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A post from simplicius’ blog about the drone attacks on Russian airfields with various videos linked.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/ukraines-unprecedented-operationUkraine keep effing Russia over, there is no doubt that Russia have no idea what Ukraine is up to. Very dangerous situation.
Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to Russia with underwater explosives
And earlier today Ukraine struck multiple electrical center causing outages just hours after the “peace”-talks.
–On another topic, kind a weird how the ukrainian elite/military embrace judaism no?
“Judaism” of the Ukrainian elites: a trick to retain power?
https://spzh.eu/en/zashhita-very/83891-judaism-of-the-ukrainian-elites-a-trick-to-retain-power
MoA has a piece referring to two interesting points. The first being the Russian offer to return 6000 bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers. This would require Ukraine to admit their deaths and pay out over 2 billion dollars of compensation to their families.
The second relates to the “kidnapping” of Ukrainian children by Russian forces. It turns out that when Ukraine handed over a list of “kidnapped” children there were 339 names on it.
“they earlier claimed that tens and hundreds of thousands of children had been brought over here. In fact, the actual number is 339 and we still need to check how many are in Russia, evacuated by our soldiers from under fire, and how many will eventually turn up in Europe, as experience shows…”
Blair and Major reassured Russia about Nato expansion
Two British prime ministers recognised Moscow’s fears over Nato expanding in eastern Europe – a major cause of the Ukraine war – files show.
MARK CURTIS
4 June 2025
https://www.declassifieduk.org/blair-and-major-reassured-russia-about-nato-expansion/Incredible weak response by Russia (in reaction to the unprecedented drone attacks by Ukraine). Why would Ukraine stop their actions just because Russia bombed some facilities i return? Actually just hours after the russian attack, Ukraine struck an oil site in Russia:
Drone attack set fire to industrial site in Russia’s Engels, governor says
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/drone-attack-set-fire-industrial-site-russias-engels-governor-says-2025-06-06/
Russia have no clue what they are up to. I do not know if it there is some groupthink going on or if Russia is simply too weak/incompetent to stop Ukraine. Perhaps Russia was also too naive believing that Trump actually had the interest to stop the war but obviously Trump is not interested on putting the brakes on the American arms and intelligence flowing to Ukraine and yesterday and he said that perhaps it is better for Russia and Ukraine to just keep fighting a bit more.On top of it, the ukrainian escalation have raised the fighting spirit of ukrainians:
Most Ukrainians will tolerate conflict ‘as long as necessary’ – survey
Support for continuing to fight has reportedly risen to 60%, despite earlier signs of fatigue, according to pollstershttps://swentr.site/russia/618742-ukraine-support-long-conflict-poll/
I see that Ukraine has suspended indefinitely the exchange of prisoners and bodies which was meant to happen this weekend as agreed in Istanbul.
Jack, what would you have Russia do in response? I’d leave it to the Russian administration to work out what’s best for Russia.
Tatyana et. al. – perhaps of interest to witness the madness in German media:
About the famous mass abduction of Ukrainian children – major German daily TAZ, which calls itself left, with a long interview with a crazy Ukrainian lawyer, Kateryna Rashevska.
“She holds a doctorate in international law and works as a legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv. Rashevska contributed to documents submitted to the International Criminal Court, which made possible the criminal order against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova (as well as Alexander Lukashenko) for the abduction of Ukrainian children.”
It´s an embarrassing interview.
German version
https://taz.de/Hoffnung-fuer-ukrainische-Kinder/!6089910/“There is a whole system of indoctrination”
Russia has kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children in order to raise them in a way that is loyal to Putin. Lawyer Kateryna Rashevska specializes in these cases.Interview by Jens Uthoff
“(…)
taz: Ms. Rashevska, Ukraine handed Russia a list of names of abducted children during the negotiations in Istanbul and declared their return a condition. How do you view this initiative?Kateryna Rashevska: I strongly support the return of all Ukrainian children before a ceasefire and peace agreement, because children are not prisoners of war or civilian detainees. This would also allow us to find out whether the Russians are truly capable of complying with agreements. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that they will agree to this at the moment.
taz: The Ombudsman for Children’s Rights in Ukraine has documented nearly 20,000 cases of child abductions to the Russian Federation, but the number is likely far higher. How are the children abducted?
Rashevska: It often happens like this: Russian parents come to the occupied territories, select children from boarding schools, and adopt them. These boarding schools were created by Russia; they house orphans or children whom the authorities have taken from their families on the grounds that they were mistreated there. The last case of such a deportation was documented by my organization in April 2025 of this year. So, the deportations continue. Legally, things get complicated at this point: Russia does not violate international humanitarian law when it deprives “bad” parents of their rights.
taz: Is it even possible to verify what exactly happened?
Rashevska: No. We don’t have access to the occupied territories to verify whether there have been any abductions or abuses, or whether Russia has used the deprivation of parental rights as a means of exerting pressure on the parents. The Russian Federation has no right to place such children in Russian families. Russia would be obligated to contact Ukraine, the child’s country of origin, to clarify the issue of the child’s continued placement. But of course, this doesn’t always happen.
taz: When did these abductions begin?
