Dear friends,
I just wanted to let you know that 'Auslander' is doing well. I know - I saw him face to face :-)
Really, he managed to organize a visit to the USA and we met and spent a full day together. I could not write about this before as I wanted him to leave the territory of the USA before posting this. He is doing well and he told me plenty of interesting things about the situation in Crimea. The bottom line is this: he and I agree that Crimea is 100% safe. Alas, we also agree that a Ukie attack is most likely.
Anyway - he sends his regards to everybody and he will be back on this blog as soon as he sleeps of is jet lag.
Kind regards,
The Saker
Showing posts with label Auslander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auslander. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Polkovnik (Colonel) Strelkov
by Auslander
I've read a lot of reports this morning about, according to The West, the 'catastrophic defeat of the terrorists and rebels with massive casualties' and the 'glorious victory of the Ukraine army in evicting the terrorists from their bastion of Slavyansk' sometimes followed with 'the incredible destruction carried out by the terrorists as they retreated through Slavyansk' and in one article 'the freeing of the scores of hostages held by the terrorists in some cases for months'. And so forth. On the other side of the spectrum are 'Putin has to act now to save Novorossiya or he's done for', 'Putin is betraying the people of Donetsk and Lugansk when he said he would save them', 'Strelkov is a traitor' and 'Strelkov is a coward, he should have fought harder'. And so forth.
All of this is easy to say while we sit in front of our computers in relative comfort. We could just as easily sit here and argue that if Lee had listened to Longstreet and gone around the Yankee army gathering at Gettysburg he could have fought on ground of his choosing, beat the danged Yankees, taken Washington and won the war. We were not there, we were not privy to the conversations, we were not privy to the recon reports nor did we hear the supposed shouts from Richmond to 'get on with it, win the war' or the complaints of the citizenry to Lincoln about a rebel army sitting on the doorstep of Washington, just as none of us are privy to what Colonel Strelkov wanted to accomplish, what his information was, what his supply situation was and is, what his orders were and are, his conversations with his subordinates, nothing, nor are we privy to Mr. Putins plans long term and short, his conversations with his advisors and allies, his goals and ambitions.
Most of us only know what we are allowed to know and we know what we know generally after the fact. We can surmise, we can pontificate, but most of us know nothing of what will happen, only what has happened and precious little of that. What follows, and it's pretty short and sweet, is what I know has happened.
Colonel Strelkov arrived up north in April. He had with him 20 or so men. That's all. Not all were armed and some of the armed ones had bolt action rifles from the second war. This was the nucleus of what Strelkov built. In the first early weeks several hundreds of men rallied to the new colors and volunteered for service with Strelkov. It was with these men that Strelkov held off the first tentative attempts by the Ukes to enter Slavyansk. It was his men that took Karachun Mountain and it was his men who could not hold the mountain, to be specific the radio/TV tower that used to be up there, against a heavily armed Uke force that was determined to take it back. With the Ukes holding Karachun Mountain (in reality a long series of high hills) they could see all of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and the surrounding towns and villages, rail lines, the local airports as such, and the main and secondary roads in the whole area. The die was cast. Was it a trap for the Ukes? We'll find out when the memoirs are written in the coming years.
As the situation developed the Ukes poured in more and more troops to the Slavyansk area, both the regular army and the new 'national guard', which is nothing more that right sector under arms. Several of the Uke regular army units refused to fight against their fellow countrymen and one airborne unit surrendered and left, leaving half a dozen light tanks in the possession of Strelkov's forces. At the same time, in a desperate bid to get more weapons for his burgeoning little army Strelkov's men took several Militsiya (criminal police, pun intended) and DAI (traffic police, totally corrupt and useless) armories and managed to arm all his men with Kalashnikovs, light and medium machine guns and sniper rifles. Don't ask me why two police organizations have a huge amount of weapons but they do. We did the same thing here in Krim when we armed up to defend ourselves and our north borders from right sector thugs on their way down here from Maidan.
As time progressed the Ukes began to make stronger attempts to get in to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Each and every one failed with sometimes significant losses to the Ukes. It seems that Strelkov always managed to get a few more men where they were needed most at the last minute. At the same time small units began to stalk and hunt the Uke supply columns day and night in addition to small patrol units. In this way antitank weapons, automatic grenade launchers, medical supplies, large ammunition supplies and at least 3 towed twin barrel anti aircraft guns were obtained. Still, Strelkov was fighting on a shoestring and he seems to have known it.
As May ended the bombardments of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other towns and villages began. The Ukes installed more and more medium and heavy artillery on the crests of Karachun, both towed and SP. Tanks by the hundreds arrived in the area as did troops by the thousands and BTR, BMP and BMD light armored vehicles in the many hundreds. And still, try as they might they could not break in to either Slavyansk or Kramatorsk although they tried, twice mightily. Each time they failed to enter either city the Ukes increased the level of bombardments. Almost all were not aimed at Strelkov's men or areas, they were patently aimed at civilian infrastructure, the electric, gas, water and sewage facilities, civilian living areas including not only villages but large areas of 5 to 11 story flats houses, shops and industry. Civilian losses grew exponentially.
