Please do read do Tom’s piece on the @amnesty report. My projects have not taken me to the cities mentioned in the reports for now. However, I wanted to add a comment about the evacuations in Lysychansk, which I know a lot about from a source. 1/
The Amnesty report says:
“Mykola, who lives in a [Lycychansk] tower block that was repeatedly struck by Russian attacks which killed at least one older man, told Amnesty International: “I don’t understand why our military is firing from the cities and not from the field.” 2/
In June and July, the twin cities of Lycychansk and Severodonetsk in Luhansk region were hell on earth. Every street was fought over, as Russian and proxy forces — including the feared Kadyrovtsi from Chechnya — slowly advanced. The Ukrainians were outgunned and slowly retreated
Report author @DRovera 1) Can you confirm or deny this? 2) If this is indeed so, how can you assure the world that you did not obtain these testimonies under duress? 3) How can you defend cooperating with authorities at sites which are believed to breach the Geneva Conventions?
4) How did you check the bona fides of the researchers and the people they interviewed? 5) Have you followed up with those interviewed to check on whether they are okay? 6) Are you considering your position in the wake of days of mounting criticism?
I’m going to summarize an interview with Greens MEP @ViolavonCramon in English here on how Germany came to be dependent on Russian gas, because it’s politically important and interesting. I hope I have everything right:
Australia will send over a dozen armored personnel carriers and twenty more bushmasters to Ukraine, as part of a $AU100 million boost in military aid to help the war-ravaged nation to “stand up to a bully”, the country’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said during a Kyiv visit. 1
At a press conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Albanese said he came to Kyiv as a sign of Australia’s “admiration and respect” for the Ukrainian people’s “brave struggle” against an breach of international law and the UN charter.
2.
Albanese also announced:
- Australia will join the US, UK Canada and Japan in banning Russian gold
- Australia will join an international court case against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine
- Will add more Russian oligarchs and officials to its sanctions list of over 800
3.