Lawnmowers in the Sky: the Menacing Iranian Drones
plus: Borsch, the Power Food for Ukrainian Victory
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Joe Lindsley reporting from KHARKIV, UKRAINE, with a team from throughout the country …
War Day 357: Lawnmowers in the Sky, That’s the Awful Sound of Approaching Iranian ‘Suicide’ Drones
Listen above to my daily Ukraine report on Chicago’s WGN Radio.
Reporting from Kharkiv, I share a first-hand account of a Ukrainian and his dog watching Russia's terrifying incoming Iranian drones, which sound like lawnmowers, as Ukraine's air-defence works feverishly to shoot them down. The same Ukrainian owns a pizzeria here that by the way serves excellent borsch. What is borsch? We discuss.
And we discuss the sad news of the death of Dr. Peter Robeson Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran who was volunteering as a doctor in Bakhmut. The evidence, including a photo you can see in this video, strongly shows that the Russians, using drones, were waiting for Reed's team, which included a friend of mine, to arrive to take care of people who had been wounded in a prior Russian attack.
Listen above to my daily report on Chicago’s WGN Radio.
War Day 356: What's Happening in Moldova?
from Tuesday 14 February: My daily Ukraine report on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
Moldova, Ukraine's neighbour, closes its airspace amid reports of a possible Russian coup d'état—an eerie reminder of a November 2021 Russian coup attempt against President Zelenskiy. Meanwhile, NATO's Secretary General says the West should have fortified Ukraine much more before February 24.
And Bob Sirott of Chicago’s WGN Radio asks me: Are people thinking this will last for years?
My answer: That question is too heavy to consider and besides, time matters less than liberty. For Ukrainians and their strongest allies, all that matters is standing up to evil. Time is in a sense suspended.
On Empathy and Journalism:
Still, of course I wonder sometimes if I should disappear for a bit to a beach in Mexico. But I would lose the real empathy and connection require to share the full reality here every day. I would become a distant observer, some kind of scientist, even upon return. It's a radical vision of journalism—but it is the spirit that drove me out of comfortable, elite, ignorant NewsCorp/corporate media. I didn't plan for that impulse to bring me here but so it did ...
On the paradox of life in war: ‘The war has taken everything from me. The war has given me so much.”
A Ukrainian friend said this about the spirit of collaboration in time of war: “what this war gave us: a lot of brilliant people who were just living a simple life started to act much much more and to group together.”
Look at this street art by Kharkiv’s Hamlet, who is sort of the Banksy of Ukraine except unlike the British graffiti guy he is far from anonymous. It’s a seesaw and on one side it says, in Ukrainian, “The war has taken everything from me.” And on the other it says: “The war has given me so much.”
The paradox of life in war: when, if you want to survive and win, you have to become the best version of yourself and your society.
from left to right: Canadian YouTuber Dan Vineberg, Hamlet, and Joe Lindsley, looking at one of Hamlet’s works, this one with a mirror, in war-time Kharkiv, 30 miles to Russia.
“Pete’s Dead”: Here’s the Harrowing Account of the Russian Missile Strike on Medical Volunteers in Bakhmut
War Day 345: Singers, Medics, Soldiers Cry ... and Sing—in a café at the edge of the free world
by Joe Lindsley
Today, the New York Times shared the story of the Russian rocket that seemed to deliberately and accurately target medical evacuation volunteers. The strike killed Dr. Peter Robeson Reed, a U.S. Marine vet and a medical doctor, and wounded my friend, an American nurse in her 20s from Utah.
Daily Situation Summary: 15 February: Shelling of Kupiansk, exhaustion of the Russian forces
by PAVLO VITENKO, Ukrainian Freedom News
The World
The USA ordered the production of artillery ammunition for the Armed Forces worth more than 500 million dollars
Italy and France will hand over anti-aircraft systems SAMP/T to Ukraine — Austin
The NYT published footage of a deliberate rocket attack by the occupiers on volunteers in Bakhmut. You can hear Joe Lindsley’s report on this story here—and further below:
Ukraine invasion isolated Russia, but Putin prepares for protracted war — Reuters
The Russian Ministry of Defense is recruiting prisoners following the example of Prigozhin: the ISW explained why Shoigu
Xi Jinping expressed support for Iran in "confrontation with the West"
The leader of the People's Republic of China met with the president of Iran.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping said he supports Iran. In particular, in "confrontation with the West and the United States of America."