Air attacks started in June. In addition to the attack on the administration building in Lugansk on 03 June, two of Strelkov's small units were savaged by Mi 24 ground attack choppers. Two days later Strelkov obtained air defense missiles of the shoulder fired variety and began to knock the Uke airframes from the sky. Did they come from Russia? How the heck would I know? Go up there yourself, find some discarded empty tubes and run the serial numbers. Same with the 5 T 64 upgrades Strelkov has and the now two T 72s. Run the numbers and tell me where they came from. I know their origin, the Uke army, just like every BTR, BMP and BMD Strelkov has. How do you capture tanks and other armored vehicles? Simple. When you own the battlefield, no matter how small it may be, after the fight you get the spoils. Poorly trained and motivated tankers and AFV crews are notorious for bailing out of their iron warhorses at the first loud 'thump' on the side. They'll bail rather than risk burning to death in their iron coffins. The trick then is to kill the crew so they don't simply go back to base and get another one. It takes under wartime conditions a week or less to assemble a tank. It takes six months to field a well trained and motivated tank crew.
As mid June approached, 80% of the entire Uke army was arrayed around Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. The fighting became more and more savage. Grad and Hurricane MLRS joined the bombardments of the cities and towns. Civilian losses were getting horrendous. The West was silent, literally hardly a word said in the MSM. Both cities and surrounding towns and villages were cut off and the critical supply of diesel and benzine was running out.
On 05 July Strelkov evacuated Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, pulling almost all of his fighters in. A very few small volunteer units were left in the cities to discourage any Uke advance to interfere with the evacuation (almost all survived and have returned to the fold). As it turned out a two kilometer long column of trucks, AFV's, tanks, GAZ jeeps and civilian vehicles left well before dawn, taking every last piece of equipment with them and every bullet and weapon they had. Nothing was left for the Ukes. This was not a spur of the moment run for cover, this was a well planned and executed tactical withdrawal, I would say two weeks minimum in the making. Most of the fighters from Slavyansk and Kramatorsk managed to get their families out with the withdrawal. To the best of my knowledge the entire move was executed with 3 casualties, all civilian at the tail end of the column. My information says they all made it and the wounds were not life threatening.
AAR (After Action Review). For three months Polkovnik Strelkov tied down the vast majority of the Ukeland Army in his small area. His position was untenable from the beginning. He and his men persevered and fought. He commenced a well planned and masterfully executed evacuation of his forces and many civilians in the dark of night under the very noses of a force that vastly outnumbered him and that force was arrayed all around him. The evacuation column arrived to Donetsk in broad daylight. He arrived with 20 men in April and three months later left with an army of reasonably well equipped, very well trained, and blooded veterans after savaging many units of the Uke army. In the time he held the Ukes off Novorossiya was formed and the infrastructure put in place. I would say the good Tovarich Polkovnik performed his task rather well.
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| Sketch by Christopher |
All of this is easy to say while we sit in front of our computers in relative comfort. We could just as easily sit here and argue that if Lee had listened to Longstreet and gone around the Yankee army gathering at Gettysburg he could have fought on ground of his choosing, beat the danged Yankees, taken Washington and won the war. We were not there, we were not privy to the conversations, we were not privy to the recon reports nor did we hear the supposed shouts from Richmond to 'get on with it, win the war' or the complaints of the citizenry to Lincoln about a rebel army sitting on the doorstep of Washington, just as none of us are privy to what Colonel Strelkov wanted to accomplish, what his information was, what his supply situation was and is, what his orders were and are, his conversations with his subordinates, nothing, nor are we privy to Mr. Putins plans long term and short, his conversations with his advisors and allies, his goals and ambitions.
Most of us only know what we are allowed to know and we know what we know generally after the fact. We can surmise, we can pontificate, but most of us know nothing of what will happen, only what has happened and precious little of that. What follows, and it's pretty short and sweet, is what I know has happened.
Colonel Strelkov arrived up north in April. He had with him 20 or so men. That's all. Not all were armed and some of the armed ones had bolt action rifles from the second war. This was the nucleus of what Strelkov built. In the first early weeks several hundreds of men rallied to the new colors and volunteered for service with Strelkov. It was with these men that Strelkov held off the first tentative attempts by the Ukes to enter Slavyansk. It was his men that took Karachun Mountain and it was his men who could not hold the mountain, to be specific the radio/TV tower that used to be up there, against a heavily armed Uke force that was determined to take it back. With the Ukes holding Karachun Mountain (in reality a long series of high hills) they could see all of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and the surrounding towns and villages, rail lines, the local airports as such, and the main and secondary roads in the whole area. The die was cast. Was it a trap for the Ukes? We'll find out when the memoirs are written in the coming years.
