The EU is finalizing a plan to facilitate land exports of Ukraine’s stocks of food products with the Russian invasion blocking access to the country’s vital Black Sea ports https://t.co/vNSZ4OmNc2

— Bloomberg (@business) May 10, 2022

Quote:

---

The European Commission will consider a strategy on Wednesday that would address technical and bureaucratic initiatives to speed up the shipping of vegetable oils, corn and wheat, some of Ukraine's key exports

Ukraine's agricultural and food sector represents almost 10% of its GDP. Last year, the country exported food products totaling almost $28 billion to the world, including 7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) to the EU. Before the war, around 5 million tons were shipped each month through the Black Sea, which is currently blocked by Russian warships.

The EU and Ukraine are working against the clock to find a solution by summer, as the country needs to release at least 25 million tons stuck in the country in time for the beginning of the next harvest season.

But there are limits to what can be transported overland. The maximum export capacity by rail is estimated at 1.1 million tons of grain per month and 250,000 tons of sunflower oil per month

---

Refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have found shelter & hope in Moldova.

Today I visited a centre where, upon arrival, they can access services such as legal assistance & medical support.

I'm grateful to the people of Moldova & my @UN colleagues for making this happen. pic.twitter.com/BSp15dH9EE

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 10, 2022

Big moment for Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and Ukraine as the first full flight of Ukrainian refugees arrives right here in our beautiful province. Welcome. #WeStandWithUkraine 🇨🇦🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/MJSX9cG2dd

— Andrew Furey (@FureyAndrew) May 9, 2022

School, stability & smiles —

Daria Khyshenko, a Ukrainian refugee & teacher hired by @CARE, shares the joys of helping #Ukraine's children continue their education in Poland.

"Day by day they become happier. They smile. They can't wait to go to school." pic.twitter.com/ddffuJjxwP

— Julia Chatterley (@jchatterleyCNN) May 6, 2022

🇫🇷 🇺🇦 More than 11,000 Ukrainian students have integrated into schools in France since the war began.

Learning a new language and getting used to the culture, sometimes without their family, is their new reality.

Watch this #EuronewsWitness report 👇. https://t.co/GXp0y2MC1H

— euronews (@euronews) May 6, 2022

one MEEN Ag said:

---

My buddy was flying a nice consumer drone in my backyard. He flew it out of signal range and it was autohoming back to my backyard. It was way beyond visual sight when it started coming back. I knew the exact direction it would be coming back from, went outside and looked for it against a clear blue sky.

I still couldn't see it. I missed it and it was directly over my head before we both realized it had completed the autohoming feature.

And this is a drone that is just a consumer level. No mechanical engineering teams working on stealth and sound reduction capabilities beyond just consumer pressures.

I can totally understand those guys not spotting drones.

---

Quote:

---

Ukrainian forces around Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, appear to have pushed Russian troops east past Ternova, a settlement on the Russian border.

If confirmed, the Ukrainians' liberation of Ternova could mark an inflection point in Russia's 10-week-old wider war in Ukraine. In late March, Ukrainian forces drove Russian invaders from northern Ukraine. Now it appears they're driving the invaders from northeastern Ukraine, too.

Heavy fighting continues around Izium, south of Kharkivand also around Kherson on Ukraine's Black Sea coast. The Russians late last month briefly advanced around Kherson before stalling out. And Russian battalions more recently have captured a few settlements around Izium.

But those Russian gains are in jeopardy owing to Ukrainian gains around Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million just 25 miles from Russia. As the Russian front collapses around Kharkiv, it could free up powerful Ukrainian brigades to push south, toward Izium, potentially tipping the fighting there in Kyiv's favor.

The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces was the first to hint at the Russian retreat across the border near Kharkiv. Battalions from the 138th Separate Mechanized Brigade, part of the Russian 6th Combined Arms Army, fled across the border to the Belgorod region of Russia "due to significant losses," the general staff stated on Tuesday.

The U.S. Defense Department's daily Ukraine briefing didn't mention the purported Russian retreat. But heat-detecting satellites operated by NASA did register significant fires around Ternova starting around Fridayfires that could signify intensive fighting. The fires seem to have faded by Monday.
[url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/27/an-american-bomber-visited-malaysia-a-bizarre-mix-of-local-jets-rose-to-meet-it/][/url]
If indeed the Ukrainian forces around Kharkiv, including the battle-hardened 92nd and 93rd Mechanized Brigades, have pushed all the way to the Russian border, they not only can prevent Russian artillery from targeting Kharkivthey could fire their own guns at Russian staging areas on the far side of the border.

And they also would be free to pivot right and head toward Izium, 60 miles south of Kharkiv. The Russian army has 99 front-line battalion tactical groups in Ukraine. A dozen of the best BTGs slowly are advancing in fits and starts south and west past Izium.

Think of any Ukrainian brigades rolling toward Izium from the north as a hammer. The Ukrainian brigades south of Izium, including the 4th and 17th Tank Brigades and the 95th Air Assault Brigade, would be the anvil. The conditions are becoming clearer for a major Ukrainian victory.

