#UKRAINIAN EMBASSY

[nando161mando]

La guerra ha ancora bisogno di carne da cannone

I consolati ucraini in Italia non rinnovano più i passaporti a chi non si registra nel database digitale dell'arruolamento

2 DICEMBRE ORE 10

PRESIDIO ALL' AMBASCIATA UCRAINA

La guerra comincia qui

Solidarietà a tutti i disertori

The war still needs cannon fodder

Ukrainian consulates in Italy no longer renew passports for those who do not register in the digital database of enlistment

DECEMBER 2, 10 AM

PRESIDIO AT THE UKRAINIAN EMBASSY

The war begins here

Solidarity with all deserters

[paulpingminho]

[at-the-end-of-days]

[molfarua]

💛💙 The street in front of the russian embassy in London was painted in the colors of the Ukrainian Flag 🥰

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

I've almost reached my breaking point with this genocide in Ukraine. I'm older than most Tumblr users, so I was being yelled at in university tutorials in the early 00s for talking about the Holodomor, and being told that "If it happened, Ukrainians deserved it for being Nazis".

I was out there in 2007 when we had the worldwide march for the Holodomor to be recognised as a genocide, only for so many countries (the USA being one of them) to tell us that they won't do it because it might upset russia.

I remember when russia invaded in 2014 and Obama said it wasn't his business, and that russia can decide what happens in Ukraine. And then he sent Ukraine fucking helmets and "hygiene kits" instead of the military aid he was supposed to.

My family in Donetsk walked out of their homes with their lives packed in plastic shopping bags nearly eleven years ago. But people prefer to believe the russian lies that Donbas wants to be part of russia.

I remember sitting at home on the 17th of July 2014, hearing about russia shooting down MH17, and feeling my blood run cold because the initial reports said the aeroplane was full of Americans. Being so sure that the USA might finally live up to the Budapest Memorandum and get involved in the war.

Of course they didn't.

And then the Malaysians went and protested at the Ukrainian embassy, as if they were to blame for being invaded by their genocidal neighbour.

I remember being at a protest at the russian embassy in Canberra just after Crimea was annexed, and the only people who turned up for us were other Ukrainians. Soon after there were massive protests for Palestine and BLM from Melbourne to Dublin and beyond. Ukrainians are too white for leftists and too foreign for right-wingers to care about.

More people dumped buckets of ice on their heads than supported us.

I spent Easter 2016 in a hotel in Ukraine. 8.5 years ago I was the only guest who wasn't a soldier on leave from the war.

Now I go on reddit and see that Americans are discussing how Ukraine "has a neo-fascist problem". Um, you guys just voted for Donald fucking Trump?

Then I see an Australian journalist say that the US election result means that America is "becoming like Eastern Europe". No. Eastern Europeans aren't Nazis. They suffered more under the Nazis than anyone.

We're always on our own. Millions upon millions of Ukrainians have been killed in the last ninety years, millions more sold into slavery in Germany (including my grandparents), hundreds of thousands sent to gulags (including the entire population of my grandmother's village), and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands dead or missing now, but we're still not seen as worthy of caring about.

I have family members whose dead bodies have been lying on battlefields for over a year. One killed in Bakhmut, a city that no longer exists. Another taken hostage from Mariupol, a city russia bombed to the ground. The mass graves there can be seen from space.

We can't get the bodies back because russia has colonised the area. I have a relative who was moved on from fighting in Vovchansk because there was no point fighting for another city that no longer exists. My relative who was taken hostage in Mariupol was starved and tortured for 2.5 years.

And then last week our city's magazine had a three-page interview with the russian ambassador, explaining why his country "has" to commit genocide in Ukraine. The editor laughed at my aunt when she phoned to register a complaint.

But teenaged tankies on sites like this will mock Ukrainians' deaths, stick a fucking hammer and sickle in their profile, and lecture people like me about things they know nothing about.

The world needs to end its ridiculous love affair with the russian federation.

[valerysweetsstudio]

This is how the day of 20 December began for residents of the Ukrainian capital. Mine also began with me getting out of bed to the sound of Russian missiles and calming frightened animals.

I don't like to talk about it, but there is still a war going on in Ukraine. It may seem that it is over, but it is not. Kyiv and the Kyiv region are under threat, so don't forget who Russia is, and there are drones flying overhead every night. Some people are used to sleeping under explosions, while others run to bomb shelters or the subway every night to hide from Russian drones.