As the situation developed the Ukes poured in more and more troops to the Slavyansk area, both the regular army and the new 'national guard', which is nothing more that right sector under arms. Several of the Uke regular army units refused to fight against their fellow countrymen and one airborne unit surrendered and left, leaving half a dozen light tanks in the possession of Strelkov's forces. At the same time, in a desperate bid to get more weapons for his burgeoning little army Strelkov's men took several Militsiya (criminal police, pun intended) and DAI (traffic police, totally corrupt and useless) armories and managed to arm all his men with Kalashnikovs, light and medium machine guns and sniper rifles. Don't ask me why two police organizations have a huge amount of weapons but they do. We did the same thing here in Krim when we armed up to defend ourselves and our north borders from right sector thugs on their way down here from Maidan.
As time progressed the Ukes began to make stronger attempts to get in to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Each and every one failed with sometimes significant losses to the Ukes. It seems that Strelkov always managed to get a few more men where they were needed most at the last minute. At the same time small units began to stalk and hunt the Uke supply columns day and night in addition to small patrol units. In this way antitank weapons, automatic grenade launchers, medical supplies, large ammunition supplies and at least 3 towed twin barrel anti aircraft guns were obtained. Still, Strelkov was fighting on a shoestring and he seems to have known it.
As May ended the bombardments of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other towns and villages began. The Ukes installed more and more medium and heavy artillery on the crests of Karachun, both towed and SP. Tanks by the hundreds arrived in the area as did troops by the thousands and BTR, BMP and BMD light armored vehicles in the many hundreds. And still, try as they might they could not break in to either Slavyansk or Kramatorsk although they tried, twice mightily. Each time they failed to enter either city the Ukes increased the level of bombardments. Almost all were not aimed at Strelkov's men or areas, they were patently aimed at civilian infrastructure, the electric, gas, water and sewage facilities, civilian living areas including not only villages but large areas of 5 to 11 story flats houses, shops and industry. Civilian losses grew exponentially.
Air attacks started in June. In addition to the attack on the administration building in Lugansk on 03 June, two of Strelkov's small units were savaged by Mi 24 ground attack choppers. Two days later Strelkov obtained air defense missiles of the shoulder fired variety and began to knock the Uke airframes from the sky. Did they come from Russia? How the heck would I know? Go up there yourself, find some discarded empty tubes and run the serial numbers. Same with the 5 T 64 upgrades Strelkov has and the now two T 72s. Run the numbers and tell me where they came from. I know their origin, the Uke army, just like every BTR, BMP and BMD Strelkov has. How do you capture tanks and other armored vehicles? Simple. When you own the battlefield, no matter how small it may be, after the fight you get the spoils. Poorly trained and motivated tankers and AFV crews are notorious for bailing out of their iron warhorses at the first loud 'thump' on the side. They'll bail rather than risk burning to death in their iron coffins. The trick then is to kill the crew so they don't simply go back to base and get another one. It takes under wartime conditions a week or less to assemble a tank. It takes six months to field a well trained and motivated tank crew.
As mid June approached, 80% of the entire Uke army was arrayed around Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. The fighting became more and more savage. Grad and Hurricane MLRS joined the bombardments of the cities and towns. Civilian losses were getting horrendous. The West was silent, literally hardly a word said in the MSM. Both cities and surrounding towns and villages were cut off and the critical supply of diesel and benzine was running out.
On 05 July Strelkov evacuated Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, pulling almost all of his fighters in. A very few small volunteer units were left in the cities to discourage any Uke advance to interfere with the evacuation (almost all survived and have returned to the fold). As it turned out a two kilometer long column of trucks, AFV's, tanks, GAZ jeeps and civilian vehicles left well before dawn, taking every last piece of equipment with them and every bullet and weapon they had. Nothing was left for the Ukes. This was not a spur of the moment run for cover, this was a well planned and executed tactical withdrawal, I would say two weeks minimum in the making. Most of the fighters from Slavyansk and Kramatorsk managed to get their families out with the withdrawal. To the best of my knowledge the entire move was executed with 3 casualties, all civilian at the tail end of the column. My information says they all made it and the wounds were not life threatening.
AAR (After Action Review). For three months Polkovnik Strelkov tied down the vast majority of the Ukeland Army in his small area. His position was untenable from the beginning. He and his men persevered and fought. He commenced a well planned and masterfully executed evacuation of his forces and many civilians in the dark of night under the very noses of a force that vastly outnumbered him and that force was arrayed all around him. The evacuation column arrived to Donetsk in broad daylight. He arrived with 20 men in April and three months later left with an army of reasonably well equipped, very well trained, and blooded veterans after savaging many units of the Uke army. In the time he held the Ukes off Novorossiya was formed and the infrastructure put in place. I would say the good Tovarich Polkovnik performed his task rather well.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Auslander reports about the refugee assistance program
All the women and children evacuated from the fighting areas are doing well, some better than others considering what they have been through. I can not report much on our efforts to evacuate more women and children from the conflict area to safety. There are too many prying eyes who read this blog for information and pass it on to the Ukies and their allies, read US/EU. I am keeping Saker up to date on the effort. I will not even say where these women and children are coming from nor their routes to safety. Ukraine is actively trying to prevent evacuations and as of late yesterday is making a spirited attempt to close off the Novorossiya/Russia border to prevent anyone from leaving. They will shoot and have shot refugees en route to the borders.