Rashevska: Already with the annexation of Crimea. According to the OSCE, over 1,000 children have been brought from there alone to Russia, to Siberia or the Far East, since 2014. These transports were concealed from the beginning by pretending to help or evacuate children. At the end of 2014, the first “Train of Hope” departed Crimea, attracting media attention, and twelve Ukrainian children were brought to Russia.
taz: What did Russia do to legitimize the acts?
Rashevska: For example, the Russian Federation decreed that all Ukrainian orphans from Crimea would become Russian orphans. And later began to extend this legislation to the other occupied territories. It’s important to note that extensive research has shown , among other things, that nine out of ten orphans from the occupied territories were not “biological orphans,” but social orphans. This means they have identifiable parents.
taz: What is Russia doing with the children?
Rashevska: For example, they place them with Russian families who want children. The foster families for children from Crimea were very carefully selected; for example, they ended up with families who had lost their own children and desperately wanted new ones. This is very similar to what the Nazis did in some Eastern European countries during World War II as part of the “Lebensborn” program. They kidnapped children there and offered them for adoption to staunch Nazis. They, too, often placed the children with families who treated them well. Putin is forcibly Russifying all these children, granting them Russian citizenship, which further complicates their possible return.
taz: What do the adoptive parents get from the state in return?
Rashevska: Adoptive parents receive a one-time and monthly payment. However, Putin now also awards the status of “Mother Hero” to adoptive mothers who raise ten or more children.
taz: All with the aim of shaping the children ideologically?
Rashevska: Yes. Putin wants to re-educate these children and young people and turn them into enemies of Ukraine. Initially, the foster parents were often teachers, but now they are increasingly representatives of the Russian army or other people expected to be loyal to the state. Putin also wants to wrest these children away from Ukraine: According to our data, boys aged 14 to 17 make up the largest group of children placed in Russian families after 2022. I suspect that Russia may not actually intend to send all of these boys into the Russian army upon reaching adulthood, but rather that they primarily want to deprive Ukraine of this opportunity.
taz: The Ukrainian authorities have registered 19,564 cases of child abductions in the occupied territories, of which 1,345 children have been able to return – thanks in part to organizations like Save Ukraine and SOS Children’s Villages . How are these figures calculated?
Rashevska: They come from various sources. In approximately 3,000 cases, parents or grandparents reported them missing and reported this to the Ukrainian police. Then there were also around 4,000 children who were orphans or grew up without parental care. The institutions they were in came under Russian control, and the Russians themselves reported that the children had been taken away. Sometimes children who were able to return know other children in Russia, can remember their first and last names, and then an investigation is carried out. And information from open sources is used to identify children, for example, photos from Ukrainian registers or other tools. It can be assumed that the actual number is much higher.
taz: You’re a lawyer at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv. What can you do for the abducted children?
Rashevska: Currently, all we can do is gather evidence. We have no access to Russian territory and the occupied territories. But we cannot resign ourselves or assume that these children will not return anyway. We need evidence so that we can open criminal proceedings at the national level in Ukraine and bring cases before the International Criminal Court.
taz: What evidence do you have and how do you secure it?
Rashevska: We cannot disclose some sources of evidence. However, we use publicly available information and have an extensive network of partners – journalists, activists, volunteers, and cyber specialists – who can provide us with data that the Russian side is trying to conceal. The Russians also sometimes document their actions themselves when they speak openly about the abduction of Ukrainian children and their Russification. All publicly available evidence is preserved. Likewise, all other information is immediately forwarded to national investigative authorities and international organizations.
taz: In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. Both are accused of “war crimes of unlawful deportation of the population.” Did this have any effect?
Rashevska: Yes. For example, there were children who were held in so-called re-education camps. Some were able to return. The Russians didn’t actively do anything about it—they even placed additional obstacles in the way of families who had the courage to travel to these camps in Crimea or Russia to bring their children back to Ukraine. The parents succeeded nonetheless. However, due to their scale, the deportations should be legally recognized as crimes against humanity. Because these were coordinated and state-supported deportations in many thousands.
taz: What role does Marija Lwowa-Belowa play?
Rashevska: A very active one. She bears more than just some of the responsibility. At one point, she even took in and fostered a boy from Mariupol, exploiting the children and using them for propaganda purposes. But Putin, of course, enables the practice of child abduction; as early as 2022, he simplified the acquisition of Russian citizenship for Ukrainian “children without parental care and legally incapacitated persons.” This makes the deportations possible.
taz: Has the strategy regarding child abductions changed over time?
Rashevska: What’s new is that the Putin regime has now organized an entire system of indoctrination in the occupied territories, encompassing the entire formal education system—schools, kindergartens, and universities. There’s no longer any need to detain children in re-education camps.
taz: Some children have been living with Russian parents for over ten years. How realistic is it that they will return?
Rashevska: Ukrainian society urgently needs to discuss this. Would it be acceptable to bring back the children deported in 2014? They’ve since integrated; they grew up as Russians. Bringing them back would likely be against the best interests of the children. This is a very sensitive issue. The answer to this question lies not only in the legal and moral sphere, but also in the sphere of Ukraine’s national interests and security. We can’t simply say that the children should be left to the Russians. However, we would have to acknowledge that some of our abducted children will remain in Russia forever.
(…)”
