Tangle - Is Ukraine's counteroffensive working?

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

The Ukraine counteroffensive. The war in Ukraine has dragged on for 18 months. This summer, the Ukrainian military has been attempting to push into occupied territory in the east and south and cut off Russian supply lines. In the last few months, there have been some significant updates to the progress of the war and that long-planned counteroffensive.You can read today's podcast here, today’s Under the Radar story here, and today’s “Have a nice day” story here. You can also check out our latest YouTube video here.Today’s clickables: Quick hits (1:19), Today’s story (3:22), Rightt’s take (7:06), Left’s take (11:24), Isaac’s take (15:33), Listener question (20:31), Under the Radar (23:21), Numbers (24:11), Have a nice day (24:57)You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here.Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, Ari Weitzman, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tanglenews/message Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca.

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place where we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul. I'm a little under the weather today, so I apologize if my voice sounds a little sicky, trying to kick a cold or something. Hopefully, fingers crossed, not COVID. I actually took a test, took a COVID test this morning. It was negative, but geez, it's September 2023 and I still am taking a COVID test. Not something I was hoping would be the case. We are going to be covering Ukraine today.

The Ukraine counter-offensive, what the latest is, how it's going, some commentary about where things are in the war. It's been a little while since we covered it. And I think there have been enough significant updates to give it some attention today. Before we jump in, though, as always, we'll start off with our quick hits section. First up, special counsel David Weiss plans to seek an indictment against Hunter Biden by the end of September, according to a court document filed yesterday. Number two, a federal judge ruled that President Trump was liable for defamatory remarks made against writer E. Jean Carroll when he denied her rape allegations in 2019. Separately, Fulton County prosecutors intend to call at least 150 witnesses to trial in their racketeering case against Donald Trump and 18 other defendants.

Number three, in the Senate, former Republican Representative Mike Rogers announced plans to run for Michigan's open Senate seat. Separately, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he has no plans to step down before his term ends in 2026. Number four, Mexico's Supreme Court struck down a federal law criminalizing abortion. And number five, the manhunt for a convicted murderer in Pennsylvania entered its eighth day today after Daniello Cavalcante escaped a prison and remains at large in suburban Pennsylvania. For months, Ukraine's military has been grinding through a counteroffensive designed to liberate Russian-occupied territory. Kiev has admitted that it's been slow going. But over the last 72 hours, Ukrainian soldiers have made what the White House called today notable progress. Ukraine's southern offensive is picking up ground after seemingly stalling for weeks. That's according to President Zelensky, who said earlier that despite reports to the contrary, quote, Ukraine is on the move. This is not the first time this Ukrainian brigade has raised the flag on newly liberated territory.

And they hope it won't be the last, but it is significant. They believe they've broken through the most difficult of the Russian fortifications in the south and will be able to move forward more quickly. The war in Ukraine has now dragged on for 18 months. This summer, the Ukrainian military has been attempting to push into occupied territory in the east and south and cut off Russian supply lines. In the last few months, there have been some significant updates to the progress of the war and that long-planned counteroffensive. For a visual cue, we've included a map in today's newsletter. Notably, Ukraine is currently battling Russian soldiers

in Bakhmut, which Russian mercenaries took after some of the most intense fighting of the war. Neither side is advancing meaningfully, and the battle there has been described as a stalemate. In the south, however, Ukraine's soldiers have made progress around Zaporizhia. Their hope is to push down the southern portion of the country and into the Sea of Azov, which would allow them to cut off Russia's land access route to the Crimean Peninsula. All across the south, however, Ukrainian soldiers continue making small advances as U.S. officials, journalists, and volunteer organizations track their progress through satellite imagery, social media information, and on-the-ground intelligence. However, U.S. intelligence officials have recently assessed that Kiev will fail to achieve the key goal of their offensive. Unlike successful counteroffensives

of the past, Russia has had plenty of time to prepare for this push, which was reported on in the news months before it began. Russian soldiers have lined the region with minefields, tank traps, and miles of trenches to protect it. They've been much more successful at defending occupied territory in recent months than they had been earlier on in the war. Along with setting up their lines, Russia has used drones to continue bombing the Donobu River ports, Ukrainian infrastructure, and even some populated civilian areas. Just this week, at least 17 people were killed in a drone strike on a market in the eastern Donetsk region. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the offensive was going as he expected.

