Hope for Ukraine - a photo on Flickriver

Hope for Ukraine

In a similar fashion to one of the first images I made in the Support for Ukraine series, here we have a dandelion seed as the foundation for water droplets, refracting the image of the Ukrainian flag in the background. This time, sheets of sparkling paper were used. This makes for a lively effect, and the out-of-focus sparkles in the background make for a pleasing “bokeh”.

When things refract, they flip. In order to get the flag to appear in the proper orientation in the droplets, the actual flag has to be placed in the background upside down. An upside-down flag can also be symbolic, as a sign of distress and a request for immediate help. Ukraine has been making such a call for nearly a year now, and the world continues to help. There have been some big developments, some of which you probably haven’t heard of.

An important line has been crossed: other nations are considering or confirming their desire to send main battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany is an odd hold-out, and they have been strangely hesitant to send any aid to Ukraine since the conflict began. Yesterday (January 21, 2023), Germany and it’s allies met at the Ramstein Air Base to discuss the issues, and there was no conclusive answer. Germany can block the transfer of Leopard tanks from other nations, and vaguely said that they would not do this – but with nothing formally stated.

Even without the leopard tanks, the flood of military aid to Ukraine has been massive. More patriot air defense equipment, among many additional defensive armaments. Effectively every country that had previously supported Ukraine is turning up the dial further. And for this, Russia is getting desperate.

Putin has replaced the commander in Ukraine after only three months. Sergei Surovikin will be replaced with Army General Valery Gerasimov. Days after this announcement was made, a horrendous attack in Dnipro followed. On January 14th, a Russian aircraft launched a Kh-22 missile, allegedly aiming to destroy electrical infrastructure. It missed, and destroyed an apartment building. 46 innocent lives were lost, including six children. There’s a tribute to the victims here: kyivindependent.com/national/here-are-the-victims-of-russ...

The Kh-22 missile, though. This weapon was originally designed in 1962 and has a 1000kg warhead. It was intended to be fired at aircraft carriers, and as such, is wildly inaccurate for urban use. Someone in Russia’s command thought this was an acceptable action to take. Such actions continue to disregard human lives and add to the seemingly endless list of war crimes.

This week brought about some interesting positive news, however. It involves actions taken semi-secretly by Bulgaria. Die Welt conducted an investigative journal of the actions taken by Bulgaria since the beginning of the conflict, and Politico created a summarized English version: www.politico.eu/article/bulgaria-volodymyr-zelenskyy-kiri...

I’ll summarize it for you in point form:
- Bulgaria is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of 152mm Soviet-era artillery ammunition.
- At the start of the war, entire cargo planes were filled with munitions and delivered to third-party countries including Poland, for eventual transport to Ukraine.
- Bulgaria’s only oil refinery is just south of us on the Black Sea near Burgas. It receives oil from Russian tankers, and is owned my Russian company Lukoil.
- That facility has supplied Ukraine with 40% of its diesel fuel, transported by truck and train.
- Much of this was done in secrecy to maintain the coalition government where some parties were pro-Russian.
- With a current caretaker government in place before new elections, the government has now officially agreed to supply Ukraine with further weapons.

40% of Ukraine’s fuel, more than 32,000 barrels a day ( www.novinite.com/articles/218499/32%2C000+Barrels+of+Fuel... ) comes from a Russian-affiliated refinery in Bulgaria. To ensure this arrangement continues, laws have very recently been passed that could allow the Bulgarian government to take control of the facility for up to a year if needed ( ca.news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-clears-way-control-lukoil-1209... ).

Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov was also the person who suggested in an emergency meeting on February 25, 2022, to cut Russia off the SWIFT banking system. That suggestion was adopted, and Russia is furious with Bulgaria for it ( www.novinite.com/articles/218512/Russia+on+Petkov%3A+The+... ).

Many nations are helping Ukraine defend itself and defeat Russia. Many of the ways which other nations help are not seen. Much of this can never become public, or is only fully realized years later. While I can say this is true for Bulgaria, I hope that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes across the globe to help Ukraine.

And to that end, this image is in the Public Domain. Do with it what you’d like! Слава Україні.

Taken on: January 19, 2023

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Sets appears in: • Public Domain - Support for Ukraine

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Camera: Panasonic DC-S1R, 1/15 sec, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DC-S1R
Exposure Time:	0.067 sec (1/15)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Shade
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 24.1 (Windows)
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