And now the Kremlin says it is waging war against Ukraine to stop Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg — strikes that simply did not exist until Russia invaded Ukraine.
The dumbest war in the dumbest timeline in human history.
🇺🇦🇵🇱 FM Sybiha responded to Poland's claims through a unit named after UPA heroes.
"Soldiers themselves chose the name for the unit. I know for sure that our military did not even remotely have anything anti-Polish in mind. For them, it was about honoring those who fought against imperial Moscow, the Bolshevik-communist occupation and repressions many years ago."
This is now confirmed from the SBU.
These are ships at the naval base on the island off of St Pete. So, while everyone is paying attention to the terminal fire, there may also be navy ships on fire too. Today just keeps getting better and better.
Polish-Ukrainian History and the Volyn Question
Former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR) Volodymyr Viatrovych has his pluses and minuses. The biggest minus of the UINMR is it is internationally isolated and introverted with no English language web page, Viatrovych and others don’t speak English, they don’t try and publish in Western journals, etc.,). Former President Viktor Yushchenko, who set up UINR in 2006, was married to an American and yet he never learnt English.
Not as a historian but as a scholar interested in memory politics, identity and nationalism) the major questions are: 1) Where did the 100,000 figure of Polish victims at the hands of Ukrainians come from and does it have scholarly research to back it up. Ukrainians say there is no evidence for such a figure. No Western historian of Ukraine and Ukraine-Poland uses 100,000.
This is important because the figure of 100,000 became mainstream when Poland was ruled by the populist nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) who re-opened the Volyn question, leading to parliamentary debates and votes, the 2016 film Wołyń directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, and demands the Ukrainian authorities denounce the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and Stepan Bandera (everybody forgets Bandera was in a Nazi camp during World War II and his 2 brothers Oleksandr and Vasyl were murdered in Auschwitz). The 100,000 figure is used to justify the claim the killings were a genocide.
2) Polish historians and the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (PINR) describe Polish killings of Ukrainians as "akcje odwetowe" or "akcje odwetowo-prewencyjne”. These phrases depicts Polish killings as less of a crime and in some way justifies them as “retaliatory actions” or "retaliatory-preventive operations”.
The current situation is not new and brought about by the Kremlin after 2022. It was PiS that re-opened the Volyn question to win votes in Polish elections. PiS President Karol Nawrocki is obsessed by the Ukrainian and Volyn questions and can’t make his mind up if he is president or still head of the PINR.
Objective Ukrainian scholars describe the 1940s conflict as a Polish-Ukrainian civil war (never genocide) and accept both Ukrainians (mainly in Volyn, and less in Galicia) and Poles (some in Galicia, but especially in Kholm, Pidlyashcha, Bieszcady, current Polish-Ukrainian border area) did them. Brutality took place on both sides and was common throughout the eastern front in World War II.
Polish scholars describe the killings as genocide by Ukrainian nationalists and any Polish killings of Ukrainians were “akcje odwetowe" or "akcje odwetowo-prewencyjne” - therefore not placing the killings on an equal criminal level.
Finally, I remain perplexed why the Volyn killings are so important to Polish identity. This is not to deny them our downplay their importance and crimes. But the Nazis and their collaborators murdered 40-50,000 Poles in the Wola district of Warsaw over 7 days in 1944. Yet this war crime does not have the same resonance in Polish identity. Why?
Considering my partial Polish roots, I’ve spent a long time thinking about what to write regarding the Ukrainian-Polish scandal, and the crisis in our relations as a whole. But I doubt I could ever say it better than Oleksandr Zinchenko. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and much can be said about the solutions, but we must remember the core truth - without Poland, Ukraine will be weaker, and without Ukraine, so will Poland. 👇
Why is the Polish right-wing turning hostile? Historian Oleksandr Zinchenko argues that it’s not about past UPA history - it’s about fear of Ukraine’s rising geopolitical power. The Polish right realizes that Russia is losing, and they are terrified of Ukraine’s growing agency. Poland is currently acting as a "Traumaland" - making past fears and historical scars the cornerstone of its national identity instead of processing them.
To overcome this crisis and stop mutual re-traumatization, Zinchenko proposes a comprehensive 7-step roadmap for reconciliation:
1. A Liturgy of Mutual Forgiveness - Ukraine should invite the next President of Poland to Kyiv for a joint prayer service at the historic St. Sophia Cathedral. The cornerstone of this spiritual reconciliation must be the powerful formula: "We forgive and ask for forgiveness."
2. Acknowledging Geopolitical Errors - The Polish leadership needs to declare that opposing Ukrainian independence in 1918-1921 was the single greatest mistake in our shared history. That division cost Ukraine millions of lives under Soviet rule, cost Poland hundreds of thousands, and directly led to Poland losing its own statehood in 1939. When we stand apart, we both fall.
3.Humanizing All Victims - We must stop dividing historical pain. A joint declaration should state: "All victims of our tragic past are neither strictly Polish nor Ukrainian - they are ours, they are human." Every act of ethnic cleansing committed in the 20th century by either side must be unconditionally condemned. The tragic deaths of children in Sahryn are no different from those in Wola Ostrowiecka.
4. Breaking the 80-Year Memorial Taboo - Both Presidents must jointly lay flowers at the historical conflict sites - specifically in Sahryn (Poland) and Ostrówki / Wola Ostrowiecka (Ukraine). Despite decades of Ukrainian urgings, no Polish president in over 80 years has taken this step. This historical omission must be corrected.
