through letters to determine their next moves.

Her Light had gone quiet for now. She rested in the safety of the shadow beneath it. Not tempted by emotion or driven one direction or another. For once she allowed herself to rest from the erratic nature of her power.

It would be there in a week when she opened herself up to it again.

Aleksander would be there too, eventually. That was the one thought which penetrated the shadow in her core. Aleksander would be there when this was all over. They were Inevitable.

This was the one comfort she could allow herself. A single flame in the center of dense black.

#darklina fic #darklina #darklina fanfic #alina x aleksander #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #smut #angst #power dynamics #grishaverse #the grisha trilogy

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captain-price-unofficially · 1 year ago

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Soviet T-26 tank casualties of the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula in June 1942

#wwii #eastern front #t-26 #tanks #russian armor #russian tanks

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ww2photoarchive · 4 years ago

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The battle for the bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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On Aug. 12, Ukrainian forces launched a combined drone and missile attack on the Kerch Strait crossing, in the second major attack in a month on the twin bridges that link the occupied Crimean Peninsula to the Russian mainland.

Russia’s perennially apoplectic Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, responded in her usual manner: “There can be no justification for such barbaric actions and they will not go unanswered,” she said.

However, I fear the Russian Foreign Ministry is in for a shock when it discovers that its furious diplomatic interjections have still not deterred Ukraine from targeting the 19-kilometer bridges—a piece of critical military infrastructure illegally erected following Russia’s invasion and occupation of Crimea in 2014. It is vital that Ukraine’s Western allies support Kyiv’s efforts, which are a key step in the process of liberating Crimea from Russian control.

Ukraine has made it clear that efforts to destroy the bridges will continue. Last month, Kyiv finally claimed responsibility for an explosion, which was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) using a truck fitted with an explosive device, on Oct. 8 last year. Speaking after the Aug. 12 attack, in one of his regular video updates, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was bullish and referred directly to the “very eloquent smoke on Kerch bridge,” in reference to the smoke screen Russia deployed during the reported drone attack.

Speaking in an interview with Fareed Zakaria at the Aspen Security Forum in July, Zelensky said: “The [Crimean Bridge] is not just a logistical road. This is the road that is used to feed the war with ammunition. … It is militarizing the Crimean Peninsula. For us, this is an enemy facility built outside international law, so understandably, it is an objective.” He added that “any target that is bringing war, not peace, must be neutralized.”

Zelensky is correct that the bridges, both road and rail, are vital to the logistics sustaining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are used to facilitate the transfer of huge amounts of material being used on the front lines of occupied southern Ukraine.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, it pushed troops into the south of Ukraine from Crimea. The Russian Black Sea Fleet imposes a naval blockade of Ukraine’s southern coast from its base on occupied Sevastopol and routinely launches cruise missiles targeting Ukrainian cities from the Black Sea. The Russian Air Force bombards Ukraine using the Saky air base in occupied Novofedorivka. The rail and road bridges across the Kerch Strait transfer tens of thousands of tons of military equipment into Ukraine to sustain the Russian military occupation of Ukraine’s coastline.

Zelensky is also correct that the international community continues to view Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent occupation and construction of military infrastructure as a violation of international law, with the EU and United States both condemning the partial opening of the crossing in 2018.

Alarm bells, however, have been ringing in Kyiv following remarks made in Norway by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, who suggested that Ukraine could “give up territory and get NATO membership in return.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry shot back immediately, with spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko calling the suggestion “completely unacceptable.”

Amid concerns in some Western capitals about the progress of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive, many of which frustrate Kyiv due to the scale of the daunting battles ahead of its forces, there is a growing sense of unease that diplomatic support for Ukraine’s military objectives may be waning.

The Ukrainian government is very clear that its objectives are unchanged, intending the liberation of all the occupied territories, including the Crimean Peninsula and the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk seized by Russian-backed groups in 2014. The Ukrainian people are similarly resolute, with two-thirds of the population supporting the liberation of all of the currently Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea.

Crimea remains vital strategically, politically, and geographically to both the authorities in Kyiv and the Ukrainian people as a unified polity. Geographically and strategically, the peninsula, or rather, the Kerch Strait itself, provides a natural choke point for naval access to the Sea of Azov, giving whoever controls the crossing considerable control over most of Ukraine’s southern coast. There should be little doubt that, for the foreseeable future, the Ukrainian electorate would not countenance any proposal to relinquish or recognize Russian legitimacy over any part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.

But most importantly, a Russian-occupied Crimea, which equates to a highly militarized Crimea, remains an existential threat to Ukraine as a state. Crimea has already been used as a staging ground for two invasions of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and the Russian seizure of Crimea in 2014 must be understood in the context of the wider war, as Crimea was the opening military foothold Moscow needed to invade the south of Ukraine. The Russian military facilities across Crimea have already been used to destroy vast swaths of Ukraine’s infrastructure, particularly along Ukraine’s southern coast, with attacks stretching from Odesa to Mariupol all launched from the peninsula.

Moscow has already put this question beyond all reasonable doubt and, after the Minsky Protocol and Minsk II and countless other violated international treaties and norms, cannot be trusted diplomatically, politically, or militarily by Ukraine to have any postbellum military presence in Crimea.

There is a sense here in Ukraine, however, that the closer to that goal Ukraine gets, the louder some voices pressuring Kyiv against it will get. Arguments made in opposition to Ukraine reconquering the Crimean Peninsula fail to appreciate the reality of that threat and give succor to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear bluster.

For too long, the debate about Ukraine has been centered in the West on how Putin and Russia would react to losing the territory Moscow illegally annexed in 2014 and not on how a Russian-occupied Crimea functions as a core component of Russia’s attempted military domination of its sovereign democratic neighbor.

Not only will Ukrainian strikes on the Kerch Strait crossing continue, but they are also very likely to intensify in the near future, and if Ukraine’s counteroffensive manages to liberate the majority of its southern coast at any time in the foreseeable future, it is almost certain that Putin’s beloved bridges will end up at the bottom of the ocean before the end of the war.

Ukraine’s allies can make a difference here by finally providing Kyiv with the long-range missile systems it has been asking for. Sending U.S.-made ATACMS and German Taurus cruise missile systems would put much more of Russia’s military infrastructure within Ukrainian missile range and would spell disaster for the Kerch Strait bridges. This increased capability would provide Ukraine the opportunity to finally respond to the routine bombardment Ukrainian cities have suffered since the start of this war due to Russia’s Crimean military facilities.

Moscow remains emboldened diplomatically and militarily around the peninsula because these bases are currently far enough from the front line that they can function with relative impunity. Ukraine is trying to shift that dynamic already. Increasing Ukraine’s long-range capabilities would swiftly disabuse them of that notion.

But both Moscow’s and Kyiv’s international allies need to understand that even without the bridge, a Russian-occupied Crimea poses a critical threat to Ukraine’s survival, and as far as the Ukrainian government is concerned, the destruction of the Kerch Strait bridges will only serve as a prelude to the eventual campaign for the total liberation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine may pull this off. It won’t stop trying—and there is no point in diplomats or analysts laboring under the absurd assumption that the Ukrainian position on this can be negotiated away in a future deal.

#oz katerji is so sexy and correct

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