It's me in Mariupol's 'Mr. Bean' a few years ago. Today the entire neighborhood is demolished by Russian shellings.
Recently Google updated aerial photos of Mariupol, giving a heartbreaking opportunity to revisit places in a city destroyed and occupied by Russians in 2022🧵
I remember good times in Knaipa in the very center of Mariupol. Now Knaipa and neighboring buildings are heavily damaged
'The 7 Goats' was a fancy place with moderate prices compared to Kyiv. Now the area is laboriously damaged. Note that it's residential areas in all cases, Russians were shelling civilians with no hesitation
I took this picture of the Mariupol Theatre in October 2018. This place is a mass grave for likely hundreds of civilians who sought shelter there. Russians bombed the theatre despite the huge "THE CHILDREN" sign in front of it
I don't have pics of all the places I visited in this lovely city on the shores of the Azov Sea, and I want to go back once.
It is hard to comprehend that Russians both wiped out 500 thousand inhabitants city in 2022 and sitting in the UN Security Council in 2023. The sooner world acknowledges that #RussiaIsATerroristState, the sooner it will protect itself
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Ранок 24 серпня 1991 року. Українці прокидаються в радянському союзі. Та сьогодні є дуже реальний шанс, що лягатимуть спати вони вже у вільній незалежній Україні. Як розгортались події в цей історичний день? Скільки разів все опинялось на межі зриву?
Ось невелика похвилинна хроніка подій, щоб 24 серпня 2024 (і в усі наступні роки) ви могли звіряти хід подій в реальному часі :)
На 10:00⏳ заплановано засідання Верховної Ради. Чого від нього очікувати – не знає ніхто. Демократична опозиція сподівається здолати опір комуністичної більшості і отримати їх голоси за українську незалежність. Бо якби абсурдно це не звучало, та без комуністів діла не буде.
На північ від Львова, всього за 30 км, знаходиться гарнезне місто Жовква. Там у монастирі Василіян із 17 століття є моя улюблена фреска про День Соборності.
Міні-тред 👇
Фреску у 1930-х намалював Юліан Бацманюк, але через радянську окупацію не встиг завершити. Вона настільки цікава, що її варто розглядати детальніше.
Після Другої Світової храм віддали російській православній церкві, а фреску намагалися знищити. («Що не так з УПЦ МП?») По центру, правдоподібно, серед інших був Андрей Шептицький. Жінка та дитина внизу в памʼять про тих, хто пережив радянський Голодомор.
Igor Girkin is not an opposition leader or 'Putin critic'. Girkin is a Russian terrorist and war criminal, responsible for war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, downing the #MH17 flight and the deaths of hundreds of people 🧵
Please RT
Girkin: "My goal has always been and always will
be the reunification of the Russian people and Russia as a country within one Russian state. Whether you agree with me or not, I don't care. Once again, I am an enemy of everything Ukrainian."
At the age of just over 20, he went to Transnistria and fought as a volunteer against the territorial integrity of Moldova. Immediately afterward, he took part in the Bosnian War on the Serbian side. In 2014, Bosnian media accused him of involvement in the murder of 3,000 people.
When I joined the Ukrainian governmental communications in 2014, digital presence was at its beginning. Russians often faked official Ukrainian accounts simply by cloning them and copying a few latest posts to successfully impersonate and share disinformation. 🧵
They even made it to the news several times with their cloned accounts' posts. Partially because some officials posted in Russian, and for the Russians it was easier to fake them. But we'll keep language and decolonization topics for another thread. 😏
Back in the day, we ended this when my small team and I verified dozens of governmental bodies, officials, and public figures with the help of brilliant people at Twitter and Facebook.
The world needs no "Marshall plan to rebuild Russia." When Russia has extra money, they fund war instead of the people's wealth. A short 🧵
And it's not even a question of political regime. The creation and military support of the separatist movement in Moldova and the genocide in Chechnya happened during the "most democratic" President Yeltsin.
Any hope for new faces fades when we see even Navalny's team spreading official state propaganda. We cannot be sure they won't continue the sick state narrative that the whole world owes Russians something once they're in power.
President @ZelenskyyUa: Does anyone want to know what our plans are? 🧵
"You won't hear details from any truly accountable person. Because this is war. And so this [how things work] during the war."
"But the occupants should know: we will pursue them to the border. To our border, the line of which did not change. The occupants know this line well."
"If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee. Go home. If you are afraid to return to your home in Russia – well, let such occupants surrender, and we guarantee we will comply with all Geneva Conventions."