The Times Profile picture
Mar 2 13 tweets 4 min read
Dnipro will be a Stalingrad for the Russian attackers, vows regional chief Mykola Lukashuk
thetimes.co.uk/article/dnipro…
The province chief once presided over vast infrastructure projects, oversaw plans for new highways, checked industrial blueprints and regional budgets and ran one of the largest civil administrations in Ukraine... 🇺🇦
Now Lukashuk has a Makarov pistol strapped to his belt and a Kalashnikov on the table, and is organising Dnipro to become a Stalingrad for invading Russian troops 🇷🇺
“I can put a million people under arms,” the 41-year-old head of Dnipropetrovsk region said.

🗣️ “For two years I have done everything I can to make my oblast a place of prosperity and development. Now I’m going to make it a Stalingrad for the Russians”
Striding through the corridors of the state administration building in Dnipro with an escort of armed bodyguards, Lukashuk has had five short days to turn his head from construction plans to the business of destruction
“Since the Russian invasion began I get three hours’ sleep on a good night,” he said. “There’s a lot to do as we get ready to receive them.”

Amid the on-off wails of air raid sirens, Lukashuk’s civilian staff co-ordinate the donations pouring in
He fields war calls from President Zelensky, who appointed him to his position two years ago; he speaks to police and Territorial Defence Force commanders hunting Russian saboteurs; and looks out of his office to the Rocket Park below, where women work preparing petrol bombs
“I didn’t want my oblast to be a place where everyone grabbed an assault rifle and pistol and Molotov, but we’ve had no choice,” he said.

🗣️“I’ve got 3.2 million people. I can get a million of those under arms, but can you imagine how many will die if the Russians rocket us?”
Lukashuk’s region includes Ukraine’s industrial and mining heartland which last year generated 11% of the country’s GDP.

Now it has turned its economic capability to war.

📸 Billboards that once advertised IT software now read: “Russian Warship – F*** Yourself” 👇
He refused to give away details of his conversation with the Ukrainian president the other evening, observing only that he was in a “good mood and believes Ukraine can win”
thetimes.co.uk/article/cheche…
War is encroaching fast.

Lukashuk mentions the "strange drone" that has flown around his offices.

🗣️"It seemed to be observing us carefully. Other drones are also above the oblast. They will be able to see the realities of the billions of Hryvnia spent rebuilding this region"
🗣️ "Do the Russians really want to destroy this so they can own it? They say they are coming to ‘save Russian speakers’: I am a Russian speaker and I don’t want saving,” Lukashuk says.

He pulled his Makarov from its holster. “Each day of the last five has seemed like a year”
Read the full story from @A_Loyd_Times 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/dnipro…

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More from @thetimes

Mar 4
Ukraine’s foreign minister warned of an explosion “ten times larger than Chernobyl” after Russian troops shelled a reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant thetimes.co.uk/article/fire-a…
🔺 Update: Russian forces have seized the largest nuclear plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set on fire during heavy fighting with the Ukrainians thetimes.co.uk/article/fire-a…
A fire had earlier broken out in a building at the Zaporizhzhya plant after shelling by Vladimir Putin’s forces, triggering widespread condemnation of a “horrific” and “reckless” act
Read 4 tweets
Mar 4
President Zelensky has survived at least three assassination attempts in the past week, The Times has learnt thetimes.co.uk/article/zelens…
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: Two different outfits have been sent to kill the Ukrainian president — mercenaries of the Kremlin-backed Wagner group and Chechen special forces. Both have been thwarted by anti-war elements within Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)
Wagner mercenaries in Kyiv have sustained losses during their attempts and are said to have been alarmed by how accurately the Ukrainians had anticipated their moves. A source close to the group said it was “eerie” how well briefed Zelensky’s security team appeared to be Image
Read 9 tweets
Mar 3
Loud booms ring out every few minutes from the Ukrainian air defence trying to protect Kyiv. Underneath them, Dr Igor Nesteruk, considers his ill-fitting sheepskin coat

thetimes.co.uk/article/kyivs-…
“What do you think?” says Nesteruk, pivoting for a view. “Too unisex?”

The professor of applied mathematics at Ukraine’s premier research science institute was donated the coat by neighbours when he joined the Territorial Defence Forces last week
The coat is as new to Nesteruk, 67, as the Kalashnikov slung awkwardly across his body. He has admitted he “doesn’t really know” how to shoot a gun Image
Read 9 tweets
Mar 3
Britain will not be able to sanction Roman Abramovich and other oligarchs for “weeks and months” because the government has been unable to build a case against them

thetimes.co.uk/article/buildi…
The Foreign Office and National Crime Agency have been unable to prove that there are “reasonable grounds” for designating the UK’s most prominent oligarchs for sanctions because they have struggled to link their finances to the Putin regime Image
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, wants to sanction Abramovich but has been left frustrated after being told that the government has been unable to build up a case against him and others Image
Read 14 tweets
Mar 3
🔺 JUST IN: Russia is determined to control the whole of Ukraine and “the worst is yet to come” in the war with Ukraine, President Macron believes after a 90-minute call to President Putin thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
🔺 Update: Ukraine operation is going to plan, Putin tells Russians thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
Vladimir Putin said on Russian television: “I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable. According to plan. All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved”
Read 4 tweets
Mar 2
Ukraine has invited Russian women to come to Kyiv and collect their sons, many of whom appear to be inexperienced and frightened teenage conscripts thetimes.co.uk/article/russia…
In a field surrounded by the people he had been sent to fight, a young Russian prisoner of war hungrily gulped down the tea and bread they offered him.

A Ukrainian woman calmed him, telling the soldier not to worry. Using her phone, she made a video call to his mother
As soon as his mother appeared on the screen, he burst into tears.

“Everything is OK,” his female captor said, while others stroked his back. “Natasha, God be with you. We will call you later. He is alive and healthy”
Read 8 tweets

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