[W:855]interesting images

[Rogue Valley]

There was a horrible fatal fire in a Odesa building that contained the Odesa College of Economics, a hotel and a restaurant business in which a 17-year-old girl perished.
26 additional people were hospitalized, many in serious condition.

Odesa fire update: A a 17-year-old female student and a woman were found dead in the rubble. 29 people were hospitalized and 14 remain missing.
A police criminal investigation has been launched regarding possible violations of fire safety codes.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Igor Kucheryavyi, who is a high-level member of Vladimir Putin's Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, was arrested by the Ukraine Security Service (SBU)
as he crossed into mainland Ukraine from Russia-occupied Crimea. Kucheryavyi said he wanted to obtain a Ukraine passport so he could enjoy visa free travel in Europe.
The chutzpah of these Russian officials is matched only by their stupidity.

 

[Rogue Valley]

An Azerbaijani company has acquired Vodaphone Ukraine, the largest wireless provider in the country.

 

[Rogue Valley]

To borrow a lyric from Credence Clearwater Revival, "that train just keeps a-chooglin' down the track". Somewhere in Kirovohrad oblast.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Today is 'Day of the Armed Forces' in Ukraine and is widely celebrated. No school, military parade's, meet and greet, etc.

 

[Rogue Valley]

A young son presents a flower bouquet to his policewoman mom.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Ukraine's Parliament adopted in the second reading a bill that abolishes the state monopoly on alcohol production. 284 MPs voted in favor. The relevant law will allow
private alcohol producers. At present, only the state-owned company Ukrspyrt can produce alcohol. Unfortunately, this measure, like agriculture reform, opens up new
possible avenues for corruption. I suppose though that it can't be avoided. The state must stop running monopolies and attract more foreign investment.

 

[Rogue Valley]

All Kyiv metro subway stations and trains are now active WiFi hotspots.

 

[Rogue Valley]

TIME Magazine cover.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Ukraine military sniper Elena Belozerskaya. You don't want to wind up in her cross-hairs.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Attending a meeting of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) employees.

 

[Rogue Valley]

A pheasant running near Krasnohorivka, eastern Ukraine.

 

[Rogue Valley]

The tall building is the Hotel Odesa located at the very end of the cruise ship dock. The hotel is owned 80% by the Odesa Port Authority and 20% by a private investor.
In keeping with Ukraine's reform goal of divestment and ending state monopolies, the Port Authority has put its 80% of the Odesa Hotel up for sale. It seems a large
cruise ship company is very interested in purchasing the entire hotel complex.

 

[Rogue Valley]

A large "No Capitulation" rally in Independence Square, Kyiv this morning. Tomorrow President Zelenskyy will be meeting in Paris with Putin, Merkel, and Macron. I expect all three to apply
pressure on Zelenskyy to make political/Constitutional concessions to Putin for in exchange for a Russian military withdrawal and peace in Donbas. Putin has said Crimea is not open for discussion.
I don't see how peace and normal relations can be achieved without the return of Crimea to Ukraine.

 

[Rogue Valley]

After a week in a coma, Artem Miroshnyshenko passed away on December 5. He was severely beaten in the occupied city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast for speaking Ukrainian.
I know of no corresponding instance where someone was beaten for speaking Russian in Ukraine.

 

[Rogue Valley]

National Police officer assigned to monitor the "No Capitulation" rally in Kyiv later today.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Winter's majesty has arrived in the Carpathians.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Ukraine's Elena Stetskiv (Luge / Winter Olympics 2014 and 2018) visiting Lake Placid, New York.

 

[Rogue Valley]

The town of Vilkovo in Odesa oblast. This area is known as Bessarabia and across the Prut River is Romania.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Soldier with her military K9.

 

[Rogue Valley]

More snow in Kyiv this morning.

 

[Rogue Valley]

United Nations General Assembly resolution on the demilitarization of the Crimean peninsula. It urges Russia to withdraw its forces from Crimea and end the occupation of Ukrainian territory.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Winter wonderland in Slavske, Skole Beskidy Range, Lviv Oblast.

 

[Rogue Valley]

The Adziogol Lighthouse in the Dnieper River delta about 19 miles west of the city of Kherson. Constructed in 1911, it is a vertical lattice hyperboloid structure of steel bars.
At a height of 211 feet, it is the sixteenth-tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world as well as the tallest in Ukraine.

 

[Rogue Valley]

28y.o. Dmytro Temny was KIA during heavy enemy fire in the war zone on December 7.
From Maly Buzukiv, Cherkasy Oblast.
Served as a junior sergeant in the 72nd Separate Motorized Brigade “Black Zaporozhtsi”.