Thread by @timkmak

Good morning from Ukraine.

Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

Putin held a stadium rally last night; while Zelenskyy gave a one-on-one appeal to the camera...

Zelenskyy said 180,000 have been rescued by humanitarian corridors, including thousands from embattled Mariupol...

Mariupol is a southern city enduring widespread suffering due to encirclement, bombardment and dwindling supplies of food/water.

Zelensky said 9K people evacuated in last day.

I spoke to a soldier today from Mariupol. He hadn't spoken to his family since March 3.

Zelenskyy: 180K have been rescued fr/cities under Russian attack via humanitarian corridors (7 of which are currently active)

“The initial plan of the Russian military to seize our state failed,” he said, so they have nothing else but “cruel and erroneous tactics to exhaust us."

Vladimir Putin tried to justify the invasion of Ukraine during a Friday evening rally in Moscow, but his speech was cut off due to what was described by the Russian government as a technical error.

edition.cnn.com/2022/03/18/eur…

I spoke to Serhii, a Ukrainian who seemed to be grappling with the exhilaration/highs & lows of war:

“These are the best weeks of my life. I feel so much love for the people around me. And so much hate for the enemies. This duality is a powerful source of motivation for me.”

The images that Serhii is seeing are images like this…

These photos are from Podilskyi, an area of Kyiv, via the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs:

And this, in western Ukraine... images of the building on the Lviv airport complex that was hit by Russian missile strikes yesterday around dawn:

Before (left) and after (right), via Planet Labs satellite imagery:

As we traveled in central Ukraine, we noticed that parts of the country were adjusting to the reality of war.

Even with air sirens a common occurrence, shops and restaurants made timid steps towards full opening in the city of Vinnytsia

Even the trams and buses were running, although they stopped when there were air sirens:

We also toured playgrounds, schools and apartments near the Vinnytsia city center - largely empty due to the bombing of a television tower in the city

Here’s what it sounds and looks like as you hustle down the street to your bomb shelter

But air raid siren time is actually not a bad way to get a pause and get some work done

This is something we saw as we traveled throughout central Ukraine yesterday: tractors in the field preparing for spring -->

Upset? Stressed? Can confirm that this elementary student pep talk service works even from Ukraine

Speaking of new services, Russia has started its own Instagram copy after being shut out of Instagram-Instagram.

It's called Rossgram, and has 57K subscribers, the Atlantic Council reports:

atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atla…

On the dogs of war front, good catch from yesterday:

Are these doggos just making sure they've got a hand on the food or are they best friends?

Today we’ve got a cat and dog of war.

This is Busya, a cat doing what cats do — lie on top of fridges.

She’s hanging out in a private animal shelter organized in the home of one elderly pensioner who is passionate about dogs and cats. (I’m profiling her and others)

Here’s the dog of war for the day, in a private shelter that specializes in taking in dogs and cats with medical ailments.

I wrote the name down but I think autocorrect ruined it! My notes say Dulcimer.

You shelter until the threat is over, so that could be minutes or hours — and there’s no way of knowing in advance

Satellite photo from Maxar Technologies, showing the ruins of the drama theater in Mariupol.

You can still see the Russian word for ‘children’ visible from the air