Today my city came under rocket fire again. Three districts of Kyiv were attacked. In one of the districts there is a beautiful Gothic church of St Nicholas, which was damaged, as well as several historic buildings. In addition, six consulates and embassies were damaged. So do not forget who Russia is and its crimes against Ukraine, Georgia, Syria, etc.

[komsomolka]

The Ukrainian state is US/Western controlled and, in its alliance and arming, is effectively NATO-like. Washington, according to coup-happy Victoria Nuland in 2014, pumped some $5 billion into Ukraine since the Western-intelligence induced “Orange” revolution in 2004; an additional $15-$18 billion in arms, loans, and grants (from the US and EU) were poured into Ukraine since the 2013-2014 CIA-backed, far-right enforced regime change of the democratically elected Ukrainian government and until before the war began.

With on-the-ground CIA direction, power in Ukraine was consolidated among a small sociopolitical base of venal Russophobes, political pluralism representing genuinely alternative visions to the essentially nationalist, ultranationalist, pro-NATO parties disbanded. The Ukraine army, neo-fascist death squads, and small, Nazi-throwback extreme right-wing parties, celebrated by the new leaders and incorporated into the Ukrainian state, went on a repression spree, a terror campaign, to crush protests and dissent against those who were unhappy with what transpired and to erase all things Russian, including an eight-year shelling and sniping war on civilians designed to create terror and ethnic cleansing in eastern Donbass. This was not a democracy but a monopoly on power to consolidate a vociferously, fanatically anti-Russian state.

Ukraine is (or now, was) merely a platform for a Western proxy war against Russia, a forward operations base, a front line state, its “foreign policy” directed by the American proconsul, its institutions “advised” by American/Western intelligence functionaries and embassy officials, whose job since 2014 was to ensure continuing aggravation and antagonism in Donbass to elicit, in fact, a Russian response justifying long-prepared sanctions, escalation and pretext for “confronting” Russia. [...]

The Russian offensive, therefore, occurred for a much more ominous reason than the Ukrainian state terrorism visited upon eastern Donbass: the US/West’s wordless wish is no less than demoralizing, weakening, bankrupting, and territorially fragmenting the Russian Federation, controlling its markets and resources, indebting its people and rendering them dependent on US-dominated financial institutions, and bringing Russia under American dependency.

A pivotal principle of American hegemony is to obstruct and destroy friendly, normal ties, much less integration, between Russia and Europe, Germany being the fulcrum.

More simply, the strategic US/CIA goal is to ensnare Russia in a protracted war, deplete it, damage it, regime-change it, install a supine leader—all as a prelude to the big fantasy: bringing down China.

The multifaceted war on Russia has been ongoing since at least the late 1990s, but really, it never stopped with the Soviet state’s disappearance. This veiled hostility and aggression certainly existed when Boris Yeltsin was in power (a good vassal according to Washington, this silly and funny man that made Bill Clinton laugh) but took off around 2005, after Washington understood that Vladimir Putin was putting Russia on an independent course, reversing the conditions overseen under the preceding, deplorable Yeltsin era, including steep economic, social, military, and developmental decline and the immiseration of the vast majority of the population, looting oligarchs, and economic “liberalization” designed in Washington. [...]

Russia has literally allowed itself to be cornered since 2014, though it needed time to achieve a conventional and nuclear deterrent. It’s not hard to see reality: Russia is given no quarter, no voice, its real concerns and grievances dismissed, its leader demonized, its marginalization doggedly pursued at every level of international and bilateral social and cultural interactions. No appeal to reason, to international law, to security, to evidence will do for the West, no amount of patient legal argument, explanation of Russian concerns, appeals, professional warnings, consummate diplomacy and transparency of Russian interests made an impression. Instead, the Western response was and is always to double down. [...]

Finance capitalism, the system of speculative bubbles, derivatives, debt, declining standards of living, and hyperinflation, is ruining Western economies, states and societies, destroying the middle classes. The US cannot tolerate Eurasian integration and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, determined to stop any alternative development model to hyper-capitalism enriching the few, cannibalizing the many; that reduces the US to one of a handful of important multipolar players.

