#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
This is the start of THE daily thread covering all things Ukraine.
Reliable, accurate information for 1124 days as Russia and its willing accomplices (Iran, North Korea and MAGA-land) try to destroy Ukraine, its culture and its democracy to make it a vassal state.
Here's the🧵
Yesterday started with shocking lies and propaganda from the White House and ended with another massive attack by Russia, knowing tRUmp and co don't mind at all.
Find all the details by clicking and scrolling here⬇️
The war Russia inflicted on Ukraine enters Day 1120
Ukraine, a country which never invaded another, never killed anyone abroad; a fully democratic nation where only one President has ever won a second term in office.
Here's THE daily thread for Wednesday, with all the news.
Yesterday was all about the ritual humiliation of tRUmp, dished out by Putin, and the US president's brain being too rusty to realise.
I also indulged in a long sub-thread on my fears about what's happening in Washington DC.
Catch up here:
It's official. tRUmp's supposed skill at making a deal is absolutely RANK
Russia
Afghanistan
NK (North Korea)
#TraitorTrump promised a deal with his mate in NK, got nothing.
He handed the Taliban everything, got nothing.
Now, ending the war in 24 hours turned into humiliation
Putin, the aggressor, the war criminal, presiding over countless heinous crimes, executions, kidnapping of children, is about to be given a pass by Donald J Trump.
The despot and the wannabe talk today.
This is THE daily thread
Yesterday saw an explosive end to a day which started with mystery surrounding a Ukraine hit in Russia, and moved through the thread with some harrowing and shocking tales and scenes from Kherson.
Welcome to my daily thread, covering all things #Ukraine every single day since even before the first day of Russia's full invasion.
This is Day 1110 of Putin's long promised land grab - he's also pledged to reunite the rest of the USSR.
More atrocities overnight, let's begin:
For those loving people who urge me to get more sleep, you will be pleased to know there was no alarm this morning; I am refreshed and ready to tackle JD TRussia again.
A busy Friday ended with news of the awful attack in free Donetsk, catch up here:
Today sees the completion of 3 years of full scale war unleashed by #Russia on #Ukraine.
As signs point to an end to this war relatively soon, the ONLY question which should be asked is: are you happy to reward war-criminal terrorists with land?
Here's THE daily thread:
It's Day 1096 of #Russia 's war.
If you missed anything yesterday, catch up on Saturday's news here:
1/2 The #UK is in full focus today.
As @Keir_Starmer prepares to fly to Washington, new sanctions will be unveiled tomorrow.
Foreign Sec @DavidLammy says it will be "the largest package of sanctions against #Russia since the early days of the war eroding its military machine."
Day 1083 of the war in Europe and the 1083rd of my daily threads.
Three years ago we knew #Ukraine wouldn't go down without a fight. Now, for the first time in over a year there's genuine reason for #Russia to be worried about the outcome.
Plenty to learn and from in Sunday's thread.
In #Russia, ships crashing and exploding, faking capture of a key town in #Ukraine and late at night drones attacking again.
On the other hand, Moscow attacks civilians. Take a look at what you missed: