oh the sky tonight

unreal
unbelievable 
the sky was astounding 
wonderous streaks of different shades of pink against the blue

It was another mellow day so I got lots more boring stuff accomplished. It isn't quite like a vacation but it is a very nice time to work. 

December 26 the Ukrainian air force hit four command posts. 

Ukraine shot down a Russian Ka-52 combat helicopter. 

The outlook for Russian gas and oil may get worse with the price cap and ban. Yes, China, Turkey, and India buy some, but they pay discounted prices and they don't make up for all the sales. 

The companies that have fled, more than 1,000, have taken with them their investment, technology, and expertise. Imports of components are down which damages rail and auto manufacturing. This leaves Russians with lower quality goods, like no airbags. 

Russia has been trying to jam satellite navigation systems after the attack on Engels Airbase. There are bubbles of jamming signals around Moscow and several other potential targets. The idea is to prevent long-range drone attacks. Short-range drones are under director operator control, long-range one-way attacks are controlled by GPS or satellites. It doesn't seem to work
as there was another attack on the airbase after the bubble went up. 

Former US General Ben Hodges said Ukraine will probably defeat Putin in late February. Ukraine has the momentum. Ukraine will recover from the winter sooner. 

The people in Kherson fought the Russians with subterfuge. A group of citizens formed a grassroots resistance, tapping into their contacts in the Ukrainian security service. They took clandestine videos of Russian troops. They moved guns and explosives around. They formed small attack teams and picked off Russians who were wandering around alone at night. A retired couple got dozens of videos, audio files, and texts tracking the location of Russian troops including how many and where, and then sent them to Ukraine. They did smaller acts too, like spraypainting yellow ribbons all over town. Some trucking companies refused to transport grain the Russians stole. When the Ukrainian forces came, ""You wouldn't believe what I did for the first time in my life," he said. "I kissed a policeman.""