Bit of an update on my in-laws situation in Kozacha Lopan, Kharkiv Oblast.
Spoiler!
For the past ~5 months my wife's family has been trapped in their village of Kozacha Lopan, north of Kharkiv city, right on the UA/RU border. My wife and her cousin were able to escape in March but unfortunately their family has been trapped since. Their safety has been a source of extreme stress for us, especially for my wife. Their village is currently a Russian stronghold along the T2117 and E105 highways, which are major supply lines towards Kharkiv city and the rest of the Oblast towards Izyum.
People have been held their against their will and told they are being used as human shield so the UA army does not attack Russian positions as hard as they want. As true as that is, the UA army still does attack, essentially putting the civilians in the middle. Many people in the village have been killed. My wife's count of people she knows dead is now at 21 . They were constantly told that evacuations will never happen.
We got a phone call about 2am this morning from her step-dad. Finally...finally the 3 women in the family were able to get on an evacuation bus! They were transported to the Russian border. Once they crossed over, they were met by family members who were able to bring them to their house. I can't explain the logistics quite yet of how the evacuations were allowed to happen due to the safety concerns of those involved and who still remain. But let's just say that there are still good people in Russia who are doing what they can to support those who are effected by this senseless war and thanks to those great individuals, they made this happen.
Unfortunately my FIL had to stay behind, as they were only evacuating women and children. Supposedly there were hundreds of people trying to get on a small single bus that holds 20 people. My MIL, wife's aunt and wife's grandmother were part of those lucky 20 who got on. As the bus was driving away, it was shelled on 2 separate occasions. We aren't sure who was doing the shelling, as the UAs have been hitting that area hard recently. Very well also could have been a false-flag by the Russians. In fact, that has been my main worry about trying to get the family on a bus. We all know how Russians treat evacuations corridors and how "respectful" they are of humanitarian corridors. Would not surprise me one bit if it was them shooting at the bus.
After a terrifying bus ride, they unloaded at the UA/RU border. Another concern has been about UA refugees being forced to go to filtration camps once they enter Russia. This has happened to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have been kidnapped from other occupied regions and forced to go to Russia and live in these camps. Obviously we don't want that to happen and did a lot of research prior to this evacuation. Obviously we want the family to get to safety. But definitely don't want them living in a camp for the next decade.
We learned from various sources that, at least at this particular border crossing, people who flee as refugees but have nowhere to go are forced to these camps. They won't let people just enter Russia and wander around if they have no one to stay with. However, if you have family in Russia and can prove they will take you in, they will let you go free into the country to get to them. My wife had called her cousin in Russia to confirm with him they could take the family in and to be prepared if Russian authorities called him. As soon as my wife's family were processed, the border guard called the family member to confirm. Once it was confirmed, they were allowed into Russia. They were met by another family member who picked them up and drove them to their safe location. Happy to say, 3 of them are safe and sound!
Ultimately their journey isn't over yet, as their plan is to eventually get to Gdansk, Poland where I used to live and stay with family there. That's a whole other journey. But the priority was to get them out of harm's way in their village and thankfully they were able to do so.
As mentioned, step dad had to stay behind and we still hope/pray the best for him. But at least we take solace in the fact that he no longer has to worry about the women who were with him, and that the supplies he has can now be solely for him and not split 4 ways.
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Russia Says It’s Losing Because Ukraine Has Experimental Mutant Troops Created in Secret Biolabs
Quote:
"And those performance enhancing drugs that they are still given in order to completely neutralize the last traces of human consciousness and turn them into the most cruel and deadly monsters also confirm this," she claimed.
I remember being a kid and watching Motoring 90-something on TSN and they were test driving a Lada and the dashboard fell off.
I've driven a Lada SUV. It was the weirdest situation. Probably about 1996.
My dad loved reading Auto Trader and was always buying weird vehicles. Some dude had won a Lada, so it was brand new (something like 150 kms on the odometer and the paint was already coming off the Lada logo lol). My dad got a smokin' deal because the seller DGAF and nobody really wanted a tan Lada. I think my dad paid like $5k for the thing. He had me take it to a tire shop to put 31" mud tires on it so it actually looked extra hilarious and kind of bad ass in a Lada sort of way. It was gutless, and the 31" tires made it even moreso, but they did the trick and we sold the thing and made a couple grand because it looked way cooler than it did with the stock tires.
Anyway, total POS, but charming and neat in a super basic way.
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In Kherson, Ukr has reportedly surrounded a garrison of Russians in a town. I’m a bit suspicious of the reports of 2,000 trapped, but apparently they’ve asked for a green corridor to retreat through.
In Kherson, Ukr has reportedly surrounded a garrison of Russians in a town. I’m a bit suspicious of the reports of 2,000 trapped, but apparently they’ve asked for a green corridor to retreat through.
I don't know the economics of the local or world grain supply and demand but I wonder if Russia is worried about feeding its own population given sanctions and increasing food prices... hence this move.
I don't know the economics of the local or world grain supply and demand but I wonder if Russia is worried about feeding its own population given sanctions and increasing food prices... hence this move.
I found it interesting that it was a "mirror" deal, where the Ukrainians are promising not to attack Russian commercial ships in the black sea. Could be that Russia wants to ensure safe passage of its own goods too, as they are likely very short on cash.
Any Russian actions seem suspicious at this point, but getting that grain out of Ukraine will certainly help a lot of people.
They should be destroyed. They aren't civilians; they are a hostile force actively trying to kill Ukrainians and seize their land. Destroy them.
they should be taken prisoner and used as bargaining chips, but not before they are marched down a road looking dejected and beaten in a recreation of the defeat of the 6th army in '43
Last edited by afc wimbledon; 07-22-2022 at 02:26 PM.
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A deal with Russia is about as reliable as a piece of used toilet paper. This agreement will go about as smoothly as the previous humanitarian corridors have gone.
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they should be taken prisoner and used as bargaining chips, but not before they are marched down a road looking dejected and beaten in a recreation of the defeat of the 6th army in '43
Russians don’t care about their soldiers. Not much of a bargaining chip.
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<-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
. They were constantly told that evacuations will never happen.
