Day 1429 War in Uraine

Taking shelter in a Metro station. I'm guessing just about every household has a package of things to survive on in the subway that they can just grab immediately.

Blogger examines Trump's strategy, finding that Trump is a very impulsive person who doesn't think anything through beforehand. .

Russian court admits that Ukraine sunk the Moskva with many casualties. They try charging Ukraine $29 million for it.

Georgia profits by helping Russia, Iran and China avoid sanctions. They're now isolated as a result. Georgia isn't busting all protesters, they're selective about it. But those who get busted are “standing on the sidewalk.”

Details on how Georgia keeps Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers running.

Russia and Azerbaijan are running propaganda networks together, Russia to oppose the West, Azerbaijan to fight Armenia.

Denmark's plans to defend Greenland against a US invasion are apparently on hold for now. Forces will stand by anyway.

Canada considers the US to be more of a threat than Russia and China.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent eggs on Alberta to secede from Canada. Blogger assess potential National Security plan. Other commenters have observations. It's pretty much just a copy of past NDS's.

Large-scale aerial attack begins.

Putin's goals have not changed since the beginning of the full-scale war.

“Russian export income is collapsing dramatically“ Sales are also dropping.

Blackout in Murmansk, Russia.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/23/war-for-ukraine-day-1429-russian-war-ship-go-fuck-yourself/

Day 1427 War in Ukaine

Resident of Kharkiv dances on the frozen river.

Trump forgets that the US called for assistance after 9-11 and ALL of our NATO allies showed up! He also confuses Iceland with Greenland, repeatedly! Europeans call him “Daddy?!?!” The man is seriously delusional! Trump claims he won't use military force in Greenland. He said the same thing about Venezuela! Blogger: “Once again there’s no deal. There’s not a concept of a deal.”

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, remarks that the old order is dead and everyone had better get used to that.

Georgians and Iranians protest together.

Georgia is backsliding on liberties. That's costing them.

On this date in 1932, the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Finland. Seven years later, they invaded.

Canada makes military plans to resist US invasion. Recall, please, that Trump referred to them as our “51^st state.” They do not intend brigade to brigade tank battles, They plan to instead copy what Afghan rebels did with “ambushes, sabotage, drone warfare or hit-and-run tactics.”

Envoy Witkoff fails to note that destroying power plants in wintertime is a war crime because civilians freeze without power to their homes.

Trump criticizes both Putin and Zelenskyy for failing to make a deal. Oh yeah. THAT'S really going to encourage them to make peace!

Super-duper smart Russian soldier takes shelter in a building filled with red barrels. Great big explosion!

“Ukrainian railway emergency repair teams from across the country” gather In Kyiv to get power back to frozen homes.

Hoo wee! “Russia's National Wealth Fund sold over 70% of its gold to fund the war since 2022, and it's still dropping.”
Putin makes snarky comment about the sale of Alaska vs Greenland.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/21/war-for-ukraine-day-1427-carney-gives-a-stemwinder-while-trump-takes-a-dump/

 

Day 1423 War in Ukraine

Another way to deal with -15C temperatures, dance party!

We’ve seen recently that Ukraine has been hitting civilian power plants and other sources for heating. This is justified with the “Just War” theory, a theory that holds that you can strike in the way that your opponent does in order to get him to stop doing that.

Blogger describes Trump’s usual approach to peace negotiations in Ukraine and it’s one that just keeps repeating because he doesn’t wan to punish his good buddy Putin.

Georgian propagandists come up with a combination story involving Georgian protesters, Iranians and the German ambassador.

Italian authorities seize ship containing iron briquettes that they suspect was headed for Russia.

Greenlanders make their feelings about Trump’s plans to acquire Greenland known. They take to the streets to protest.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen takes Greenlands side.

A united West may very well be dead.

A visit to a place where Ukrainian children can express themselves in art.

Ukrainian energy workers are working 24/7 to restore electricity.

Dangerously, Russia plans to hit components of nuclear plants.

More radars in occupied Crimea taken out.

As temperatures hit -29C in Moscow, Ukraine destroys heating equipment for civilians.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/17/war-for-ukraine-day-1423-only-efficient-effective-reciprocity-will-be-effective/

 

Day 1414 War in Ukraine

 

Georgian policeman photographs people in crowd so they can be busted later.

