Notices by Tim Mak (timkmak@journa.host), page 6

Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

As the Olympics start in Paris, we are highlighting the almost 500 Ukrainian athletes who won’t be able to watch them.

Athletes like Ivan, a soccer player, killed in Kharkiv after going back to help his employees.

Nataliya Skakun, a former Olympic weightlifter, stopped talking mid-sentence, abruptly looking up at a spot in the sky not visible over our video call.

“Hang on,” she said with her neck craned back, “I just saw a missile.”

Good morning to readers; #Kyiv remains in #Ukrainian hands.

As we read the news, we find ourselves asking: is this Cold War 2.0?

I spoke to #Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist #Anneapplebaum about today’s autocracies and why she thinks they are more like corrupt corporations.

Applebaum: There are people in #NorthKorea Korea who wake up every morning and think about people, us. They're interested in affecting our politics. They're interested in challenging the weaker democratic states.

I think that's what the war in #Ukraine is.

Applebaum: …You have these actually quite different styles of leadership and different ways of claiming legitimacy, but they do have a few things in common. One of them is the way in which they use the international financial system.

Applebaum: The relationship between modern #autocracies – they are not an alliance...What they are more like is a huge international #conglomerate within which there are separate companies that cooperate when it suits them, but otherwise do their own thing…

Applebaum: We might not want to care about them or think about them, but I didn't think that we have a choice anymore...

Why did #Russia invade #Ukraine?...because Ukraine felt to him [Putin] like...an ideological challenge. It was heading very much in the direction that Russia went...

Applebaum: [what #Ukraine presents] a country that's aiming to be integrated into Europe that would like to be part of the democratic world, is...the scenario that he [Putin] has been most afraid of...He's afraid of civic activism organizing to somehow overthrow or threaten him.

#Applebaum:...And yet...through civic activism...they [Ukrainians] created a democracy. Sometimes...a pretty rocky democracy, but it's a democracy, nevertheless.

They, even during the war in #ukraine have a sense of freedom of speech and ease of conversation that you don't have in #russia

Here's what we're reading today:

The #Russian military is using untrained ‘irregular’ units that are not part of the #Russian Armed Forces in its offensive operations, the UK's MoD reports.

Using these units allows Russia to reduce losses in better trained regular army units.

https://x.com/DefenceHQ/status/1814933387427078260

Shipments of #Western dual-use microelectronics to #Russia via Hong Kong and #China fell by 1/5 newly disclosed U.S. data shows, Reuters reports.

This drop is likely due to more rigorous enforcement of sanctions and attempts to stop Western suppliers.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/illicit-chip-flows-russia-seen-slowing-china-hong-kong-remain-transshipment-hubs-2024-07-21/

#Russia anticipates a surge in violence due to its own veterans returning from the war.

Russia has recruited more than 100,000 prisoners, including murderers and rapists. Their return to civilian life has resulted in 100 killed and at least 100 wounded civilians by veterans.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-kremlin-veterans-violence-1927948

Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

There will be only 15 Russians at the Olympics this year, competing under a neutral athlete flag.

But a Counteroffensive investigation found that almost all had previously expressed support for the full-scale invasion.

Good morning to readers, Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands:

In #Ukraine, you never know whether you will have to perform CPR on a friend — or your pet.
Oleh visited an emergency medicine for animals class at an event, where pets whose owners have fled or died hope to be re-homed.

Like everything in #ukraine the war has taken its toll on these adoption days too. Since the start of the full-scale war, the # of stray #animals has only increased.

Pets, especially #dogs are in some cases left chained or in cages when their owners evacuate from dangerous areas.

Ihor spoke about CPR for animals: If it is a small animal, you can take it by the shoulder blades and press on the chest with your thumbs. For a larger animal, put it on its side and then press. Do 2 presses per second and every 6-8 presses, breathe air into the animal's nose.

In a shelter in #Borodyanka #Kyiv Region, which was occupied by #Russians at the start of 2022, 300 dogs died in a month without food and water after being left in cages by the workers when they evacuated.

To help these #animals find homes, Kyiv authorities hold adoption days.

One of the most terrible disasters during the #RussianFullScaleWar invasion, not only for people but also for animals, was the #Russian attack on the #KakhovkaDam dam in June 2023, leading to water flooding vast areas in the #Kherson Region.

There, Oleh met a cat from #Borodyanka She was named Olyvka (in English, Olive) because of the color of her fur. She survived the #Russianoccupation and was found by volunteers after the town was liberated.

At the Adoption Day, Oleh also met representatives of the Khvostata Banda (in English, the ‘Tailed Gang’) charity. They make medical kits for service dogs, the first in Ukraine. 70 % of the kit contents can be used by the soldiers but the rest is only for the animal.

TODAY’S NEWS:

#Russian FM expressed his positive attitude towards the new US VP candidate JD Vance. Speaking at the UN, #Lavrov said he is confident that it will be easier to negotiate a quick peace in #Ukraine with Trump's team, as #Trump and #Vance support ending aid to Ukraine, #Bloomberg writes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-17/russia-s-lavrov-praises-trump-vance-ticket-on-ukraine-war-stance?srnd=europe-politics