Washington’s grave mismanagement of international relations, its self-defeating policies, has actually weakened genuine American interests and national security and the well-being and safety of the American people, a phenomenon that cannot be naively attributed to Democrats or Republicans, this or that president. Instead, the war-state is deeply embedded in the American political economy, in factions such as the “intelligence community,” the military-industrial complex, influential establishment neo-cons, and liberal interventionists, all living in a world of yesterday.

We are rushing headlong into extremely dangerous times in which facts are a threat to the state narrative and any dissent or differing opinion is treachery. Fascism does not come from below, always from the top.

[matan4il]

Spain: We recognize an independent Palestinian state, even though it's an anti-peace move, and even though we also support their claim that they're occupied, not independent!

Israel: Okay, in that case, why should your diplomats serve Palestinians from our sovereign territory in Jerusalem? No more.

Spain: What? Then we will punish Israel by moving some of our Spanish diplomats from Israel to a new embassy in Ramallah!

Spanish workers of Spain's embassy in Tel Aviv and its consulate in Jerusalem: The fuck! We're not willing to live under the Palestinian Authority's rule! We don't trust that we'll be safe!

Spain: ...So our only way of opening an embassy in Ramallah is to recruit new staff, which would require additional budget dedicated specifically to this? Huh. Hmmmm. Okay, forget the whole thing.

Spain: ...Also, we're not going to take in any Gazans as refugees, like we did for Ukrainians, and please stop calling what's happening in Gaza a genocide, not because we recognize the truth that it isn't one, we just don't wanna be forced to accept refugees from there. But we totally helped the Palestinians with this symbolic, empty recognition gesture that doesn't promote peace at all!

This would be hilarious, if it weren't so stupid and tragic.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[dontforgetukraine]

Ukrainian and Georgian activists unfurl a 32-meter-long Ukrainian flag on the Peace Bridge in Tbilisi.

Source: UKR Embassy in GEO

[world-of-wales]

BREAKING NEWS -

GIFTS FROM FRIENDS!

The British Embassy in Kyiv recieved handcrafted hats as gifts on behalf of The Princess of Wales and Queen Camila.

The hats were a gesture of friendship & gratitude from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, designer Ruslan Baginskiy, his team, and the people of Ukrain highlighting the ties between the two nations.

The Princess's gift included a green boater hat, the traditional shape that makes part of the silhouette drawn by folk Ukrainian clothing.

It's adorned with handcrafted white silk Forsythia, a 'Pervotsvit' flower, which means first-to-bloom in Ukrainian spring and a symbol of life and hope.

[mariacallous]

The loneliness epidemic in the United States is so bad that even federal agencies have begun to pay attention. Today, half of adult Americans report experiencing feelings of loneliness and isolation, and some of the highest rates are seen among young adults.

That’s a painful social problem—but it’s also a national security threat. I get laughed at sometimes when I try to explain this concept to old-school bureaucrats. Who can blame them? Evolving threats are a headache, so it’s easier to pretend that nothing ever changes. But consider how easy it can be to compromise the lonely and desperate.

Take Sweet Dave, as he’s come to be known among security professionals, otherwise known as David Franklin Slater, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel-turned-civilian Air Force employee. Earlier this year, Slater was charged with passing on classified information to an individual—who claimed to be both a woman and Ukrainian—via email and an unnamed online messaging platform.

Documents included in the federal indictment against Sweet Dave read like a Saturday Night Live sketch: “Dear, what is shown on the screens in the special room?? It is very interesting,” the alleged Ukrainian woman is quoted as saying to Slater at one point.

“You are my secret informant love!” Slater’s beloved coos after checking in to ask about how NATO representatives travel.

Judging by these messages, Slater wants to feel special. The person he is corresponding with makes him feel like a hero, not just a retired soldier in Nebraska. Who doesn’t, at the end of the day, want to feel like a hero?

It’s easy to dismiss Slater as foolish and horny, and while he definitely seems to be both of these things, I was curious to see a fellow open-source intelligence expert unearth his Facebook likes: Here’s a guy who’s completely awash in images of unattainable fantasy women to an embarrassing level, and it follows that he would lose all common sense if approached by one online.

Sex is an old motivation for espionage, but the current rash of cases is about far more than lust. Take Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who leaked highly classified information to impress his fellow nerds on Discord, a social messaging platform. He, too, wanted someone to think of him as a badass.

Foreign intelligence has always preyed on the lonely and romantically vulnerable, from the West German women targeted during the Cold War by East German “Romeo” spies to the French diplomat who believed that his lover, a Chinese man, was a woman who had birthed his son.

