Voice of Ukraine

From Jamie Peipon: In the picture is Liubov Plaksiuk. She is a Lieutenant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is the first woman ever to command an artillery unit in the Ukrainian army. She’s pictured with the damage that her unit has inflicted on russian forces. While she is currently doing this job (and obviously doing it well), she used to be a school teacher. She taught history in a secondary school before enlisting to defend her country. Each person in this fight has a story to tell about their former life and their current life. Teachers, HR workers, hospitality workers, IT professionals, moms, and business owners are now lieutenants, captains, majors, sergeants, or volunteers. It’s amazing how quickly they’ve adapted.

The weather has played an interesting role of late. The low temperatures in Ukraine have mostly remained above freezing. This is good news when it comes to heating homes. Warmer temperatures mean less fuel is needed. On the front lines, however, this has meant that there’s just mud everywhere. This is making it difficult for Ukraine to make progress in their counterattack.

Officially, russia announced that they have completed their mobilization. They claim to have called up around 300,000 troops. Most reports seem to be indicating that they’re doing their best to set up long-term defenses. It doesn’t seem likely that they’ll have enough trained soldiers to be organized enough to take any ground again for some time. Many of their elite units no longer exist. It has been publicly confirmed that twenty-one russian paratroopers have been awarded the “hero of russia” award during this war. Eighteen of them have received it posthumously. This complicates things for them as russia’s standard practice is for new soldiers to get the majority of their training in the field. With the fresh batch of mobilized soldiers, this means that the remaining “professional” soldiers that russia has are bogged down with babysitting. Of course, they do traditionally have different ways of dealing with shaky soldiers. Some reports say that russian forces have set up secondary lines so that they can shoot anyone who attempts to desert or retreat.

Today, the Pentagon announced the details of another $275 million support package for Ukraine. There won’t be new weapons included in this round, but they will get a bunch of Humvees and a whole lot of ammo for the weapons they already have.

Lastly, just this evening news has come out that the russian forces in Kherson have given current residents two days to evacuate before they begin forcing deportation. The reports on that front continue to be varied and conflicting. Many continue to say that russia is still working on retreating, but others are saying they’re setting up for an urban battle in Kherson. Ukraine is eager to kick the occupiers out, but thankfully, it still seems like they’re doing their best to be patient and wise when it comes to planning. We’re all hoping they’re setting themselves up for success.

“Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will return the evil to my enemies;
in your faithfulness put an end to them.”