#odesa black sea

[angeldiied]

[illustratus]

View of Odessa on a Moonlit Night by Ivan Aivazovsky

[vintage-ukraine]

Morning in the Port of Odesa by Heorhii Cherniavskyi, 1980

[dieversa]

“Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part.” Hermann Broch

[way-out-there]

Places from the memories of my hometown... Odesa by the Black Sea... vast steppe... the history 💙⚓️

[green-sky-garden]

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

The wreckage of a downed Russian Shahed-136 (made in Iran) attack drone floats in front of a Ukrainian Project 1400M Zhuk Class Patrol Boat, presumably off the coast of Odesa., Ukraine, December 30, 2023. Source: OSINTtechnical

[traveler-from-ukraine]

Поїздка з Одеси до Очакова і назад

По дорозі потрапив на фотосесію. Гарний кадр потребує ризику.

Дівчата справді відчайдушні, тамтешні береги дуже круті.

Побачив пташиний рай на Тилігульському лимані.

А зовсім поруч вже рай для людей — курорти Коблево.

Всю дорогу до Очакова, по морю, рухався мій "суперник", на повністю зеленому, альтернативному двигуні.

Ось вже й Очаків.

Далі попід річку Південний Буг, я поїхав в сторону Миколаєва, а звідти вже назад до Одеси.

Підтримуй ЗСУ!

https://savelife.in.ua/donate

[memenewsdotcom]

Russia hits Ukraine grain terminals

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up February 2-6, 2023

Under the cut:

116 soldiers returned to Ukraine in prisoner exchange, says Kyiv

A new US military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $2.175bn includes a new rocket that would double Ukraine’s strike range, according to a US official. The Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) will be provided to Ukraine as part of Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.

Two Russian missiles hit the centre of Kharkiv, the administrative capital of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine's northeast, with one of the missiles striking a residential building, local officials said on Sunday.

Repair crews were working round the clock to restore power systems in the Black Sea port of Odesa following a fire that left hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

Ukrainian officials will conduct a complete internal audit of procurements made by the country's armed forces, Ukraine's defense minister said, after a recent string of anti-corruption raids.

Ukrainian troops will begin training with the Leopard tanks from Monday, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced.

A drone exploded early Monday in the Russian city of Kaluga, Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of the region, said in a post on his official Telegram channel.

The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has warned the world is walking into a “wider war” over Ukraine during a speech presenting his 2023 priorities.

“116 soldiers returned to Ukraine in prisoner exchange, says Kyiv. The head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, Andriy Yermak, has said that Ukraine has got 116 soldiers back as part of a prisoner of war swap.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia said it had got 63 PoWs back in an exchange.

Yermak posted a video of soldiers on a bus, along with them posing with flags in the snow outside. He said they were “defenders of Mariupol, Kherson partisans [and] snipers from Bakhmut vicinities”.”-via The Guardian

~

“A new US military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $2.175bn includes a new rocket that would double Ukraine’s strike range, according to a US official.

The Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) will be provided to Ukraine as part of Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.

The GLSDB’s range is 94 miles (151 km), double that of Ukraine’s current longest-range weapon, the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), whose rockets can travel 48 miles (77 km).

A greater range would allow Ukraine’s military to strike deep behind the frontlines of the war, attacking Russian forces from a greater distance or potentially penetrating more deeply into Russian-held territory.

The GLSDB will put all of Russia’s supply lines in the east of the country within reach, as well as part of Russian-occupied Crimea.

It will force Russia to move its supplies farther from the frontlines, which could make its soldiers more vulnerable and complicate plans for any new offensive.”-via The Guardian

~

“Two Russian missiles hit the centre of Kharkiv, the administrative capital of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine's northeast, with one of the missiles striking a residential building, local officials said on Sunday.

"A residential building in the city center was hit. A fire broke out. So far, three victims are known: a 54-year-old woman and two men aged 51 and 55," Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging platform.

He said the woman was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.”-via Reuters

~

“Repair crews were working round the clock to restore power systems in the Black Sea port of Odesa following a fire that left hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

The mass blackout — though attributable to a fire — was one of many that have hit Ukraine's grid since Russia focused in October on attacking energy infrastructure as part of its invasion of Ukraine.

"Repair work is going on round the clock. The situation at this time is that hundreds of thousands of people in Odesa region are without power," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskiy said that such disruptions in Ukrainian cities "could not have happened" before the onset of Russian attacks on power generation sites over several weeks, some of which involved dozens of missiles at a time.

"Repair work is going on round the clock. The situation at this time is that hundreds of thousands of people in Odesa region are without power," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskiy said that such disruptions in Ukrainian cities "could not have happened" before the onset of Russian attacks on power generation sites over several weeks, some of which involved dozens of missiles at a time.

