Thread by @TWMCLtd

Hello again. I have to start daily thread 306 of #RussiaUkraineWar early, with breaking news

All the news, all day in one place

So, reports of another attack on the Engels Air base in #Saratov. This is the place where many of #Russia's bombers are based

Here's another video supposed to be of #Russia's Engels airfield being hit.

Two explosions reported. One small and then this big one.

My only slight worry is the timestamp on this CCTV does not match with the time in #Saratov.

If you missed anything yesterday, you can catch up by clicking this link.

I thought Christmas Day would be a quiet and short thread. Didn't quite turn out that way - I continued working while others took the day off!

I've just found another video showing both the explosions at the Engels air base in #Saratov.

As I reported in the last tweet, the first was indeed smaller, the second much bigger.

This is still unconfirmed right now, but different videos from different sources lends credence.

It's just a mere 1,200+ km from #Kyiv to the Engels base in #Saratov.

Well over 800km from the nearest point of land which #Ukraine controls.

A young Australian volunteer has lost his life in #Bakhmut.

Sage O'Donnell from Victoria, was 24 years old and a former soldier with the Australian Army.

Heavy loss of life on both sides as #Russia's illegal invasion continues.

📷LinkedIn

The strike(s) on the Engels air base while not officially confirmed, look real.
It's exactly 3 weeks since the previous hit in #Saratov.

Some #Ukraine Telegram channels happily showing this satellite pic of the base, where 🇷🇺 wrote "Death to Nazis" - maybe they got their wish!

So #Russia admits 3 people died in the drone attack on its Engels air base in #Saratov.

They claim the ground crews were victims of falling debris when the #Ukraine UAV was shot down. This is almost certainly a lie. One drone hit the target.

#StopRussia

Here are the daily losses for #Russia (as estimated by #Ukraine)

A slight uptick in equipment and liquidated soldiers is again over 500.

#StandWithUkraine

A personal representative of hated Ramzan Kadyrov is arrested by #Russia's police in occupied #Crimea.

Four lieutenants of the Akhmat SOBR regiment as well as Hasan Ibragimov are on security cameras beating a guy. The man objected when one of the Chechens groped his girlfriend.

Oops. Missed the thread.
Twitter app is misbehaving for me this morning.

450 children in #Ukraine have now been killed in this senseless and illegal war.

Another 868 kids injured.

Not one would have been affected had Putin not committed the first war crime of ordering the invasion.

#RussiaIsATerroristState

Roll call! Phil, David and Derek supporting me overnight. Each and every donation is very much appreciated and helps me spend so much time compiling these daily threads.

Also thanks to al those who give me tip offs and support with words if they cannot afford tips.💙💛

Sensible words from #Ukraine Air Forces spokesman Yuri Ignat on the "TV Marathon"

While #Russia says no aircraft were damaged at the Engels base, no one trusts that & Ignat says only satellite photos will reveal the truth.
The fact 🇷🇺admits 3 deaths in the attack shows it's bad

New video of the damage following one of the latest attacks on #Kherson.

#Russia shelled the city 33 times in the last 24 hours, but luckily no residents were killed or injured.

#StopRussia

😂😂A friend has told me that #Russia is celebrating the Day of the Air Defence Forces today.

Still not entirely sure it's not a joke. Usually Russian media is full of these congratulations. Now there are more cries of "Wot air defence doing?"

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Couple more rumours/snippets of news. Neither is confirmed (yet)

Turns out Kadyrov's "representative" is (allegedly) one of his nephews

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The second unconfirmed rumour concerns Rogozin.

He's being operated on in Moscow, but some say he is likely to be paralysed. I put this more into the "speculation" category, but moving him hundreds of kilometres shows it was very serious.

Spotted in the northern suburbs of #Zaporizhzhia...

Some pets are homeless or ownerless due to evacuation, or death, of their owners.

Now some lovely people have built a cat home, where strays can get some shelter from the harsh winter and locals leave food there too.

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This is #Kyiv...Indestructible!

Hundreds came to the opera on Christmas Day. However there was an air raid warning which lasted an hour and a half. Cast, crew, workers and public alike had to gather underground until #Russia's planes returned to base.

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But as soon as the air raid all clear was sounded, the show in #Kyiv began.

It was Rossini's "Barber of Seville"

#SlavaUkraini
📷+📹 credit: TG kyiv-polit

Exiled Governor of #Luhansk confirms that #Kreminna is far from being liberated yet, but the Russian command there has retreated to #Rubizhne.