But the internet allows a degree of connection—or the illusion of connection—that facilitates exploitation on a scale never before seen. Sometimes it doesn’t even take foreign actors. Consider the case of Anna Gabrielian and her spouse, Jamie Lee Henry, two Americans who are due for a new trial after being charged with giving classified information to Russia. (Last year’s legal proceedings against the couple ended in a mistrial.)

What does a married couple have to do with loneliness and fantasy worlds? Not much, or so I thought at first—until I reread the indictment.

Looking at the power dynamics on display in this case is revealing. Henry and Gabrielian were in a lopsided relationship, with Gabrielian submerged in a fantasy dreamworld of “sacrificing everything” for a distant, mythical Russia. And she pressured her spouse into going along with it.

Gabrielian was so far gone that she thought that she could simply email the Russian Embassy and offer them help, and that she could trust whoever reads emails from random strangers over there. (I personally think that Russian Embassy staff members likely decided they were being played and began making inquiries of their own sources that U.S. intelligence picked up on, thus ultimately exposing Gabrielian’s plan.)

Gabrielian went as far as calling her spouse a “coward” for showing hesitation about turning traitor. This was the pedestrian version of the infamous “Russia, if you’re listening” speech by former U.S. Donald Trump, this time by a woman who clearly thought that benevolent Russian benefactors would materialize and reward her courage. There doesn’t appear to be a financial motive, as is the case with many similar cases. This was a spy fantasy concocted by a woman who obviously wanted to feel important.

In yet another unfortunate case, Gordon Black, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, was arrested in Russia in May and accused of theft. Based on this man’s social media, he seems to have been involved with a Russian woman from Vladivostok—the city where he was nabbed by the authorities.

Based on available information, Black was in the middle of a divorce from his American wife. I’ve found pictures of him with the Russian woman in question dating as far back as June 2023. I have also found memes and comments, supposedly posted by this woman on social media, that reflect virulently violent views toward Ukrainians, anger toward NATO, and even the desire to humiliate her American boyfriend, whom she calls a slur in one memorable video.

Black was stationed in South Korea and was due to travel to a new post at Fort Cavazos, in Texas, when he decided to detour to Russia instead. According to his mother, Black did not appear to have permission to do so, and may have even been “set up”—although Black’s loneliness may have played an even bigger role.

It’s clear to an impartial observer that Black’s Russian girlfriend was bad news, yet he risked everything for her. The ardent devotion that appears in his face in one particular picture with his girlfriend is almost painful to look at.

The usual approach by both government and private actors to security training and identifying foreign threat actors is extensive, and repetitive lectures and reminders reiterate that training. But that doesn’t necessarily address the root of the problem.

Many people with access to sensitive information—like the public as a whole—are adrift both online and offline. They’re stressed, and they often don’t feel connected to other human beings. This makes them sitting ducks as far as foreign intelligence, hackers, scammers, and agenda-driven trolls go. It can also make them feel angry and resentful, willing to betray, and willing to act stupid for the sake of feeling powerful and important—and feeling seen.

In the national security world, the word “holistic” is often viewed with suspicion and seen as the purview of New Age crystal healers. But you can’t divorce human nature—and human predicaments—from digital and personal safety.

For example, I once had several diplomats act very surprised when I pointed out that not enough people are being taught that they shouldn’t use dating apps while drinking or while seriously stressed. It just hadn’t occurred to them that unwinding with a glass of wine after work and checking the apps could result in a bad outcome. These men weren’t stupid at all—they just hadn’t considered a holistic approach to using technology while holding a sensitive job.

The same can be said about drinking in other situations where you could be left vulnerable—such as in a foreign country, or in a bar frequented by the wrong kind of people. Somehow, we all know the risk, but we rarely focus on why people take it to begin with; we rarely focus on our natural need for connection and thus have a hard time mitigating it properly.

Another man in a sensitive job was once very surprised when I wrote that it’s perfectly OK and even advisable to video chat with a potential date. “You mean I can just ask for that? What if she thinks I’m rude?” he asked. The answer to that question should be “who cares?”

Unfortunately, for lonely people—and especially men—who are already having a harder time when it comes to connecting to others, “who cares” is not enough. Being in the right frame of mind, being more confident, and feeling more settled are essential to enforcing boundaries, and people desperate for connection simply have a harder time doing that.

