Day 1616 War in Ukraine

Tunnels dug from Belarus into Lithuania.

Kyiv residents pile into shelters, anticipating a long night of Russian bombardment.

If Georgia goes for full dictatorship, freedom and democracy will lose and Russia, China and Iran will benefit. “The apparent goal is the creation of a one-party regime, devoid of checks and balances, with only a subservient 'opposition' to lend the government a veneer of pluralism.” The oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is driving the move to dictatorship.

The French Caesar anti-drone gun is really popular with troops.

Former VP Mike Pence thinks Trump is doing a good job supporting Ukraine. When Trump releases the $400 million that Congress has allocated to Ukraine, I'll believe him.

Trump thinks Zelenskyy can “end the war” with a snap of his fingers. Putin could, but Zelenskyy can't.

Ukraine attacking critical components in oil refineries. Makes it harder to get them back on line.

Ukrainian F-16 fighter is lost. Pilot is okay.

Details on former Defense Minister Federov who's trying to get his old position back.

Russia strikes a dairy plant. City of Kherson bombarding Europe's

Putin insists Russian economy is outpacing Europe's (Russia's economy is flat-lining).

More Wildberrie's warehouses destroyed.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/29/war-for-ukraine-day-1616-russia-launches-their-next-mass-missile-attack-as-zelenskyy-makes-an-unexpected-visit-to-lublin/

Day 1614 War in Ukraine

Bidzina is a Georgian billionaire, some say he's the country's shadow president. In the Georgian language, Sun and d*ck sound very similar, so the sign says “Bidzina Ivanishvili is called the Sun and the Sun of Suns.” Hey, it makes it difficult to arrest people!

Civilian toll for July: 377 killed and 2,129 injured.

New British Prime Minister and Zelenskyy getting a long splendidly.

Georgians can't protest in front of Parliament as that road is being repaired, so they've switched to the Tbilisi Municipal Assembly.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, former President of Lithuania, describes her meeting with Putin in 2010. Putin made it clear that the price of Russia oil was Lithuania's surrender. She said no thanks and promptly weaned her country off of Russian oil.

Not good. Ukrainian couple attacked in Poland because of their accent.

“Kazakhstan has become the main source of beryllium oxide ceramics for the Russian military-industrial complex.“

Ukraine, under constant attack, produces roughly 500k drones per month. US has difficulty producing 200k drones per YEAR!

More corruption reported in Ukraine. “The protests over Federov’s dismissal are not going away:”

Ukrainian civilians getting bombed.

Wildberries was 1.3 trillion rubles in debt last year. They had trouble paying back bank loans and now have lost 20% of their warehouse space.

“Putin has now opened the path to 1990s hyperinflation in Russia.”

Russia presents film on “Hitler the liberator.”

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/27/war-for-ukraine-day-1614-a-brief-monday-night-update/

Day 1613 war in Ukraine

Shortly before the 2024 election, Melania Trump came out as pro-choice. I immediately concluded that Melania clearly had zero influence on her husband's politics as her husband, Donald Trump, had absolutely nothing negative to say about the overturning of Roe v Wade. Apparently though, her being pro-choice had a small influence on the electorate as the Trump Administration is trying the same ploy with Laura Loomer and Ukraine. Loomer comes out as pro-Ukraine, but there's no sign that Trump has changed his view at all.

Wildberries carries military as well as civilian goods, thereby making them vulnerable to Ukrainians military strikes. Not much they can do about that.

Georgia citizens arrested for holding up signs that ask the question “Is Bidzina a d*ck?” Bidzina is the billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and is the shadow president of Georgia. .

Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Putin has been waging hybrid war against the West for over decade.”

Romania shoots down a drone that had penetrated its airspace.

“Putin's chief banker” confirms that Ukraine has had a devastating effect on Russia's economy.

Russian generals are trying desperately to show that yes, they've taken the territories they've claimed to have taken.

Ukrainian still marching on behalf of Federov, the former Defense Minister who is trying to get that job back.

Russia burns several building in Kyiv. A dog was wounded, but he'll recover. Numerous gas stations and a grocery store hit. Ukrainian bulk carrier sunk.

Lots of Russian military targets hit and burned.

Humor break - “Russia will seek compensation from Europe for the damages suffered from the war with Ukraine” Uh, yeah. Lots of luck with that!

Ukraine hits target 2k km from the front.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/26/war-for-ukraine-day-1613-what-a-week/

Day 1609 War in Ukraine

Wildberries, sort of like the US Amazon, carries both military and civilian goods, making it a dual-use facility and thereby open to “sanctions” (Ukrainians interpret the word in cases like this to mean drone bombardment) from Ukrainian drones. Three of the top ten warehouses have been destroyed and two damaged.

Huh. Putin says he'll “no longer” abandon any territory in exchange for peace. Not at all sure he was EVER willing to do that! He continues to refer to his Anchorage meeting with Trump, but as no agreements from that meeting were ever published, it's all a matter of Putin's word against Trumps.

SecState Rubio admits "The war in Ukraine has impeded the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other topics." The US and Russia are anxious to do business deals with each other, but Ukraine is a complicating factor.

Oppression continues for Georgia.

Trump threatens to commit the war crime of destroying targets that will cause a lot of collateral damage.

SecDef Hegeth admits that Russia and China are both helping Iran to opposed both the US and Israel
Good grief! Now the Trump Administration wants to start a war with Mali?

