In July 2014, DPR militants stopped 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko.
They knocked out his teeth, tied his hands and legs with tape, pulled a T-shirt over his head, and executed him. Then they dumped his body in a trench near a river, writes Babel. 1/
Stepan traveled home to Kramatorsk. At Mospyne station, gunmen dragged him off the train [parents say for his blue-yellow ribbons and Karpaty football scarf]
Witnesses said the fighters strangled him with a towel, beat him and forced him to swaer loyalty to “DPR.” He refused. 2/
His mother Stalina and father Viktor searched every hospital and trench around Donetsk. For weeks they begged militants for answers.
Stalina caught DPR leader Zakharchenko in his convoy and screamed: “My son is 16. Where is he?” The next day he called her: “He was shot.” 3/
Zelenskyy: The US is strong enough to act alone. Trump can send air defense, impose sanctions, make Putin afraid.
Europe should stop buying oil and gas, but we can’t wait for 27 bureaucracies. EU passed 18 packages — now we need a strong US sanctions package.
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Q: Are you ready to meet Trump and Putin without conditions? In Moscow?
Zelenskyy: I’m ready to meet both, no conditions — but not in Moscow. Russia bombs us daily. We can meet elsewhere.
2/
Zelenskyy: They want to continue the war. They postpone meetings on a ceasefire — but it’s never about a ceasefire. Hard to understand their thinking. We must recognize: they don’t want peace.
On March 7, 2022, Ukraine destroyed 49 Russian helicopters at Chornobayivka, stopping Moscow’s advance and saving Mykolaiv and Odesa.
The strike was enabled by reconnaissance from ex-Israeli special forces veteran Eyal Israeli. — The Jerusalem Post
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Living in Kherson with his Ukrainian wife for 16 years, he volunteered after the invasion.
He joined the Security Service of Ukraine, formed a sabotage group, raised the first Ukrainian flag on Nov 9, 2022, and directed artillery on Russian HQs and collaborators. 2/
His intelligence identified Iranian advisers, drone sites, and recruiters in Odesa.
Ukrainian strikes hit their positions. An SBU officer confirmed he produced more targets than Ukraine had weapons to attack. 3/
Boris Johnson: Ukraine needs all economic package — sanctions, unfreezing assets. More military help, permissions, missiles.
Package to flip a switch in the Kremlin's brain, make them realize this is over: Ukraine is independent.
Ukraine decides what military forces come. 1/
Boris Johnson: We’re in chicken and egg trap by Putin. Security guarantees and boots on the ground mean nothing until a ceasefire, which is in his gift. Like Donbas, he keeps chipping away. He shows no sign to fix this. We need a package to change his psychology and goal. 2/
Boris Johnson: This is not about territory; this is about destiny. The destiny the Ukrainians have chosen is irrevocable: they've chosen to be part of the Western security architecture and part of that family.
They don't want to be part of the Russian Empire. 3/
Ukraine’s war has turned veterans into Europe’s new defence entrepreneurs.
Reuters: Ex-soldiers now run 1 in 4 of the region’s 80 defence startups. VC funding hit $5.2bn in 2024 — up 500% from pre-war levels — as Ukraine’s frontlines forced rapid testing and scale. 1/
Frontline use in Ukraine cut development from years to months.
Units return faults after missions in Bakhmut or Kharkiv, and startups issue fixes within weeks. Civilian-only firms cannot match this pace. 2/
Veteran-founded Quantum Systems, now valued at $1bn, supplies reconnaissance drones to Ukraine.
Other firms include Stark (drones), Arondite (battle-planning software), and Kyiv-based Terminal Autonomy, which shifted from kamikaze drones to cruise missile work. 3/