Kate from Kharkiv is watching what's happening in the US with the murder of Renee Good and it reminds her of bad times in Ukraine's history.

Darth Putin understands force and how it's used. Others should take heed.

Should the US have reacted to the Russian attack on Georgia in 2008? Absolutely. Could it have? Ehh, the younger George Bush had pretty much used up all of his credibility by then. People were highly suspicious of him getting the US into yet ANOTHER war!

The government of Iran has nationalized Russia's oil extraction operations.

Lithuania is prepared to send troops to maintain the peace after peace in Ukraine has been reached.

One of the problems with being a dictator is that people only want to bring you good news! This can lead to errors.

Britain delivers large group of anti-aircraft systems.

Maxim machine guns take down a Shahed drone.

Russia's using Starlink systems on horseback.

Great damage being done to Ukrainian civilians.

Russian oil sales doing VERY poorly! They're selling below cost and people STILL avoid buying it!

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/08/war-for-ukraine-day-1414-a-brief-thursday-night-update/

Day 1412 War in Ukraine

I can sort of, kind of understand from the bully's point of view, that people who are foolish deserve some sort of punishment, but yeesh! Gazeta Wyborcza wasn't just smacked around a bit, he was tortured to death!

Diplomatically, allies of Ukraine were concerned with security protocols for making sure the war doesn't just re-start after Russia is rested up.

France and Britain have agreed to send troops after agreement is signed. If there's no “tripwire” force in place, the Budapest Memorandum shows the dangers of just words.

Tatarigami recommends that Europe move troops to Greenland to deter Trump pulling off another Venezuela. Avoiding confrontation and war didn't work very well after the Russians invaded Crimea. In that case “peace” only lasted eight years.

Russian hybrid warfare is increasing against Finland.

In a district in Berlin, a power facility was set on fire. Repairs will take a while longer. Ukraine set up a “'Point of Resilience' in Berlin, a place where people can warm up, charge their devices, and have hot tea “

Very lengthy piece makes a good point, that Europe probably shouldn't just take Ukrainian drone tactics wholesale. Drones aren't quite the game-changer that tanks were as they can't take and hold territory, but we'll see.

Without technology imported from the West, Russian Arctic ports are getting hard to maintain.

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/06/war-for-ukraine-day-1412-the-coalition-of-the-willing-plus-jared/

 

Day 1411 War in Ukraine

Undersea cable in the Baltic Sea form a fairly extensive network. It's really hard to defend all of that from ships dragging their anchors.

Heh! The whole Moscow region is under a “no-fly” regime installed by Ukraine.

Very interesting to see the Russian reaction to Trump's invasion of Venezuela. Their idea is “Hey, let's reintroduce the old 19^th century idea of 'spheres of influence' where the US can do as it pleases in Latin America while Russia does what it pleases in the area that the old Soviet Union used to occupy!”

“Vatnik” is an Eastern Europe term meaning “supporter of Russian imperialism” usually against democratically-minded citizens of Eastern Europe and NATO. The difference between vatniks and MAGA? Ehh, not much. The blogger estimates the invasion of Greenland will come shortly before the US midterm election.

Polish leaders conclude that a defeat of Russia is the only route to peace.

Latest Ukrainian drone uses 97% Ukrainian parts.

Ukraine didn't fall the way Venezuela did because the Commander in Chief of the Army had a few hours of advance notice. Russia met a fully alerted and prepared force.

The story of how Kyrylo Budanov ended up where he is today.

Ukrainian F-16 pilots had to adapt their tactics to meet local conditions by flying much lower than Americans had trained them to. The estimated value of targets hit is about $20 billion.

Russia uses ballistic missiles on infrastructure.

Russians attack an American-owned sunflower oil plant. Kate from Kharkiv: “American businesses are security guarantee, they said.”

https://balloon-juice.com/2026/01/05/war-for-ukraine-day-1411-ukraine-has-finally-denied-flight-to-the-russians-over-moscow/

 

Protest against War with Venezuela!

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Rally opposed to war in Venezuela.

The invasion began Saturday night (January 2nd). By all appearances, the "kinetic phase" is now over. That is the actual firings of guns and the movements of troops.

How long will the occupation phase last? Ehh, good question. There are a few conflicting reports on that.

 

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