---

deddog said:

---

Dawg6 said:

---

ShotOver said:

---

Ok, I feel compelled to write this. This thread is what I read in the evening and again in the morning. As a former battery commander in Germany from 1985-1989, I have a keen interest in how this is going to turn out. I hope the Russians get everything that's coming to them. Things have not changed in 37 years.

---

As a former tank company commander in Germany during the same time period, I agree.
Also, tanks remain viable and frankly essential in war. The Russians are demonstrably exactly how not to use tanks. Combined arms, with the armor, infantry, artillery, aviation, air defense, and other multiplying assets worked together are a fearsome force.
I am very surprised at the incredible lack of coordination that the Russian forces are demonstrated. Just completely astonished.

---

It's like every Russian generation learns the exact same lessons all over again. No one's studied military history. Not even their own.

As an offensive force, the Russian army is a gigantic joke.

---

#Izyum, following a bomb dropped off by a #Russian UAV. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but this looks like mustard gas.#Ukraine #Russia #WarCrimes pic.twitter.com/UeyhAC6nLm

— Canadian Ukrainian Volunteer 🇺🇦🇨🇦✊🏻 (@CanadianUkrain1) May 11, 2022

Quote:

---

. . .
A cyberattack that took down satellite communications in Ukraine in the hours before the Feb. 24 invasion was the work of the Russian government, the United States and European nations declared on Tuesday, officially fixing the blame for an attack that rattled Pentagon officials and private industry because it revealed new vulnerabilities in global communications systems.
. . .
"This unacceptable cyberattack is yet another example of Russia's continued pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace, which also formed an integral part of its illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine," Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union's top diplomat, said in a statement. "Cyberattacks targeting Ukraine, including against critical infrastructure, could spill over into other countries and cause systemic effects putting the security of Europe's citizens at risk."

The attack was focused on a system run by Viasat, a California company that provides high-speed satellite communication services and was used heavily by the Ukrainian government. The attack came a few weeks after some Ukrainian government websites were hit with "wiper" software that destroys data.

The Viasat attack appeared intended to disrupt Ukraine's command and control of its troops during the critical first hours of Russia's invasion, American and European officials said. The hack also disconnected thousands of civilians in Ukraine and across Europe from the internet. It even thwarted the operation of thousands of wind turbines in Germany that relied on Viasat's technology for monitoring conditions and controlling the turbine network.

Viasat immediately launched an investigation and called in Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm, to write a report. While Viasat published initial conclusions in March, the deeper studies have not been made public.

Nonetheless, those initial conclusions were striking: To black out the space-based satellites, the hackers never had to attack the satellites themselves. Instead, they focused on ground-based modems, the devices that communicated with the satellites. One senior government official said that the vulnerability of those systems was "a wake-up call," raising concerns at the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies, which fear that Russia or China could exploit similar vulnerabilities in other critical communications systems.
. . .
But researchers at the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne believed that the Viasat hack was likely the work of the G.R.U., Russia's military intelligence unit. The malware used in the attack, known as AcidRain, shared significant similarities with other malware previously used by the G.R.U., SentinelOne researchers said.
. . .
The AcidRain malware is "a very generic solution, in the scariest sense of the word," said Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a principal threat researcher at SentinelOne. "They can take this tomorrow and, if they want to do a supply chain attack against routers or modems in the U.S., AcidRain would work."
. . .

---

🧵#Russia will annex Kherson obl without even fake referendum. Local puppet govern-t will address #Putin and RU will issue a decree. What does it mean? 1) RU doesn’t feel stable on occupied areas, they can’t afford even fake referendum as in 2014. No local support at all

— Maria Zolkina (@Mariia_Zolkina) May 11, 2022

3) it changes nothing for plans of UA and West. Idea to fight up to liberation of entire territory will be even more important. 4) later it will be used to justify general mobilization in RU.

— Maria Zolkina (@Mariia_Zolkina) May 11, 2022

GAC06 said:

---

aggiehawg said:

---

WTH is that if not mustard gas.

---

Yellow smoke like from a smoke grenade? Comes in lots of colors

---

aggiehawg said:

---

WTH is that if not mustard gas.

---

aggiehawg said:

---

WTH is that if not mustard gas.

---

aggiehawg said:

---

GAC06 said:

---

aggiehawg said:

---

WTH is that if not mustard gas.

---

Yellow smoke like from a smoke grenade? Comes in lots of colors

---

Sure went way high up for a smoke grenade. Is that normal?

---

aggiehawg said:

---

WTH is that if not mustard gas.

---

lots of stuff, wonder how much of it actually gets to the frontlines https://t.co/7mNXC2TuS2

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) May 11, 2022

MeatDr said:

---

But they did manged to cross, so its something? 😁 pic.twitter.com/DOMOIOzdOs

— Sven-Erik Volberg (@poliitikasse) May 11, 2022

---

Capture claim from Mr. Gleb Bazov in telegram. Tracks with my assessments for artillery based most likely CoA
https://t.co/iqF6uRBdFA

— Carlos Manuel Pimentel ☭ (@cpimentel986) May 11, 2022