I'd said a couple of months ago that this offensive was going to be long. It's going to be bloody. It's going to be slow, he told the Washington Post. And that's exactly what it is. Long, bloody, and slow. And it's a very, very difficult fight. long, bloody, and slow, and it's a very, very difficult fight. While visiting Kyiv on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $1 billion military aid package and also praised the offensive. Blinken was the first official to visit Ukraine since the counteroffensive began in June. Back home in Washington, D.C., President Biden is requesting $24 billion more in Ukraine assistance, including $13 billion in security assistance and $7.3 billion in economic and humanitarian aid. The United States has already directed more than $75 billion

to aid in Ukraine since the war began. However, a larger portion of Americans and some members of Congress are becoming wary of the mounting financial commitment to Ukraine. After a closed door assessment delivered to Congress about the offensive, some Republicans and Democrats began finger-pointing, with some skeptical of granting more aid to Ukraine and others suggesting the administration failed to provide sufficient resources to Ukraine in the timeframe it required. A CNN poll released last week found 55% of Americans believe Congress should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine, while 45% said it should. 51% said the U.S. has already done enough to help Ukraine. That's compared to February of 2022, when 62% of Americans said the U.S. should be doing more

to help aid Ukraine. Today, we're going to share some commentary on the war from the right to the left, and then my take. While we often include commentary from abroad for international news, today we're going to focus on the American perspective. First up, we'll start with what the right is saying. The right is divided on what to do next, with some calling for more skepticism and oversight of funding and others making the case for continued support. Some argue that whatever we do, what we really need is to make a choice. Others suggest that both the media and Congress are failing to properly scrutinize the funding. In town hall, Kurt Schlichter said it's time to make a choice on what to do in Ukraine. The Ukrainian offensive spearheaded

by Western trained and equipped units has not made the breakthroughs our generals hoped for. The Russians have done what Russians do, dig in, he said. So we have to do something. Course of action one is do whatever it takes to get the Ukrainians to win the war outright, by which I mean driving the Russians out of Ukrainian territory that they occupy. This would humiliate Putin and show strength to China, but would require a massive investment of money and arms, and maybe US and European soldiers in the fight. Course of action two is the opposite, basically just walk away, wash our hands of the whole mess. The advantage is that if we abandon Ukraine, we're done and the war ends fast, so does our endless funding of it. The disadvantage is we cede ground to Putin and exit the world stage as a power and Ukraine is enslaved. Course three is

force a negotiation to resolve the dispute, since neither belligerent seems to be willing to compromise. That ends the war, but rewards Putin for his aggression. The fourth and final course of action is the least advantageous to us, and therefore, naturally, the one our politicians have embraced so far, the meat grinder option. This is the course of action where we give the Ukrainians just enough ammunition and training to keep the killing going on indefinitely. In the Wall Street Journal, Walter Mead wrote about how to help Ukraine win the war of attrition. Eighteen months into Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, two things seem clear. First, the war matters. After 15 years of failed Western responses to Russian aggression against

Georgia and Ukraine, another failure to contain and deter Russia would have catastrophic consequences around the world, he wrote. Second, current American strategy is not working well. Ukrainians are fighting bravely. We can and should hope for Ukraine breakthroughs that transform the military situation and break Russian morale, but hope is not a plan. Absent decisive military victories for Ukraine, the conflict is developing into a war of attrition. And given current American strategy, that kind of war favors Russia, Meade wrote. The answer is not to walk away from Ukraine, but to fight Mr. Putin in smarter and politically more sustainable ways. Putin must pay, and to be seen to pay, for his attack on Ukraine. And to do that, the U.S. needs a whole-of-government campaign against Russian

interests and assets around the world. Fortunately, we operate in a target-rich environment, and there are lots of good ways that Team Biden can bring the cost of war home to the Kremlin. We should go after the Wagner Group and its successors in Africa, work with Turkey to make Putin's presence in Syria ruinously expensive, and target Putin's allies in Latin America with sanctions and investigations. In Newsweek, Christopher McCallion expressed skepticism about aid to Ukraine, saying we need more oversight. President Biden recently requested another $24 billion in aid to Ukraine, including $13 billion in military aid. This adds to the estimated $113 billion, including $62 billion in security assistance already provided by the United States since the conflict began, already provided by the United States since the conflict began, considerably exceeding the amount provided by European states, who presumably have a more direct interest in the outcome of the

