Samuel ran

Samuel ran this evening, he ran at a good clip, and he ran distance. He also played Jumping Tug-of-War! 

Today I represented my organization to Congressional staff. I spent last night cramming for the meeting. I was told in the early afternoon and then every minute of the rest of my work day was in meetings. So the only time I had to study was last night. 

I blipped, but then I forgot to hit the button. 

:-) 

Ukraine destroyed a fourth ship in seven months. Today Ukraine destroyed the Caesar Kunikov, two weeks after destroying the Ivanovets. The Economist uses a bunch of words that sound like Klingon:  Ropucha-class, Magura V5 sea drones, Kilo-class submarine. 


It is a huge score. Big landing ships can carry up to 500 tonnes of cargo ex.ten main battle tanks and 340 troops. They have a roll-on/roll-off design which enables them to unload much more quickly than a normal ship. Ukraine has taken out a third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and forced Russia to keep their ships further away. 


The drones that took out this Ropucha class ship were designed by Ukraine. 

Also a big deal is that forcing Russia back like this opened a corridor for commercial shipping for grain. Total exports of grain, oilseeds, and vegetable oils in January topped 6.4m tons, higher than for January in 2019 and 2020, even without an agreement with Russia. They don’t take the quickest route, they hug the coastlines, but they are exporting, and that means the countries that depend on Ukraine for food are getting it. 


Hundreds of Russian soldiers have surrendered using the “I Want to Live” hotline. Roughly three surrender every week.