This was stated by Xi Jinping during a meeting with the President of Iran Ibrahim Raisi, the Associated Press writes.
According to the leader of the People's Republic of China, Beijing supports Tehran in protecting national sovereignty and "opposing unilateral actions and intimidation."
"No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will steadfastly support friendship and cooperation with Iran and promote China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership," he said.
By the way, during the meeting, Xi Jinping and Raisi signed 20 agreements on cooperation, in particular in the field of trade and tourism. They also supplemented the 2021 25-year strategic agreement on cooperation in the development of industry, development of oil and other fields.
Ukraine: Summary by regions
LUHANSK REGION
Over the past day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of Nevske, Kreminna and Bilohorivka.
On the Kupiansk and Lyman directions, the enemy shelled Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Nevske, Novoehorivka, Makiivka, Chervonopopivka, Pishchane, Dibrova, Serebryansk forestry and Bilohorivka with tanks, mortars and artillery. The situation in the region remains difficult.
DONETSK REGION
During the day - shelling of populated areas along the entire front line from mortars, artillery, and Hrad. During the day, rocket attacks were carried out on Kostyantynivka (a person was injured, the Palace of Culture, where the humanitarian aid distribution point is located; 4 high-rise buildings, a car) and Kramatorsk (a medical facility was damaged, private houses were damaged).
Late yesterday evening, there was a tank attack on the village of Vesele in the Ocheretyn community. In the Donetsk region in a day: one dead, one wounded.
SUMY REGION
Tonight, 5 automatic rounds were carried out from the territory of the Russian Federation in the direction of one of the villages …
Read the full region-by-region summary here.
Stories, Sounds, and Facts of War: Every weekday, Ukrainian Freedom News’s Joe Lindsley, an American in Ukraine since the pandemic started, gives a live war report on Chicago’s WGN Radio. You can listen and watch below. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch all our stories.
From The Spectator—the world’s oldest magazine, formerly edited by Boris Johnson:
Zelensky touches off a revolution in London
We don’t have to live in Chinese balloon-land, forever terrorized.
by Joe Lindsley
Speaking in London's Palace of Westminster, President Zelenskiy defined a new political theory for the free world, based on confidence democracy over timid bureaucracy: We do not need to accept a world equilibrium that includes tyranny.
Zelensky was not a part of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution. But he now articulates and represents the spirit of that Revolution: a radical but real belief that the people can take control of their democracies from corrupt elites, a belief that we the people don’t have to live as pawns in perpetual fear. …
Read the full story here, at The Spectator. If you enter your email address, you can read for free.
US Support for Ukraine: Not What It Seems
ABOUT US: Ukrainian Freedom News: The wild story—so far—of free people standing for democracy, faith, dignity
"Joseph Lindsley's reports are enlightening, frightening, heart-wrenchingly and poetically descriptive." —a regular listener to the daily report from Ukraine on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
“I just returned from three months in Ukraine. Not my first time there, and certainly not my last; a powerful experience for me personally, but I must say that JOE’s REPORTING, HIS INSIGHTS, and, OBVIOUSLY, HIS HEART, ARE SPOT-ON.” —Jim, a Telegram follower of Ukrainian Freedom News
American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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UKRAINIAN FREEDOM NEWS
Truth to the World | Supplies to Ukraine
Joe Lindsley, Editor-in-chief
Pavlo Vitenko, Chief Reporter
Anton Hutyriak, Associate Editor
Luka Oleschyuk, Video Editor
Jean-Baptiste Besson, Field Editor
Vitalii Gulden, Graphics Editor
Beata Szrom, Operations Director