Donations. Saker and I communicated last evening. At first he thought I was disappointed at the response from our readers on the blog. At this time, 09:30 Sevastopol, 37 people have donated to the refugee fund. Another 22 have expressed interest in donating. What he thought at first was disappointment he now realizes was my shock at the numbers in just the first 24 hours. Donations have come in from all over the world, from Australia to Canada, from Kamchatka to Cape Town SA, from Finland to Argentina. We had meetings with officials involved in this effort for most of yesterday. We will spend a goodly part of today doing the same. By tonight my time I will have a close idea of how much it will cost for each child or woman for transport and daily living costs. I will inform Saker of this amount and he and I will formulate a policy for the evacuees. It is Saker's call to pass on any information he deems fit.
This effort will be an ongoing process. We will need more donations to support these poor evacuees. I think it will be another month minimum before the situation in Novorossiya is resolved one way or another and possibly more. Please, please, pass the word to everyone you can. Tell your Churches, your civic organizations, your friends, everyone you can. No donation is too small, all are deeply appreciated. As we get up and running I will have an accounting sheet listing all donations and all dispersement. This I will send to Saker and he can provide what information he feels expedient on the blog.
Situation Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol. V. Nuland, US assistant SecState, met on or about 16 June in Odessa with the exiled head of a small part of our Tatars in Crimea, read 5% or less. After our election of 16 March where we (including our Tatars) overwhelmingly voted to return to the Russian Federation and were accepted in to same, roughly 2000 Crimean Tatars left Crimea, most moving to Lviv in west Ukraine. Our population of Crimean Tatars is about 350,000, 10% of the total population of Crimea. You can run the numbers to see the percentage that left.
Approximately half of those who left were men, some part of the rotating cadre of fighters going to and from Syria to fight the Assad Government. Most of the men have spent the last 3 months in right sector/US/EU training camps in the Lviv area. Nuland ordered them to go to Crimea and start a guerrilla war in Crimea, pure and simple. They will comply with the orders from their paymasters. How many are now in Crimea or will make it through the border of Crimea I don't know.
At the same time the strident propaganda pouring from US/UK/EU saying Crimea must 'return' to Ukraine, the election was illegal, joining the Russian Federation was illegal, we are illegal, has increased dramatically. Apparently none of the bright lights in US/UK/EU has bothered to think of perhaps asking the Crimea population what they think of this. Democracy anyone? Oh, I forgot. As Juan said, in the eyes of US/UK/EU we are Untermenchen. Our thoughts and wishes have no bearing on what those fools want to do.
What this meeting means is there is a very good possibility of terror acts in Crimea. More innocent people will die. More infrastructure will be destroyed. More turmoil will be started in the RF by Nuland and her minions. But, Nuland, know this. You may attack us, you may kill many of us as you are doing so well in Novorossiya, but in the end we will win, we will keep our freedom, we will protect our women and children, we will protect our culture and way of life. Yes, you will lose, we will win. We will pay whatever cost necessary to stay FREE.
And, Nuland, this if for you personally. As Juan so eloquently put it, damn your eyes, damn your soul, damn you to Hell, damn you back to the Hell where Satan spawned you. The blood of all our dead children, all our dead women, all of our dead men, all our dead grandmothers and grandfathers, all our dead soldiers, ALL of that blood is on your hands and your hands only. Damn you.
Auslander
Donations. Saker and I communicated last evening. At first he thought I was disappointed at the response from our readers on the blog. At this time, 09:30 Sevastopol, 37 people have donated to the refugee fund. Another 22 have expressed interest in donating. What he thought at first was disappointment he now realizes was my shock at the numbers in just the first 24 hours. Donations have come in from all over the world, from Australia to Canada, from Kamchatka to Cape Town SA, from Finland to Argentina. We had meetings with officials involved in this effort for most of yesterday. We will spend a goodly part of today doing the same. By tonight my time I will have a close idea of how much it will cost for each child or woman for transport and daily living costs. I will inform Saker of this amount and he and I will formulate a policy for the evacuees. It is Saker's call to pass on any information he deems fit.
This effort will be an ongoing process. We will need more donations to support these poor evacuees. I think it will be another month minimum before the situation in Novorossiya is resolved one way or another and possibly more. Please, please, pass the word to everyone you can. Tell your Churches, your civic organizations, your friends, everyone you can. No donation is too small, all are deeply appreciated. As we get up and running I will have an accounting sheet listing all donations and all dispersement. This I will send to Saker and he can provide what information he feels expedient on the blog.