Zelenskiy did not say how long the repair works would take, but Ukrainian officials said earlier they could take weeks.”-via Reuters

~

“Ukrainian officials will conduct a complete internal audit of procurements made by the country's armed forces, Ukraine's defense minister said, after a recent string of anti-corruption raids.

“We have launched an internal audit that checks all procurement systems. It is still in progress," Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov said. "And I think that within a week, they should officially complete the audit of all of the procedures for February. Then they will audit everything. And then, it will be 'put on the table' for appropriate decisions."

Some context: President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent anti-corruption push is viewed as a key step toward Ukraine’s possible admission into the European Union.

Rooting out corruption is “an important dimension of the EU accession process,” said Ana Pisonero, a spokesperson for the European Commission, on Jan. 24.

Ukrainian authorities uncovered stashes of cash, as well as luxury watches and cars, during raids carried out across the country last month.

Among those caught up in the investigations is the acting head of the Kyiv tax authority, who was allegedly part of a scheme to overlook $1.2 billion worth of Ukrainian hryvnia in unpaid taxes.”-via CNN

~

“Ukrainian troops will begin training with the Leopard tanks from Monday, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced.

Speaking to reporters during a news conference in Kyiv, he said: “We are accumulating reserves and working on training more personnel, getting the Western weapons.”

Reznikov also warned of an upcoming Russian offensive. “We expect an offensive. It's February, and Russians love symbolism. We expect this pressure from them, and we are ready,” he said.

But tanks are not the only weapons Ukraine needs to defend itself from enemy bombardment. According to Reznikov, it needs long-range weapons reaching 150 kilometers that must be "more effective and active." The maximum range of the current artillery provided by the West is 144 km.

On Thursday, US officials said the US was expected to announce a new Ukraine security package worth approximately $2.2 billion that will include longer-range missiles in a first for the country.

But these will not reach the distance Ukraine is asking for out of fear longer-ranging weapons -- like the sought after ATACMS missile -- will be used to hit targets in Russia, which Reznikov refuted.

“I want to emphasize that we promise our partners not to use long-range systems to hit targets on Russian territory, only on the Ukrainian territory which Russians occupied,” he assured.

Speaking of the military aid Ukraine has received, Reznikov said they had been given "almost everything" in terms of weapons except for fighter jets, which he is certain they will get.

Ukraine is not a NATO member, but in this war has become a "NATO country de facto," he said, receiving weapons, standards and digital systems. "The only thing left to do is to be accepted in the alliance de jure,” Reznikov added.”-via CNN

~

“A drone exploded early Monday in the Russian city of Kaluga, Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of the region, said in a post on his official Telegram channel.

"Tonight, residents on the outskirts of Kaluga heard a pop [popping sound]. It was established that at 5 a.m. in a forest near the city, a drone exploded in the air at a height of 50 meters," Shapsha said.

The governor didn't provide any additional details about the drone or its suspected origin.

The city of Kaluga is about 200 kilometers (or about 124 miles) southwest from Moscow.

"There was no damage to civilian and social facilities. There were no casualties. Representatives of law enforcement agencies are working on the ground," he said.”-via CNN

~

“The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has warned the world is walking into a “wider war” over Ukraine during a speech presenting his 2023 priorities.

Addressing the UN general assembly just weeks before the first anniversary of Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, Guterres described the war as “inflicting untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with profound global implications”.

He said:

The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing. I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.”

-via The Guardian

[sunflowerchan04]

On the rocky seashore, Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, circa. 1962-1964, by Ivan Shagin.

[angeldiied]

[demiurgeua]

В Одесі Командувач ВМС ЗС України провів зустріч з командувачем ВМС Королівства Данія

“Посилення оборонних можливостей: зустріч з командувачем ВМС Королівства Данія 🇩🇰🇺🇦 Зустрівся з командувачем Королівських військово-морських сил Данії контрадміралом Хенріком Рюбергом, який з візитом перебував на Одещині. Подякував данській делегації за рішучу та послідовну підтримку України з початку повномасштабного вторгнення. Данія є одним із наших надійних партнерів, у тому числі й у…

[vintage-ukraine]

Summer by Albin Gavdzinskyi, 1981

[ukrheart]

[faultfalha]

The winds had shifted in the grain trade with a single, swift move that sent reverberations through the waters all the way to the Kremlin. Russia's response was swift and sudden, with missile strikes on coastal provinces and direct threats to the merchant ships that had once sailed the Baltic Sea with impunity. Something darker was at work, a force unseen and untouchable that reached back through the ages to command power and respect. Rumors circulated of old pacts between men of great means and of the ancient curses that still hung over the water. It seemed like a force of nature had decided to take matters into its own hands, though it remained to be seen who would pay the price for it.