Nick Hencher 🇺🇦

I create things, some people enjoy them. Co-founder @ContexxtLtd & @doppol ex Product @IMG & @Reuters.

[Nick Hencher 🇺🇦 @NickHencher]

https://t.co/DDZ4Hl1gBO

[𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙💦 @pussyrrriot]

Russia's greatest export remains death and destruction

This is what a city looks like after the arrival of the "russian world." Toretsk, Donetsk region

[Sergiy Kyslytsya 🇺🇦 @SergiyKyslytsya]

Rusal that owns the Aughinish Alumina is still controlled by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, according to a confidential report by Swedish tax authorities as reported by @IrishTimes

https://t.co/vyxMefuTMH

[Ukraine.ua @ukraine_ua]

As another school year comes to an end, thousands of Ukrainian children are celebrating their achievements, making summer plans, and looking ahead to the future.

But for more than 700 children killed by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion, there will be no graduation day, no yearbook photos, and no next chapter.

On the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, we remember the young lives that were cut short and the futures that were stolen.

[John O’Brennan @JohnOBrennan2]

Ireland cannot pretend to operate a “values based” foreign policy if we continue to protect a Russian oligarch owned company which sends its products to Russia to slaughter Ukrainian civilians.

Only 0.6% of the alumina goes to other EU states, according to Irish Times.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

One of the most terrible things we will have to face in the future is learning, one way or another, how many people died in Mariupol in the spring of 2022, when Russia was leveling the city to the ground along with its inhabitants.

Among them were my former classmate and the father of a good friend of mine.

And how many more remain unknown to us, lying in the vast anonymous mass graves on the outskirts of Mariupol, visible even in satellite images.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

When this war is over, and Ukraine is victorious and whole again, and every innocent victim, every fallen defender, every destroyed city and town is documented, let no one say they did not know. These Russian crimes against humanity are happening in full view in real time.

[𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙💦 @pussyrrriot]

Why does @YouTube allows ads that encourage russians to join killing Ukrainians in the largest drone plant on earth?

https://t.co/5n02aoDMFW

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

BROWDER: Lavrov called Rubio and threatened U.S. interests in Ukraine. Russia supplied information to Iran to target U.S. interests in Middle East.

Truly astounding to watch how Trump administration dealing with Russia right now. That would have been red line under any other U.S. government, any political party, at any other time in history.

I’m old enough to remember that if Russia made any kind of threat against U.S. interests, the U.S. would respond with most blistering, dangerous threats against Russian interests, and nobody would do anything about it.

That's how Cold War and post-Cold War era functioned. Every American president, every Republican and every Democrat, took very strong line with Russia, and any nasty thing they did was met with most severe and aggressive reprimand.

[Euromaidan Press @EuromaidanPress]

From the first days of the full-scale war, Master Sergeant Oleksandr Levchenko fought in Kyiv Oblast near Horenka and Stoianka, covering MANPADS crews during air-defense operations and repelling Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups

His unit destroyed enemy equipment and held the line during the most dangerous weeks of the war's opening.

From late April 2022, he fought on the Kharkiv axis. During April and May, his group repelled repeated Russian attacks and participated in the counteroffensive that liberated significant territory in Kharkiv Oblast.

On 27 May 2022, the order came to advance to liberate occupied territory and destroy enemy forces near Dementiivka. Oleksandr prepared his equipment, weapons, and special gear and moved to the designated position. At approximately 15:00, during a firefight with the enemy, he was struck by a bullet.

He was 38 years old.

Eternal memory

[Vladyslav Heraskevych OLY @heraskevych]

Today was one of the largest Russian attacks, during which 600 drones and 90 missiles were launched at Ukraine.

Also today, Italian football legend Andrea Pirlo was spotted in Moscow next to Russian footballer Dzyuba, who openly supports the Kremlin’s policy and the killing of Ukrainians.

It’s sad to see childhood legends turn into moral bankrupts for whom nothing is more valuable than Russian rubles.

Shame.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

It’s war.

[Yasmina @yasminalombaert]

“I ask myself, why do you from the AfD hate Ukraine so much? What did the people of Ukraine actually do to you that you side with putin” - Jürgen Hardt.

Jürgen Hardt, member of the German Bundestag (CDU):

“Madam President, dear colleagues, if this debate has brought clarity on one point, it is that the AfD is clearly on the side of Russia and in opposition to Ukraine. And that is a shocking finding, a shocking revelation of this debate, that a party that walks across the country saying they represent national interests, that thinks and acts, or claims to think and act, in a national German way, of all things reaches out their hand to the one who causes the greatest damage to Germans and Europeans, namely the President of Russia, putin, and does his business here in Germany.

And the voters in Germany should know that, which is why it is good that we witnessed this here today.

I ask myself, why do you from the AfD hate Ukraine so much? What did the people of Ukraine actually do to you that you side with putin and are more interested in the issues you are raising here than in the massive war crimes, starting with the abduction of children?

Thousands of children have been abducted to Russia, taken away from their parents by Russia.
putin is internationally prosecuted for this reason, he is internationally wanted. Why can't you even recognise that as a crime, instead of parroting putin?

And you begin your motion with a lie that is very telling. The second sentence of your motion claims that at the time of the bombing of Nord Stream 2, over half of the gas supply to the Federal Republic of Germany was carried out through this pipeline. That is a flat-out lie.

Weeks before, there had been... No, this is not a party convention, given the large amount of speaking time the AfD had, there is no need for further follow-up questions... All right, thank you very much, all good... So.

The situation was crystal clear: at the time of the bombing of Nord Stream 2, no gas transfer through these pipelines to Germany was taking place anymore because putin had turned off the gas tap on the Russian side. The exact opposite is true of what you said.
So.
And through this inversion of facts, your entire motion gets exactly the spin you want to give it and which we are opposing. Namely, that Ukraine is allegedly the bad guy and not putin. The truth is the opposite.
putin is harming the German people. putin is harming Europe.
Putin is killing people in Europe.

