Matthew Knighton 🇬🇧🇺🇦

[Olena Tregub @OTregub]

Frankly, I don’t see how President Zelensky can still dismiss Fedorov after these protests and appoint Ihor Klymenko to solve Ukraine’s mobilization problem.

Ukraine’s mobilization crisis is not fundamentally a manpower problem. It is a trust problem.

No democratic country can mobilize effectively without a functioning social contract between the state and society. People will make extraordinary sacrifices only if they trust the institutions asking them to do so.

Fedorov was one of the few officials giving people hope that this social contract could be rebuilt. His battlefield assessment raised difficult but necessary questions about what wasn’t working and how to fix it.

If, after all these protests and everything revealed by that assessment, the response is simply to replace him with someone the public does not trust, mobilization will not improve. It will become even harder.

Trust cannot be imposed. It has to be earned.

I still hope it is not too late for this crisis to end with wiser decisions rather than deeper divisions.

[Francis Farrell @francisjfarrell]

After Fedorov's explosive press conference, the focus of the protest voice in Ukraine is quickly turning from saving his post to calling for Syrskyi's dismissal.

Rightly so.

Positive changes will not come without first removing the main force sabotaging the war effort.

[Дімасик вже не в ЗСУ @deemasseek]

Друзі, неможливо більше терпіти те, що відбувається з нашим урядом. Міністра оборони знімають з посади під час ефективних (нарешті!) реформ, замінюючи його на людину, при якій про будь-які реформи можна буде забути.

Ми ніколи не переможемо росію, поки в нашій армії та наших міністерствах царюють такий самий тотальний нафталін і корупція.

Закликаю всіх небайдужих вийти завтра о 9:01 на площу Франка і показати президенту, що ми проти постійних перестановок в уряді та заміни ефективних міністрів на зручних пристосуванців.

Беріть картонки і не забувайте, що це мирний протест.

[Andy Hunder @AndyHunder]

Is the Kremlin playing the British media like a fiddle or rather like a balalaika?

Well you certainly wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking so if you see this week’s front cover of @TheEconomist

One of Russia’s richest oligarchs personally spent SIXTY HOURS spoon-feeding Russian propaganda and Kremlin talking points to an Economist journalist.

And the correspondent just lapped it all up.

This sanctioned oligarch’s factories feed the Russian war machine that manufactures ammunition that every day rains down on Ukraine.

I see and live the catastrophic reality of that complicity every single day in the relentless, brutal killing of innocent civilians.

To give this man a polished platform while his enterprises fund the slaughter of Ukrainians is a shameful editorial failure.

He is the financial lifeline of a murderous, illegal war. He does not belong on media pages; he belongs in the dock of a war crimes tribunal.

[Toni Mikkola 🏴‍☠️ @virtaava]

A country that beheads enemy soldiers has no place in the Olympics.

A country that rapes and tortures civilians and POWs has no place in the Olympics.

A country that bombs children’s hospitals, then strikes again when medics arrive, has no place in the Olympics.

A country that uses chemical weapons and banned munitions has no place in the Olympics.

A country whose troops drag POWs to death and shoot surrendering soldiers on camera has no place in the Olympics.

A country that is led by an individual wanted for child abductions and war crimes has no place in the Olympics.

A country that employs the Wagner Group, and is responsible for every massacre they commit, has no place in the Olympics.

Russia has no place in the Olympics.
Not under a flag. Not under “neutrality.” Not as individuals.

In 2022, 88% of Russia’s Olympic medals were won by soldiers. That’s not sport. That’s military propaganda.

If you see this, RT and like. Let the International Olympic Committee @iocmedia hear us.
Let the world hear us.
Let justice be louder than silence. #RussiaIsATerroristState

[Vladyslav Heraskevych OLY @heraskevych]

Theater of the absurd.
The IOC has lifted all restrictions on Russian athletes.

Today, on the day this video is being recorded, our city is once again under shelling — yesterday was a day of mourning for those killed in the Russian attack. And now, seeing this absolutely shameful decision just feels like some kind of unbelievable absurdity.
This decision is not about the neutrality of sport. This decision is about rejecting reality.

The IOC completely ignores the facts that Russian sport plays a huge role in Russian propaganda.
The FSB still remains in charge of the Russian anti-doping agency, and it is run by the very same people who poisoned Russian dissidents with “Novichok.” Yet the IOC ignores this fact.
Russian athletes are fighting on the front lines, but the IOC calls them “innocent.”
Russian athletes are involved in activities with kidnapped Ukrainian children, but the IOC doesn’t care about Ukrainian victims. They would rather disqualify Ukraine than face the reality of the present day.
Sanctions were lifted from Russia solely based on a statement by the Russian Olympic Committee claiming they no longer operate in the occupied territories — even though the reality is completely different. The facts of their activities in the occupied territories are publicly known, but the IOC couldn’t care less.

