Share this page!

Eric Geller Profile picture
Twitter logo
Feb 24 • 104 tweets • 30 min read
It's really happening. My god.
Thinking of everyone in Ukraine right now. There is little worse than feeling powerless while watching innocent people suffer.
Cannot begin to imagine what must be going through that official's mind. Hope they and their colleagues can get to safety.
Will be curious to see how long this lasts.
Surreal to read these updates.
What must it be like for Ukraine's ambassador to sit in that chamber and know that he might have to request asylum in a matter of hours?
Wonder how long these Interior Ministry updates can continue amid the invasion. At what point do Russian forces start storming ministry offices and detaining people?
Unfathomable chaos ahead.
not to sound like a broken record, but my god is it horrifying to watch the kind of nightmare that we all hoped had been consigned to the dustbin of history happen in real time
Worth remembering this. Ukraine gave up its best deterrent to a Russian invasion based on promises that Russia has broken.
Putin reportedly pre-recorded his war declaration speech.
Russia is surgically dismantling Ukraine's defenses.
I keep thinking about this. How depraved do you have to be follow these orders?
Triolan is one of Ukraine's major ISPs ⤵️
More on communications disruptions ⤵️
New government statement on extent of missile strikes ⤵️
Seems like Russia is trying to rebut international condemnations that have highlighted the likely cost to civilians.
Air raid sirens began sounding in Kyiv a few minutes ago. Chilling to hear it live on CNN. I'm so scared for the Ukrainian people.
Praying.
"From the U.S. perspective, Russian targeting is not perfect," @jimsciutto says on CNN. "The U.S. does not have great confidence in Russian targeting." Fear is that missiles could hit civilians even if unintentionally in this opening phase of the invasion.
Ukraine says Russian troops have begun clashing with Ukrainian border guards.
Photo of the Russian attack on Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv, where military aircraft were stored.
Russian armor crossing the border into Ukraine, via a livestream being shown on CNN.
About 50 miles from the border with NATO member Poland. Russia appears to be striking all over Ukrane.
Alright, I can't watch any more of this right now. Going to bed. Feels awful knowing how much worse things will look when I wake up in a few hours.
Russia nears Kyiv...
A pretty humbling sight.
This is still surreal to see, and it's obviously just the beginning.
We're not used to seeing what a modern military can do in a full-scale invasion of another modern country. The speed and scope of this attack is still disorienting.
Sounds like the next phase will begin in a few hours.
I'm far from the first to point this out, but look at how they're deliberately using the language of the Third Reich even as they mock the basic idea of truth by claiming to be on a Nazi hunt.
Just a few feet away from the invading army. I know I keep saying it but it really is chilling.
Something to watch.
Um, yikes!
Hope this is still the case.
In any event, looks like the government isn't confirming a radioactive threat yet, just the destruction of a facility (which may not have had any spent fuel in it).
Why does Russia even want it? I understand needing to pass through the area to reach Kyiv from Belarus (nytimes.com/2022/01/22/wor…) but do they need to hold the plant itself to maintain that supply line?
"A declaration of war against the whole of Europe."
As you would expect, RT is wild right now.
Imagine being in one of those cars driving alongside them.
New footage of an explosion at an airport in southeastern Ukraine.
Video clip here:
Via @KyivIndependent's Telegram channel (t.me/s/KyivIndepend…): "Russian tanks have entered the city of Sumy, in Sumy oblast." 25 miles from the Russian border.
this is quickly turning into one of the scariest parts of this war — hope Russia realizes that anything they do here will be supremely counterproductive
new info from the U.S. military about the missiles that Russia has used so far ⤵️
Wonder if we will see senior government officials begin evacuating soon.
True bravery.
So incredibly eerie.
Not hard to imagine how a stray shell or missile could spark some very ugly escalation.
Just an absolute nightmare.
Confirmation of Chernobyl seizure ⤵️
Russia takes an airport. You don't have to be an expert to see how the proximity to Kyiv will be very helpful very soon.
Chilling.
Protests spreading across Russia today. Incredible bravery from people who have so much to lose.