Presumably, putin’s drone misguidance ensured that yesterday, for the first time in the history of the European Union, citizens of the EU in an EU country had to go into bunkers out of fear of a drone.

And yet you say here, putin is the good guy, and this federal government and Ukraine are the bad guys.

You have completely lost your mind! Apologies for this unparliamentary expression.”

#Germany
#AfD

[Dmytro Kuleba @DmytroKuleba]

A German friend told me today he was struck by how Ukraine seemed to be regaining control over the dynamics of the war. I would not call it a strategic turn yet. But the shift is real. Here are three reasons why👇

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

“We all see what is happening to Ukraine now. But it all began with Ukraine’s attempt to join the European Union,” Putin said.

And with that single phrase, he essentially admitted the real reason for the war himself.

Not “protecting Donbas.”
Not “fighting Nazism.”
Not “defending the Russian language.”
Not religion.
Not any of the endless horror stories invented by Russian propaganda.

There was only one real reason:

Ukraine dared to make its own choice.

The choice not to live under Moscow’s control.
The choice to become part of Europe.
The choice to build its own state, its own language, its own politics, and its own future.

For an empire, the greatest threat is not foreign armies near its borders.

The greatest threat is when a former colony stops being afraid and starts living independently.

[Dmytro Kuleba @DmytroKuleba]

Kyiv drew its own long-range map — and threw it on the table. A great achievement for Ukraine. A lesson for others.

For years, Ukraine asked its partners for long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia.

Guided by escalation concerns, some refused outright (Germany and Taurus); some provided them only in very limited quantities and long barred strikes against targets inside Russia (the US and ATACMS); while others agreed but supplied them in limited batches and imposed restrictions on their employment (the UK with Storm Shadow and France with SCALP).

It was a hard fight with friends.

Meanwhile, Ukraine did not sit still. It spent these years developing its own capabilities. Today, Kyiv produces enough long-range drones and missiles of sufficient quality to strike Russia regularly and deep behind the front lines.

This is not a turning point in the war. But it is a qualitatively new instrument of pressure on Putin at a time when Trump is unwilling to bear down on him and Europeans lack the ability to do so.

Most importantly, it is a powerful example of how a nation builds its own capabilities and reduces critical dependence on partners.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Today is Europe Day.
And Ukraine is marking it not formally or through sloganeering, but fully aware that we are already an inseparable part of the European family. We are defending Ukraine, our independence, our future – and in doing so, we in Ukraine are defending our Europe. A Europe of which Ukraine has been and will remain a part.

From the first days of the full-scale war until today, Europe has stood with Ukraine. And this is not charity – it is a choice made by Europeans: to stand on the same side as the brave and the strong – the Ukrainians who are fighting today for peace and true protection against tyranny, not only for themselves, but for the entire continent. And we will inevitably defend our state, our people, and our right to freely choose our future – a future in Europe.

Glory to Ukraine!

[Jeremy @Jeremybtc]

A man with no working truck convinced Wall Street he had built the next Tesla. His company hit $30 BILLION. All he did was push it down a hill with no engine.

> Trevor Milton founded Nikola in 2014, named after the same inventor as Tesla.

> The goal was to build hydrogen powered trucks that would make diesel obsolete. He had no trucks.

> In 2018 he released a promotional video called Nikola One In Motion. It showed a sleek semi truck accelerating smoothly down an open highway.
Investors went wild.

> What nobody knew was that the truck had no engine, no fuel cell, and no propulsion system of any kind.

> Milton's team towed it to the top of a hill, tilted the camera to hide the slope, and let it roll.

> He spent the next four years doing the same thing with words. On podcasts, television and social media.

> Investors were told Nikola could produce its own hydrogen. It could not. They were told the trucks were ready for production. They were not. They were told orders were flooding in. They weren't.

> In June 2020 Nikola went public. Within days the company was worth $30 BILLION, more than Ford.

> Milton's personal stake hit $7.3 BILLION overnight.

> A $32.5 MILLION ranch in Utah followed. A record for the state at the time.

> In September 2020 Hindenburg Research published a report calling Nikola "an intricate fraud" built on "an ocean of lies." Milton resigned within ten days.

> A federal jury convicted him of securities fraud and wire fraud in 2022. Sentenced to four years in prison the following year.

> He never went. He was free on $100 MILLION bail pending appeal.

> He and his wife donated $3.2 MILLION to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.

> In March 2025 Trump gave him a full pardon. The pardon erased $168 MILLION in restitution to defrauded shareholders.

> Nikola filed for bankruptcy the following month, leaving thousands of investors with nothing.

The company never had a product. The only thing that was real was the $30 BILLION valuation, the $7 BILLION that landed in his pocket and the pardon that made sure none of it had to be returned.

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

"Volodymyr Zelensky is taking the next step, one that would have been unthinkable even as recently as 2024. By word and deed, he’s showing Europe and the world how the post-American free world can preserve its liberty and independence."

https://t.co/7LtxcnG7XG

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Shameful. Why does Trump give special favors to Russian oligarchs? Mordashovs company provides the steel that helps build weapons that kill Ukrainians. Trump should seize his yacht , sell it, and give the proceeds to Ukraine. But at a minimum. He shouldn’t let this boat pass through his blockade.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

There is nothing surprising about Trump inviting Putin to the G20 summit. From ending aid to Ukraine, blocking Ukraine's membership into NATO, lifting sanctions on Russian oil, or pressuring Zelenskyy to give Donbas to Putin, Trump always sides with Putin. So, tragic. So, wrong.