What’s Really Going On In Ukraine

On the South side of the River Dnipro, in the war-torn region of Kherson, the only sound is the booming of Russian guns. “The corpses are still lying there,” one witness said. “No one is clearing them up. They’ve been there for two years now. The stench is unbearable.” The people who still live there do their best to endure, knowing that the land on which they live is more valuable to people they’ve never seen than to those who live there. This is Ukraine, under fire.

There’s been a lot of talk about Ukraine in the news today, but what people outside that region need to understand is that the pictures they see of Zelensky, Putin, Punk, and others are all shot well away from the fighting. There are no talks taking place along the front lines. Talks aren’t even taking place in neighboring countries. Instead, the alleged leaders are running off to places like Saudi Arabia where they can be treated in luxury while they go back and forth endlessly over the possibility of a ceasefire that Zelensky and Putin may not actually want.

As seems to be the case with world leaders everywhere, no one’s taking the state of life at ground zero into consideration. There’s no concern over the increasing number of lives lost. Five here, four there, and maybe three over in that other place. No one seems to mention those accumulative numbers very often. Instead, both sides talk about the financial costs, billions spent on high-tech weaponry designed to disrupt economies without any concern over the lives involved. Ceasefire? How much is that going to cost?

US President Felonious Punk is puffing out his chest this morning as he tells the press how wonderful and productive talks were with Russia last night. “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Punk said. He added that he had requested that Putin spare the lives of “completely surrounded” Ukrainian troops, apparently referring to Ukrainian forces being pushed back out of the Kursk region, their only foothold on Russian territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said,  “There are certainly grounds for cautious optimism” regarding negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine. According to him, Putin supports Punk’s position “on settling the conflict” but “raised certain questions that require joint solutions.” “There is still much work to be done,” he added.

The accusation is that Putin and his lugubrious Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have used time and again: Obfuscate, delay, muddle, throw in some whataboutism, be sorrowfully unctuous, but make sure to dangle a carrot. Charges that Punk is being played by Putin.

Retired Adm. James Stavridis said Thursday that the Russian leader was staking out a careful line: “If you put it on a scale between ‘nyet,’ ‘no,’ and ‘da,’ ‘yes,’ he’s right in the middle,” he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. Stavridis, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the Russian president would take a couple of punches from Trump but would not stop pressing toward his own goals.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday condemned Putin’s ambivalent response to a proposed ceasefire as “very manipulative.”

“We now have all heard from Russia Putin’s very predictable, very manipulative words in response to the idea of a ceasefire,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “We do not set conditions that complicate anything. Russia does that,” Zelensky said. “As we have always said, the only one who will drag things out, the only one who will be unconstructive, is Russia.”

“Putin often does this — he doesn’t say ‘no’ directly, but he does it in such a way that he practically only delays everything and makes normal solutions impossible. We think that this is all just another Russian manipulation,” Zelensky said. “It is feasible to ensure this with American capabilities, European capabilities. And to prepare answers to all the questions about long-term security and real, reliable peace during the ceasefire and put a plan to end the war on the table.”

Meanwhile, Almost 50 combat clashes have occurred on the Pokrovsk front over the past day. Ukrainian Pravda provides the following details:

On the Kharkiv front, the Russians attempted to advance near the settlements of Vovchansk, Krasne Pershe, and Doroshivka.

On the Kupiansk front, Russian forces carried out three attacks. Ukrainian defenders repelled the assaults near the settlements of Holubivka, Zahryzove, and Bohuslavka.

On the Lyman front, Russian troops launched 15 attacks and tried to advance near the settlements of Torske, Yampolivka and towards Zelena Dolyna, Nove and Novomykhailivka.

On the Siversk front, Ukrainian defenders repelled seven Russian attacks near Bilohorivka and Verkhnokamianske.

On the Kramatorsk front, Ukrainian defense forces and Russian troops clashed one time near the town of Chasiv Yar.

On the Toretsk front, Russian forces mounted 14 attacks near the settlements of Toretsk, Krymske, and Druzhba.

On the Pokrovsk front, Ukrainian defenders repelled 49 Russian attacks near the settlements of Yelyzavetivka, Promin, Lysivka, Kotlyne, Udachne, Oleksandropil, Tarasivka, Uspenivka, Novooleksandrivka, Novoserhiivka, Kotliarivka, Oleksiivka and Andriivka.

On the Novopavlivka front, Russian troops unsuccessfully tried to advance near the settlements of Kostiantynopil and Burlatske five times.

On the Huliaipole front, Ukrainian troops repelled eight Russian attacks near Rivnopil, Vilne Pole, and Novopil.

On the Orikhiv front, Ukrainian defenders repelled 12 Russian attacks near the settlements of Stepove, Piatykhatky, Shcherbaky, Kamianske, and towards Novoandriivka and Mala Tokmachka.

In the operational zone on the Kursk front, Ukrainian troops repelled 22 Russian attacks. The Russians launched 37 airstrikes, dropping 54 guided bombs, and 203 artillery bombardments, of which three were from multiple-launch rocket systems.

And while Punk makes a show of asking Putin for mercy, Ukraine’s generals say the ‘surrounded’ conditions don’t even exist. “Reports of the enemy’s alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units in Kursk Oblast are untrue and are created by the Russians for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners. The situation has not changed significantly over the past day. Combat operations in the operational area of the Kursk military grouping continue.”

With every attack, every airstrike, every guided bomb, people’s lives are upended. It’s not safe to go to the market for bread. No one dines in restaurants. Schools are empty. Office buildings sit in rubble.

The news will keep coming from every source imaginable. UK’s Starmer made a big deal this morning of his country’s continuing support for Ukraine. Poland, France, and Germany enjoy getting in on the act as well. Waving a Ukrainian flag helps their poll numbers and deflects from the economic problems their countries have at home.

Know that for the people of Ukraine, nothing here is a laughing matter. There are no jokes, only a quiet fear as they attempt to cobble out meager lives. These people need more than a ceasefire. They need peace. They need their country back. All of it.