Situation Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol. V. Nuland, US assistant SecState, met on or about 16 June in Odessa with the exiled head of a small part of our Tatars in Crimea, read 5% or less. After our election of 16 March where we (including our Tatars) overwhelmingly voted to return to the Russian Federation and were accepted in to same, roughly 2000 Crimean Tatars left Crimea, most moving to Lviv in west Ukraine. Our population of Crimean Tatars is about 350,000, 10% of the total population of Crimea. You can run the numbers to see the percentage that left.
Approximately half of those who left were men, some part of the rotating cadre of fighters going to and from Syria to fight the Assad Government. Most of the men have spent the last 3 months in right sector/US/EU training camps in the Lviv area. Nuland ordered them to go to Crimea and start a guerrilla war in Crimea, pure and simple. They will comply with the orders from their paymasters. How many are now in Crimea or will make it through the border of Crimea I don't know.
At the same time the strident propaganda pouring from US/UK/EU saying Crimea must 'return' to Ukraine, the election was illegal, joining the Russian Federation was illegal, we are illegal, has increased dramatically. Apparently none of the bright lights in US/UK/EU has bothered to think of perhaps asking the Crimea population what they think of this. Democracy anyone? Oh, I forgot. As Juan said, in the eyes of US/UK/EU we are Untermenchen. Our thoughts and wishes have no bearing on what those fools want to do.
What this meeting means is there is a very good possibility of terror acts in Crimea. More innocent people will die. More infrastructure will be destroyed. More turmoil will be started in the RF by Nuland and her minions. But, Nuland, know this. You may attack us, you may kill many of us as you are doing so well in Novorossiya, but in the end we will win, we will keep our freedom, we will protect our women and children, we will protect our culture and way of life. Yes, you will lose, we will win. We will pay whatever cost necessary to stay FREE.
And, Nuland, this if for you personally. As Juan so eloquently put it, damn your eyes, damn your soul, damn you to Hell, damn you back to the Hell where Satan spawned you. The blood of all our dead children, all our dead women, all of our dead men, all our dead grandmothers and grandfathers, all our dead soldiers, ALL of that blood is on your hands and your hands only. Damn you.
Auslander
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Message from Yuri Dia Konov to anybody donating to Auslander's refugees
Yuri Dia Konov, whose book Russia's Diamond Ruble I recently reviewed on this blog, just emailed me and asked me to post the following:
Once your donation is made, just email Yuri (eastarchangel@gmail.com) and he will send you any book of your choice.
The Saker
"For any donations given to Auslander I will send a free copy (PDF) of my book YANKEE ANTI-ZOMBIE SURVIVAL MANUAL or any of my books from AMAZON. No strings attached."Check out Yuri's Amazon page which contains a full list of his books.
Once your donation is made, just email Yuri (eastarchangel@gmail.com) and he will send you any book of your choice.
The Saker
Auslander reports on refugees from the Ukraine and how to help them
The situation in Novorossiya for civilians in many areas is critical. In the areas under heavy and continuous bombardment food is scarce. Water in Slavyansk area is stopped some days ago. Electric also. The other important part of water supply, the removal of sewage, well, the Ukes shot those plants to pieces also. The situation in Kramtorsk is even worse, so bad that there are civilian bodies in the streets, many bodies, that have not been picked up for days. I am not joking. I tell the truth. I shudder to think how many dead civilian men, women and children we will find when we eventually secure the area but I will not be surprised to find the numbers exceed a thousand if not far more.
To the best of my knowledge the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has refused to bestow refugee status on the civilians leaving the combat and bombardment areas of Novorossiya. To quote a famous quote, why should they care? Those who are suffering are Untermenschen. What this apparent decision means is Russia and we the people of Russia will do the work for the civilians and refugees ourselves with no official help from The West. The reality is I am not unhappy with this apparent decision from those fops in NYC. At least when we work for the refugees and citizens they will get every kopek of the money and effort we spend as opposed to perhaps 5% from that useless UN plus we will not be under their thumbs, 'guidance' and control while we do what is needed.
At this time we are working on getting as many civilian women and children out of the combat areas as possible. I can not give you the slightest detail of this effort. The Ukes are trying to watch everything and they do read this blog faithfully. The Ukes are following their American and EU master's instructions and will kill evacuees they find before they let them go. That is a fact. I can not tell you where our evacuees are going, suffice it to say they are going out of the combat area. Let the Ukes figure out if it's east, west, north or south.
All this being said, some of you asked how you can help, where can you send donations. You will have to trust me on this one. None of you, not even The Saker, know me personally, although my official US HOR is close to Saker. All I can say is I will tell you all when this is over, just as I promised The Saker some information after all is said and done. Trust me, wherever you live you will hear The Saker laughing when I give him the info promised, but before you hear the laughter you will hear a 'Holy s//t, really? It's true?'. You will also hear me say 'Yes, my friend, it is true. Remember when I told you to look at ///// ////?'.I have a very close friend, an old comrade, in USA. He runs my small hobby business in USA, extant for 14 years now, and he feeds my hobby addiction here in darkest Krim. He is like me, we are two old war horses put out to pasture. We hear the trumpets blowing 'saddles', we hear the roar of the guns in the distance, we run as best we can to the gate and paw the ground, knowing we can no longer serve in the line but we damned sure can pull a supply wagon. I trust this man with my life.
