До переліку увійшли країни, які запровадили проти Росії санкції через нове вторгнення на територію України або підтримали їх
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Russia did not show up to a key international court hearing aimed at putting a legal stop to fighting in Ukraine that is creating Europe’s biggest refugee crisis in years. At issue is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim of “genocide” to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
The empty seats allocated to Russia’s legal team at the International Court of Justice were telling. They gave ammunition to Ukraine’s envoy, Anton Korynevych, as he laid out his country’s arguments against Moscow to The Hague-based body.
“The fact that Russia’s seats are empty speaks loudly. They are not here in this court of law: they are on a battlefield waging an aggressive war against my country,” he said.
The ICJ is the world’s highest court for resolving legal disputes between states. Russia was supposed to present arguments Tuesday, but that won’t be happening.
President Vladimir Putin claims he invaded Ukraine to protect people facing bullying and genocide in the eastern part of the country. Both Russia and Ukraine have signed onto an international genocide treaty. Genocide scholars say Putin’s claim is baseless. And a French member of Russia’s legal team has resigned, accusing Moscow of “cynically” abusing the law.
Ukraine wants the ICJ to use so-called “provisional measures” at its disposal as a way to end the fighting. The measures aim to prevent a situation from becoming worse.
“Russia must be stopped and the court has a role to play in stopping it. That is why the people of Ukraine, the government of Ukraine, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ask you respectfully but urgently to grant our request for provisional measures,” said Korynevych.
Predicting horrific and long-term human and environmental consequences from the conflict, Ukraine’s legal team also warned that the court’s ruling carried broader repercussions.
“Members of the court, in less than two weeks this case has become much bigger than Ukraine versus Russia. It has become a test of who will prevail — Russia, or the post-war international legal order,” said a Ukrainian team lawyer.
Besides the ICJ, other international bodies are weighing in on the conflict. The International Criminal Court is investigating Putin for possible war crimes. The Council of Europe, the region’s largest rights body based in Strasbourg France, has suspended Russia’s membership.
The International Court of Justice is expected to respond to Ukraine’s request within days.
your ad hereRussia’s efforts to sway the opinions of people across the world about the righteousness of its invasion of Ukraine appears to be mirroring the effort of some of its forces on the ground – despite bringing lots of firepower, the Kremlin’s influence operations seem to be stalling, unable to penetrate key audiences.
Much of Moscow’s influence operation has been carried out in plain sight, with Russian-backed media outlets like RT, Sputnik, Ria Novosti, Izvestia and others pumping out stories and social media posts in Russian, English, Spanish, Turkish and Arabic.
But research by Omelas, a Washington-based firm that tracks influence operations in the digital environment, finds that as Russian forces started moving into Ukraine, these media operations began to lose traction with their target audiences.
“Up until February 24, Russian media outlets were dominating the narrative around Ukraine in all languages and a lot of the content was getting a lot of engagements, as well,” Omelas Chief Executive Officer Evanna Hu told VOA.
In the weeks since, however, it has been a different story.
Russian media’s reach
According to Omelas, Russian-supported media published 12,300 posts on social media in the span, garnering 1.3 million engagements.
In contrast, Western media outlets published 116,000 posts related to Ukraine during that span, attracting 44.8 million engagements.
“Russian media is still dominant in content published in the Russian language, but it has definitely ceded information dominance to Western media outlets in the English language,” Hu said.
That space is also shrinking.
The 27-member European Union last week banned Russian state-controlled media outlets like RT and Sputnik, suspending broadcasting licenses for the Russian companies and their European affiliates.
Social media block
Social media companies like Meta, which owns Facebook, Google, YouTube and TikTok are also blocking RT and Sputnik in the EU.
RT’s U.S.-based network, RT America, announced last Thursday it was ceasing operations immediately and laying off almost all of its staff due to what it called “unforeseen business interruption events” in a memo first obtained by CNN.
Meta also announced earlier it had also taken down a network of about 40 accounts, groups and pages on Facebook and Instagram that targeted people in Ukraine.
“This network used fake accounts and operated fictitious personas and brands across the internet — including on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK — to appear more authentic in an apparent attempt to withstand scrutiny by platforms and researchers,” Meta said in a blog post.