Earlier many pro-Ukr channels were too optimistic in their assessment, as I reported last night:

24tv.ua/gayday-ozvuchi…

Who are #Russia's allies with any real power?
#NorthKorea #China #Serbia #Iran

No surprise the first 3 are involved in military aggression in the last 24 hours, while #Iran just fights its own people for the time being

Russia needs other wars; others emboldened by Russia's war

Head of #Wagner who enriches himself at the expense of African states + grieving Russian families, has called for rich Russians to be stripped of their wealth.

Prigozhin: "It's necessary to take away everything, the faster the better, then everyone will be on an equal footing."

Thousands more Russian troops are being sent to defend #Melitopol as the invaders see they are in real danger of losing the town.

Petro Andriyushchenko, exiled advisor to Mayor of Mariupol' posted this secret film of some of the convoys heading to occupied #Zaporizhzhia region.

Sanctioned Chief Propagandist says "Russia is bombing #Ukraine without pleasure"

Margarita Simonyan: “I don’t know a single person in Russia, including Putin, who would enjoy what is happening now.”

She has no soul

#Kakhovka today
The occupied town is ruined

#Kherson oblast.

#RussiaOnFire

More smoking? 2,000 square metres of warehouses in #Novosibirsk burn.

Russian media report there was an explosion which led to the fire.

Claudio and Roman thanks for your kind gifts and inspiring words.
Let's hope I can "retire" the daily threads in 2023 after the ultimate good news!

#Russia publishes names of 5 #Ukraine soldiers it says were liquidated on a sabotage mission inside Russia.

They also show a gruesome video from #Bryansk

RU says the dead are
Cdr Yuri Gorovets (callsign Svyatosha) and 3 sappers Maksim Mikhailov, Taras Karpyuk + Bogdan Lyagov

#Ukraine's anti-corruption agency NABU is conducting searches relating to fitness trainer Yana Khlanta.

She's been linked to Dnipropetrovsk Head Valentin Reznichenko. The region awarded Khlanta's company a $40m contract to repair roads despite the start of the full-scale war.

In #Kherson, shelling by #Russia damaged monuments to World War II heroes. This is in Slavy Park.

📷Konstantin Ryzhenko TG jurnko

It's emerged a few messages were posted on local media in #Russia saying five planes had been damaged at the Engels air base in #Saratov. They were swiftly deleted.

Meanwhile reports indicate the Kremlin is moving its planes east to the "Ukrainka" airfield in the Amur region.

They're taking the mickey now, surely?

Air raid warning in Saratov and the Engels airbase.
😅😅😅🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

In #Kharkiv region loud sounds after air raid warnings rang out there. However it's believed to be only air defence for the moment.

#SlavaUkraini

The scene at the #Engels air base this evening.

I do wonder if they're so embarrassed at what happened they're pretending there is a threat and that this evening they bravely shot all the (non existent) #Ukraine weapons from the sky?

Big explosion in #Donetsk this evening.

This happened in the Petrovskyi district of the occupied city.

#StopRussia #DonetskIsUkraine

Authorities in #Saratov say the siren was sounded "to increase combat readiness" at #Russia's Engels air base.

But there does look to be unexplained smoke in the background of the clip I posted earlier.

Two people were injured when the rocket hit occupied #Donetsk earlier.

These are photos of the damage and subsequent fire in the Petrovskyi district.

#DonetskIsUkraine

Another monument to a famous Russian writer is dismantled in #Ukraine.

The Maksim Gorky statue is taken away by authorities in #Dnipro.

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A couple of days ago I wrote about a team of volunteers taking Christmas hot meals to liberated, but still under fire, #Lyman in #Donetsk region.

Just been sent videos by Brian and the Alex21/Ukraine Aid Intnl team. They're sponsored by @westportctgov and Germany's Hamburg.

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#Lyman is back in the firing line again with #Russia publicly saying they're launching a new attack to try to occupy the town again.

For the residents it's already a struggle just to survive. Great effort from these guys to risk their lives to help others.

Indeed, there was apparently little danger of paralysis. The operation on Rogozin to remove shrapnel from his buttocks, proved routine and he is said to be comfortable in hospital.

#Russia loses another captain.

Captain-Lieutenant Aleksey Fedotkin from St Petersburg and Tatarstan, is the latest high-ranking officer whose death becomes known.

A strange, horrible story from the occupied zone.

This evening, a family of 8 people was shot dead in #Makiivka near #Donetsk.

Three of the dead were children. They were all shot in the head, execution style by unknown assailants who drove off in a blue Skoda Superb.

This reportedly happened in #Donetsk.

A Land Cruiser with a "Z" in its window, was attacked by a #Ukraine partisan. On the doors, prior to being torched, someone wrote "For Bucha"

#StandWithUkraine

Many channels reporting explosions in #Zaporizhzhia. I've been told there were no explosions.

There was a brief air alarm, but the all clear has now been issued there.