Sinéad O'Connor's Freedom Sound and the Fierce People of Kharkiv

Free-Fallin' in the Fog of War

Jul 27, 2023

War Day 519: Sinéad O'Connor's Freedom Sound and the Fierce People of Kharkiv

KHARKIV—While Russia was smothering Ukraine with missiles and electronic warfare, I watched with friends as Ukrainian Kateryna Sadurska in the Bahamas achieved the women's world free-diving record. Amid the dire threat, people in Kharkiv sang the Ukrainian anthem, fiercely, in the same spirit as the late Sinéad O'Conor. We listen to her rendition of an Irish freedom song, which also represents the quest of Ukrainians.

Russia started its full-scale in February. In the Ukrainian language, that month is called, simply, "Fierce"--and in Kharkiv people have taken that as an identity: "Fierce People: Spring Will Come."

Plus: the story of Thomas Wolfe, great American novelist, portrayed by Jude Law in the film Genius. And Sinéad O'Connor singing with the Chieftains: "The Foggy Dew."

War Day 518: How long does it take a fighter jet to get to Ukraine?

KHARKIV—With no alarms here from about 1am to 10am, I actually had a decent sleep. At 6am I went running through surreal scenes. Now, Ukrainians are using the Oslo Treaty-approved cluster munitions from the USA in the counter-offensive but Ukrainians must wait until 2024 for fighter jets. This is a heavy thing to consider.

‘Sound of Freedom’ conservatives tragically wrong about Ukraine

KHARKIV, UKRAINE— Something is strange about the promo campaign for the blockbuster indie film The Sound of Freedom, in which Jim Caviezel (Count of Monte Cristo, Passion of the Christ) stars as former government agent Tim Ballard, who saves kids from sex-trafficking. The movie has made more than USD 124 million at the box office since its July 4 debut, largely driven by a grassroots conservative audience intrigued by Ballard’s adventures in Columbia.

But in his promotional efforts, the real-life Ballard has been bizarrely casting aspersions on Ukraine rather than on Russia, which has been kidnapping Ukrainian children in occupied territories as more and more evidence shows. Although the UN is shifty and silent, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for pied-piper Maria Lvova-Belova, Putin’s commissioner for “children’s rights,” accusing her of overseeing the resettling or kidnapping of Ukrainian kids. And the chief of the Belarusian Red Cross boasted about kidnapping Ukrainian kids.

On the same topic, Ballard, who is portrayed on-screen as a heroic warrior for innocent kids, speaks in strange, vague terms: “You have how many hundreds of Ukrainian children crying over the dead bodies of their family and no one to take care of them, and a nice van shows up with blankets and food, and they’re gonna get in,” Ballard tells popular U.S. commentator Jack Posobiec.

“And so we tapped into an organization, a criminal organization, while we were in Ukraine,” he continues. “This was a pedophile group. They set up a political party there. It’s called the PNVD. They reared their ugly heads in the Ukraine war”—ah, never the Russian war!—“because they’re trying to get kids now. They’re hiding in Mexico.”

“We tapped into,” Ballard says. Tapped into? They’re in Ukraine, but hiding in Mexico? What do these vague words mean? Ballard doesn’t specify, because he can’t. There is no such political party in Ukraine, and never was. PNVD was a tiny Dutch pro-pedophilia party that dissolved in 2010.

But Posobiec eggs him on:

“You’ve got ratlines basically that are sourcing in Ukraine, but they are actually running the operation in Mexico,” Posobiec replies. He runs with Ballard’s extraordinary claim while never mentioning the documented Russian ratlines from occupied Ukraine into deepest Russia.

Can anyone seriously believe that a nation that has so scrappily stood up to Russian invaders would tolerate something like the PNVD? Can we believe that Ballard, who was barely in Ukraine, discovered such a scourge that went unnoticed by Ukrainians?

Read the rest of the story here at Poland’s TVP World.

Weekly Fundraiser: Thermal scope for Roman: $4,100.00

With Lviv’s Deepinspire Foundation, every week we are raising funds for warriors in Ukraine's counteroffensive. Help us this week to purchase more drones and night visions. Link above! Together, to victory!

Before Roman decided to dedicate his life to the military, he worked as a veterinarian in civilian life. In 2017, he enlisted in the military on a contract basis, starting his journey as a driver-mechanic of the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle in the fierce 6th Separate Motorized Brigade.
In the army, he met many good people who became his brothers and good friends. Thanks to his diligence and eagerness to learn, he became the senior driver of his platoon after only 8 months of service, and another 8 months later, he became the senior driver of the company. After completing his 3-year contract, Roman was offered a position as the deputy commander of a BMP in the battalion's reconnaissance unit.
After completing his second contract term, he returned to his family in Bila Tserkva (Whitechurch). However, the peaceful civilian life didn't last long because a year later, with the onset of the full-scale invasion, he was mobilized into the 72nd Separate Motorized Brigade and took part in the defense of Kyiv. Later, he was injured near Bakhmut and, after receiving treatment, was assigned to the 44th Separate Motorized Brigade, where he took command of the reconnaissance observation detachment.
The guys are in great need of a thermal sight to enhance their own safety and effectively carry out combat missions.
Roman dreams of the war ending and plans to pursue a career as an agriculturist. He wants to work in his profession on his native land and is doing everything possible to make his dream and the dreams of many of his brothers in arms come true as soon as possible.

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ABOUT US: Reporting Every Single Weekday Since Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion

"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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