For its part, Google said it was “taking extraordinary measures to stop the spread of misinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns online.”
“We have also significantly limited recommendations globally for a number of Russian state-funded media outlets across our platforms,” Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, wrote in a blog post. “And in the past few days, YouTube has removed hundreds of channels and thousands of videos for violating its Community Guidelines, including a number of channels engaging in coordinated deceptive practices.”
Still, questions remain as to how much the crackdown by social media companies will ultimately dent Russia’s disinformation efforts.
“It’s too early to tell,” Bret Schafer, a digital disinformation fellow with the Washington-based Alliance for Securing Democracy, told VOA via email.
“Currently, RT and Sputnik’s subscriber numbers and interactions are remaining pretty constant across Facebook/Twitter, but again, it’s a very, very small sample size,” he said. “Over time you’d have to think it will take a toll, but … a lot of the messaging will shift to their influencers, who I do not believe will be restricted.”
Influencers
In some cases, those influencers have built and maintained substantial followings, going all the way back to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
One such personality is Rania Khalek with more than 246,000 followers on Twitter.
In 2020, Khalek posted videos for a Russian-backed media outlet called InTheNow. Currently, Khalek is affiliated with an organization called BreakThrough News, which describes itself as “independent journalism for and by working-class people.”
Khalek’s accounts and those of BreakThrough News, do not carry any alerts about connections to Russia.
“As you know, Russia invaded Ukraine and the Western response has been to escalate and escalate some more while ignoring the NATO role in provoking this war,” Khalek said during a March 1 episode of her show, Dispatches, on the BreakThrough News website and on YouTube, which has so far racked up almost 73,000 views.
Another influencer who rose to prominence during the 2020 U.S. presidential elections is Lee Camp, who hosted “Redacted Tonight” for RT, which he described on Twitter as venue for “anti-war, anti-corporate comedy.”
Yet despite being cancelled as part of RT America’s sudden shutdown, episodes of Camp’s shows are still available on YouTube, including a February 28 episode about Ukraine, during which Camp was critical of those calling out Russia without what he said was context and historical perspective.
“Basically, you have to be ignorant to get the true virtue signalling, stamp of approval,” he said. “You just have to act like Russia invaded Ukraine in a void.”
That type of take from Camp and others is becoming commonplace, according to some observers.
“There is a lot of whataboutism happening,” the Alliance for Securing Democracy’s Schafer told VOA. “The influencer crowd—especially those targeting the left—have really struggled to message around this, as it’s tough to maintain a posture as an anti-war/anti-imperialist while the people signing your checks are attacking Ukrainian cities.”
U.S. far-right media
Some of the same sentiments are also making their way into far-right-leaning social media in the United States.
“I’m not taking a stance on war,” Joe Oltmann, one of the hosts of the Conservative Daily Podcast said on his show Friday, after playing a YouTube video titled purportedly from a Ukrainian man.
VOA could not independently confirm the authenticity or origin of the video, titled, “Save the Crocodile Tears for Ukraine,” which called out Western hypocrisy and echoed Russian talking points about NATO expansionism and Nazi influences in Ukraine.
But a VOA analysis found that the video, which has now been labeled with a warning that it “may be inappropriate for some users,” had been modified to erase data on when it was made. It also found that the Ukrainian man talking in the video bears a close resemblance to a man with an online profile that says he is an actor from Moscow.
Regardless of the video’s origin, Oltmann used it to segue to his views on Russia’s actions.
“There’s no part of me that wants Russia to go in and invade Ukraine,” Oltmann said on his podcast in response to the video. “But when you have military installations and biolabs, and by the way let’s talk about Zelenskyy jailing his opposition leaders. Let’s talk about him shutting down nationalized TV stations.”
“Are you going to find people in Ukraine who actually believe that Russia is bad? The answer is yes,” Oltmann added. “Are you also going to find people in Ukraine that say that Russia is doing what Russia should do, and that they’re ending the corruption within their own state environment?”
