And suddenly, after Putin's pre-recorded war declaration, explosions heard in Kramatorsk, Odesa, Mykolayiv region - all around the country.
It has begun.
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Hannah Thoburn
@HannahThoburn
Russia/Ukraine/Europe nerd. Ex-think tanker, Ukraine RPCV, Seminole fan, Louisiana native, Friend of elephants. Death to coffee. Subscribe to usual caveats.
Washington, DCJoined December 2010
Hannah Thoburn’s Tweets
Incredible picture of the massive march today in Minsk against last Sunday's stolen election. If you aren't watching Belarus right now, you really should be.
Here's the massive gathering Grodno, in western Belarus, from a few hours ago. It's not just the capital. twitter.com/zerkalo_io/sta
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I continue to be surprised that the slow, ugly, painful collapse of Venezuela hasn't been more of a story.
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Venezuela: Police firing teargas against a fleeing crowd in Caracas. People vomiting on the street from the gas. I saw several people hurt.
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I could stare at this picture of Knickers the Overgrown Australian Steer all day long.
perthnow.com.au/business/agric
Russian gov't warned Russians last year that CIA was using Pokemon Go. They do that when they're actually at fault.
theguardian.com/world/2016/aug
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The Russians used Pokémon Go in their efforts to influence the US election money.cnn.com/2017/10/12/med. is an Uber driver? If so, its a genius way to talk one-on-one with his constituents. twitter.com/Adrian1Silva/s
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Excellent news! Ukraine disconnected from the Russian grid just about the time the war started and I understand had been operating in isolation since then.
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has become a member of 
Energy Union. The unification of & energy systems has been completed. Now electricity flows in & vice versa. Grateful to members, personally to @vonderleyen, @KadriSimson & everyone, thanks to whom we now have a single energy system!It's a strange thing, but Turkish military has a history of defending Turkey's secular democracy through coups. Erdogan was endangering it.
Massive anti-government demonstrations in Venezuela today.
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Winter War, 1940. twitter.com/michaeldweiss/
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That is entirely and amusingly correct. twitter.com/timkmak/status
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Well this just freaked me the heck out: "Terrified, the parents ran into the room where their children were sleeping to find them moving in their sleep, bizarrely and in unison"
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Remember that thing where someone was zapping diplomats' brains with an invisble weapon? What if I told you these attacks were happening on U.S. soil, including children hit in Philadelphia and a White House staffer walking her dog in the DC suburbs. gq.com/story/cia-inve
In addition to the 8 Belarusians sanctioned by Treasury today, State has also put visa bans on 24 Belarusian officials for their actions and abuses these past two months. state.gov/the-u-s-action
Love it!
Ukraine’s Zhan Belezniuk does the hopak after winning gold in Greco-Roman wrestling.
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Переможний гопак українського борця греко-римського стилю Жана Беленюка на Олімпіаді-2020. Нагадаємо, що він переміг Віктора Лорінца з Угорщини та приніс Україні перше золото Олімпійських ігор.
Відео UA: ПЕРШИЙ
Відео UA: ПЕРШИЙ
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I am obsessed with paternosters. Getting to ride in one is always a great perk of going to the German Foreign Ministry.
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A Paternoster is an elevator that consists of open compartments moving in a loop without stopping. Invented in the 1860s, it used to be the norm in every German department store. Today there are only a few of them left in the world - and one is inside the German Foreign Office!
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The attention has been on #Mariupol, but so many other cities in Ukraine are under similar siege. Thank you to
for publishing the diary of Alex, stuck in #Chernihiv, where food, water and internet are in short supply.
Председатель Риш о событиях в России: "Oтвратительное поведение России по отношению к своим гражданам за последние две недели демонстрирует, насколько Владимир Путин боится русских людей."
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Today's sentencing of Alexei Navalny once again exposes the corruption of #Russia’s leadership. @navalny, & the thousands of Russians detained during peaceful protests, should be immediately & unconditionally released and all charges dropped. foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/re
This is peak golden retriever.