conflict than the U.S. Yet, Ukraine continues to have rampant corruption, prominent far-right and neo-Nazi paramilitaries, and one of the largest legal arms trafficking markets in Europe. This raises the very real possibility of U.S. military-grade weapons proliferating to malign actors throughout Europe and beyond, Mikhailian said. There are other risks, too. Ukraine's top general, Valery Zeluzhny, has expressed his frustration with Western governments' insistence that weapons they provide not be used on targets in Russia. The media has been enthusiastically supportive of Ukraine and have become hesitant to question the American defense and intelligence agencies they

are supposed to scrutinize. Those who claim America's support for Ukraine is in defense of democracy should also want to defend democracy at home. Alright, that is it for the rightist saying, which brings us to what the left is saying. The left is concerned about the outlook for the war, but maintains there is still a need for increased support from the West. Some look to pass conflicts in other countries for lessons about how the war in Ukraine could end. Others say it's time to start pushing for a negotiated peace to stop the bloodshed. In Bloomberg, Andreas Kluth compared the state of the war in Ukraine to past conflicts in West Germany, Israel, and Korea. As they've done since the start of this

invasion, pundits and leaders instinctively grasp for historical analogies to guide their thinking, and three stand out, Kluth wrote. One model for Ukraine is West Germany in the 1950s, another is Israel starting in the 1970s, and a third is the Korean Peninsula, also since the 1950s. The comparison between the first two are flawed, but Korea may offer the best available analogy. Then, as now, Moscow and Beijing backed the side of the aggressor, North Korea in 1950, while the U.S. led an international coalition in defense of the victim. In Korea, as in Ukraine, a kinetic opening phase gave way, from mid-1951, to a grinding and bloody stalemate. If Korea is the right model, Clu said, the lesson is that combatants take far too long to begin talking, even after it's obvious that neither

side can win militarily, and then far too long to silence the guns once it's clear that the outcome won't change, and that the only parameter left is how many people will unnecessarily die until that's acknowledged. None of this is about who's right, but the wisdom of the past suggests that the time has come to fight, and to talk at the same time. In The Guardian, Simon Tisdall argued that the West can't pull the plug on Ukraine now. Even after 18 months of horror in Ukraine, too many prominent politicians in the U.S. and Europe appear unable or unwilling to grasp the existential threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia poses to all, he said. They continue to assume this war, like other conflicts, will eventually end in negotiations. Yet the Kremlin demands nothing less than Kiev's total capitulation,

and that is not going to happen. Meanwhile, pressure in the U.S. to cut aid to Ukraine and force a peace settlement looks set to grow, regardless of whether Joe Biden is re-elected next year. If victorious, Putin fan Donald Trump may try to impose a quick deal and pull the plug on Kiev. And despite a momentary threat to his power, Putin is not budging but doubling down on his personal crusade, Tostal said. Western leaders must recognize this reality and start fighting to win. To do so, they should welcome Ukraine to NATO and the EU without further delay. Offer security guarantees and save sea lanes now, backed by NATO firepower, red lines, more arms, planes, and no-fly zones. Warn China, Iran, and North Korea to back off.

Stop talking about talks. Accept that there can be no peace until Russia unconditionally withdraws. Ukraine must win or we all lose. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+.

The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca. In the nation, Jeet Heer said advocates for negotiations to end the war need to come out

of the closet. A strong taboo against public discussion of diplomacy pervades the NATO countries, but the time is surely ripe for a diplomatic push, here wrote. This taboo exists for understandable reasons. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is an appalling violation of international law. The Russian army and its mercenary allies have committed horrific war crimes. The danger of any diplomatic solution is that it will inevitably mean that the architects of the war, Putin and his national security advisors, go unpunished. Ukrainians have every moral right to want to return to their nation's full territorial integrity. At the same time, an interminable bloodbath on Ukrainian soil is also horrific. The status quo is bad for Ukraine and the world. Part of the tragedy of war is that bringing wars to an end often involves accepting

less-than-ideal solutions. Further, there is every reason to believe that the Biden administration has been conducting diplomacy all along, albeit covertly. If those efforts are already being done on the sly, there's now good reason for it to come out of the closet. A call for open talks could force the issue and make clear that the United States and Ukraine and its allies are willing to go the extra step for peace. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying,

