A young Australian volunteer has lost his life in #Bakhmut.
Sage O'Donnell from Victoria, was 24 years old and a former soldier with the Australian Army.
Heavy loss of life on both sides as #Russia's illegal invasion continues.
📷LinkedIn
The strike(s) on the Engels air base while not officially confirmed, look real.
It's exactly 3 weeks since the previous hit in #Saratov.
Some #Ukraine Telegram channels happily showing this satellite pic of the base, where 🇷🇺 wrote "Death to Nazis" - maybe they got their wish!
So #Russia admits 3 people died in the drone attack on its Engels air base in #Saratov.
They claim the ground crews were victims of falling debris when the #Ukraine UAV was shot down. This is almost certainly a lie. One drone hit the target.
A personal representative of hated Ramzan Kadyrov is arrested by #Russia's police in occupied #Crimea.
Four lieutenants of the Akhmat SOBR regiment as well as Hasan Ibragimov are on security cameras beating a guy. The man objected when one of the Chechens groped his girlfriend.
Oops. Missed the thread.
Twitter app is misbehaving for me this morning.
Roll call! Phil, David and Derek supporting me overnight. Each and every donation is very much appreciated and helps me spend so much time compiling these daily threads.
Also thanks to al those who give me tip offs and support with words if they cannot afford tips.💙💛
Sensible words from #Ukraine Air Forces spokesman Yuri Ignat on the "TV Marathon"
While #Russia says no aircraft were damaged at the Engels base, no one trusts that & Ignat says only satellite photos will reveal the truth.
The fact 🇷🇺admits 3 deaths in the attack shows it's bad
New video of the damage following one of the latest attacks on #Kherson.
#Russia shelled the city 33 times in the last 24 hours, but luckily no residents were killed or injured.
He's being operated on in Moscow, but some say he is likely to be paralysed. I put this more into the "speculation" category, but moving him hundreds of kilometres shows it was very serious.
Hundreds came to the opera on Christmas Day. However there was an air raid warning which lasted an hour and a half. Cast, crew, workers and public alike had to gather underground until #Russia's planes returned to base.
2/2
But as soon as the air raid all clear was sounded, the show in #Kyiv began.
No surprise the first 3 are involved in military aggression in the last 24 hours, while #Iran just fights its own people for the time being
Russia needs other wars; others emboldened by Russia's war
Head of #Wagner who enriches himself at the expense of African states + grieving Russian families, has called for rich Russians to be stripped of their wealth.
Prigozhin: "It's necessary to take away everything, the faster the better, then everyone will be on an equal footing."
Thousands more Russian troops are being sent to defend #Melitopol as the invaders see they are in real danger of losing the town.
Petro Andriyushchenko, exiled advisor to Mayor of Mariupol' posted this secret film of some of the convoys heading to occupied #Zaporizhzhia region.
Sanctioned Chief Propagandist says "Russia is bombing #Ukraine without pleasure"
Margarita Simonyan: “I don’t know a single person in Russia, including Putin, who would enjoy what is happening now.”
RU says the dead are
Cdr Yuri Gorovets (callsign Svyatosha) and 3 sappers Maksim Mikhailov, Taras Karpyuk + Bogdan Lyagov
#Ukraine's anti-corruption agency NABU is conducting searches relating to fitness trainer Yana Khlanta.
She's been linked to Dnipropetrovsk Head Valentin Reznichenko. The region awarded Khlanta's company a $40m contract to repair roads despite the start of the full-scale war.
In #Kherson, shelling by #Russia damaged monuments to World War II heroes. This is in Slavy Park.
📷Konstantin Ryzhenko TG jurnko
It's emerged a few messages were posted on local media in #Russia saying five planes had been damaged at the Engels air base in #Saratov. They were swiftly deleted.
Meanwhile reports indicate the Kremlin is moving its planes east to the "Ukrainka" airfield in the Amur region.
They're taking the mickey now, surely?
Air raid warning in Saratov and the Engels airbase.
😅😅😅🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦
In #Kharkiv region loud sounds after air raid warnings rang out there. However it's believed to be only air defence for the moment.
I do wonder if they're so embarrassed at what happened they're pretending there is a threat and that this evening they bravely shot all the (non existent) #Ukraine weapons from the sky?
Another monument to a famous Russian writer is dismantled in #Ukraine.
The Maksim Gorky statue is taken away by authorities in #Dnipro.
1/2 A couple of days ago I wrote about a team of volunteers taking Christmas hot meals to liberated, but still under fire, #Lyman in #Donetsk region.
Just been sent videos by Brian and the Alex21/Ukraine Aid Intnl team. They're sponsored by @westportctgov and Germany's Hamburg.
2/2
#Lyman is back in the firing line again with #Russia publicly saying they're launching a new attack to try to occupy the town again.
For the residents it's already a struggle just to survive. Great effort from these guys to risk their lives to help others.
Indeed, there was apparently little danger of paralysis. The operation on Rogozin to remove shrapnel from his buttocks, proved routine and he is said to be comfortable in hospital.
In complete contrast to yesterday there is very little news to report.
This in itself has to be good news with not a single report of missiles or shelling so far and it's almost 6am in #Ukraine.
The de-Nazification/russification of #Ukraine continues.
In liberated #Izium 19 streets have changed names to shed Russian links. The town in #Kharkiv now honours Steve Jobs and Golda Meir instead. Meir, the 4th Prime Minister of Israel was born in #Kyiv.
First today sad news from #Kherson which has had a terrible 24 hours.
After the murder of 8 civilians when #Russia shelled the central market area, news now that 3 soldiers helping to demine formerly occupied areas have been killed.
One of the Kremlin's explosives blew them up.
How stupid are the occupiers?
Trying to raise the spirits of locals and spread propaganda in #Melitopol.
Except the Russians cannot even spell the town's name correctly - this says "Miletopol"🤡🤡🤦
Guys, we go again! No rest on the frontline for the brave warriors defending #Ukraine, so the least I can do is report on it and the least you can do is read and spread the news, ensure there is NO war fatigue.
Welcome to Saturday's news thread, Day 304 of #Russia's illegal war:
So much happened yesterday, including numerous fires in Russia, in Moscow in particular.
Then there was a likely assassination in Melitopol and reported drone attacks on Crimea.
Missed something? No problem... click and scroll yesterday's thread:
Thursday. Day 302 of #Russia's illegal war on #Ukraine begins where it's still Wednesday evening, with President Zelenskyy of #Ukraine about to address Congress in Washington DC.
He needs Congress to continue to approve US aid for the war.
A busy news day yesterday - if you missed anything, catch up by clicking and scrolling down here:
While we wait for #Zelenskyy's speech on Capitol Hill to start, I see Liz Cheney sitting with Democrats!
Meanwhile in #Ukraine, during an air raid warning in #Odesa (RU: #Odessa) explosions are reported in the region - not in the city itself.
However it may be air defence.
So what's special about 21 December? Well it's the solstice so days get longer from today.
It's also the day Pres Zelenskyy went abroad for the first time in the war.
And, the day #Ukraine's tally of tanks destroyed reached 3,000 (tomorrow a bigger landmark!)
I don't often retweet my own stuff, but this came through late last night and likely got a bit lost in the news around #Ukraine's President's trip abroad.