Thread by @timkmak

Good morning from Ukraine to those waking up on the east coast.

Kyiv is still standing. Western intel predictions varied, and even most optimistic said city would fall within 2-3 days. But the out-matched Ukrainian military is putting up a valiant fight to defend the city

On Thursday a senior western intelligence official told NPR that by Thursday “evening at the latest, Kyiv is likely to be encircled.” Here we are on Sunday afternoon, and the latest information is that it has not been.

In the northeast there are signs that the Russians are running into logistical issues despite being so close to the Russian border

https://twitter.com/Nrg8000/status/1497860218554023938

As part of the effort to stop the war, Ukraine has set up a hotline for Russian women concerned about their sons/husbands/boyfriends etc. It’s the “Come Back from Ukraine Alive” hotline, said an advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

The Ukrainian government advisor said that five women in Kyiv have received 700 calls from Russian mothers “who are horrified” and they missed several thousand more calls. “All conversations are naturally recorded and are a valuable source of intelligence.”

Please take a listen to my latest story: I try my best to bring you the sounds/experiences of air raid sirens, tanks, hastily-prepared checkpoints.

At the gas station we were at, a voice came over the PA announcing an air strike causing mass-panic:

https://twitter.com/timkmak/status/1497718291892256768

The roads are jammed — we spent 14 hours driving yesterday, and progressed just 200 miles or so. It seems every town we pass through has set up checkpoints, which dramatically slows down progress.

On day one we were seeing checkpoints set up with tires… day two we are seeing sandbags being stacked… by now we are seeing concrete blocks and hasty fortifications.

The firearms that we are seeing at the checkpoints vary, but we are seeing a lot of AKs (with poor muzzle discipline, unnervingly) and double-barreled shotguns. Skeet shooting appears to be popular here @StephenGutowski

My race is an interesting issue here: I’m obviously not white so I come off as some vague foreigner. There are not v many immigrants here, so when we are stopped at checkpoints they may think: Maybe he is from Kazakhstan? Or some other post-Soviet country? Student?

I am still receiving hate mail from America though. Here’s a racist email I got while traveling in Ukraine. I didn’t see it because we were in a bomb shelter at the time.

Anyways at the border, reports of people spending all day waiting to get into Poland, abandoning cars, or even walking miles to cross by foot in the cold winter weather. The UN Refugee Agency estimates there are now 368K+ Ukrainian refugees.

https://twitter.com/FilippoGrandi/status/1497912426876092420

The Germans, threatened by Putin’s aggressive actions, are now sending defensive lethal aid to Ukraine and are re-arming and growing their own Army… pledging now more than 2% GDP to military spending

https://twitter.com/vonderburchard/status/1497882331566292992

It is an enormous feat of logistics to live or move around in Ukraine right now. Gas, power, comms, transport, housing, safety constant issues. Our coordinating producer @Yawnstewart is a hero for everything, but esp for driving 14 hrs yesterday while we filed stories from car

Checkpoints: If you want a taste of what it’s like driving at night in Ukraine now, get in your car, turn all your interior lights on, blast patriotic Ukrainian music written when they were fighting Soviets, and wait 90 min while someone flicks your phone airplane mode on and off

The mayor of Kyiv is saying on verified Telegram page that it is NOT true he said Kyiv was encircled.

t.me/vitaliy_klitsc…

Mayor of Kyiv: "today [Russia] created a clone of my Instagram... Russian internet media was sharing information quoting me that Kyiv is supposedly surrounded and evacuation of people is impossible... Don't believe the lies. Get your information from official sources!"

In reality, we won't know whether civilians can leave Kyiv until tomorrow morning, because there is a curfew that's been imposed over the weekend -- we should know in 12 hours because stories of people successfully leaving will begin to trickle out

Behind the scenes of Zelensky's private appeal for help that turned even the EU's skeptical leaders to ramp up sanctions

"Before disconnecting the video call, Zelensky told the gathering matter-of-factly that it might be the last time they saw him alive"
washingtonpost.com/business/2022/…