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With families waiting in Israel, dual citizens fight on Ukraine’s frontlines
Times of Israel ^ | Today, 6:16 am | Carrie Keller-Lynn

Posted on 04/05/2022 11:39:59 PM PDT by Zhang Fei

Five kilometers from the front in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the danger from Russian targeted strikes is so high that ambulances prefer to wait for the cover of night to evacuate casualties, and to travel without lights when they do so.

“There was a Jeep that drove by us with its lights on. About five minutes after passing us, the Russians shelled it,” said Michael Ratinsky, 56, a Kfar Saba resident and father of three. For the past month, he has served as a medic in the Ukrainian army, despite having only limited medical training connected to lifeguard certifications and amateur alpinism.

Andriy Baklykov, 35, grew up in Ra’anana and served in the Israel Defense Forces, but in recent years returned to Ukraine to open a business in his native Lviv. A week before the outbreak of hostilities in February, his Israeli wife and nine-year-old son fled to Ra’anana to stay with his wife’s family.

Baklykov went to Kyiv and joined a volunteer battalion.

“We’re not the regular army and we don’t have regular support from the government,” he explained to The Times of Israel. “We have basic stuff that we get from the government, like a place to live, something to eat, basic weapons. But we mostly rely on ourselves and buy everything we need, which ends up being better quality.”

Baklykov and his comrades are also unpaid.

“The government gave us Kalashnikovs,” he said with distaste about the outdated rifles. “We buy ourselves M-4s and AR-15s, and we buy ourselves tactical clothes.”

“I don’t want to serve in a regular army, under a contract. I served in Israel for three years and that was enough for me,” Baklykov said of his experience in the IDF.

“I’m here just for the fight, no bullshit, to do what we need

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: israel; putin; russia; ukraine
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1 posted on 04/05/2022 11:39:59 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: marcusmaximus; Paul R.; Bruce Campbells Chin; PIF; ProtectOurFreedom; familyop; MercyFlush; ...

Ukraine ping

Israelis who came of age in Ukraine return to the home country in its hour of need.


2 posted on 04/05/2022 11:41:54 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

But the Ukrainians are all Nazis!.
I’ve been assured that they are tiki torch Carrying Nazis


3 posted on 04/05/2022 11:42:41 PM PDT by NoLibZone (Ruling class noticed our total lack of pushback for how the election & Covid was handled.)
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To: NoLibZone

But ..but the Putin Puffers say the Ukrainians are the Nazis...


4 posted on 04/05/2022 11:47:30 PM PDT by rrrod (6)
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To: Zhang Fei

FR generals will be on to tell us what is really going on


5 posted on 04/05/2022 11:53:04 PM PDT by roving
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To: Zhang Fei; NoLibZone; NorseViking; caww

Meanwhile Jews in Russia are leaving.

This is pretty adequate proof that the real nazis are Putin’s regime.


6 posted on 04/05/2022 11:57:47 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: roving

I’m 50 miles from the border with Ukraine. I help with the refugees and hear stories.

Ukrainians are dying, but so are Russian troops.

Ukrainian IT geeks who lived in Poland, had safe jobs with their families here, who could barely carry a gun right, these men headed to defend their country.

The Ukrainians are not dying for Zelensky as Putin supporters lie about. The Ukrainians are fighting and dying for their homes.

Putin is throwing Russian soldiers like logs on a fire. Putin is destroying Russia as thoroughly as he is destroying Ukraine


7 posted on 04/06/2022 12:01:16 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos
That's such nonsense Cronos - Jewish people have been leaving Russia and many other nations for years and it will continue. You know there's many organization's expediting the return of Jewish people to their homeland. In fact there's commercials for several years to help Russian Jews return to Israel specific as well as for other nations.
8 posted on 04/06/2022 12:03:02 AM PDT by caww ( )
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To: Zhang Fei

Rumor has it that Bulgaria will send MiG 29’s and SU25’s to Ukraine in exchange for F16’s from USA.


9 posted on 04/06/2022 12:05:14 AM PDT by bunkerhill7 (That`s 464 people per square foot! Is this corrrect..it was NYC.)
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To: rrrod

Everyone I’ve talked to in Israel is sympathetic to Ukraine.


10 posted on 04/06/2022 12:09:33 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: gitmo

I can believe that. Are you in Israel now?


11 posted on 04/06/2022 12:15:25 AM PDT by rrrod (6)
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To: roving

[FR generals will be on to tell us what is really going on]


What you’re missing is that even the Trump-Russia frame-up was a Russian information operation. Putin planted a Russian spy in the Democratic party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Danchenko

His job was to invent material for the Steele dossier. Oldest trick in the book. Screw your worst enemy by spreading rumors that he is in your pocket. Why did Putin have it in for Trump?

Trump did the following:

1. He withdrew the US from arms control deals that advantaged Russia - Russia was flagrantly cheating, despite the fact the US had a far larger economic capacity to build more and better weapons systems and was honoring its end of the deal.
2. He slaughtered hundreds of Russian mercs in Syria.
3. He ramped up sanctions on Putin’s cronies.
4. He opposed Nordstream 2 and pierced the corporate veil to get directly at corporate executives who participated in the shell companies the EU set up to get around US sanctions. No European exec wants to be like the Huawei exec who ended up under house arrest. No amount of corporate profit is worth imprisonment. Basically, under Trump, Nordstream 2 was dead.

Trump was nice enough to Putin in public. But he kept bashing Putin upside the head. Putin’s no dummy - he knows when someone’s sticking it to him. So he colluded with the Dems to stick it right back to Trump. The Dems couldn’t care less whether the charges are true or false - they just want a weapon they can use to improve their political positioning.


12 posted on 04/06/2022 12:16:11 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: rrrod

No. But I chat with friends there occasionally.


13 posted on 04/06/2022 12:50:57 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: gitmo

Wish them well.


14 posted on 04/06/2022 1:06:32 AM PDT by rrrod (6)
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To: rrrod

They’re very concerned about Iran right now. And WW3 of course.


15 posted on 04/06/2022 1:15:34 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: caww; Cronos
That's such nonsense Cronos - I am sure academics the world over will soon be citing your posts in their papers and books for years to come, as it is always right, educated and non-biased.
16 posted on 04/06/2022 2:16:11 AM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: caww

The volume increased since feb 24, 2022


17 posted on 04/06/2022 2:20:55 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: rrrod

Really....but they are strangely absent from this post....imagine that...


18 posted on 04/06/2022 3:35:22 AM PDT by FreshPrince
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To: Cronos
#7. Putin is destroying Russia as thoroughly as he is destroying Ukraine

A part of the Russian way of war that is easily ignored and forgotten.

19 posted on 04/06/2022 6:12:14 AM PDT by Widget Jr
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To: Zhang Fei

Are these Jewish Nazis or just plain Nazis…….the Putin Posse wants to know.


20 posted on 04/06/2022 6:33:08 AM PDT by David Chase
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