Researchers have also seen Russian propaganda find its way onto far-right websites such as ZeroHedge or The Duran. And narratives sympathetic to Russia have also appeared on websites like The Grayzone, described by researchers as an outlet favored by both Russian and Chinese propagandists for its willingness to push anti-American and “anti-imperialist” views.”
VOA has reached out to both Rania Khalek and Joe Oltmann for comment on their roles in promoting what appear to be Russian narratives but has not yet heard back from either of them.
VOA also reached out to Meta, Google and Twitter about how the social media companies plan to handle Russian propaganda and disinformation coming from influencers who may not have direct connections to Russia or Russian-affiliated media.
Meta and Google have not responded as of publication of this article. Twitter shared a list of steps it has already taken to address disinformation and influence operations linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the suspension of more than a dozen accounts and the blocking of several links.
“Our investigation is ongoing; however, our initial findings indicate that the accounts and links originated in Russia and were attempting to disrupt the public conversation around the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” Twitter said in the statement.
Other Russia-affiliated media, however, remain active, including Redfish, which bills itself as a “digital content creator” with accounts on Twitter and Instagram.
Redfish’s Twitter account, with almost 151,000 followers, pushed back against being banned from YouTube in Europe, tweeting it expected “a full ban on all platforms soon,” while promoting its accounts on TikTok and Telegram.
How much influence Russian-affiliated media will be able to have going forward and the degree to which Russia’s social media influencers will be able to sway the information environment is uncertain.
But researchers say it is unlikely Russia will give up on trying to weaponize the information space and will likely learn from the way its influence operations have been outflanked, at least so far, by Western governments and independent media.
“Any IO [information operation] campaign you put out has to be matched by the truth on the ground,” Omelas’ Evanna Hu told VOA. “This is something that the U.S. military learned the hard way in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Now in Ukraine, where its military advances have stalled, “Russia is starting to see that consequence,” she said.
Fatima Tlis contributed to this story.
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Урочиста церемонія відбулася під час зміни варти, також пролунали гімни України і Чехії
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Суд на клопотання прокурорів заочно заарештував Баскова. Справа стосується посягання на територіальну цілісність і недоторканність України
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Юрій Косюк – аграрний магнат, голова правління агрохолдингу «Миронівський хлібопродукт» та 10 номер у списку найбагатших українців.
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Слухання у суді ООН щодо позову України продовжаться 8 березня. Росія бойкотує засідання
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A surreal soundtrack greets the sea of humanity fleeing Ukraine: a highly accomplished pianist has arrived at the Medyka border crossing into Poland. His music drifts across the organized chaos of this small village, now the frontline of Europe’s rapidly growing refugee crisis.
German pianist Davide Martello has visited numerous conflict zones in recent years, towing a grand piano behind his bicycle on a powered trailer, a white “peace” sign painted on its lid. Children encircle him as the melodies bring the crowd of refugees to a standstill. After long, dangerous journeys escaping the war, they seem dazed.
Adrenaline has given way to exhaustion.
Refugee crisis
At least 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since the Russian invasion, creating Europe’s fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II. Of those, more than one million have fled to Poland. They have been largely embraced by their European neighbors.
Most new arrivals are bussed to reception centers away from the frontier. Some have family or friends in Poland or further afield in Europe where they can stay. A few take up volunteers’ offers of car rides and accommodation in cities across the continent.
But many have nowhere to go. They are given beds in shelters set up in schools, theaters and gymnasiums close to the border. From there, they are able to connect with Polish citizens offering rooms or even entire apartments and houses.
Shelters
Yevgenia, who did not want to give her full name, spoke to VOA as she arrived at a shelter recently set up in a school in the nearby town of Przemysł. Three of her four children sit close by.
“My husband is in Ukraine, they didn’t let him leave,” she explained. “And also, my older son — he’s 18, he also had to sign up [to the army]. So, we’re separated. We are constantly in touch. We’ve set up a family [messaging] group, we keep each other informed of what’s going on, we see each other all the time.”
Yevgenia says she has been welcomed in Poland. “Volunteers come to us and offer us opportunities, where we can go, where there is work. We want to work so we’re not dependent on someone else, so we can be useful for something,” she told VOA.
The school’s head teacher Małgorzata Ziober oversees the shelter. She now has hundreds of refugees under her care.