The current leadership of the IOC is a disgrace to the Olympic movement. These are people with no morality or principles whatsoever. In 1936, the Olympic Games already served as a tool for spreading the propaganda of one dictator. It looks like we are seeing exactly who inspires the current IOC leadership.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) must give a strong response to this shameful decision, and countries should finally consider imposing a visa ban on Russian athletes.

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

A European capital is on fire because Russia spent the night firing missiles at civilians in their beds.

Kyiv is full of smoke. People are buried under rubble.

This is terrorism.

[Matthew Knighton 🇬🇧🇺🇦 @pannaria]

@vasilina_orlova Professor of war ethics? He’s another Jeffrey Sachs, another genocide apologist. I hope his students make the morally correct decision and end his career.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

European democracies are on the verge of electing leaders who answer directly to Moscow.

The image of European politicians participating in Russia's flagship economic event should shock the conscience of the West. This event is a dark reminder of the immense danger looming over the continent.

The traditional pillars of European strength and stability, specifically France, Germany, and the UK, are at risk of being hijacked by political networks beholden to the Kremlin.

Preventing the National Rally, LFI, AfD, and Reform UK from winning the next round of elections is an absolute necessity for European security. Letting these parties take control would be a catastrophic failure that dissolves NATO solidarity and fractures the European Union from within. These movements are Trojan horses engineered to surrender Western leverage to the Kremlin.

Citizens in these countries need a massive wake-up call regarding the reality of their political choices. Voting for these organizations is not a harmless protest against the establishment. It is an act of betrayal against your own nation and the wider free world. It is a vote for Putin.

We must do a vastly superior job of fighting these parties on the political battlefield. Their deceptive messaging must be confronted at every turn, their funding sources must be investigated, and their lies must be utterly crushed by an informed and determined public

[Matthew Knighton 🇬🇧🇺🇦 @pannaria]

@business @KaterynaLis We’ve been here before. One phone call from Putin hits the clown’s reset button.

[Nathan J Robinson @NathanJRobinson]

Instead of discussing how Elon Musk is now the world's first trillionaire, we should talk about how he killed hundreds of thousands of people through his dismantling of food and medical aid to poor countries
https://t.co/8kY171r5w1

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

This is the Irish minister for foreign affairs pushing sanctions for Isreal while she remains silent about the huge scandal around the russian refinery that still sends 14 ships to St Petersburg per month.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Why is Ireland allowed to directly support the murder of Ukrainians?

Why the fuck are they still allowed in the EU?

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

I’ve been wondering why local news here in Limerick hasn’t been reporting the truth about the russian refinery and just noticed the biggest paper here took 5M € government funding from a minister who has defended the plant. Absolutely disgraceful. You cannot call yourself a journalist if you take government money. Explains a lot

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

Every sign at this refinery in Ireland is in russian. The official website is a .RU domain.

There’s no reason to hide it because local politicians are openly doing it for them.

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

For weeks, Irish politicians have dodged questions about the refinery in Ireland supplying Russia’s war machine.

So I tracked down government minister Niall Collins at a farming show.

He refuses to back sanctions & his stance was worse than I expected.

Avoidance.

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

- Ireland is exporting raw materials directly to russias war machine

- The UK is easing sanctions on russian oil

- EU still imports russian LNG

Europe is bankrolling the invasion of its own continent, selling their future for cheap energy. Spineless.

[Latvian MFA 🇱🇻 | #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 @Latvian_MFA]

Today, we honour the victims of the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar people🕯️

Nearly 200,000 people were forcibly deported from their homeland by the Soviet regime.

Today, Russia continues its repression in occupied Crimea — targeting identity, rights and memory.

Latvia 🇱🇻 strongly condemns Russia’s human rights violations. We stand with the Crimean Tatar people. Crimea is Ukraine 🇺🇦

#CrimeaIsUkraine #StandWithUkraine

[Matthew Knighton 🇬🇧🇺🇦 @pannaria]

@BeeNetwork A few weeks ago I was offered a voucher as a gesture of goodwill. I am still waiting. I queried this with your team last week, but no response. Can you please let me know what is happening?

[Matthew Knighton 🇬🇧🇺🇦 @pannaria]

@BeeNetwork Why does the journey planner on your app not make it clear that some Stagecoach services are not in the network? I have been charged extra using Tap & Go, and your team won’t refund it. The app is misleading.

[Heorhii Tykhyi @SpoxUkraineMFA]

To those who know Russian, this is quite a Freudian slip by Putin’s aide: he demands Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk region for the combat action to “pause” (приостановятся) instead of “stop” (остановятся). Clear confession: Moscow wants a respite, not peace. Liars exposed.