#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 Tuesday's daily thread, with all the important news from, and relevant to, Ukraine in one handy place.
It's Day 1385 and I've still never missed a day of fact checking, analysing and reporting every aspect of the defence against Russia's illegal war.
Yesterday a lot of talking behind the scenes, but politicians were broadly tight-lipped on progress.
Russia did make more small gains on the frontline, but we also found a cat with burned whiskers + how Russian pilots' head-tennis went disastrously wrong
Pres Zelenskyy's whirlwind tour continues, arriving in Rome this morning to meet the Pope at Castle Gandolfo.
At Villa Barberini, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed by the vice-regent of the papal household, Augustinian Father Edward Daniang Daleng.
Day 1366 of the war in Europe is the start of two days of mourning in a small city in Ukraine which suffered over 160 killed and injured in a single Russia attack 24 hours ago.
As the war crimes mount, Trump approves a mad-hat simpleton's plan to end the war
Here's THE daily🧵
Here's the link for the start of Wednesday's🧵
I posted 65 stories - that equates to a post every 22 minutes throughout the entire 24 hours.
Psychologically a devastating day for Ukraine. Being murdered by Russia, being abandoned by the USA.
A reminder US officials are in Kyiv, due to meet Zelenskyy, when Ukraine's president knows he will have to tell the Americans to shove the surrender document up Witkoff's "White House pass"
Is Rubio undermining the WH plan?
It's certainly not realistic and without 🇷🇺concessions
Welcome to another daily thread covering all the important things happening in Ukraine right now, and therefore by (unwanted association) Russia too.
All things fact checked, analysed and explained.
The news you can rely on, every day, in one place.
It's Day 1361. I'm late!⏰
Well I had a lovely lie-in as, all things considered it was a relatively news-free morning
My "bitter enders" (those who make it through to the very end of the🧵) will know there was a big attack on Dnipro which kept me reporting late.
Missed it? click⬇️
One thing I've had to do is wade through Trump's interview on GB News. It's actually been worthwhile because it's a wonderful example I can use to train what NOT to do!
Main points being:
1'48" to ask a question is dreadful
Such simpering loses all credibility before you begin
The first few hours of Day 1360 of Russia's genocidal war started with Ukrainians in shelters. More innocent lives have been claimed by the Moscow horde.
The west unable or unwilling to stop the slaughter despite 1000s of war crimes.
We're not incapable, must not be unwilling.
One of the heaviest bombardments Kyiv has ever known dominated y'day's thread and the start of today's.
But Ukraine also continues to pick-off financial targets inside Russia
It all made for one of the longest🧵 so far - the least you can do is read it!
Hello again, thanks for visiting my Ukraine thread on Day 1353
Views/likes are down on both sites I post on: possible war fatigue
It's exactly what Putin wants from the world - to wear us down so we accept a deal to stop the killing
This will embolden Putin & hasten war v NATO
Here's the link for Thursday's thread.
It was a day which saw Ukraine inflict a fair amount of damage on Russia's energy sector and the crisis is nearing for Putin as it cannot export oil.
The energy crisis for Ukraine is about people surviving winter: