Good morning to readers, Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
There’s a Ukrainian Christmas carol you hear every year without knowing it.
‘Shchedryk’, known in the US as ‘Carol of the Bells’, is deeply personal to Maria, who began learning Ukrainian by reading its lyrics...
For her, just like thousands of Ukrainian-Americans, the beloved #Christmas hit embodies ancestral pride, inseparable from deep-rooted historical trauma.
‘Schedryk’ is a carol that embodies Ukraine's soft power influence in the world.
The Ukrainian version has a title that roughly translates to ‘Bountiful Evening’, and takes the listener to the Ukrainian countryside.
There a bird flies into a master’s house and tells him to look with wonder at his newborn lambs and beautiful wife.
In 1906, Maria’s Ukrainian great-grandmother Kateryna Ivanuik, aged six, arrived in New York.
The family came from the fringes of the Russian and the Austrian empires that suffered from exceptional poverty and occasional raids from the Russian soldiers.
The pain of forced migration permeated her family so deeply that Catherine's sense of loss constantly broke through Maria’s peaceful childhood.
She felt it almost physically every time her great-grandma taught her ‘Carol of the Bells’ from Ukrainian-themed books.
To read the rest of Maria's story, including her own return to Ukraine to help since the war started, click the link in the bio, it is totally free.
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A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week! Click to read The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Good morning to readers. Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
Some people ask why we still use the tagline, nearly two years in.
I explain why, after the paywall.
Here’s why one subscriber decided to sign up for a paid subscription:
The reason we still use the same tagline is that two years in, Putin’s plans still haven’t changed.
He still wants Kyiv.
PUTIN GOALS REMAIN THE SAME:
The president of #Russia said in a press conference this week that “there will be peace when we will achieve our goals.”
Emboldened by battlefield gains and flagging Western support for Ukraine, a relaxed and confident President Vladimir Putin says there will be no peace until Moscow achieves its goals, which he says are unchanged after nearly two years of fighting. He spoke Thursday at a year-end news conference that gave him an opportunity to reinforce his authority as he runs for reelection in March after nearly 24 years in power. Giving rare detail on what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists that proved deeply unpopular before. He said there are some 617,000 Russian soldiers currently in Ukraine, including around 244,000 troops called up to fight alongside professional forces.
RUSSIA’S WAR PLANS UNTIL 2026:
Citing intelligence sources, the German newspaper Bild reported that the Kremlin is planning to use diplomacy as misdirection, while secretly continuing military actions through 2026.
ISW WARNS OF #UKRAINE COLLAPSE:
A decision by Western governments to stop aid to Ukraine would “lead sooner or later to the collapse of Ukraine’s ability to hold off the Russian military,” warned the Institute for the Study of War.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/high-price-losing-ukraine
The United States has a much higher stake in Russia's war on Ukraine than most people think. A Russian conquest of all of Ukraine is by no means impossible if the United States cuts off all military assistance and Europe follows suit. Such an outcome
ANOTHER UKRAINIAN TRUCKER DIES:
A third driver has died while waiting in line at the Ukraine-Polish border, which are being blockaded by Polish truckers.
We covered the days-long wait and what it's like waiting to get home in a previous issue!
Today’s Dog of War is this chubby dog at a train station in central Ukraine, photographed by Tim.
What can I say?
Ukrainians treat even their street dogs really well.
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A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week! Click to read The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
@timkmak
Russia is far better at disinformation than conquering Ukraine. While I don't question Bild's sources, this intelligence may be an attempt by Russia to mislead Ukraine and cause it to divert forces from the south to the east.
It could have the unintended effect of causing NATO countries to strengthen their resolve at a time it was looking a little shaky.
#InvasionOfUkraine #ukraine #RussianDisinformation #StandWithUkraine #славаукраїні #українапереможе #деокупація #долойпутина
Tim Mak
Nazani
Francis Mangion (M)
Martin Vermeer FCD
Matunos
Tim Zee