🧵See the nickname on that door? This is the door in the basement of local school in Yahidne, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. 300+ locals were kept there by Russian soldiers in inhuman conditions for 26 days. This tag allowed me to find the woman who left it and she told me her story.
They were kept in this basement from March 4rd till March 31rd. See the names right and left of the "calendar"? On the right are those who died in the basement itself, on the left – those who were killed by Russians or died "upstairs" during the shelling.
Evgeniya is the name of the woman. By the time Russians came in she lived in Yahidne with her family, including grandfather who recently had a stroke and was unable to move. They all survived, but 10 people in the basement died from hunger, lack of fresh air and medications.
Nearly all Russian soldiers who kept them in the basement were from Tuva, republic in south-central Siberia, one of the poorest and least-developed regions of Russia. Ukrainian authorities claim they collected evidence to charge at least 9 of them.
Some of them have recent posts on VK like nothing happened (archive.ph/c0cZJ). None of them replied to my messages: why keep 300 civilians together? They all had their own houses with basements, where they used to hide from shelling before.
Russian soldiers provided their prisoners with the minimum amounts of food and water. The first elderly man in the basement died a week after it all started. "He just didn’t wake up when we tried to give him some food", – says Valeriya.
Soldiers didn't allow to bury all the bodies immediately after the death. They only allowed to bring them to this boiler room, giving their clearance when at least 5 bodies were "accumulated" there.
When Russians had to retreat from Chernihiv, many of those kept in this "basement of death" were able to walk out for the first tome in 26 days – just to find their houses destroyed and totally looted.
Now the whole family is in Germany. They want to return, but Yahidne is still being shelled. They lost almost everything but saved their lives. I know It’s on the brink of ethical for me, but if you want to help them – PayPal leralepekha03@gmail.com.
And please read full story here (use google translate). Things like that should never happen again. svoboda.org/a/podval-smert…
Story continues: two of the guys accused by UA prosecutor's office in atrocities in Yahidne are already dead, as I was told by the wife of Nazyty Mongush. She confirmed her husband was there too, but he is alive.
She rejects accusations on behalf of her husband: "They fed them [civilians in Yahidne]. Our husbands won’t hurt a fly. My husband cried when he saw how they have to live: shops were closed, he helped one guy to find the diapers for his son".
She says some guys from the list never have been to Yahidne. "Probably Ukraine got this list when their car was bombed".
There’s one more interesting detail: Russian command also investigated the case of Yahidne, but found that soldiers are not guilty.
After this fruitful conversation she deleted some of her messages and closed her VK, as well as did her husband, and said she will report me to FSB ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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🧵/ Link in the last post. There are increasing reports in Russia about conscripts being sent to Kursk for reinforcement after the Russian army failed to push back Ukrainian forces there. Together with @pustota, we decided to take a deeper look into this issue.
First of all, this is not the first case of using conscripts in combat during this war. The most infamous one dates back to June 2022. themoscowtimes.com/2022/06/07/rus…
Second, legally, Russia can send its conscripts to war after 4 months of service and proper training. However, what we (and other journalists) have found is that those conscripted in the spring and being sent to Kursk most had served less than 4 months.
🧵I created an interactive Google Map showing all 15 vehicles (14 trucks and 1 rescue 'Bukhanka') from the Russian military convoy destroyed by Ukraine last night near Rylsk, Kursk Oblast. Multiple dead bodies can be seen inside the trucks. google.com/maps/d/u/0/edi…
The Yandex.Mirrors dashcam snapshots collection from 2021 was used for geolocation, which I tried to make as precise as possible. However, I may have missed a few meters here and there – apologies in advance for any inaccuracies. yandex.ru/maps/-/CDcoa4JD
🧵Today, the Ukrainian military intelligence, HUR, claimed a strike on the Russian National Helicopter Center Mil & Kamov in Tomilino, Moscow Oblast, on July 21. I found the initial source for the videos they published and geolocated one of them. See the next posts for details🔽
The geolocated video. Source: 'Overheard in Tomilino' VK group (), posted at 8AM on July 21. Geolocation: POV 55.657014, 37.921943. This pretty much confirms the fire in the heli center premises, also confirmed by many people who commented on that post. archive.is/oO8gH
🧵1/7 New Pantsir-S1 on a tower has been recently installed just 3.7 kilometers from Vladimir Putin's residence on Valdai Lake, according to updated Google Earth imagery dated May 6th, 2024. 57.979219, 33.302010
2/7 A bigger picture:
3/7 The previous 'Pantsir' near this residence was reported back in January 2023, 6 km away in the village of Yascherovo: .
🧵Together with @Mike_Eckel and @pustota, we took a deep dive into the deep blue: the history of the Barneo polar camp, which dates back to 1993 and reflects many events that have shaped Russia since then, from becoming a hybrid FSB-mafia state to starting a war in Ukraine. 🔽
This is a long read, so I’ll provide descriptions of its chapters in this thread, each accompanied by anchor links to the relevant parts of the text.
1. How the Russians borrowed the idea of diving to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole from the Americans. svoboda.org/a/odnopolyarny…
1/9 Quick🧵about the possible Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with Western rocket systems after the U.S. authorized Kyiv on May 31st to do so in order to prevent Russian strikes and assaults on Kharkiv Oblast 🔽.
2/9 Monday, June 3. Photos of the aftermath of the alleged HIMARS strike on a Russian S-300/400. They can be geolocated () 18 km north of Belgorod, more than 50 km from the border. No GMLRS rocket debris is shown, though. Date taken is unknown. t.me/DniproOfficial…
3/9 Saturday, June 1st The first photos of the debris of GMRLS rockets in Belgorod oblast were published on Saturday, a day after reports of the U.S. authorizing such a strikes on Russian territory. Location unknown.