Ukrainian NGOs are already feeling the pinch of Donald Trump's executive order freezing all US foreign aid.
Programs worldwide are being affected - from HIV relief to landmine clearing - but it's Ukraine that's being hit hardest.
My report from Kyiv
www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...
I’m receiving a lot of messages asking why we only wrote about Assad’s jails after the regime fell - so for the avoidance of doubt, we didn’t. For context on what happened in Sednaya, here is our investigation into executions there as the pace accelerated: www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/201...
DTEK's CEO told BBC that since March, they've been in a constant cycle of attack --> repair --> attack. The constant blackouts can also damage infrastructure too, with mass turning on/turning off of lights causing fuse burn out & fires. Hard to imagine what January will be like if this continues.
Yesterday, Russia targeted one of the 3 (?) functioning thermal power plants as well as a substation importing electricity from EU + gas storage facilities. With winter temperatures increasing consumption, Ukrenergo says that blackouts could last 14 hours on Sunday - up from 8 on Saturday.
Before leaving Damascus, Assad reportedly asked Russia to help establish a mini-state on the Syrian coastline and was refused. He then fled to Moscow - leaving senior regime commanders, including his brother Maher, behind www.syriahr.com/en/351186/
⚡️Zelensky announces 'successful tests' of new Ukrainian missile.
Successful tests of a new Ukrainian missile dubbed Ruta (Rue) are underway, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec. 10.
Worth taking a look at Russia's advances over the last 2 weeks. Russian troops appear to have occupied Shevchenko, 10km from the Dnipro-Donetsk border & southwest of Pokrovsk. They're advancing towards the main highway.
deepstatemap.live#9/48.0009496...
I've signed a letter together with 40+ foreign correspondents expressing our dismay at the way at which the Guardian is gifting the Observer to Tortoise media. We wrote to Scott Trust chair asking how international coverage might be guaranteed? He didn't reply www.theguardian.com/media/2024/d...
The Wagner-style mercenaries plotting unrest in Romania on.ft.com/49z57zt
Fortifications are still one of those weaknesses, in some areas. Russia has large, well-equipped engineering brigades, whereas responsibility for fortifications in Ukraine has been split between the military and local authorities. Experts say it needs centralised oversight.
Russia is inching towards Dnipro region. It doesn't have the forces to occupy it but it's still relatively stronger than Ukraine. If this continues, a break is possible. It's 'not about Russia's strengths but Ukraine's weaknesses' said Rob Lee.
t.co/aBjTjDUboP
TOPSHOT - This aerial picture shows a bullet-riddled portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad adorning Hama's municipality building after it was defaced following the capture of the city by anti government fighters, on December 6, 2024. Rebel forces pressing a lightning offensive in Syria aim to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's rule, their Islamist leader said in an interview published on December 6. In little over a week, the offensive has seen Syria's second city Aleppo and strategically located Hama fall from Assad's control for the first time since the civil war began in 2011. (Photo by Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)
The multipronged assault poses the most serious threat to Bashar al-Assad’s rule in a decade, reigniting a 13-year civil war that had been largely frozen since 2020 www.ft.com/content/708b...
⚡️Zelensky meets with Georgian President Zourabichvili, urges Georgians to 'not let government surrender country to Putin.'
"Ukraine supports and stands in solidarity with the Georgian people, who are currently fighting for a worthy future," Zelensky told Zourabichvili during their meeting in Paris.
Guerre en #Ukraine : à Odessa, la mobilisation pèse sur les entreprises www.la-croix.com/internationa...
Over three days of work and still no answer to a yes/no question. Ukraine is calling on others to stop buying Russian fossil fuels but hasn’t yet publicly committed to ending its Russian gas transit
Much more on this story with @alicemhancock.bsky.social and Raphael Minder
on.ft.com/3B8F59I
Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year is “brain rot” — a term that describes that overconsumption of material or content to the point that it deteriorates one’s mental state.
(As in, how sludgy you feel after bingeing an entire Netflix show after — or while — doomscrolling.)
Agent for Russia and UK-based Bulgarian planned ‘honeytrap’ for journalist, court hears
Think "Europe First", new EU industry chief Stephane Séjourné tells @financialtimes.com
The EU "cannot be the destination for all the overcapacities in the world, otherwise we will find ourselves in a situation of short-term economic crisis”
www.ft.com/content/f112... w @henryjfoy.bsky.social
🇺🇦 Zelensky: "Our army lacks the strength to reclaim some territories like Crimea by military means. We must seek diplomatic solutions." He emphasized that this would only be possible when Ukraine is strong enough to deter new Russian invasions and once again called for Ukraine's invitation to NATO.
Reporting from Tbilisi on a fourth night of protests. I ask Georgia’s prime minister if he can understand the public anger. Camera: Anton Chicherov Producer @bentavener.bsky.social Thanks to @annagvarish.bsky.social
A disorienting weekend of being jolted awake by outgoing air defense missiles, wondering around the city in the pitch back, and a weird new jamming system switching your phone to Belarus time (1+ ahead) and geolocation to somewhere I (probably) shouldn’t say.
It’s the 4th night since protests began in Tbilisi after the pro-Russian government suspended EU membership talks
Touching moment when Georgian firemen pour out water intended for spraying on protesters (via Jaanika Morilo)
EU’s outgoing energy chief warns against faking Russian gas imports as ‘Azeri’, as eastern states seek to keep up supplies after Gazprom shutters Ukraine transit
on.ft.com/4fPr9AA @financialtimes.com @alicemhancock.bsky.social @ikoshiw.bsky.social
Ukrainian prosecutors opened 60,000 cases between January and October this year against soldiers for abandoning their positions, almost twice as many as they initiated in 2022 and 2023 combined. @ikoshiw.bsky.social reports on the rise of desertions. www.ft.com/content/9b25... v @financialtimes.com
Violent protests in Tbilisi after government suspends EU accession process. Very Kyiv 2014... civil.ge/archives/638...
Any time! And yes, very
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a 152 mm shell to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions, near the frontline town of Bakhmut on March 2, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
A severe shortage of manpower that has weakened Kyiv’s position on the battlefield and led to the fastest Russian gains in two years. However, Ukraine has been unwilling to conscript under-25s. Here’s why www.ft.com/content/3281...
The attacks never stop, even if the casualties toll isn't high enough for international news anymore.
Up until now damage in the centre has been mitigated by the UNBELIEVABLE all-powerful American Patriot systems. But now. www.ft.com/content/ef0a...
