Sofia & her two children escaped from #Mariupol, a once prospering Ukrainian city, now completely wiped out by Russian invaders. 1/
Sofia is a professional stylist and make-up artist; she has her own studio and was a contractor for the Mariupol TV station. Her family just moved to their dream-house just before the full-scale invasion. 2/
Mariupol was attacked from the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion. The once prosperous city was made decimated and the conditions were made unliveable. 3/
To flee the bombardments Sofia moved to her parents’ place, they all sheltered in a residential building basement near the Mariupol Drama Theatre until it was destroyed by a Russian aviation bomb. 4/
After weeks under constant bombing and selling, Sofia decided to leave for Ukraine-controlled territories. 5/
She escaped with her kids in a car, passing through a destroyed city, with burned-down buildings, bodies in the streets and unexploded bombs. After 19 russian block-posts she finally reached the Ukrainian-controlled territory. 6/
Meanwhile, her home was occupied and pillaged by Kadyrovtsy. Her neighbours took pictures of what was once a family home – looted, destroyed, dirty place, wrecked by the russian invaders. 7/
Sofia & her two kids are in Kyiv now. With the help of her friends & just ordinary Ukrainians she was able to find a job as a make-up artist & to send kids to school. She believes that they will return to a free and rebuild the 🇺🇦 Mariupol that they still call their home. 8/
#Arestovych is returning from the frontline and will join the stream soon.
1/
#Feygin, Question 1: what is the response in the West to the russian allegation of Ukraine planning to use a "dirty bomb"? Is it blackmail or provocation? #Hodges: No one believes Kremlin anymore. The allegation are ridiculous as it's a complete nonsense.
2/
Part 1: 2022
Russian imperialism has a long & bloody history of attempts to eradicate cultures & languages of what the Kremlin views as its “colonies”. This is what “Ruskiy Mir”/”Russian World” is about – constructing a new “empire” by destroying everyone who dares to resist.
1/
The 🇷🇺 aggression on its neighbours didn’t start in 2022. Ask any Ukrainian, Georgian, Czech, Finn or Kazakh and you will learn about the grim events of 14, 08, 68, 1939 & 30s. It’s just that in 2022 we got an undeniable proof of the persistence of 🇷🇺 genocidal intentions.
2/
Regardless of the Russian excuses for the unprovoked aggression against Ukraine (NATO, “nazis”, biolabs, attack geese, hoarding of borscht or any other recent Russian delusion), the basic fact remains – Russia wants to exterminate Ukrainians.
3/
How was the life of Ukrainians in the russian-occupied territories?
It was full of terror, misery or worse. Many left their homes & run for the Ukrainian-controlled areas abandoning their livelihoods just to safe their lives.
🧵A story of Dmytro, Lidia & their 5yo Ksusha:
1/
Ukrainian father Dmytro Bahnenko reflects on the months he and his family lived there under occupation and secretly filmed for #BBC at great personal risk.
2/
"I saw a robot today," my five-year-old daughter Ksusha whispered to me as I filmed her underneath the table.
"It was flying… it wanted to kill me."
3/
The Russian Army – who is dying in the Kremlin's genocidal war in Ukraine?
RU is losing the war that it started in 🇺🇦 – more than 50k KIA 🇷🇺 and 300k more to be recruited as cannon fodder by the Kremlin. What are the 🇷🇺 soldiers dying for? 1/ wartranslated.com/the-russian-ar…
RU leadership believed in its own propaganda: ignoring the dysfunctional state of the RU army, miscalculated the UA resistance and the Western support.
2/