#Breaking: Ukraine on air alert after warnings of Russia’s largest attack yet, since its campaign to destroy infrastructure began in October. Officials have repeatedly stressed: Please don’t ignore the warnings and proceed to shelters.
The head of the president’s office, Andriy Yermak, repeating that message in the past few moments.
Belarusian monitoring project: Russian jets have taken off from Minsk’s airspace.
Capital has been taken out of the alert, but most regions in the country have not.
*End of alert* for regions other than Luhansk and Kherson. Explosions reported in Kherson.
Kim: Training flights are often used to conceal the actual missile strikes.
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Russia planned to “subjugate” Ukraine in ten days and control it by summer as part of plans drawn up by a small group of officials led by Vladimir Putin. That’s according to a new report by Britain’s RUSI, an institute linked to Britain’s army, drawing on captured Russian orders.
Putin wrote his famous essay (asserting that Ukrainians and Russians were one people) in July 2021. That same month, the report says, the FSB was tasked with surveying Ukrainians. The result of their work seems to have been shaped by confirmation bias.
Russia’s army leadership said (and believed) it had achieved parity with the US due to military reforms. It devised a blitzkrieg plan, according to which several forces would seize different areas of Left Bank Ukraine. Only the Southern Military Command appeared to achieve goals.
Leaving Kyiv for a few weeks to see my family abroad. Hard for people in the EU to understand how difficult life in Ukraine is right now. 1/x
I listen to the radio on the way to the station. The reporter says Putin’s killer drones, bought from Iran, are already in the air. In the capital, there were two alerts before 7:00 a.m. Elsewhere, in Kriviy Rig for example, explosions are already reported. 2/x
The atmosphere is tense: Only back passages are open at the main train station. Passengers wait underground. As the train rolls out, messages over its loudspeaker tell you to mind unattended valuables, in case something has been planted.
3/x
Yet another air alarm in Kyiv, with unconfirmed reports of drones in the sky from Belarus. This morning’s death-toll has risen to four.
Local media are uploading all sorts of dark videos featuring drones “being shot down” on Kyiv’s left bank and in Beliya Tserkov, a town south of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has just put out a statement about “the involvement of Iran in Russia’s terrorist crimes”, officially accusing the Islamic Republic of involvement in the war.
Again, the sirens sound this Monday. Death toll from the kamikaze attack has risen to three. Now, Ukrainian media are reporting that rockets may have been launched from the Caspian Sea.
Three rockets were shot down north of Kyiv, and the alert has now been lifted. Many people are becoming more and more nonchalant as the mayhem grows evermore frequent. My barista remained open all through the drone attack.
Some, though, look visibly upset. I saw a thirty-something woman with black curly hair sitting, holding hands with her boyfriend in the shelter. Tears were rolling down her face silently for about 15 minutes.
#Breaking Ukrainian media: Russian planes with transponders turned off launch missiles towards Ukraine. Direction of attack and its intensity unclear. Some rockets headed towards the capital.
Officials: Iranian drones cited flying over central-western Ukraine.
Ran into my barista in the shelter. He’s just stopping by: “Today is not a nightmare. It’s just a mini-nightmare…so far.”