5. De-anonymizing the Tragedy - We need to move from abstract numbers to human faces. Ukraine and Poland should cooperate to research and publish a complete, nominal list of every single victim of the bilateral conflict, printed in both languages. Every individual must be remembered by name.
6. Agreeing to Disagree on National Pantheons - We must accept that our national heroes will never be the same. Poland must recognize that Ukrainian heroes are not Polish, and Ukraine must recognize that Polish heroes are not Ukrainian. Ukraine will not challenge the legacy of Piłsudski or Dmowski (who allied with Bolsheviks against Ukrainian statehood), and Poland must stop targeting those who fought for Ukraine's independence. We both fought for our freedom. We both won it. Period.
7. Ironclad Mutual Security Guarantees - A new strategic paradigm: Ukraine, possessing the most battle-hardened and powerful military on the European continent, will legally guarantee and actively defend Poland’s sovereignty. In return, Poland, as a major European power, will unconditionally support Ukraine’s integration and its diplomatic efforts for a just, lasting peace.
Ukraine has conquered its own existential fears on the battlefield. Now, we are strong enough to help Poland overcome its historical anxieties. By executing this roadmap, both nations can finally shed the baggage of the 20th century and build an unbreakable, equal alliance for the future.
🇺🇦🤝🇵🇱
I held a meeting on additional ways to supply air defense to Ukraine – both systems and interceptors. We have an agreement at the highest political level on the purchase of Patriot systems, and this agreement is awaiting implementation at the financial, legal, and technical levels. The wait has taken too long.
Today’s meeting was attended by representatives of defense and foreign ministries, the National Security and Defense Council, and the Office’s diplomatic team. The task is absolutely clear: to speed up this Patriot contract, and the involved officials are personally responsible. The funds from the EUR 90 billion European support package along with our other financial resources, must be used as quickly as possible to fulfill the very tasks that ensure the protection of Ukrainian lives.
Unfortunately, as of today, even the legal aspects of this contract have not yet been worked through. I have set a final deadline – one week for all preparatory steps. I expect a report on Friday: either clarity regarding the implementation of our agreement on the Patriot systems, or serious personnel decisions. Glory to Ukraine!
У Москві та області почали вводити ліміти на пальне.
На всіх заправках мережі ОРТК відпускають лише 60 літрів бензину і не більше 100 літрів дизеля на руки. На Лукойлі ліміт встановлений на 100 літрів бензину.
Причинами запровадження лімітів називають «поточну ринкову ситуацію».
After Ukraine's overnight strikes on St Petersburg which coincided with the OPENING DAY of the year's biggest propaganda-spectacles there, one of Russia's popular bloggers says that the Kremlin is organizing propaganda shows while Ukraine delivers results.
People ask if Ukraine actually has a realistic path to end this war. The answer is yes.
A major strategic shift is happening right now, and it is built on two specific pillars:
Both sides still have the same goals from day one. Russia wants a demilitarized puppet state. Ukraine wants to exist. But we are now in a completely new phase. Ukraine struggles with infantry shortages, but their decentralized, Western-style command and innovation are paying off.
Ukraine's winning strategy relies on two things:
First, they need to bring Russian advances on the front line to an absolute halt. Second, they have to systematically dismantle the Russian war economy. This means relentless deep strikes on Russian oil refineries and defense factories.
This is not just theory anymore. Ukraine's mid-range strike campaign is working, and they have a massive advantage in drone innovation. If they can freeze the front and keep blowing up Russian energy and military production, Russia will eventually be forced to stop.
Ukraine cannot do this alone. They have a narrow window of opportunity with this mid-range drone advantage. Europe needs to step up immediately. We need to fund and buy thousands of these long-range and mid-range drones for Ukraine. This is how the war actually ends. Let's make it happen
In Kronstadt, St. Petersburg, drones of the Unmanned Systems Forces struck the guided-missile corvette Boykiy, which was undergoing scheduled maintenance
More hilarity at the Russian dictator's "Economic Forum" in St Petersburg as the long hyped Russian robots that were supposed to greet guests are all malfunctioning in horrific ways.
Amid pressuring guests to adopt the Kremlin's spyware app "MAX", some robots have gone catatonic, others repeatedly boasting of owning a Birkin bag and all occasionally falling over.
Układając sobie relacje z Ukrainą warto przyjąć jedno, ale najważniejsze kryterium - co jest w naszym, polskim interesie, a co nie.
Jeśli zdaniem Pana Posła utrudnienie Ukrainie stawiania skutecznego oporu Rosji jest w naszym interesie, to znaczy, że coś się Panu totalnie popierdzieliło.
Często słyszę z prawej strony bardzo ostre słowa pod adresem Ukrainy. Czasem zaskakująco ostre...
I wiecie, czego mi brakuje?
Żeby choć raz z podobną energią padły słowa krytyki pod adresem Rosji. Putina. Agresora.
Wspieram wolną Ukrainę, bo Ukraińcy walczą nie tylko o swoją wolność. Walczą także pośrednio o bezpieczeństwo Polski. Kto tego nie rozumie, ten albo udaje głupca, albo naprawdę nie rozumie, czym jest rosyjski imperializm...
Można dyskutować o relacjach z Ukrainą, także niełatwej historii. Można pilnować polskich interesów. Ale jeśli cała odwaga kończy się na atakowaniu Ukrainy, a wobec Kremla pojawia się dziwna cisza, to warto zapytać: komu taka narracja naprawdę służy?