Representative McBride asks really good questions of UN Ambassador Waltz. Has the Trump peace-making strategy worked better under Trump than under Biden? Biden recognized the futility of trying to make peace with the stakes being so high and the participants not being exhausted yet.

Thought the case of Mykhailo Fedorov had been resolved, but Ukrainians are still protesting.

Passenger train hit by Russian drone.

Since July 6^th, 196 Russian sea-going vessels hit in the Black and Azov Seas.

Crimean airfield that launches Shahed drones taking lots of damage.

Wildberries warehouses were processing up to 20 million orders a day. They've now lost 13% of their capacity.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/22/war-for-ukraine-day-1609-a-brief-wednesday-night-update/

 

Day 1605 War in Ukraine

 Ukraine hasn't had an election since the Russian full-scale invasion, but that doesn't mean the people don't have democratic control. Zelenskyy tries to fire Mykhailo Federove and the Ukrainian people push back hard! The protest is in Day Four now. Zelenskyy addresses the problem by assuring people that he's working to find a solution.

A Russian warehouse, cited by right-wing pundits on Xitter as equivalent to our own Amazon, was hit by Ukrainian drones. Blogger shows that the warehouse served military purposes and was thus a legitimate bombing target.

Knowing that Ukrainians are short of Patriot missiles with which they can hit Russian ballistic missiles, Russia launches up to 36 missiles.

The ceiling of a Metro station in Kyiv cracks a bit and showers debris below.

Blogger says Russians will never formally evacuate Crimea as that would tell the world that Russia is losing. Also, if Russia has to import diesel and car gasoline, that's their only real source of income.

Georgians march in drenching rain for Day 598 of protest.

“France, Germany, and the UK will explore deep precision strike cooperation” up to 2,500km deep into Russia. Trump may not like that, but Europe's going to do that anyway.

US systems are WAY behind Ukrainian systems! “We often invite Ukrainians to be our 'red team' or our enemy in training because they're really talented and we learn a lot from them.”

Damage to Russian vessels: “Total since July 6: 172 vessels hit in 13 days, with 118 in the Sea of Azov and 54 in the Black Sea.”

Various civilian buildings an an amusement park in Ukraine are hit.

Burning in Moscow region is so bad, the smoke is blocking out the sun!

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/18/war-for-ukraine-day-1605-a-brief-saturday-night-update/

Dat 1595 War in Ukraine

 An apparently half-awake Trump sluggishly plods by the animated Italian Prime Minister Meloni. The blogger reproduces a very lengthy excerpt from a Wall St. Journal piece about Europe's relationship with Trump. For 10 paragraphs it describes how Europeans and Canada are dealing with him. The 11^th paragraph has a Trump spokesperson describing the president. Wow! Clearly, the description given is of a completely fictional character who in no way resembles the real person. Later on, the blogger reproduces pieces where Trump confuses Zelenskyy with Putin, shows that he's terrified to place himself in any physical danger (Biden traveled to Ukraine during the war) and refers to the "Islamic Republic of Japan." Again, he and his portrayal by his spokesperson have nothing in common.

Ukraine shoots down 139 out of 169 drones. Unfortunately, all of the missiles made it through.

Georgians distribute a newspaper based on the letters of prisoners.

Georgia has been requested by the Hague to make free and fair elections available to Georgian citizens.

Interesting how many European politicians were formerly associate with banks.

Blogger feels the US will be “weaker and poorer and less secure” after Trump leaves office.

Makes sense: “Ukrainian defense industry has grown 54-fold since start of full-scale war.”

Ukraine is really clearing the Black and Azov Seas of Russian vessels.

Russians hit more civilian buildings, including a Philip Morris warehouse. “A cigarette warehouse - what a powerful strategic target for the Russians.“

Southern Ukraine is a hunting ground for Russian logistics vehicles.

Russia bans exporting diesel fuel, this means that Ukraine has deprived Russia of many millions of tons of diesel fuel.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/08/war-for-ukraine-day-1595-nato-summit/

Day 1589 War in Ukraine

Shahed drone right after being hit with anti-aircraft fire. It crashed a few seconds later.

Last night, Ukraine was hit with 570 aerial weapons. 524 knocked down, but the ones that landed did a lot of damage. Ukraine is short of Patriot interceptor missiles and has put out the call to nearly 40 nations to please supply whatever they can.

The UN Human Rights Council receives the High Commissioner’s report on Georgia.

The most serious consequence of Trump's war of choice against Iran is that Europe only has so much time to get its heating oil stocks up the levels needed to keep all of its citizens warm this winter. One of the problems is that Ukraine has considered heating oil supplies to be a matter of national security whereas Europe has seen it as a matter best handled by the free market. Blogger adds: “Trump’s ignorance and incompetence is likely to have weakened Europe, which, of course, only benefits Putin.”

Extensive list of civilian targets struck by Russia last night.

“An associate professor at a leading military academy turned out to be an agent of Russian military intelligence.”

Ukraine bombs numerous military targets.

Russians review possible Ukrainian amphibious invasion of Crimea.

Russians battle each other over scarce gasoline supplies. Lines to put a few liters of gasoline into one's car stretch for 4.3km and can take well over 24 hours to wait in.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/07/02/war-for-ukraine-day-1589-the-aftermath/