“Put down your phone and go outside” is cliche advice, but outside is also a great place to meet people, thus leading to a lessened sense of loneliness, thus leading to reduced stress, and thus leading to better decisions.

“Recognize when you’re unhappy or desperate” is another cliche. People laugh when I bring up the fact that staying emotionally balanced is advisable from a national security perspective. Sounds like woo-woo yoga mom talk, right? Yet the clearance process is already meant to weed out people who feel desperate—people with gambling or drug problems, for example. So shouldn’t we also be focused on making sure that people who already have clearances have access to the tools they need in order to right themselves when pressures in their lives escalate?

How many leaders instead expect their subordinates to constantly be online and available? This feeds into the loneliness epidemic too—believe me. How easy do you think it is for a person to form meaningful connections when they are forced to constantly check their phone?

With lawmakers growing more cognizant of “right to disconnect” laws that allow employees space to be offline instead of demanding constant connection, perhaps we can start thinking more broadly about what it means to disconnect, and how burnout is inadvisable. Not just because burnout is bad, which it is, but because burnout can be dangerous.

Lonely and unhappy people are a gold mine for hostile actors. The subsequent need to seek connection and validation in the wrong places is a security threat—and one that national security leaders need to be thinking about much harder.

[anastasiareyreed]

dear world, you have the opportunity to show your support for Ukraine in real life! please share!

you can support Ukraine and call on your authorities to help Ukrainians survive the ecocide and expel the russian invaders from our territories!

in the coming days, a peaceful march in support of Ukraine will take place all over the world! please join and show by your example that the world need to be on the side of good!

please spread the word and look for cities where you can join the march, Ukrainians really need your support!

📍Bucharest, Parcul TNB 19:00 10.06

📍Sydney, Town Hall 14:00 11.06

📍Batumi, Europe Square 19:00 11.06

📍Paris, Place de la Republique 16:00 10.06

📍London, 10 Downing Street 16:00 10.06

📍Kraków, Rynek Główny 1 16:00 11.06

📍 Netherlands, Amsterdam, Dam Square 14:00-16:00 11.06

📍Danmark, Aarhus, Molleparken 13:00 11.06

📍Adana, Ataturk Park 16:00 10.06

📍Porto, Praça Aliados 13:00 11.06

📍Lyon, Pl. de la Comédie 18.00 10.06

📍Prague, Staroměstské náměstí 17:00 10.06

📍Wroclaw, plac Solny 18:00 11.06

📍Nottingham, Speakers Corner, 16:00 10.06

📍 Barcelona, Passeig de Lluís Companys 16:00 11.06

📍Strasbourg, Parlement européen 17:30 12.06

📍Brisbane, Australia, King George Square 14:00 11.06

added new cities and dates:

📍Stockholm, Norrmalmstorg, 12:00 11.06

📍Tel Aviv, HaYarkon St 120 18:30 12.06

📍UK, Bristol, College Green 12:00 11.06

📍Vancouver, Jack Pool Plaza 14:00 11.06

📍Poznan, Adam Mickiewicz Square 11:00 11.06

📍Warsaw, Ukrainian embassy, Szucha 7 18:00 12.06

📍Valencia, Monument Antoni Ferrandis 16:00 11.06

📍Brisbane, King George Square 14:00 11.06

📍Freiburg, Platz der alten Synagoge 18:00 10.06

📍Kassel, Deutschland 17:00 10.06

over time, new cities and dates will be added

more information here!

[adrl-pt]

First Russian Military Operation Outside Its Territory. Ukrainian Armed Forces Combat Operations in Kursk Region.

You are watching the news from the weekly rally at the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is August 10, 2:30 PM.

The five-day war in Georgia from August 8 to 12, 2008, was Russia's first "special operation" outside its territory. Journalist Georgy Kobaladze says that Georgian authorities commemorate the anniversary on August 7, marking the Ossetian army's attack on a Georgian village near Tskhinvali as the beginning. https://www.svoboda.org/a/kapkan-i-vtorzhenie-15-let-s-nachala-rossiysko-gruzinskoy-voyny/32538906.html

The Ossetians trace the origins of the war with Georgia back to 1989, when the USSR was collapsing. https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-45106205

After the Dagomys Agreement, Georgia maintained difficult but peaceful relations with the regions of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia). In 2008, Georgia began to consider joining NATO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7_p7WISo4