Another angle on the beatings OMON is giving protestors in Moscow tonight. Very much reminiscent of Minsk 6 months ago.
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В Москве полиция избивает дубинками и задерживает запертых в переулке людей, они скандируют "мы без оружия".
Прямой эфир: youtube.com/watch?v=TtnawS
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My my. Germany has opened a probe into whether bribes were taken to get a contract on NordStream 1.
Has anyone in DC seen the city snowplows or salt trucks today?? Even big thoroughfares are pretty snow-clogged. City seems AWOL.
Ukrainian entry Jamala, a Crimean Tatar, wins #Eurovision with a song about Stalin's deportation of Crimean Tatars from Crimean in 1944.
I've been an election observer in democratically-challenged former Soviet countries. They do better than this.
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This is bananas. Another poll worker wearing Trump gear? twitter.com/LettyBurgin/st
Dear everyone, now that we've mostly broken you of the urge to put a "the" before Ukraine, it's time for a pronunciation lesson.
you-KRAY-ne, not YOU-krayne.
cc:
Fearless, these wonderful Ukrainians are. twitter.com/ianbateson/sta
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And if there's one thing I've learned about Eastern Europe, it is to never, ever mess with a babushka.
Bravery.
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Cringing at this interviewer who is talking with a retired Lt. General, and keeps calling him "Lieutenant"
The fucking fuck aired his war declaration in the middle of a UNSC meeting.
Bravo, European friends. Thank you.
"EU diplomats have started keeping a round-the-clock guard at the home of Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian writer and opposition activist, amid fears for her safety."
euobserver.com/foreign/149386
CNN's is currently in a terrific Twitter fight with RT and its various bots/trolls. May God bless him.
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In opposite land, where MH17 rudely hit a poor defenseless Russian missile, probably you twitter.com/yaro_rt/status
P.R. has no senators, so very glad to see FL Sens. Rubio and Nelson acting as proxy senators to advocate for the island.
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Returning from #PuertoRico now. Tremendous damage. Potential for serious crisis in areas outside of #SanJuan MUST get power crews in ASAP
Oh. And all of these people got effectively taken hostage too. Super awesome.
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In total there was 171 passenger on flight. We have information about 149 passengers. Among them - 1 AT, 1 BE, 1 BG, 1 CY, 3 DE, 1 ESP, 9 FRA, 1 GEO, 11 GR , 94 LT, 2 LV, 4 PL, 5 RO, 4BY, 3 RF, 1 GEO, 2 SYR, 1 NGA citizens. All 171 need to be released immediately.
Ah, 6pm. That wonderful part of the day when I forsake my work station on the left of my couch and move to the lounge section on the right side of my couch.
Whatever happens to Ukraine these days I keep coming back to the ferocity with which I saw Ukrainians sing their anthem as they fought for their values on Maidan in 2014: “Ukraine is not yet dead, neither her glory nor her freedom…soul & body we will lay down for our freedom..”
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Romanians are mobilizing rescue efforts right now at the border crossing to Ukraine in Siret as waves of Ukrainian men, women and children cross into the country to seek refuge. #UkraineRussiaConflict
People can be seen arriving with water, food, diapers and bags of clothes.
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Today, the kind French journalist Arman Soldin, who helped rescue this hedgehog, was killed in Ukraine. May he rest in peace. twitter.com/AFP/status/165
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A beautiful thread in which a French reporter and his team rescue, treat, and release a war-injured hedgehog in eastern Ukraine. Looks like the lil їжачок is gonna be ok. twitter.com/ArmanSoldin/st…
New Ukrainian lawns forbid protesters wearing helmets. Here's the response. MT : #ЄвроМайдан #euromaidan
After many months and 30+ seeds, I’m proud to announce that I have managed to grow one, single, tiny cilantro leaf. I invite you to bask in its glory.
Five minutes into “The Diplomat” and this SFRC staffer already has serious technical issues with it. That is NOT how ambassadors get assigned.
Time for some hate watching!