Is the international community even remotely prepared to handle this new refugee crisis?
Biden, speaking now, notes that "the Russian government has perpetrated cyberattacks against Ukraine" as part of its invasion.

"Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences."
Biden says he's authorizing new U.S. sanctions that were "purposefully designed ... to maximize a long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies."
Biden just now: "If Russia pursues cyberattacks against our companies, our critical infrastructure, we're prepared to respond. For months, we've been working closely with the private sector to harden our cyber defenses [and] sharpen our response to Russian cyberattacks."
Pretty ominous.
There is no end to the dystopian images.
Missed this earlier, but @FedorovMykhailo issued a statement on Telegram appearing (according to Google Translate) to reassure Ukrainians that government data is secure. t.me/zedigital/1082

My story on this from Tuesday: politico.com/news/2022/02/2…
An admirable move, but how much longer will their service even exist?
Watch this video.
A hugely alarming ratio of civilian to military casualties that, if true, belies Russia's claims about its methods and targets.
Better late than never...?
Seems like events are nearing the end stage.
fair point re: the casualty numbers I shared earlier and the civilian-to-military ratio
This is pretty heartbreaking to read, and you have to imagine that this scene is repeating itself all over Ukraine right now.
"'Ukrainian cybercommunity! It's time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country,' the post read, asking hackers and cybersecurity experts to submit an application via Google docs, listing their specialties, such as malware development, and professional references."
Would love to hear military analysts weigh in on the strategy (or lack thereof) evident here.
Democrats are probably eager to do this. Old-line establishment Republicans might be onboard too. But what about the conservative base that controls the GOP?
For those who missed this remarkable account of the failed airborne assault on Antonov Airport:
Next phase could be about to begin.
.@UnianInfo has published a statement from an adviser to Ukraine's president on their Telegram channel. Even when Google Translated, you can feel the sense of defiance and see how the government is trying to buck up the people and counter demoralization. t.me/uniannet/31621
"It is unlikely that Russia has achieved its planned Day 1 military objectives. Ukrainian forces have presented fierce resistance across all axes of Russia's advance."
Russian troops reportedly on the move. Konotop and Kyiv are about 130 miles apart. Sumy and Kyiv are about 190 miles apart.
Are these units holding there or continuing to approach?

Either way, sounds like reinforcements are on their way from various cities in Sumy Oblast (and no doubt other places), presumably to encircle Kyiv.
"There are Russian forces ... that have been airlifted into strategic positions around this city," @mchancecnn says from Kyiv. "Within a short period of time, the Russian plan is to encircle Kyiv, to capture the city, and to capture the leadership..."
thread with footage of major missile strikes on Kyiv ⤵️
some air defenses apparently remain intact and are at work in the capital right now
Update on that clip: Ukrainian official says the air defense system shot down a Russian aircraft.

More photos and videos from observers and security cameras available here: t.me/s/uniannet
remarkable to see Ukrainian forces outperform expectations on multiple fronts
some very brave firefighters out responding to a fire at what looks like a high-rise apartment building
hard to get a sense of how many strikes have hit Kyiv at this point, but local media reports multiple interceptions
international law violations within international law violations
.@mchancecnn just reported on air, citing a Ukrainian interior ministry source, that this video shows a Russian surface-to-air missile shooting down a Ukrainian warplane.
Mark lays out a fairly upbeat case about what’s next for the Ukrainian people.
uhhhh
One possible explanation. But not knowing what's going on is the scariest part.
Can't imagine sitting here in D.C. and hearing this message from my government. I don't think I'd be brave enough to go out and fight — especially if the rest of the world was just sitting back and watching.
This would be the airport that Ukraine retook yesterday. Now it seems to have fallen again. Evidently Russia sent a much larger airborne assault force this time:
So is this just a ruse or is Putin actually open to a negotiated settlement that leaves Zelenskyy in power?
wholesome as hell
A brutal read. Really makes the human toll of this invasion clear.
Not the words of someone who's winning his war so far.
Surprising that it's taking them so long to establish air superiority (with air supremacy presumably then even harder). But as Indrees reports here, the U.S. believes that only a third of deployed Russian forces have engaged in the invasion so far.
Grotesque.
The photojournalists in Ukraine are doing such amazing work.
Not hard to imagine how Russia could try to break Ukraine's morale by prolonging or intensifying this situation.
Absolutely right. We are so privileged to have never had to confront this kind of necessity, and pretending that it's perennially looming is insulting to those who are actually enduring it.
🔥🔥🔥
Curious.
Really hope they evacuated the animals somehow. Obviously not important as the people, but just can't imagine being a confused animal trapped in the middle of that.
While the final outcome may seem grimly clear, this is absolutely not going the way Russia wanted it to, and that counts for something.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Eric Geller

