Today's News: Doing whatever we can to help Ukraine

A Paris painting by street artist Seth (photo by Chesnot).

It struck me today just how many people around the world are doing whatever we can to help Ukraine. 

For example, like the European street artists in the story linked above.

And like myself -- I'm a retired administrator half a world away from Ukraine. But I do have the time and experience to read through a wide variety of stories and tweets every day and create a blog summary that I hope is useful as a reference. 

And like actor Sean Penn - he was in Ukraine for months before the war started working on a documentary about Zelenskeyy and he just gave a fascinating interview to Hannity (spit!):

Friends, a very interesting watch. Sean Penn and Sean Hannity. Sean Penn saying what is. Sean Hannity trying to shame and blame. A person who is doing and a person who is spinning. Much respect to Sean Penn. https://t.co/WwIgwlKyvO

— John C. Carver (@johnccarver) April 11, 2022

And like Chef Jose Andre, who cooks. He goes anywhere he is needed, so people in the midst of disaster will still have something to eat-he has a massive organization now, 

World Central Kitchen, and it is now active in Ukraine:

The @WCKitchen team in action in Kyiv! They are at our warehouse filling up a truck to be sent to Hostomel—which was occupied by Russian troops until recently…Each bag contains nearly 20 pounds of food for families who have been living in basements for weeks. #ChefsForUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/goHYpeIqLp

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) April 9, 2022

And like Pen Farthing, a former British soldier who now rescues dogs - he got several hundred 

animals out of Afghanistan last summer, and I just saw today that he is travelling in Ukraine to 

rescue abandoned pets:

Now my opinion is that the west needs to do whatever it takes to stop #russia & I am 100% fully aware what the ultimate consequences of that could be. But where will #putin stop once he has #Ukraine️ ? We cannot let that madman kill innocent people on this scale & do nothing 😔 pic.twitter.com/snUmgcf8LI

— Pen Farthing (@PenFarthing) April 10, 2022

In today's news, Hunter observes that the new plan that Russia is using to defeat Ukraine at Dondas is pretty much the same plan they tried to use to defeat Ukraine at Kyiv. 

And they failed: 

 In principle, Russia's new plan appears to be to sweep south from Izyum and north from the Mariupol region to capture all or most of Donetsk and Luhansk, cutting off the dug-in Ukrainian positions that have held stable in the war against Russian-backed separatists for years. 

 In practice, this all relies on Russian commanders showing skills that they haven't yet shown, marshaling forces on a scale they haven't yet been able to marshal, the protection of supply lines longer and more tenuous than the ones that quickly fell to pieces around Kyiv, all with a makeshift assemblage of battered troops pulled from other offensives and, theoretically, mercenary forces pulled from elsewhere. 

Yes, Russia has a new general now, but Hunter isn't impressed: 

It's unclear what new order this new Russian general is being installed to impose, but a campaign of shelling cities, destroying granaries and missile strikes on crowds of fleeing civilians is something that all the other Russian generals have been accomplishing very well on their own. It may only be another name to pin the resulting war crimes to, in the aftermath of all this. 

 If Gen. Dvornikov doesn't fall out of a Moscow window a month or two from now, of course. 

I thought this was a perceptive observation:

you don't know the names of those making the world's history now. Not Biden, Macron, Scholz. Not even Zelensky. But: Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline. Everything now depends on them. How the world will look look like in 1 year, 2 years, 10 years: all this depends on them

— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) April 10, 2022

More news from today: 

Ukraine is using its cities strategically. The defense of Mariupol is an outstanding example:

Zelensky doesn’t make this statement if he thinks Mariupol is about to fall. Russians seem really terrified of street by street fighting, which further validates the Ukrainian strategy of holding on to cities and forcing the Russians to come and get them. https://t.co/bcQt9fMTP1

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) April 10, 2022

Several tweets today about how strategists feel the fronts in the east and the south may progress. 

Here's one from Rob Lee

A good article by Yaroslav. Narrowing its focus on the Donbas with fewer large cities will play into the Russian military's strengths, but Ukraine can also afford to retreat to hold more defensible areas. The main objective for Ukraine is to not allow its forces to be encircled. https://t.co/LK8EjcLAqP

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 10, 2022

I think Russia will likely achieve some tactical, possibly operational, successes and extend its control over the Donbas, but as long as Ukraine doesn't allow Russia to cut off a substantial share of its forces, I doubt Russia can achieve significant strategic gains. 3/

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 10, 2022

And Tim Hogan:

I agree and i think it's the beginning of the end of Russia in Ukraine. It seems like Ukraine doesn't talk about counter offensives much. They just do it.

— Neal Hoffmann (@TheNealHoffmann) April 10, 2022

3. And we've seen how the Russian do head to head against Ukrainians who are getting stronger as Russia gets weaker. I think the Russians cut and run to Crimea. But before that Lavrov will try to offer a frozen conflict but that will just give them time to refit to attack again.

— Tim Hogan 浩勤 (@TimInHonolulu) April 10, 2022

And Mike Martin:

That’s hard for reasons that we’ve seen in this thread. They don’t have the numbers.

— Dr Mike Martin ⛵️ (@ThreshedThought) April 9, 2022

1) I would start some sort of sabotage operations or insurgency behind the Russian positions. That shouldn’t be too hard as it is in Ukraine after all.

This is to scare the Russian forces.

— Dr Mike Martin ⛵️ (@ThreshedThought) April 9, 2022

3) I would launch short sharp attacks on Russian forces in Donbas. This is why the Ukrainians are asking for artillery and armoured vehicles from the West.

This will eventually force the rout of the Ru but the final push should only happen once 1) and 2) have had time to work

— Dr Mike Martin ⛵️ (@ThreshedThought) April 9, 2022

Yes, but when Ukraine starts winning, I worry about how Putin will respond:

So what happens if Putin gets mad enough about Russia's military failure that he threatens to nuke Kyiv unless Ukraine surrenders?
I'm very afraid that Putin might actually do this.

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) April 10, 2022

And we're going to see stories about mass graves everywhere Russia has been in Ukraine. Here's another one:

BREAKING:

Another mass grave has been discovered near Kyiv.

50 civilians shot by Russian troops have been found near a road leading to the village of Buzovaya.

In the village itself, another mass grave with dozens of bodies has been found.

This is the Russian way of warfare. pic.twitter.com/ssAK9PictF

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 10, 2022

Here's an interesting take:

Yep. https://t.co/BxAO3vaRY3 pic.twitter.com/IykdoKv8ol

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) April 10, 2022

Finally tonight, this:

#CatsOfUkraine https://t.co/xYVRkLNsYY

— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) April 11, 2022