“The worst moments are when, for example, a minibus arrives at night and we take in babies that are four or five months old. It’s really very emotional and I think not everyone is suited to cope with that. We can do it, because we are strong. We don’t know for how long. As long as we have the strength, we will help,” Ziober said.
Trauma
Next-door, a cultural center has been transformed into a temporary shelter. The staff — whose normal job involves staging concerts and movie screenings — have transformed themselves into chefs, cleaners, nannies and counsellors for the refugees. They have been overwhelmed with donations from local residents and businesses.
“Mostly, when [refugees] come to us, the separation is a big trauma. They are crying. Then they are grateful that they ended up here, that there are such good people. And after a stay of one or two days, we get used to each other, a bond is formed between these people and they become like one big family,” local politician Janusz told VOA, as he helped to deliver new supplies to the shelter.
“At first the refugees are shocked, they want to shout, they want to talk out loud what they experienced, what they went through, what their escape was like. And then slowly they calm down and get used to the new reality — that they have to go on living,” Zapotocki said.
Polish-Ukrainian bonds
The historical bonds run deep across the border. The cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is situated in the picturesque old town in Przemysł — on the Polish side of the border. Its giant bells rang out across the town Sunday morning as a special prayer service and collection was held for the people of Ukraine. The service was broadcast live on television across Poland.
Despite the warm welcome, many Ukrainian refugees in the shelters say they hope to return home within weeks, clinging to a belief that this dizzying upheaval will soon be over. As they scroll through their phones and see the images of death and destruction in the land they left behind, that hope is visibly draining away.
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More than one-and-a-half million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since the Russian invasion, making it Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two. Henry Ridgwell reports from the town of Przemysl on the Polish-Ukraine border.
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Голова суду, американська суддя Джоан Е. Донох’ю, заявила, що Росія повідомила трибуналу, що не має наміру брати участь в усному судовому засіданні, яке, як очікується, триватиме два дні
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«Не буду коментувати поставки зброї та боєприпасів – це делікатний момент. Нехай ворога чекає сюрприз. Знайте: є суттєвий прогрес», – заявив Олексій Резніков
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Українські офіційні особи поки не підтверджували оголошене Москвою припинення вогню
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US lawmakers favor more support for Kyiv, but not a no-fly zone
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Israel has offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia
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У Большому театрі назвали звільнення Тугана Сохієва «дуже серйозною проблемою»
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За оцінкою Пател, дії Росії становлять «пряму загрозу безпеці фізичних осіб та міжнародному правоохоронному співробітництву»
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«Так, російські війська в Україні справді бомбардують наші школи та садки, влучають у будинки та квартири, гине мирне населення, зокрема й діти» – Данилевич
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A day after many of them spoke with Ukraine’s president, U.S. lawmakers are pledging to provide additional military aid to Kyiv as the government there continues to fight for its survival amid the invasion by Russia.
The administration of President Joe Biden has requested $10 billion in humanitarian, military and economic support for Ukraine.
“The Congress intends to enact this emergency funding this week as part of our omnibus government funding legislation,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a Sunday evening letter to fellow Democrats.
Despite generally bipartisan and robust support for Kyiv, members of Congress are drawing the line at another Ukrainian request: a no-fly zone for the country’s airspace to deter Russian aerial attacks.
That would mean “World War III,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida told ABC’s “This Week” program Sunday. “I think there are a lot of things we can do to help Ukraine protect itself… but I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means.”
Another senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, expressed a less strict stance.
“I would take nothing off the table,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, commented on Fox News: “If I were President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, I would be asking for a no-fly zone. The problem is, there is no such thing as a no-fly zone over Ukraine.”
U.S. President Joe Biden is in regular contact with his Ukrainian counterpart, Zelenskyy, about Ukraine’s request for more fighter jets, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Yes, we’re talking very actively about this, looking at what we could do to backfill Poland, if it chooses to send the MiGs and the SU planes that it has to Ukraine, how we can help by backfilling what they’re giving to the Ukrainians,” Blinken, in Moldova, told “Meet the Press.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, renewed her nation’s appeal for the United States to provide it with anti-aircraft weapons and other military aid, saying, “We should treat Russia as a terrorist state.”
