Russia strikes Cherkasy Oblast overnight on April 28, injuring 5: @KyivIndependent , regional governor Taburets.
Uman is a beautiful 200km south of Kyiv, far from the frontlines. It is smallish with 80K people. It has been safe throughout the war. But I guess Russia want to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Uman is beautiful. It is often know for its park Sofyivka. It is one of world-famous garden park art creations. It was founded in in 1976 by Polish count Potocki, when he was rebuilding Uman after a peasant uprising. Uman was a part of the Russian empire then. 2/
But it is an important place for Hasidic Jews too. Every fall, thousands of Hasidic Jews from around the world transform a central neighborhood in Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.3/
There are several good schools in Uman. We admit students from them every year. Many students come from a private school founded and supported by local farmers. 4/
We regularly visit the school to talk to pupils about education and possible career paths. 5/
If you remember our Christmas campaign for refugees and orphanages organized by our students, some of them were from Uman, from this private school. 6/
The driving force and finder behind the school is Andriy Dykun. We first met when I was in the office as the minister. My job was to pass the land market reform. He strongly opposed it and lobbied against it and against me. 7/
They had tractor protests and we fought on prime TV shows. By the time the reform was passed we hated each other. But since then we have become friends. 8/
Andriy and his team are patriots. The name of their wifi is Krym Nash, translated as Crimea is Ukraine (ours). Andriy also works to preorder and develop public schools. 9/
There is a beautiful hotel and private park next to Uman where my wife and I stayed many times. The woods makes us relaxed and playful.
I hate that Russians bomb out cities. 10/10
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I am appalled by the cynicism of the advocates for peace in exchange for territory for Ukraine.
These people always talk about giving annexed territories and never about giving up on people imprisoned and tortured in these territories.
They are in denial. 1/
Their frame is trading land for peace as in "stopping killing civilians". But the real trade is different. It is "people for people". Stopping suffering and saving lives of people in territories controlled by Ukraine but ensuring death and atrocities to people in occupation. 2/
The evidence is plenty. I wrote recently about Yahidne where Russian troops set up a concentration camp. 3/
There is a scandal about Amnesty International. In August 2022, Amnesty accused Ukraine of fighting tactics that endanger civilians. In response to the public outcry, Amnesty commissioned an independent review, and now have decided not to make its results public. 1/
I quote the New York Times: "the review panel .. unanimously concluded that Amnesty International had botched its statement in several ways and that its key conclusions that Ukraine violated international law were “not sufficiently substantiated” by the available evidence." 2/
"The narrative was “written in language that was ambiguous, imprecise and in some respects legally questionable. This is particularly the case with the opening paragraphs, which could be read as implying — even though this was not A.I.’s intention — " 3/
I am now in Kyiv @kse_ua. It took two days to get from Warsaw. Tired but so happy to be back. Being home is so much more important than avoiding war. Great to see everyone again. I missed you guys. 1/
When I arrived I managed to give a talk at a Forbes event in Kyiv about leadership at war. I spoke on technology adoption with focus on Al. I don't write about it here on Twitter but we are pushing OpenAl and other services implementation in private sector and education in UA.
Right after that, I met with the leadership of @VisegradFund Petr and Marcin. They are on a tour promoting opportunities the fund provides for educational institutions.
We talked about a project to support young mathematicians in Ukraine. 3/
Ukraine is beautiful. Ever time I travel by car I get to appreciate its beauty. It is one of the silver linings in the difficulty of travel during the war. Instead of a 2 hour flight to Poland and back, I get to enjoy the scenery for 10s of hours. Here are the highlights. 1/
On the way back from Warsaw, I stayed in Lviv. The mantras was terrible. I had sore back from a 10 hour travel, but at least I got a free upgrade to a room with a terrace. The morning view was very relaxing. I should have done yoga on the terrace but I never do :)). 2/
It is spring and the fields are very green. They want me to become a farmer and move to countryside. But I know it is just a temptation and the actual work of a farmer is tough. 3/
Yesterday I comment on Good Russians and Victim Blaming of Russian refugees. The comments made it clear that the discussion about Good Russians resonates and polarizes. Here is a tweet with my position. 1/
I have also recently talked to @sguriev and others about the views of Russian opposition and Russians outside of Russia on the war and the future. I might write a separate thread about it, but in short many people expect that Putin will die or get assassinated or .. 3/
Ukrainian schoolgirls won the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad, which took place in Slovenia. The war made participation all but impossible. Polina Henik, Irina Romanyuk, Yevgenia Frankevich, and Marina Spektrova got the gold and three silver medals. 1/
The team finished the fourth after China, the US, and Australia (all teams outside of Europe) and ahead of historically strong countries like Romania, Turkey, Poland, Germany. 2/
But the war kills young Ukrainian mathematicians too. A month before the event, Yulia Zdanovska, a participant in the competition of 2016 and 2017, was killed during a shelling by Russian forces in Kharkiv. She was 21 years old. 3/