Refrigerator!!

And we have a refrigerator! And it is clean! Oh, and it works. Once we have our handymen, next visit in August, reverse the doors (the guys delivering it wouldn't) I'll forget that it is new as they are both freezer on top and white and neither has an ice maker. 

Also, my tire really is flat. It was too late when I discovered this to call around and see if tire places will be open tomorrow. Hope so, because I've made plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Moscow is giving money to families to ensure support and reduce the pain of the sanctions. The Russian economy is set to contract by 10%. Federal spending will top prewar estimates by about 12%. Hardest hit businesses are getting government funding or subsidized loans or protection from bankruptcy. This social spending and the cots of the war will result in a budget deficit. The government has stopped publishing numbers so we can't know how much their spending is up. Even so, inflation is twice what it is in the US, or 16.7%. Manufacturing output is down for the second straight month. Auto production is a third what it was a year ago. The number of residential mortgages issued in May was a quarter what it was a year ago, despite government sponsored 5% mortgages for IT specialists. People don't want to buy when their world is so unpredictable. 

Ukraine is fighting in the south to extend one of their most successful counterattacks against Russia. Victory in the south would be a step toward freeing ports that are blocked by Russian ships, blocking the export of grain. They are trying to take back the city of Kherson, the first major city to fall to the Russians. There are all sorts of unexplained explosions in Kherson right now. When Ukraine has Kherson back they will have access to the Dniepr River, which is important for shipping, and put them at the doorstep of Crimea. They are counting on advanced Western weapons to help make this possible.

And advanced Western weapons are making a difference. Ukraine’s military has the first batch of truck-mounted, multiple-rocket launchers, whose satellite-guided rockets have a range of more than 40 miles, greater than anything Ukraine had possessed. The weapons have won respect for their accuracy and power. Ukrainian soldiers are using their new weapon judiciously, firing one or two guided rockets at ammunition depots or command posts, often at night, and keeping them well away from the front lines to protect them.


All eight high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS)  from the US should be in Ukraine by mid-July. Britain and Germany have each pledged three similar multiple-rocket launchers.The first group of 60 Ukrainian soldiers trained to use them are now firing the guided rockets in battle, and a second group is undergoing training in Germany.