He has graciously agreed to help with the donations to our evacuation effort on his paypal sight. He has set up a section of my web sight specifically for donations to our efforts here. He and I will split the paypal fees of roughly 4% and add that to the monies sent to me and I will give the money to Church accountant. My wife and I will be intimately involved in this effort and we will watch every kopek as it is spent. At this time my wife and I are fronting the money, as is Father, to get this effort up and running. As of 15:00 today we are operational. Here are the links to the sight:
http://www.etoarmour.com/product_detail.php?productID=EA010
http://www.etoarmour.com/product_detail.php?productID=EA011
http://www.etoarmour.com/product_detail.php?productID=EA012
If you wish to just donate, here is the paypal sight link:
bob@etoarmor.com
Please, if you donate put in the information section 'Donation to St. Nikolas Church'. I will handle the rest.
No, my name is not 'bob', that's his name and his address on the account and his email. He forwards all to me automatically, both emails and money as it arrives. One day I'll tell Saker and you my name. Maybe. My wife and I, as mentioned on Saker's blog, are very private people. We discussed long and hard before deciding to go a little public and we did it for the women and children we want to get out of harm's way. When this war is over we will go back to being private again. A special note for Nora. Her name is Anastasiya, pronounced 'anastasEEya'. She has taken a shine to our little black and white girl Ekatarina, aka Katyushka, and Sophia, our blue girl, and most importantly my charming wife. Anastasiya will come to us Saturday and stay with us until this war is over. There will be no photos of the child, that is the rules from Mother Russia. You may email me for more details but please keep the details private.
Auslander
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Auslander reports about the Ukrainian refugees situation in Crimea
Auslander reports from Crimea:
Today after Church we went to a facility that is housing some of the children and women from Slavyansk. The group consisted of Father and his wife, a senior Navy officer and his wife and we two. The officer had informed the facility of the time of our arrival and who was in the group.
I will not give the name or location of the facility beyond it is one of very many old Soviet holiday sights lining the Krim coast from north of Kerch on the east coast all the way around the peninsula to above Yevpatoria on the west coast. This facility, like many of them, was renovated in the last few years and is quite nice and clean as a whistle. The evacuees housed there are not crowded together by any stretch of the imagination and there will be more evacuees housed there in the next few days.
Security is tight and I'll leave it at that. The beach is beautiful, sand and very clean, the water shallow out to about 50 m from the gentle surf. As with almost all of these facilities there are extensive athletic grounds including a regulation football field. Nature trails are extant in the facility also. By the by, there are no sharks in the Black Sea and no tide, ergo swimming is safe for the children.
The housing facilities on sight are excellent, again clean almost to an extreme with substantial food preparation areas and a more than adequate dining area. The kitchen is spotless and as usual the staff are local women for the cooking and serving and in house cleaning. Local men do the grounds maintenance and cleaning. An efficient administration is in place and the usual on sight medical support has excellent rooms and modern equipment. Bath and toilet facilities are also spotless and modern, segregated to men at one end of the hallways and women at the other. All toiletries are provided as are soap, towels and washing pads in abundance. No photos are allowed.
The Evacuees
The number of evacuees at the facility are let's just say over 100. No men came from Slavyansk with this group. The ages of the group range from two almost brand new babies to late teenagers with a relatively small percentage of adult women, a few the mothers of some of the younger children and of course the mothers of the two babies. All will have a medical examination starting tomorrow.
The adult women are holding up well. All are distraught to one extent or another but all are functioning well with the children. We met with two groups of the women in private and their distress was quite visible when out of sight of the children. They are all very thankful to Russia for taking the children from harm's way. The evacuees run the gamut from upper middle class to quite poor.
Children are children. They are quite different here than in The West even though some of them try to mimic what they see on TV and the Internet from the west. It is in the eyes of the teenagers, especially the girls, where you can see the worry and fear just below the surface. The teenaged girls are working with the children, relatives or not, alongside of the adult women. The boys, some are worried, most are angry at the events in and around Slavyansk and their inability to do something about them. The boys are, after all, young men and the will to protect their families and their homes is already ingrained in them. There is adequate staff to assist the women with the children and keep the teenagers in line.
It is in the young children, the under 10 year olds, that the innocence yet reality comes through as you talk to them. After all, here is a group of children and teenagers who have seen far more than they should have at their tender ages and suddenly they are in another country in a heavily guarded facility and here are strangers including a foreigner in their midst. Some of the teenagers and younger children speak some English and more than one teenager was quite fluent in English, one so fluent she relieved my wife from translating for a while. Some of the children's comments, through the translators:
"It was hot that night, we had the windows open. The sounds were loud. There was a very loud noise on a car in front of our building. There was hail hitting our flat. There was fire outside, I could see it on the wall. My window was broken. My mother was afraid. My father was angry." 9 year old girl.
