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Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 28

One of the interesting aspects of the war is the incredible Ukrainian cohesion as a whole and those of the local elites usually at odds with the central government.

From the Odesa mobster, to Kharkiv, Dnipro and the occupied Kherson and Zaporizhia no one switched sides. /1

That wasn’t the case in 2014/15, especially in Donetsk and Luhansk, where some of the local and regional elites were sitting it out (like Akhmetov) waiting to see how the tide would turn. Really recommend to read Portnov’s piece on how the east was lost /2
opendemocracy.net/en/odr/how-eas…

Essentially the state was unable to maintain its monopoly of violence shortly after the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the passivity of the local elite in Luhansk and Donetsk (unlike say in Dnipropetrovsk) played a crucial role- bud I digress… /3

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Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 27

@unian

I just read this interview of @unian with Vadim Boychenko, the Mayor of Mariupol. Hopefully this will be translated to English.

The mayors says that according to the city’s estimates, about 20 to 30 thousand residents were forcibly deported to Russia. /1

unian.net/war/mer-mariup…

The mayor tells UNIAN that the city remains surrounded since the fifth day of the war. “They used the fascist approach,” the mayor says and adds that the Russian forces deliberately besiege the city and target all of its critical infrastructure. /3

In the first days of the siege the Russians destroyed all power lines in the city. On the 7th day the city was left without electricity and heating. The Russians deliberately targeted the city’s water pumps. On the 9th, the water supply collapsed. After that gas was cut off. /4

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Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 26

Another abduction!

Yesterday, the mayor of Slavutych (25,000 people) reported that Russian snipers entered the otherwise cutoff city. This morning, the city hall posted pictures of pro-🇺🇦 protests. Now, news are breaking that Russians kidnapped the mayor Yuri Fomichev.

Source is the head of the Kyiv Civilian Military Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk. He also stated that Russian forces took over the local hospital in Slavutych.

nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/ev…

This is a video of this morning’s protests in Slavutych. Just for context: the city was cutoff from 🇺🇦 supply lines for over two weeks and the mayor warned continuously of a humanitarian catastrophe. These citizens aren’t broken, they remain defiant 👇
nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/ev…

Read 5 tweets

Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 25

It is difficult to keep track of the developments in the occupied territory. Here are observations from the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which I like many others monitor closely. A thread 🧵 /1

The general trend remains the same: locals remain defiant and continue to protest nearly daily in cities in the Kherson and Zaporizhia region. Meanwhile, the occupation forces become more brutal and we hear of more abductions on a daily basis. /2

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1506542247369654276?s=20&t=32u4Jatk-xKyxUzJ4jSVWg

Before we get to the detention: in the past days, we hear more news of the ongoing "Russification". Across the occupied territories, Ukrainian books are confiscated and destroyed. Moreover, Russian was introduced as the local language in some places. /3

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1507040966703730694?s=20&t=32u4Jatk-xKyxUzJ4jSVWg

Read 25 tweets

Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 24

The mayor of Melitopol spoke on 🇺🇦 TV about a looming humanitarian crisis in the city, with food and medicine running out. Humanitarian aid was sent this morning from Zaporizhzhia but held up in Russian checkpoints for 8h… /1
radiosvoboda.org/a/news-melitop…

The aid is now on the way to Melitopol but the mayor in exile fears that it might be plundered by Russian occupation forces.

The mayor said that the Russian military was "behaving horribly" in the city, kidnapping people and conducting illegal searches of businessmen. /2

Fedorov also spoke about attempts by the Russians to force teachers to start teaching Russian in schools. After the local education department refused to cooperate with them, they, according to the mayor, began to put direct pressure on schools. /3

Read 5 tweets

Mattia Nelles

@mattia_n

Mar 23

Behind each Russian war crime are stories of individuals, like this one.
Together with his family, the 14-year old Yuri was in the occupied Bucha without access to food and water for two weeks. On 17 March, Yuri and his father Ruslan were on their way to collect food and aid. /1

when Russian soldiers confronted them. Both clearly identified themselves as unarmed civilians with white armbands to identify themselves as such. The Russians shot and killed Yuri's father (no warning shots, aiming for head and breast). They shot at and wounded Yuri. /2

According to the boy, he lay on the ground for several more minutes after the occupier tried to kill him. When he left, Yuri ran to the nearest shelter. It turned out to be a local kindergarten, where he received first-aid. /3

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