80. Day, March 1, 2022



Tanja and her daughter are still at Bucuresti. They have to go to the Ukrainian Embassy to find replacement papers for their daughter, who forgot her passport in Odessa in the excitement. At the weekend they will be able to fly to Germany. First of all to Berlin, where her second daughter will arrive with her husband and baby on Wednesday. They had come out with practically the last plane - and are now at Barcelona.

So it really helps me to engage with my figure! I can't turn my head off completely, but I can think of something else from time to time.

Todays work: The backpack is ready...:












Cheers

Excellent news on Tanja and her daughter, but so sad to hear that her home may have suffered.

Konstantin is coming along extremely well, considering the circumstances, but I can follow that you need something to divert you at such a time.

Phil

Odessa is preparing for the end of the world...:



The people are worried - but at the same time fiercely determined!

How similar are the pictures!

The square in front of the opera house in 1941...




... and today..:



Cheers

The same place...:

In 1944 the Russians came as liberators from the German reign of terror...:




... now they are coming back - as attackers and occupiers...:





I don't think they'll take the city without a fight though!

The Ukrainians have only a few tanks there and hastily drafted and trained reservists and volunteers - but they will fight back...:



This Ukrainian tank stands at the top of the world famous "Potemkin Stairs"...:





When I imagine that everything is shot to pieces, I could cry!

Yesterday we had a quickly organized benefit concert for the Ukraine here at Bremen!



Admission was free, but donations were requested. It was packed! And plenty of donations!

When a choir sang "Agnus Dei" by Samuel Barber at the end, many people cried. Me too.




Sad greetings

Dear Martin,

It is heart-breaking to see the Ukrainian people suffering and Ukrainian cities destroyed by the Russian army. I am Russian and I am outraged by Putin’s crimes in Ukraine. I will continue doing everything I can to stop the Russian aggression against Ukraine. What I have learned over last week is that there is something everyone can do, whether combatant or not. I am so glad your family is safe now.

Sergei

Thank you Sergei!

I totally agree with you - and would like to add:

The Russians are wonderful people - and I think the vast majority are against the war and want nothing less than their sons massacring the sons and daughters of their brother people!

But they can't express it openly because they have to reckon with serious consequences.

And - alongside the Ukrainians - it will be these ordinary people in Russia who will suffer the consequences of their self-appointed leader's hubris.

We should therefore not make the mistake of equating the tyrant Putin and his corrupt clique with the Russian people!

The interviews with these prisoners of war show how the Russians were lied to...:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-pows-interrogation-ukraine/31726675.html

Furthermore:

Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union was the beginning of his end. And I'm sure Putin's clock will soon be up too. The Russians have a lot of patience, but they don't allow themselves to be lied to and abused endlessly...!


Cheers

Chapeau Sergei!

Phil

81. Day, March 2, 2022


The backpack strap on our hero's shoulder is made with texture paste...



...structured to match the rest of the strap...:



I don't put as much effort into the other part of the belt on the back. It is "only" painted...:



Cheers

Small update:

Cherson fell in the evening. The Putin army has reported this several times, but this time it seems to be true because the Ukrainian government has confirmed it.
Now the occupiers can cross the Dnieper - and between them and Odessa, 200 kilometers away, there is only one well-developed road, the M14 about the town of Mykolayiv, which is already heavily fought over.



While the aggressors now hired killers from Chechnya and the notorious "Group Wagner" (a 3,500-strong private army of the oligarch and Putin friend Yevgeny Prigozhin) are increasingly doing the dirty work because the combat morale of the Russian conscripts has dropped massively, on formed an "International Legion" on the Ukrainian side.
Military trained volunteers from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Japan, USA and Canada are fighting in this unit - so far. Quite comparable to the "International Brigades" during the Spanish Civil War - only better trained.

One hears and reads more and more about cases in which Russian soldiers have refused combat orders - and not individually, but as a whole! Apparently their officers lied to them across the board that maneuvers were going on.

Apparently, on the first day of the war, February 24, not only was the naval base in Odessa to be destroyed, but marines were also supposed to be landed in order to occupy the city itself. These Crimean marines refused to take orders - they didn't want to fight Odessa! The landing did not take place!

You have to know that the fathers and grandfathers of these soldiers fiercely defended Odessa for more than three months against the Germans and Romanians in the summer of 1941 - with huge losses. And today's soldiers did not want to fight against the fathers and grandfathers of those to whom they are linked by spilled blood.


Cheers

Tonight I can probably breathe a sigh of relief.

Tanja is supposed to land in Hamburg from Bucharest today at 10:20 p.m. - I'll pick her up there and bring her home. Her daughter flies to Berlin at the same time - and will meet her older sister and her family there. I emailed them the necessary documents - and as a nationality I put "Free Ukraine" on everything.

Then we will all work voluntarily in an aid organization for Ukrainians and the Ukraine - Tanja and I here at Bremen, the others at Berlin.

And I also think we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Putin era. However, less by the pressure of the street than by a palace revolution.

And when the first conscripts come on vacation and start telling the truth, then there will be quite a ferment in Russia...

The military and the oligarchs, to whom he has promised a merry blitzkrieg - rather a kind of victory parade to Kiev - should already be pissed off at him. And if he actually starts messing around with nuclear weapons, his own people will take him out of the game!


Cheers

That is excellent news mate! Give her a big hug from me, and tell her my wife has been asking after her progress daily.

I share your views on VVP completely

Phil

Tanya is with me! finally!!!

She is not in good shape and needs to rest first. And everything she still owns fits into a small sports bag: the most important documents, a little money and a few toiletries. All else is lost!

But those are just things in the end. She's safe here in - that's all that counts!


Very relieved greetings

Martin
I have followed your work and enjoyed your knowledge of history. Your revelations regarding this war are very greatly appreciated. Your personal connection adds new insight, and I am glad you have been able to reunite. I don't see how but I hope it ends well and the world can get back to being more human.

Doug

Best news I've had all week.

Glad to hear all is well Martin, I have never been so engrossed and upset about a world situation in my life as I am now. I never realized that there was such evil in this world. My wife is starting to get pissed off at me because I'm so locked into this situation. I pray for the Ukrainian people.

Wayne