"A bomb fell near our flat. It was a small one, not the big ones. The sound is different. I am not afraid of the little ones but cats are afraid. We know when the little ones are coming because the cats run away. We hide when they run away." 7 year old girl.
"My neighbor's dog was killed that night. My neighbor, she cries all the time now. My mother said I have to leave home." 10 year old boy.
She looked at the scars on my arm and touched them, then pulled up my left shirt sleeve and looked. How she knew I don't know, the tattoo is 5cm above blousing level as per regs. "You are foreign." "Yes." "You are soldier." "I was." "Did you come here to kill me?" Asked matter of fact. Mother of God. How do you answer that? "No, I am not here to hurt you, I am here to help you and to keep you safe" in my very poor Russian. 10 year old girl. My teenaged translator dissolved in to tears. The child comforted her.
"I want to kill all those fascist pedarasti. My mother is afraid. My father is fighting. My father said I could not come with him, I don't know why. I am a man." 15 year old boy.
"I miss my boyfriend. He could not come, there was no more room on the bus. He kissed my before I got on the bus, right in front of my mother. I love him. I miss my mother. I want to go home." 14 year old girl.
"I miss my mother. I miss my father. I want to go home. Mother said I can't come home soon." 12 year old girl.
"They killed my neighbor. He was a kind man, he never hurt anyone. I was the first one to him after he fell off his bicycle. There was a lot of blood. He was dead. His wife was screaming. He took me fishing." 15 year old boy.
"It is so quiet here. There is no noise at all. I wish my mother and father were here with me. My mother likes to swim." 6 year old boy.
After we spoke to the women and children we spoke to the administrator. She assured us the children and women had everything they needed. The officer's wife asked about bathing suits for the children and dolls for the young girls.
We then had lunch with the evacuees. Lunch was excellent with plenty of food for the children, as much food, juice and milk as they wanted, fresh baked bread from the kitchen, gallons of tea for the adults. After lunch Father and I went to the only private shop in the facility, down by the beach. It sells bathing suits, shorts, sun tan oil, sun hats and other sundries for the beach. After we looked at the prices Father had a talk with the owner and an understanding was made. The children and women will get what they need for the beach at no charge to them. Father and I will split the bill and the prices will be normal market, not as marked. Father's assistant and the officer's wife will tomorrow get enough dolls for the young girls. All will be identical and will be delivered to the facility before dinner tomorrow by the officer's wife and other officer wives. Father and I will split that bill also along with the officer. I got to watch Father, though. He's pretty quick with a ruble....
When we returned the child who asked if I was there to kill her was my wife's shadow. On seeing me she ran to me. Got me a big hug and a smooch right on the cheek. I looked at my wife, she looked at me and we smiled grimly. If worse comes to worse for this child we will take her. We pray it won't come to that. She cried when we left. I told her we would be back in 2 days to see her and the other children. I asked her if she likes dogs. She said yes.
As of 15:54 today, 01 June 2014, no more evacuees are allowed to leave Slavyansk or Donetsk City. Ukraine Armed Forces have blockaded all the roads and rail lines out of both cities. No one is allowed in or out. There will be not be more children coming to this facility.
Donations are not needed at this time: all
is being taken care of by Mother and locally. Under no circumstances should anybody send money to charities here or
in Ukeland. There are a couple that are legitimate but
there's a lot of scams out there already. Figures, and totally
disgusting.
Today after Church we went to a facility that is housing some of the children and women from Slavyansk. The group consisted of Father and his wife, a senior Navy officer and his wife and we two. The officer had informed the facility of the time of our arrival and who was in the group.
I will not give the name or location of the facility beyond it is one of very many old Soviet holiday sights lining the Krim coast from north of Kerch on the east coast all the way around the peninsula to above Yevpatoria on the west coast. This facility, like many of them, was renovated in the last few years and is quite nice and clean as a whistle. The evacuees housed there are not crowded together by any stretch of the imagination and there will be more evacuees housed there in the next few days.
Security is tight and I'll leave it at that. The beach is beautiful, sand and very clean, the water shallow out to about 50 m from the gentle surf. As with almost all of these facilities there are extensive athletic grounds including a regulation football field. Nature trails are extant in the facility also. By the by, there are no sharks in the Black Sea and no tide, ergo swimming is safe for the children.
The housing facilities on sight are excellent, again clean almost to an extreme with substantial food preparation areas and a more than adequate dining area. The kitchen is spotless and as usual the staff are local women for the cooking and serving and in house cleaning. Local men do the grounds maintenance and cleaning. An efficient administration is in place and the usual on sight medical support has excellent rooms and modern equipment. Bath and toilet facilities are also spotless and modern, segregated to men at one end of the hallways and women at the other. All toiletries are provided as are soap, towels and washing pads in abundance. No photos are allowed.