which brings us to my take. So throughout this war, I've been pretty staunchly in the support Ukraine at all costs camp. You can read my writing from the day the war started up until just a few months ago and see that through line. read my writing from the day the war started up until just a few months ago and see that through line. Reading my piece from the morning after Russia launched its invasion, now a year and a half old, I was struck by this following passage. This is Putin's war. It belongs to him. The idea that a pledge from Ukraine not to join NATO would have stopped this is farcical. Putin clearly wanted much more than that. He also wanted nearly every former Soviet nation to leave NATO, and he wanted Ukraine to submit to his rule. He did not

have to invade. Russia's security was not being threatened. He leads a nuclear-armed state with a huge landmass and a giant well-funded military. Nobody was trying to take his country down or kill him or his people. Ukraine certainly couldn't have done so. Ukraine wanted independence, not war. They wanted the right to choose their own leaders, not fighter jets in suburban neighborhoods. They wanted security, not a class of oligarchs deciding how the country will be run. War is a terrible, tragic thing. For Russia, the brunt of this war will fall onto the shoulders of young soldiers, baby-faced men who are 17, 18, 19, or 20, who will go die for something they almost certainly don't even understand. In Ukraine, it will be all hands

on deck. Fathers, mothers, teenagers, and grandparents will stand side by side with their military. They will take up arms and fight, and many of them will die violent deaths. This will be the result of Putin's decision to invade, based on the absurd notion that a nation of 40 million free Ukrainians belongs to him. All of this holds true, and I wouldn't change a word 18 months later. The war has been just as awful as I imagined, with tens of thousands on both sides dead and maimed, millions displaced, billions dumped into weapons and aid, and now the entire idea of supporting Ukraine has been swallowed up by our own partisan politics. I sincerely doubt Putin is going to give any ground in any peace negotiations. He wants complete and total subservience from Ukraine. I also think the Nikki Haley take is

generally right. We'd much rather stop Russia and Ukraine than on a broader front. If Ukraine falls, Russia could push into post-Soviet Baltic states that are members of NATO. That would then require a military response from us and Europe to defend our NATO allies, not just with more weapons and funding, but with NATO troops and potentially Americans. Like many Americans, my patience is also wearing thin. When I saw President Biden request an additional $24 billion, my jaw dropped. It's an incredible sum of money, even more so in the context of what we've already granted. As with past conflicts, I'm left feeling like our European allies, especially Germany and France,

are not pulling their weight, even as their leaders continue to support our own backing of Ukraine. The piece that resonated with me most this week was Kurt Schlichter's under what the right is saying, which was ironic because I often don't find his writing or views very persuasive. But he's right. The U.S. is not being decisive. Instead, we are funding the meat grinder option, the one that equals stalemate and draws out fighting while maximizing deaths and destruction. This war was never going to be over in six months unless Russia took Ukraine easily. And now we're entering a new phase where it could continue for years, or a decade, or worse. I don't blame any American for not wanting to be on the hook for that long. Not when so many people

here are struggling and we've failed in so many similar conflicts. So we have to make a choice. We have to go either all in, pushing our European allies to step up their funding and perhaps even pushing their soldiers into the war, providing every piece of aid we can, and fully throwing our weight behind a decisive offensive. Or we have to draw a line in the sand on what we're willing to do and let the cards fall where they may. In retrospect, we could have done more earlier to help Ukraine win, but we didn't. We underestimated them and their odds. I can't say I honestly know the best choice anymore. My heart is fully with Ukraine, and there's a loud and prominent voice in my head that's shouting to put every diplomatic and military resource behind them and crush this invasion. In some ways, it feels as if it would

right many of our own military wrongs to defend a people genuinely fighting for independence. But I hear the pragmatic voice too, the one that sees the stalemate, the death, the immovable sides, and the reality that our money and weapons are only holding the line, not moving it. This voice calls for a resolution, a real plan, negotiations, a light at the end of the tunnel. And each day this drags on. Each time another billion or 10 is requested. Each time another report of a failed Ukrainian offensive hits the wires. Each time another city center is bombed by Russia. Each time another Ukrainian official is fired for corruption. Each time another photograph of a burnt crisp town is published. That voice gets a little bit louder.

published, that voice gets a little bit louder. All right, that is it for my take today, which brings us to your questions answered. This one is from David in Mesa, Arizona. David said, you made it sound unlikely that Democrats run anyone other than Biden in 2024. Can they wait till right before the general election and have Biden pick someone else and give all his support to that person and run someone else even without a primary? My opinion is that if Trump is leading polls, they will convince Michelle Obama to step in and run. All right, David. So if I only made it sound like it's unlikely Democrats run anyone other than Biden, then I guess I probably didn't do a good enough job communicating. It is very, highly unlikely that anyone other than Biden runs for the Democrats in 2024, period. This is what I said in response to another reader question in our mailbag edition.