Eric Geller Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ericgeller

Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 24
Options mentioned here: Disrupting Russian internet access, sabotaging the Russian power grid, and hacking railroad switches to impede supply lines.

"'You could do everything from slow the trains down to have them fall off the tracks,' one person briefed on the matter said."
Needless to say, this is an incredibly precarious moment and the U.S. will need to be very careful about calibrating any cyberattacks to avoid catastrophic reprisals. Putin has given apocalyptic warnings about what he'll do if the West tries to stop him.
.@emilyhorne46 slaps down NBC's story about Biden being presented with aggressive cyber retaliation options.

"This report is wildly off base and does not reflect what is actually being discussed in any shape or form." (via @magmill95)
Read 5 tweets
Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 23
Notable point from ESET's thread about new data-wiping malware that it discovered on hundreds of computers in Ukraine today.
Symantec seeing it too
Symantec's Eric Chien tells me: "We are seeing the wiper across multiple organizations in different sectors in the Ukraine including finance and government organizations. The wiper uses a legitimate driver to gain low level hard disk access to wipe data."
Read 23 tweets
Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 23
🚨 The websites of Ukraine's parliament, foreign ministry, and executive cabinet are down, possibly due to a new distributed denial-of-service attack.

rada.gov.ua
mfa.gov.ua
kmu.gov.ua
Cabinet of Ministers website appears to be back up. Rada and MFA sites still down.
Looks like Privatbank's website is having issues too. privatbank.ua
Read 8 tweets
Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 22
After Russia invaded in 2014, Ukraine began centralizing govt data in Kyiv, severing links w/ IT systems in occupied territories.

Now it's preparing to evacuate that data if Moscow targets Kyiv.

I talked to @dsszzi's @VZhora about protecting this data: politico.com/news/2022/02/2…
Centralizing data in Kyiv robbed Russia of easy access to files and services previously accessible from now-occupied computers in Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk. It also prevented those now-untrustworthy computers from becoming backdoors into Ukrainian networks.
Ukraine's locally distributed computer system was the product of historically slow internet speeds that prevented large, frequent data transfers. But the country's modernization meant it could move everything to web platforms based in Kyiv (with multiple backup sites).
Read 11 tweets
Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 18
White House briefing starting now. Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber, is one of the speakers.
Neuberger: “While there are currently no specific or credible cyber threats to the homeland, the U.S. government has been preparing for potential geopolitical contingencies since before Thanksgiving.”
Essentially confirming recent WaPo story, Neuberger says USG "believes that Russian cyber actors likely have targeted the Ukrainian government, including military and critical infrastructure networks, to collect intelligence & preposition to conduct disruptive cyber activities."
Read 13 tweets
Eric Geller Profile picture
Feb 17
During panel at Munich Cybersecurity Conference, FBI Cyber Division's Tonya Ugoretz says "international standardization" of AML rules for cryptocurrency "would greatly help" stop ransomware. Many countries don't have consistent rules, so even well-meaning exchanges can't help.
Ugoretz: "Sometimes foreign exchanges want to be cooperative...but because they don't have that existing framework that provides consistency in the types of information that they're collecting about their customers, they may not even have the information on hand to provide..."
On ransomware, DHS Under Secretary for Policy Rob Silvers says “we are taking this problem on from all angles, and it's among our very highest cybersecurity priorities.” He notes stopransomware.gov, various alerts and guidance docs, and partnerships with other agencies.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @ericgeller has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @ericgeller!

Read all threads by @ericgeller

:(