On this video: war in Ukraine. How Russia's 35-mile armoured convoy ended in failure.
Kurama
(Japan)
POETS WITNESSING
Three days into.
‘Orcs’ invasion of Ukraine.
It was spotted by a satellite.
In the north of the country.
The very same morning.
In Bucha just outside Kyiv.
A 67-year-old was standing.
Outside his local supermarket.
Then a huge 10-mile line.
Of armoured vehicles.
More than a hundred ‘orcs’ military vehicles.
Rolled into town.
Both he and the satellite were witnesses.
To a key part of ‘the One’’s plan.
For a quick and overwhelming victory.
They were also witnesses to its failure.
The western media called.
It a convoy.
In reality, it was a traffic jam.
And a major tactical blunder.
Forty-eight hours after.
That first satellite photograph.
On 28 February 2022.
It had grown to a colossal 35 miles long.
The vehicles were stalled for weeks.
Then finally they retreated.
And seemingly disappeared overnight.
What happened?
By the time it had grown as long as 35 miles.
The column included up to 1,000 tanks.
2,400 mechanised infantry vehicles.
And 10,000 personnel.
As well as dozens of supply trucks.
Carrying food, fuel, oil and ammunition.
Why did such a massive force.
Fail to reach Kyiv?
Stalled north of Kyiv.
And running out of food and fuel.
‘Orcs’ had also underestimated.
Their adversary.
Both he and the satellite were witnesses.
To a key part of ‘the One’’s plan.
For a quick and overwhelming victory.
They were also witnesses to its failure.
The western media called.
It a convoy.
In reality, it was a traffic jam.
And a major tactical blunder.
For three days he and his fellow volunteers.
The majority of them pensioners.
Had been preparing for the arrival.
Of the convoy in their hometown of Bucha.
Armed with one machine gun.
Between the 12 of them.
They took down all the road signs.
Built checkpoints.
And they prepared.
Hundreds of petrol bombs.
Until finally, on Sunday morning.
The ‘orcs’ tanks rolled into town.
For nearly 30 minutes.
He and his grassroots unit.
Battered the tanks.
With what little they had.
“We set two of the vehicles on fire.
And slowed down the whole convoy,” he says.
But then came the retaliation.
A 30-year-old, his fellow volunteer says.
“When they saw us throwing bottles.
They opened fire.”
“I was a barman.
I didn't have any military training.”
By the end of that half hour.
Every one of his party.
Had been shot.
And evacuated to hospital.
But even from the sick bay.
He kept on fighting.
Receiving and cross-checking sightings of the convoy.
From civilians all over the Kyiv region.
And calling them in to the ‘elves’ authorities.
On the other end of the line was.
23-year-old local deputy governor.
For Irpin.
Lawyer and councillor by day.
He searches for ‘orcs’ posts.
On social media by night.
He didn't sleep for three days.
“My colleague and I were manning.
The hotline at the council office.
Taking calls about the column.
As well as saboteurs.”
“People who were painting marks.
On the ground.
For the convoy.
To follow.”
By day a councillor.
By night he is also.
An open source intelligence expert.
Co-founder of the highly regarded website.
He pools together social media.
And intelligence reports.
He geolocates them.
Then reposts them on his website.
“On their way to Kyiv.
‘Orcs’ were posting videos on social media.
We reposted the videos.
To expose their movements.”
“They were just showing off.
But in doing so.
They got busted.”
And he continues.
Most important.
During the assault on Kyiv.
Was the sense of.
A united Ukraine.
“Everyone was doing something.
I admit it was very hectic.
In those first few days.
But there were veterans helping civilians.”
In towns and villages.
All across the region.
Hundreds of attacks took place.
Against the convoy.
From civilians armed with.
Homemade weapons.
To mechanised infantry and artillery.
“Everyone wanted to defend their city.”
Both he and the satellite were witnesses.
To a key part of ‘the One’’s plan.
For a quick and overwhelming victory.
They were also witnesses to its failure.
The western media called.
It a convoy.
In reality, it was a traffic jam.
And a major tactical blunder.
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
A POET IN CHORNOBYL
The story starts.
On the first day of the war.
In the north of Ukraine.
At its border with Belarus.
Stepping outside.
For his first cigarette of the day.
A 23-year-old saw a flurry.
Of bright lights in the night sky.
“I remember watching the lights.
Emerge from the whole forest.
At first I thought.
They were car headlights.”
“But then I realized.
They were Grads.
They were firing at us.”
He is from Ukraine's 80th Air Assault Brigade.
Camped deep within the forest.
Of the Chornobyl exclusion zone.
His unit was on patrol.
When the first ‘orcs’ vehicles crossed into Ukraine.
“The whole earth was shaking.
Have you ever been in a tank?
There's no other sound like it.
It's a powerful thing.”
As planned in the event of any attack.
He and the rest of the 80th brigade.
Blew up the bridge connecting Chornobyl.
To the next big town, Ivankiv.
‘Orcs’ would be forced to waste time.