Unless, like Trump, Biden suddenly is facing a serious indictment, then I don't see any world in which the party abandons him. Part of that at this point is logistical. It takes an incredible amount of money and operational support to run for president. Democrats want to replace Biden. They need to build the infrastructure for selecting that replacement now. They need to have teams, fundraisers, and super PACs. They need to get on ballots. They need to run primaries. There is so much to do, which is why it usually isn't a surprise when someone runs for president. The only other real alternative that he drops out is because of some obvious

health-related issues like the ones we are seeing with Dianne Feinstein or Mitch McConnell. If that were to happen, Biden does not get to pick who gets the nomination. Instead, the Democratic National Committee, which consists of about 350 officials, will get together to pick the replacement. And there's a tremendous amount of pressure on these officials to pick someone their voters will support, which means the chance of a surprise candidate is also highly unlikely. And I'll spell this part out as plainly as I can. It's not going to be Michelle Obama. I heard people float this exact same theory before the 2020 election, despite no inclination from the DNC nor Obama herself that she was even entertaining the thought. And voters don't really know anything about her beliefs. What's her stance on energy, foreign policy, Medicare reform? We have no idea.

When you consider those facts, imagining Michelle Obama as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee is really nothing more than an exercise in imagination. So, if Biden doesn't drop out late, who would the DNC be likely to pick? Well, who's popular enough to win and who's shown that they'd be interested? That list is actually pretty short, but I don't think there's anyone more feasible than California Governor Gavin Newsom. Maybe Pete Buttigieg, possibly Kamala Harris. I'm sure some other Democratic senators or governors like Gretchen Whitmer would be considered. Then there are always the perennial outside chances of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but not Michelle Obama. All right, that is it for Your Questions Answered, which brings us to our Under the Radar section.

Apartment construction in the U.S. is set to hit an all-time high this year, but many of the buildings are of the high end expensive type. Roughly 461,000 new units are expected to be built across the U.S. this year, which comes at a time we need them. A housing shortage continues to drive up prices. An additional 1.2 million apartments were also completed during the pandemic. An additional 1.2 million apartments were also completed during the pandemic. However, the bulk of them are in 20 metro areas where 41% of U.S. residents already live. Further, 89% of the apartments finished between 2020 and 2022 are high-end units. Axios has a story on the construction and what to expect in the housing shortage going forward,

and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. As of August 10th, the amount of military, financial, and humanitarian aid the U.S. had committed to Ukraine was $66.2 billion. The amount of that money that was military aid was $43.1 billion. The number of countries who receive more aid from the U.S. than Ukraine is now zero. The cost of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan for 804,000 borrowers was $39 billion. The percentage of the U.S. GDP that has been committed to Ukraine is 0.33%. The percentage of Estonia's GDP that has been committed to Ukraine is 1.26%. That's the most of any country.

The percentage of Denmark's GDP that's been committed to Ukraine is 0.51%. All right, and last but not least, our have a nice day section. In Lincoln, Nebraska, 92,003 people gathered in Memorial Stadium, setting the world record for largest attendance at a women's sporting event ever for their volleyball match against Omaha. In the spring, Nebraska announced it was planning a celebration called Volleyball Day in Nebraska and invited fans to come pack the stadium on August 30th for the match. Volleyball is popular in Nebraska, but the university still took a chance with the event,

according to Nebraska Corps andhuskers coach John Cook. It feels like a great accomplishment for this sport called volleyball played by women, Cook said. It's a state treasure. We proved it. The previous world record was set April 22, 2022 at a Champions League soccer match between FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg in Spain, with 91,648 people in attendance. The Associated Press has a story and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's podcast. Don't forget, we've got a new YouTube video up on our channel. Please go to Tangle News on YouTube and check it out. We've always got new content coming out there, including shorts, some videos, some stuff that doesn't appear in the newsletter or the podcast.

And as always, if you want to support our work, you can go to our website, readtangle.com. That's R-E-A-D, tangle.com. And you can become a member to back this podcast and our team and the YouTube channel and all the stuff we're putting out there. We'll be right back here at same time tomorrow. Have a good one. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited by John Long. Our script is edited by Ari Weitzman, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bukova, who's also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75.

For more on Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website. We'll see you next time. background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu.

It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at fluselvax.ca.