#Russia closing in on #Siversk in eastern #Ukraine's #Donbas region according to UK Intel.
However the daily update from London highlights more failings of Putin's war machine.
Reports from @business claim #Russia is creating its own reference grade of oil. They expect trading on their own oil will be launched in October.
I'm surprised, but maybe the expected lower price is the point - to highlight savings countries can make by trading with terrorists
Congratulations to @the_ins_ru and @bellingcat which are among four organisations declared as "undesirable activities on the territory of the Russian Federation"
The order came from the office of #Russia's Prosecutor General.
Most Russians still think they're free!
Two universities have been destroyed this morning in #Mykolaiv.
Regional head Viitaliy Kim reports at least 10 Russian missiles rained down on the city (#Nikolaev) - the impact was caught on CCTV.
Casualties unknown.
130 more Russian soldiers killed yesterday, according to #Ukraine's official update.
The total now liquidated in #PutinsWar hits 38,000.
In addition the President's office has already said over 12,000 Wagner (private military) contractors, meaning over 50k have needlessly died.
In #Melitopol' the Occupiers claim they've prevented a "terrorist attack" (i.e. #Ukraine's Resistance)
Russian officials say a local resident was detained, who kept a home-made bomb and 15 weapons at his home.
The British update earlier mentioned #Siversk in #Donetsk Oblast.
#Russia's Armed Forces this morning claim the town has "almost come under operational control." The invaders reckon ##Ukraine troops are undergoing a phased withdrawal. This may well be true, but no word from Kyiv
Oleksiy Arestovych from the President's office, confirms #Ukraine's successful hits in occupied areas in the last 24 hours.
The brave Resistance in #Kherson continues to work hard. A whole array of new patriotic posters appeared in the city, as shown by this Telegram channel in Kherson.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed #Russia's appeal against the decision of FIFA and UEFA to ban them from international football competitions.
While #Putin insists "everything is going to plan" in his special operation to destroy everyone in a peaceful neighbour, I saw something interesting
Authorities in #Novosibirsk are "asking" doctors to go for month-long working trips to #Donetsk + #Luhansk
All according to plan😉
The artist of these drawings was under house arrest for 6 months for "distributing porn"
Yulia Tsvetkova wanted to "normalise the female body" - prosecutors demanded 3 years jail.
Amazingly she won, a Russian court actually dismissed her case.
Overnight a mysterious fire broke out at a police station in the far-east city of #Vladivostok.
"All circumstances are being investigated" say authorities though the source of the blaze was quickly found and extinguished without casualties.
Officials there say more then 25 mortars landed, but there were no casualties.
When seeing reports like this we need to ask who benefits and what is gained by such attacks?
2/2
#Ukraine gains nothing by senselessly firing mortars into villages of zero strategic interest. It risks angering western partners. Same with strikes on civilians in #Donetsk. So, no reason for🇺🇦to do this
#Russia meanwhile gains hugely if western powers stop sending weapons
#Russia tells its people it spends so much time, effort, rubles, lives, fighting for freedom.
Yet at home every single person who preaches freedom is mercilessly dealt with. Ex-head of OpenRussia democracy group is jailed for 4 years.
#Sloviansk reportedly shelled this evening. Sadly we can expect a lot more of this here in the coming weeks as #Russia does its usual trying to destroy a city before "liberating" it.
Still not allowed to identify the exact sites where missiles have landed in #Ukraine this evening because of martial law, so media is limited right now.
This is in #Kramatorsk, just a few km from Sloviansk. Broken glass all around after rockets landed there.
So this is now known the very centre of #Kramatorsk has been hit. Ploshcha Myru (Myru Square).
Thankfully the rocket landed in an open space and casualties seem few despite this usually being busy at this time in the evening. Hopefully air raid sirens did their job
It's clear there has been a coordinated terrorist attack on #Ukraine this evening. Many feared dead in different towns and cities. Many fires now after the strikes.
#Ukraine govt official @arestovych, reacting to the killing of civilians said "It's necessary to kick #Russia out of the UN, assign it the status of 'state sponsor of terrorism'."
Better weapons help he says:
"Today M270s arrived - HIMARS have 6 rockets, these have 12."
President @ZelenskyyUa acknowledged the country's under attack as he spoke:
"The occupiers realise we become stronger, the goal of their terror is simple - to put pressure on our society, intimidate people, cause maximum damage to our cities while the 🇷🇺 terrorists still can"
Insane video - that's a car blazing in a crater from one of #Russia's missiles on the central #Ukraine city of #Dnipro
A late start to today's thread on Day 1216 of Russia's war of choice, after another late finish due to the latest murderous attack on civilians by Putin's horde.
With all the important news, every day, this is THE best place for Accurate, Reliable, Honest analysis and reporting
Kyiv was again the target overnight, details at the end of yesterday's thread.
But a lot of important and interesting stories Sunday, including how the animal kingdom took revenge on one traitor, but more pain for Ukraine as a training ground is again hit
Zelenskyy is visiting my shores today, speaking with Sir Keir Starmer to discuss joint defence protection, which will probably see an agreement on manufacturing.
Ukraine's leader points out the hypocrisy of Russia, condemning the US strikes in Iran then hours later hitting Kyiv
Russia displayed outright Nazism + Fascism on Friday.
From killing in Ukraine, more utterings from the war-criminal in chief, to locking up young women and taking legal action against small independent new sites.
Thursday 19 June is Day 1212 of the conflict in Europe.
Russia continues to make ground, expending its soldiers at will for a few more metres as Ukraine fights for its existence having been shamefully let down by the USA.
I'm here every single day, so here's today's daily 🧵
Wednesday saw the death toll in Kyiv rise throughout the day, ending at double the number it started at. Then later Putin cynically told journalists they only hit military targets
Elsewhere another traitor to Ukraine met his fate - click here to catch-up
Trump is now 150 days late in promising "peace within 24 hours" of taking office.
It's also, as @andrii_sybiha points out, 100 days since🇺🇦 agreed to an unconditional ceasefire, as tRUmp demanded.
Russia did what it always does: delay, lie, kill.
No time to waste. Kyiv is under the most immense attack.
It's Day 1210 of Russia's increasingly desperate attempt to eviscerate Ukraine and all Ukrainians.
Here's the daily thread, continuing to document the night attacks...
Just gone 04:35 in Kyiv.
A hellish night is not yet over.
Apartment blocks, student dormitories hit.
6 districts of Kyiv city damaged, plus other injuries in the wider region
Here's the link for Monday's thread with all the last half showing the chaos:
If you're just waking up, here's an idea of what's happened to Kyiv while you were sleeping.
Ukraine's capital has not slept.
Many are without homes due to Russia's ongoing war crimes and one person, an American, has lost his life during the attack.
Hello again. Day 1203 of Russia's genocidal war in Ukraine
Anyone with a brain slightly larger than that of a chihuahua knows it. Russian history and Putin's own words spelt it out, but peaceniks, Naziniks and idiotniks are still in denial
More proof coming up in🧵for Day 1203
Yesterday's thread lasted well over 24 hours, but nothing to be proud of.
I know I'm crazier than you, and thankfully you all have lives to live. So you will be needing the link to the start of yesterday's thread so you can catch up on what you missed..