Just imagine if we had started training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s last March, or even this March. Things could be a lot different. But instead, feet have been dragged.
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Scoop: @YahooNews has obtained a U.S. Air Force assessment of how two Ukrainian pilots did in a 3-week course on F-16s at Morris Air National Guard Base in Feb/March. Conclusion: it’ll take 4 months to train them, not 18, as the Pentagon has said: news.yahoo.com/exclusive-us-c
Really bad news. Looks like a whole scale assault on the anti-corruption movement from the old, entrenched interests.
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Ukraine’s parliament has voted to dismiss the head of its Anticorruption Committee, Yehor Sobolyev. rferl.org/a/ukraine-nabu
My great friend Jim Denton died yesterday after a long bout with cancer. He did more to encourage and support young people working on Central and Eastern Europe than anyone I've met.
Thank you for everything, Jim.
I’ve found the largest and most important election observer, a giant bust of Taras Shevchenko
Sorry, Ukraine.
Today's communique just restated the 2008 communique: "We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process; we reaffirm...."
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Today, we're one step closer to fully welcoming our good friends & strategic allies, @SwedeninUSA & @FinlandinUSA, to @NATO. We're stronger together, & #Sweden & #Finland will add unequivocal value & expertise to this alliance. I'm proud of our work today.
Very proud to have spent 2.5 years working with and its . Thrilled to see KI is making all the right people nervous.
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Replying to @cjcmichel
'We are especially proud of our Kleptocracy Initiative, which has exposed how Mr. Putin and his cronies in the Kremlin and Eastern Europe launder their ill-gotten money through shell companies and offshore accounts in Western jurisdictions.' wsj.com/articles/what-
The full scale of the tragedy in Mariupol isn't even close to clear. Mariupol is without heat and water, and has been under constant bombardment for days. Communications out of the city are very difficult and the reality of the horror there isn't yet seen by outside eyes.
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A family who just arrived in my Dnipro hotel must be among the only ones to escape #Mariupol today.
They were in the basement for 7 days, say there were bodies everywhere on road out & people had been buried in their bomb shelters. A ceasefire there has to happen. #Ukraine
Seems like a round-up is underway in Russia. In addition to Gudkov, opposition politician Andrei Pivovarov () was pulled off a taxiing plane yesterday and is also being held by the authorities.
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Opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov has been taken in for questioning after law enforcement officers raided his dacha and apartment earlier today. meduza.io/en/news/2021/0
After this whole thing is over, I hope that the proliferation of home bread baking finally leads to the U.S. appreciating real, delicious bread, a proliferation of bakeries, and the downfall of that awful puffy, cotton-y crap Americans refer to as "bread."
This speech has gone on so long that has managed to write up an article about it before the speech itself is finished!
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John Kerry makes pitch for Mideast peace with hard-hitting speech politi.co/2hoY9l6
Holy fascism, this is insane. Awful that , , , and the dozens of others mentioned in this screed are subjected to such disgusting vitriol. twitter.com/b_judah/status
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Completely flummoxed how France, Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal are all out, but Ukraine goes through, but darned if I don't love it.
Ukraine says that 22 civilians were killed in a Russian attack on this apartment complex in Chernihiv.
Tony Romo is the golden retriever of football. Every play is a new and exciting revelation.
My new favorite Russian word, no contest.
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Hey , ten people on my train car right now - four of them not wearing masks. Maybe enforce your rules so people feel safe and riders return??
Here's some abuse of minorities: One of #Crimea's major universities has closed its Ukr. language dept. news.mail.ru/inworld/ukrain
Hamilton founded the damn U.S. Mint and this is how they repay him? Jackson didn't even like the idea of paper money. #SaveHamilton
Love so much that Aly Raisman performs to Kalinka, a traditional Russian song, and bests the Russians while doing it.
My sister, a rabbit owner and avid 🐇 fan, just told me that one of her bunny Facebook groups has raised $50,000 for the Ukrainian members of their group and 🐰🐰s.
