June Multimedia Update

It's been two months, and so I'm a month overdue. It's also not quite what I was hoping to deliver back in May, but as most of you know, my mother died rather suddenly in the middle of May. Since then, I've been back in Pennsylvania diligently performing my duties as a son and estate executor.

Mykolaiv Regional State Administration (Миколаївська обласна державна адміністрація) building was hit (presumably) by a cruise missile in March 2022. Mykolaiv was never occupied like Kherson, but Russian troops had made it as far as Mykolaiv befre being turned around in March 2022. For months, it was battered by medium-range surface-to-surface missile fire until Kherson was liberated.

What we ended up with the video below is me talking about the latest news and how that plays into themes I've been hitting on for the last year and more. What I had hoped to do was give you a look at Kherson and cover some stories of people who lived throught the occupation. That's still a valid subject, and likely one I'll tackle when I return to Kherson this autumn.

What I can tell you about Kharson now is that it's quite a different place than most of Ukraine. The town sits on the river, which remains the main dividing line between Russians and Ukrainians in southern Ukraine. That may be changing soon, but when I was there in May, in-coming and out-going artillery rounds could be heard day and night. There was one moment, when I could hear the Russian shells from start to finish. It was my birthday, and I had dinner with a French reporter and a couple guys from an artillery company, and we were walking back to "barracks". There was the boom of the 152mm howitzer fire, the sound of the shell flying high overhead, and the explosion of it landing kilometres away from us.

Even within Kherson city, there are different degrees of normalcy. City life was much more quiet right up to the river, which is what you see in the video clips, but inland and near the rail station, more things were open. No part of the town was safe from artillery fire, but it was certainly out of range of snipers and mortars once you moved away from the river. There was also a much more rigid security protocol inside Kherson city and upon leaving. Friendly and professional, but much more strict. That reduced how much video and film I can share now.

I look forward to returning in the autumn, and I suspect by then it might follow the trend I've witnessed being in Mykolaiv first in the autumn of 2022 and then later this last spring, when the city really reopened to considerable normalcy.

Thanks again for all your support. Right now, your support is best felt in the political will of your nation. Learn how to explain the importance of this conflict to the future of the world and the West. If you want ideas on how to do that, I always have a few ideas on that.