Zelenskyy said Russia is planning to bombard the port city of Odesa. Zelenskyy said in a televised statement Sunday that if that occurs, it “will be a war crime … a historic crime.”
Zelenskyy spoke in Russian for part of the statement, urging Russians to choose between life and slavery in “the time when it is still possible to defeat evil without irreparable losses.”
A third round of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow are scheduled to take place on Monday.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamiya announced the talks on Facebook on Saturday. Ukrainian and Russian delegations have met twice in Belarus since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but cease-fires agreed to during those talks to allow civilians to flee have failed to hold.
The United States has “seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “We’ve seen very credible reports about the use of certain weapons.”
There must be an investigation into whether Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a CNN interview Sunday.
“Putin must be tried for war crimes — and I urge my colleagues to support my resolution to hold him accountable for the crimes he’s committed against humanity,” tweeted Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, a Democrat. “History will remember.”
“We assess that the Russians have now committed inside Ukraine somewhere near 95% of the combat power they had amassed along the border,” a senior U.S. defense official said on Sunday. “As of today, we assess that approximately 600 Russian missile launches have occurred since the invasion began.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday contended his military campaign in Ukraine was proceeding as planned and will not end until the Ukrainians stop fighting.
In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appealed for a cease-fire, Putin expressed readiness for dialogue with Ukraine and foreign partners but any attempt to draw out negotiations would fail, according to a Kremlin statement.
Putin’s remarks came as efforts at an evacuation effort for the bombarded port city of Mariupol failed for a second consecutive day.
“Amid devastating scenes of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt today to start evacuating an estimated 200,000 people out of the city came to a halt. The failed attempts yesterday and today underscore the absence of a detailed and functioning agreement between the parties to the conflict,” said the International Committee of the Red Cross in a statement.
Pope Francis made his strongest statement yet on Sunday about the conflict.
“In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing. This is not just a military operation but a war which sows death, destruction and misery,” the pontiff said in his weekly address to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
Along with its European partners, Washington is considering a ban on Russian oil, confirmed the U.S. secretary of state.
“We are now in very active discussions with our European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to our countries, while of course, at the same time, maintaining a steady global supply of oil,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Some lawmakers want the White House to do more to increase domestic production as oil prices surge and Americans pay more to fuel their vehicles.
U.S. gasoline prices jumped 11% over the past week to the highest since 2008, according to AAA.
“President Biden would rather import oil from our adversaries in Russia, Iran and Venezuela than increase U.S. energy production at home,” tweeted Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina, a Republican, saying the energy security for the country equates to national security.
Meanwhile, another social media platform announced restrictions on Russia-related content.
TikTok, known for short user-generated videos, said Sunday that it is blocking users in Russia from posting new content.
“In light of Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law, we have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” read a tweet Sunday from TikTok’s communications team.
An increasing number of corporate entities, including financial services, energy and technology companies, has cut ties to Russia in response to economic sanctions and outrage since the invasion of Ukraine.
VOA State Department Bureau chief Nike Ching, National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, Istanbul foreign correspondent Heather Murdock, White House correspondent Anita Powell and senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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The Ukrainian father of two took off with a sprint when he saw the GPS coordinates from his wife’s cellphone draw nearer to the border crossing into Poland.
Yevgen Chornomordenko had been waiting for 11 days on the Polish side of the border for his wife, Alina, and two children to arrive from the Ukrainian capital, which had woken up to Russian shelling Feb. 24.
War had broken out at home just days after his arrival in the Polish city of Wroclow, near Germany, for a job installing solar panels.
“I never believed war would start,” Chornomordenko said, as he checked the GPS position of his arriving family.
Nearby, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited the same Medyka border crossing, proclaiming the number of refugees leaving Ukraine the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. In just 11 days, 1.5 million people had sought safety in neighboring countries.
Just moments after the U.N. official spoke, Chornomordenko’s wife and two children made the crossing themselves, in a small white Kia, which Alina had driven across Ukraine from Kyiv, in normal times an eight-hour drive.