The Evacuees
The number of evacuees at the facility are let's just say over 100. No men came from Slavyansk with this group. The ages of the group range from two almost brand new babies to late teenagers with a relatively small percentage of adult women, a few the mothers of some of the younger children and of course the mothers of the two babies. All will have a medical examination starting tomorrow.
The adult women are holding up well. All are distraught to one extent or another but all are functioning well with the children. We met with two groups of the women in private and their distress was quite visible when out of sight of the children. They are all very thankful to Russia for taking the children from harm's way. The evacuees run the gamut from upper middle class to quite poor.
Children are children. They are quite different here than in The West even though some of them try to mimic what they see on TV and the Internet from the west. It is in the eyes of the teenagers, especially the girls, where you can see the worry and fear just below the surface. The teenaged girls are working with the children, relatives or not, alongside of the adult women. The boys, some are worried, most are angry at the events in and around Slavyansk and their inability to do something about them. The boys are, after all, young men and the will to protect their families and their homes is already ingrained in them. There is adequate staff to assist the women with the children and keep the teenagers in line.
It is in the young children, the under 10 year olds, that the innocence yet reality comes through as you talk to them. After all, here is a group of children and teenagers who have seen far more than they should have at their tender ages and suddenly they are in another country in a heavily guarded facility and here are strangers including a foreigner in their midst. Some of the teenagers and younger children speak some English and more than one teenager was quite fluent in English, one so fluent she relieved my wife from translating for a while. Some of the children's comments, through the translators:
"It was hot that night, we had the windows open. The sounds were loud. There was a very loud noise on a car in front of our building. There was hail hitting our flat. There was fire outside, I could see it on the wall. My window was broken. My mother was afraid. My father was angry." 9 year old girl.
"A bomb fell near our flat. It was a small one, not the big ones. The sound is different. I am not afraid of the little ones but cats are afraid. We know when the little ones are coming because the cats run away. We hide when they run away." 7 year old girl.
"My neighbor's dog was killed that night. My neighbor, she cries all the time now. My mother said I have to leave home." 10 year old boy.
She looked at the scars on my arm and touched them, then pulled up my left shirt sleeve and looked. How she knew I don't know, the tattoo is 5cm above blousing level as per regs. "You are foreign." "Yes." "You are soldier." "I was." "Did you come here to kill me?" Asked matter of fact. Mother of God. How do you answer that? "No, I am not here to hurt you, I am here to help you and to keep you safe" in my very poor Russian. 10 year old girl. My teenaged translator dissolved in to tears. The child comforted her.
"I want to kill all those fascist pedarasti. My mother is afraid. My father is fighting. My father said I could not come with him, I don't know why. I am a man." 15 year old boy.
"I miss my boyfriend. He could not come, there was no more room on the bus. He kissed my before I got on the bus, right in front of my mother. I love him. I miss my mother. I want to go home." 14 year old girl.
"I miss my mother. I miss my father. I want to go home. Mother said I can't come home soon." 12 year old girl.
"They killed my neighbor. He was a kind man, he never hurt anyone. I was the first one to him after he fell off his bicycle. There was a lot of blood. He was dead. His wife was screaming. He took me fishing." 15 year old boy.
"It is so quiet here. There is no noise at all. I wish my mother and father were here with me. My mother likes to swim." 6 year old boy.
After we spoke to the women and children we spoke to the administrator. She assured us the children and women had everything they needed. The officer's wife asked about bathing suits for the children and dolls for the young girls.
We then had lunch with the evacuees. Lunch was excellent with plenty of food for the children, as much food, juice and milk as they wanted, fresh baked bread from the kitchen, gallons of tea for the adults. After lunch Father and I went to the only private shop in the facility, down by the beach. It sells bathing suits, shorts, sun tan oil, sun hats and other sundries for the beach. After we looked at the prices Father had a talk with the owner and an understanding was made. The children and women will get what they need for the beach at no charge to them. Father and I will split the bill and the prices will be normal market, not as marked. Father's assistant and the officer's wife will tomorrow get enough dolls for the young girls. All will be identical and will be delivered to the facility before dinner tomorrow by the officer's wife and other officer wives. Father and I will split that bill also along with the officer. I got to watch Father, though. He's pretty quick with a ruble....
When we returned the child who asked if I was there to kill her was my wife's shadow. On seeing me she ran to me. Got me a big hug and a smooch right on the cheek. I looked at my wife, she looked at me and we smiled grimly. If worse comes to worse for this child we will take her. We pray it won't come to that. She cried when we left. I told her we would be back in 2 days to see her and the other children. I asked her if she likes dogs. She said yes.
As of 15:54 today, 01 June 2014, no more evacuees are allowed to leave Slavyansk or Donetsk City. Ukraine Armed Forces have blockaded all the roads and rail lines out of both cities. No one is allowed in or out. There will be not be more children coming to this facility.
Auslander
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