#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
Welcome to Day 143 of #PutinsWar.
This daily thread aims to tell you everything you need to know about developments of #Russia's illegal invasion of #Ukraine and the heroic defence to keep 🇺🇦 free.
Updates may be a little slower/less frequent today as I am driving to London for UK premiére of #Ukraine film #SlovoHouse in Leicester Sq
About artists suppressed under Stalin, it's very relevant now & headlines the closing gala at the @Iwilltell festival
1/2 Tomorrow will be 8 years to the day since #Russia blasted passenger jet #MH17 out of the sky. 300 innocents died from numerous countries inc UK, but mainly Dutch; families going on holiday
The Kremlin came up with repeated versions of "what happened" each new story proving..
Still plenty of missile strikes, rocket attacks across the frontline but the general feeling is that there's been a slight lull on the Russian side the last couple of days.
This is backed up by the British view this morning. Antiquated machinery and no movement in 72 hours.
One person seizing the moment and having a "good war" is President Tokayev of #Kazakhstan.
Today he's told the Kazakh government to "create conditions for the relocation of foreign companies that have left the Russian market."
A further sign of the growing division with #Russia
I've documented everything since I was in Kyiv just before the invasion.
All for free. No Substack, no subscription.
But it takes a lot of time, research, calls. If you want to buy me a coffee🙏 ko-fi.com/twmcltd
More depressing news to report first.
The death toll in the #ChasivYar massacre now stands at 47.
A residential block near #Bakhmut in #Donetsk region was struck by a Russian missile at the weekend and rescuers have been painstakingly removing rubble ever since.
Quite a detailed report from Britain's Intelligence this morning. All stuff covered here in this thread previously, which shows I'm doing something right!
This is a fight for freedom in Europe against tyranny and oppression.
The previous tweet reminds me of this video I saw a couple of days ago.
This purports to be recruitment for the Wagner Group inside a jail. It's said they promise an amnesty after six months of war, regardless of the charge.
The 138th daily thread on #Russia's war of choice starts here.
Real signs in the last few days that #Ukraine has levelled the playing (combat) field with the arrival of long range artillery.
Even as I type rockets seem to be landing in Russian held territory. Read on...⬇️
Just 2 hours ago, at the end of yesterday's thread, I reported on explosions again in occupied #NovayaKakhovka where #Russia suffered heavy losses earlier on Sunday.
Now reports of more rockets landing in #Kherson. Yesterday evening #Ukraine pledged to regain land in the south.
1/2 Now a puzzle for you.. Just what is being transported on trains in huge quantities through #Russia?
Missiles/rockets? Logs? Rolled sheet metal? All suggested so far.
Great work @CarolynnePries1 to capture these from a webcam.
This is Uzlovaya, about 230km south of Moscow
The 137th day of #PutinsWar is underway and already more rockets and missiles are flying.
This is the start of Sunday's thread with all the news throughout the day from #Ukraine and beyond, as #Russia continues its destructive invasion of its neighbour.
#Luhansk region is where we start today, with news of a likely #Ukraine attack.