State of Affairs

The sun was rising over the grain fields on June 19 when the peace of morning was disrupted by four Kalibr cruise missiles, accompanied by four Shahed kamikaze drones. Fortunately for the civilians of Ukraine, every single Russian launched weapon was destroyed before they could rain terror on innocent civilians. The missiles and drones were launched from a submarine tucked away in the Black Sea.

The armed forces of Ukraine pushed westward through the day, liberating 15 miles of their territory in the Zaporizhia Oblast. There were at least three areas where Ukrainian forces made a counter-offensive push and saw small gains.

These are only small gains, but it is a complete turn from the war one year ago. Its hard to call the attack a surprise, because there was significant buildup by the Russians before the attack, regardless it gave the Russian’s an upper-hand and allowed them to capture large chunks of territory. Ukraine recently began their counter offensive and have been able to liberate many towns from Russian occupation.

The war may be going decidedly in Ukraine’s favor if Russia hadn’t blown up the Kharkova Dam on June 6. The destruction of the damn flooded who a city and many smaller towns, killing an unknown number of people in the water’s path, both Ukrainian and Russian.

On June 20 Ukraine reported that Russian soldiers were firing at rescue worker positions, civilians working to rescue other civilians from the flood.

While in China trying to reestablish military communication to prevent an accidental conflict situation over the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of State Antony Blinkin questioned the Chinese if they were providing lethal aide to Russia. Chinese officials told US diplomats that the country is not providing Russia with weapons to attack Ukraine. This is despite significant evidence that China is producing weapons for Russia.

On June 19, Russia reported that one of their occupation officials in the Zaporizhia Oblast was killed after his car exploded in the city of Simferopol, in occupied Crimea. An occupation official said the vehicle had been earlier inspected by Russian troops, implying potential sabotage.

Manpower is becoming an issue for Russia and their private-military, militia arm, Wagner Group. Wagner has begun a campaign to recruit new soldiers, advertising on the internet for individuals aged 21 to 35 with a “gaming background” to join Wagner in their attacks against Ukraine and Syria. The Russian military continues to rely on cadets from their military academies to bolster their border security. The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported that the St. Petersburg Military Artillery Academy would deploy third- and fourthyear cadets to the border regions after training with mortars and other artilleries.

Ukraine is fighting for its freedom against the imperialistic and genocidal Russian Federation. Once looked upon as the second greatest army in the world, Russia has proven it is only the second greatest army in Ukraine.