Thread by @dkaleniuk

Ukrainian women soldiers just finished a very intense 1-week visit to Washington DC. It was an honor for me & @MarushevskaY to assist the delegation sent by the order of General Zaluzhnyi upon the invitation of @IRIglobal. Below is a quick report from the visit👇

Key message: we are thankful for American support, US weapons were key for defending Kyiv & making a successful Kharkiv counteroffensive, however, this is not enough to liberate all our occupied territories where people are tortured and killed by Russians.

Yaryna Chornoguz, the combat medic & drone operator, shares with @alexwagner why HIMARS rocket systems & American howitzers were a game changer. Yara explains Ukraine army needs armored vehicles - as she conducts frontline evacuations on a civilian car msnbc.com/alex-wagner-to…

Andriana Arekhta, special forces weapons sergeant, share with @nypost a personal story about this war "The worst is discovering corpses of children and teens who have been tortured by Russians" nypost.com/2022/09/22/ukr…

Here is Andriana presenting to @Acosta @CNN a coin, which we chained from a destroyed Russian tank during the Kharkiv counteroffensive. Andriana dreams to become the first Ukrainian operator of a modern tank like the American Abrams tank edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2…

Soviet tanks used by Ukraine a)don't have a communication system, b) have poor targeting and armor, c) operators burn inside if T-72 is hit as there are no fire protections inside. Therefore modern NATO tanks like American Abrams or German Leopard2 could save lives

We also talked to @politico about the threat Iranian drones are now posing to Ukraine. C-RAM air defense systems as well as modern 360-degree radars could help to defend against this. It would be also good to have javelins with a night vision system politico.com/news/2022/09/2…

And at @FoxNews our women soldiers respond to the question of what they feel about Putin's decision on mobilization - "we feel relaxed, but we are afraid we don't have enough trash packages for bodies of Russian new 300000 soldiers" video.foxnews.com/v/631275171511…

It was an honor for our delegation to meet lieutenant colonel senator @joniernst, colonel senator @SenDanSullivan as well as @SenCapito. Senators with military experience understand why modern tanks and armored vehicles like Bradley are crucial for Ukraine to win the war

With senator @SenatorShaheen we talked about how to protect critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine with C-RAM & other air defense. We have time by winter to protect thermal power plants from Russian missiles & prevent Ukrainians to die from being without heat & electricity

It is always a great pleasure to meet with a big friend of Ukraine @RepSlotkin! These women talked ofcourse about modern tanks & armored infantry vehicles. Ukrainian army dreams about Bradleys and Abrams tanks. Armored evacuation vehicles for our combat medics could save wounded

It was so easy for our women soldiers to talk to @michaelgwaltz, a Green Beret. Thank you, Congressman, for supporting the cause for Ukraine to receive modern tanks!

So happy to meet @SenatorCollins & talk about the effectiveness of HIMARS & howitzers, but our combat women explain also the need of hundreds of armored vehicles to keep liberating our people who suffer under occupation

And special thanks to @RepAdamSchiff for finding time to meet our delegation right in the middle of voting. Ukraine Armed Forces are super thankful for intelligence sharing with the USA.

The most emotional moment was when we suddenly met released Azov soldiers right inside the main hall on the Capitol Hill

We thanked @BettyMcCollum04 for appropriating funds on weapons for Ukraine despite all bureaucratic hurdles. We explained why time plays against Ukraine & why it is crucial to send as much heavy armor and air defense to Ukraine as possible before mid-November when winter starts

With @Robin_Dunnigan and Ambassador O'Brien we talked about the need to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism & confiscate $300bln sovereign funds located abroad. This is money, that Ukraine could use to buy & sustain heavy modern weapons to win the war irreversibly

Of course, the most important meeting for our women fighters was at Pentagon with Laura Cooper. We shared feedback on the usage of American weapons on the frontlines, and talked about crucial needs of hundreds or armored vehicles, shared dreams about Bradleys and Abrams

And when I am finishing this thread @NewYorker publishes an article about Gypsy King non armored car, which our combat medic Yara uses at the frontlines to evacuate wounded and civilians newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…

And here is our team walking across DC all week. Now Yaryna, Daria, Ivanna, and Andriana are on the way back to the battlefields to keep fighting russians and saving our civilians from genocide at occupied territories.