They are also arranging pet rabbit transfers across the border into Poland.
Am now crying on the plane.
❤️🇺🇦🐰
In thanks for all of Russia's recent kindnesses to North Korea, Pyongyang just recognized Crimea as part of Russia. meduza.io/news/2017/10/1
Absolutely incredible explosion. Hoorah, HIMARS!
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I so wish would get these 'Stand on the Right' signs that London has. It's the little things.
Sebastian Kurz is 31 and about to be Chancellor of Austria. I'm 31 and just finally moved into an apartment with a separate bedroom.
I have no idea if this is true, but my experience with both Ukrainian women and jars of pickled cucumbers lead me to feel deeply in my soul that this is 100% true.
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In Kyiv a woman knocked down a Russian drone from a balcony with a jar of cucumbers. How did they expect to occupy this country?
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
To date, this tweet is the original source for this report and no media outlet has been able to verify the claim, and the user tweeting this has not provided any evidence to back up the claim despite being repeatedly asked.
manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-m…
That second photo though.
Pray for Kyiv. Pray for Ukraine.
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There really are only about 25 people under the age of 40 who know much about Russia. It's a sad state of affairs.
Protests in Poland continue despite Pres. Duda's annoucement that he'll veto 2 of 3 laws that change the judiciary. This is Night 8.
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At protest outside #Poland's presidential palace. Young, energetic crowd. Now singing "Ode to Joy" in Polish.
Bad morning. This world is not the same as we left is s few hours ago. Everything has changed.
At passport control, police asking to follow them. He’s refusing to go without his lawyer, who’s right there at passport control with him.
Dinner in Warsaw next to a huge table of women, 80% of whom have Beata Szydło's specific exact haircut.
If there is a better name in international politics than Venezuela's Diosdado Cabello, I have yet to see it. Honorable mention to Dutch parliamentarian Tiny Kox.
In which the Russian people kinda sorta start to fight.
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Possibly the most Russian thing that has ever Russia-d.
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Scoop: Moscow bookstores are selling copies of Russian Constitution that include Putin's amendments—even though referendum on the changes doesn't take place until July. rbc.ru/technology_and
This is a remarkably bad and very gloomy inauguration speech. Not unifying or inspiring, just lots of promises that are impossible to keep.
Chants of "Putin is a thief" at the anti-corruption/anti-regime rally in Moscow.
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In Ukraine, today’s not only the final vote for President, but Palm Sunday. There’s high turnout at both the polls and the churches.
I still want more height, but after 5 batches, I finally have a buttermilk biscuit to be proud of.
Amazing that Ted Cruz could win in Iowa whilst speaking out, rightly, against the abomination that is the Ethanol Mandate. Cc:
It's not just the US. In Berlin last week, officials were quite worried about potential Russian involvement in their upcoming elections.
In a bold bid to be the most absurdly Canadian person that has ever Canada-d, Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil takes swigs of maple syrup when he needs an energy boost.
Bad/good news, DC. The tourists and interns are back and standing on the left side of the metro escalators. Nature is reverting to form.
9) My rage is fading, but seriously, and , you should be ashamed of yourselves for this. Pathetic.
Here's Putin doing something that only happens once in a blue moon: awkwardly speaking stilted English.
youtube.com/watch?v=awWAd-
I've never seen a more disgusting event in politics. I'm sick to my stomach. Nothing about this has anything to do with patriotism.
Yesterday, I rectified my longest-standing life problem. After 15 years, I now have a dishwasher, and it is glorious.
Mere coincindence, I'm sure.
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So, Marine Le Pen popped off to an art exhibition in the Kremlin - and ended up meeting Vladimir Putin. Nice.
The French, on cicadas: These delightful creatures would make a lovely pattern on cloth.
The Reality of cicadas: Horrifying, red-eyed crunchies littering the floor of the metro.
Insane stuff the Russians are doing in Georgia. This is a must-watch.
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This guy had a border built around his house and woke up in another country news.vice.com/video/waking-u #Georgia #Russia