He lifted 4-year-old son David onto his shoulders, and cradled the baby, 8-month-old Sofia, in his arms, looking lovingly at the tiny face, murmuring, “so beautiful.”
“I am so grateful,” he said.
Asked if he would return to Ukraine to fight, Chornomordenko said that for now his priority was to find a safe place for his family to stay. He remains worried about his brother, a charity worker, and retired parents back in Kyiv, trading frequent messages with them as he awaited his family.
“I feel pity for the situation. I know it is very difficult for the people that are still there,” he said.
The flow of refugees continued unabated Sunday, even as humanitarian corridors meant to ease the flight of refugees collapsed as quickly as they were agreed upon inside Ukraine.
Grandi said the humanitarian corridors also were critical to allowing basic goods to arrive to those in need and to evacuate the most vulnerable.
“But what is needed really is a cease-fire, the end of hostilities, because that’s the only way to stop this tragedy,” Grandi said.
The sentiments were echoed by Pope Francis, who made a powerful appeal for peace at the Vatican Sunday, imploring “an end to the armed attacks, and that negotiations prevail.”
In a highly unusual move, the pontiff said he had dispatched two cardinals to the war-ravaged country, signaling that the “Holy See is ready to do everything in the service of this peace.”
“In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing,” the pope said during his traditional Sunday blessing. “This is not just a military operation, but a war that is spreading a lot of destruction and misery. The victims continue to become more numerous, just like the people who are fleeing.”
One 11-year-old boy made it all the way to Slovakia from the city of Zaporizhzhia, the site of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant taken by Russian troops that caught fire after a building was hit with a projectile. The boy’s frightened mother sent him on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) journey alone by train to find relatives, staying behind to care for her sick mother who can’t be moved.
“He came with a plastic bag, passport and a telephone number written on his hand, all alone,” according to a statement by Slovakia’s Interior Ministry, who hailed the boy as “a true hero.”
Volunteers took care of him, took him to a warm shelter and gave him food and drinks, and later reunited him with family in Bratislava.
In a video provided by Slovak police, the mother thanked the Slovak government and police for taking care of her son.
“People with big hearts live in your small country. Please, save our Ukrainian children,” said the mother, identified as Yulia Volodymyrivna Pisecka.
In Romania, Ukrainian refugees gathered at the Saints Peter and Paul Christian Orthodox Church in Suceava, to pray for peace. They were welcomed by Rev. Mihai Maghiar who is himself, Ukrainian-Romanian.
“The first thing that we do as servants of the Church is talk to them, help them trust again, and understand that life doesn’t end at the Ukrainian border, or any other border,” said Maghiar, who has seen many refugees come by his church since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Oksana Oliinykova sought strength in the church. She is bringing her daughter to the Netherlands, where friends have offered her a place to say. But a journalist who has covered the brutalities of war, Oliinykova is planning to go back to Ukraine, where her father and son remained to fight.
“And we can’t help with anything. It’s scary. It’s scary to understand that our boys, who go to fight have nothing. We can’t provide bulletproof vests and helmet(s),” she said.
Text messages from friends tell her just how desperate the situation at home has become. “Please help!” they ask. “We are without electricity for three days. The (Russians) are close, we can’t leave, we don’t even have blankets, we can’t feed our children,” they write.
For now, Oliinykova prays.
“As a Christian it’s very hard for me to hate,” said Oliinykova, who said she has relatives in Russia.
“And I know that they are also shocked. I don’t know how could I hate them. They are also sending young boys (to the war). How to get through all of this?” she asked. “I think we need less hate and more love.”
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Минулого тижня Netflix тимчасово зупинив усі майбутні проєкти та купівлю контенту в Росії, реагуючи на вторгнення Москви в Україну.
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У РПЦ – неоднозначне ставлення до російського вторгнення в Україну. Низка священників підписали відкритий лист із закликом до миру; інші стоять на офіційній позиції російської влади
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Багаторазовий лауреат премії «Греммі» назвав війну Росії проти України «кривавим та жахливо хибним рішенням однієї людини вторгнутися до мирного незагрозливого сусіда»
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Очільникам у регіонах дісталися ордени за мужність та ордени Богдана Хмельницького ІІІ
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