Building a replacement pontoon bridge.
Giving him and his unit time.
To pull back to Kyiv.
“At first I was surprised.
Why didn't we stop them there in Chornobyl?
But we needed to learn about our enemy.
So that's what we did.”
This close to the Belarus border.
‘Elves’ could not afford to.
Open fire and.
Risk starting another conflict.
Their priority was to first.
Understand ‘orcs’ battle plan.
Before sending their troops.
Into the line of fire.
What he saw were the first vehicles.
Of what would become the convoy.
The 35 mile-long column was.
In fact 10 separate ‘orcs’ tactical battalion units.
Enter Ukraine from Belarus.
Overthrow Ukraine's capital city.
And remove the government.
In military terms: a decapitation attack.
But they lacked food, fuel and maps.
Without proper communication tools.
They had insufficient ammunition.
Even ill-prepared for the winter weather.
Kitted out with the wrong tyres.
And surrounded by snow.
‘Orcs’ drove straight.
Into a mud bath.
Civilians close to Ivankiv.
Describe ‘orcs’ soldiers telling.
‘Elves’ farmers to help.
Pull their tanks out of the sludge.
Unable to progress.
The ‘orcs’ vehicles needed to.
Divert to paved roads.
In order to avoid soft ground.
But with limited communication.
Between the battalions.
They almost immediately converged into.
One almighty traffic jam.
By avoiding travelling across fields.
Vehicles ended up.
On most of the main roads.
North of Kyiv.
“‘Orcs’ were all carrying.
Large metal boxes.
Marked ‘secret’.
We seized one during an ambush.”
“We found their maps.
Marked with their entire route.
After that we knew.
Their whole strategy.”
One successful tactic.
By the ‘elves’ resistance was to blow up.
Bridges and dams ahead of the convoy.
Thus forcing ‘orcs’ to reroute.
Reliant on old maps.
And with limited communications.
The ‘orcs’ units frequently became.
Paralysed by indecision.
Several satellite images show.
The ‘orcs’ vehicles literally.
Driving round and around.
In circles.
A pensioner from Demydiv points.
On the map to where she saw the convoy.
Circling after a bridge was destroyed.
Stopping their advance.
Under pressure from.
‘Elves’ air strikes and artillery.
The ‘orcs’ convoy was finally brought to.
A standstill just outside of Kyiv's city boundary.
For thousands of civilians.
Living close to.
The stalled troops.
The experience was horrendous.
“They robbed everything from everywhere.
They emptied the shops.
They also used civilians.
As human shields.”
After four long weeks.
The ‘orcs’ finally started to withdraw.
Two of the largest remaining battalions.
Were defeated close to Hostomel airport.
Another 370 tented army trucks.
Seemingly abandoned.
In Zdvizhivka village.
Were destroyed by artillery.
The ‘elves’ military kept on pushing them back.
Until 19 March.
After which ‘orcs’ began to retreat.
From Kyiv Oblast.
But still watching.
Via reconnaissance drones.
Close to the border.
Are the ‘elves’ recruits.
“I'll always remember.
That night in Chernobyl.
When I went out.
To smoke with my friend.”
“But by the time I'd finished.
My cigarette the war had started.
My friend and I have this dream.
That we will go on shift.”
“Just like we did that day.
And as we smoke another cigarette.
We will hear that the war has ended.
And that we won.”
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Painting by Andriy Usik.
Please read the original story:
How Russia's 35-mile armoured convoy ended in failure — BBC News
Read more:
"Aware of a poet?
Aware of a poet?
A poet of Cossack broods over the land.
Not noting a bullet.
Not noting a bullet.
You see a poet of Cossack in Borodyanka."
(Kurama)
.jpg)
"Коли закінчиться війна,Я хочу тата обійняти,
Сказати сонячні слова
І повести його до хати,
Ти – наш Герой! Тепер щодня
Я буду дякувати Богу
За мирне небо, за життя,
Всім, хто здобув нам ПЕРЕМОГУ!"
Думки українських поетів про рідну країну, їхні відчуття до української землі і нашого народу — все це юні читачі зможуть знайти в представленій добірці віршів про Україну від Ганни Черінь, Юрка Шкрумеляка, Наталки Талиманчук, Іванни Савицької, Уляни Кравченко, Яни Яковенко, Василя Симоненка, Івана Франка, Володимира Сосюри, Катерини Перелісної, Богдана-Ігоря Антонича, Марійки Підгірянки, Миколи Чернявського, Володимира Сіренка, Іванни Блажкевич, Грицька Бойка, Миколи Вінграновського, Платона Воронька, Наталі Забіли, Анатолія Камінчука, Анатолія Качана, Володимира Коломійця, Тамари Коломієць, Ліни Костенко, Андрія Малишка, Андрія М’ястківського, Івана Неходи, Бориса Олійника, Дмитра Павличка, Максима Рильського, Вадима Скомаровського, Сосюра Володимир, Павла Тичини, Петра Осадчука, Варвари Гринько та інших відомих українських поетів.