Matthew Bryza, who was involved in the US mediation plan for this war, told Dozhd in an interview how steps to contain Russia were removed during the process of working with the German Foreign Ministry. https://youtu.be/uK6pyU5DuQM?feature=shared&t=294

The human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" in its research discusses violations of humanitarian law on both sides, including systematic arson, robbery, and beatings of residents of Georgian villages by South Ossetian forces after the withdrawal of Georgian troops. https://www.hrw.org/reports/georgia0109ruweb.pdf

In 2021, the Strasbourg court found that Russia exercised control over Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region and therefore bears responsibility for these violations. The Russian representative stated in court that the fragments of the Iskander missile used by Russia, presented by the Georgian side, were stolen, dismantled, and planted by the CIA. https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-55737376

Volunteer and activist David Katsarava said in an interview with Dozhd: "For us, the war against Ukraine is a continuation of ours." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK6pyU5DuQM

Since August 6, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been conducting an operation in the Kursk region. The combat zone has already reached 430 square kilometers. The YouTube channel "The Insider" reported briefly on the situation: people are evacuating on their own, Putin is distributing the usual 10 thousand rubles, and Russian generals ignored reports of Ukrainian forces concentrating on the border. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbljcaYy1k

On August 9, politician Yulia Navalnaya stated: "Putin's war has finally come to Russia." She addressed those aiding Putin's war efforts: "No one will forget what you did to our country. You are working for a killer, but it's never too late to stop." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-HoR9OJ6mU

On August 7, Vladimir Osechkin held a stream on his YouTube channel in memory of Oleksandr Ishchenko, a member of the Azov regiment who was killed in Russian captivity, and called for information about this crime to be sent to him for investigation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBi3sO5Rq5M

Azov commander Svyatoslav Palamar published a forensic medical examination report on his Facebook page confirming the brutal murder and violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/FWoEAf9XxGmrShd2/

On January 12 of this year, the Memorial Human Rights Center recognized prisoners of war from the Ukrainian Azov Regiment as political prisoners, as they consider the Supreme Court's decision to recognize the Azov Regiment as a terrorist organization to be unlawful. https://memopzk.org/news/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnymi-voennoplennyh-iz-ukrainskogo-polka-azov/

Proofs and links in the description. Subscribe and help!

[torillatavataan]

About a hundred Finnish Russians gathered at a pro-Ukraine, anti-war rally in Helsinki on Sunday 17th November 2024. They began the demonstration at the Kansalaistori Square and marched to the Russian Embassy, calling out "Victory for Ukraine! Jail Putin! Freedom for political prisoners!" At the embassy, they demanded immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine and freedom for political prisoners.

Comments given to Yle:

"I came from Forssa because it's important to oppose the war. Everyone who can should be here." - Aleksandr Nesterov

"I want to show that Russians who oppose the war exist, and to meet others who think alike." - Nikolai Kutšumov

"I also want to show the people in Russia, that they are not alone. Even though they cannot take to the streets now and speak freely, we will instead. Our goal is a free Russia and the freedom of political prisoners. The prisoners are kept in horrific conditions and are tortured. This should not happen in the 21st century." - Darja Drobysheva

"We greatly wish that the Western nations continue actively supporting Ukraine regardless of what the United States does. It will save peace in Europe. We completely agree with the Ukrainians when they say support Ukraine, save peace in Europe." - Irina Vesikko

Full article by Yle in Finnish

Apart from the white-blue-white Russian anti-war flag and the Ukrainian flag, there is also an Ingrian Nordic cross flag. Ingria is the name of the area between Estonia and the Karelian Isthmus (St. Petersburg is located in Ingria). It is the homeland of the Izhorians, Votians, and Ingrian Finns. The Izhorians and Votians are the native residents of the land and Ingrian Finns are the descendants of Finnish immigrants introduced into the area in the 17th century.

Both Ingrian Finnish and Izhorian populations all but disappeared from Ingria during the Soviet period. 63,000 fled to Finland during World War II, and were required back by Stalin after the war. Most became victims of Soviet population transfers and many were executed as "enemies of the people".

From the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2010, about 25,000 Ingrian Finns moved from Russia and Estonia to Finland, where they were eligible for automatic residence permits under the Finnish Law of Return.

[scope-dogg]

Netanyahu is overseeing crimes against humanity in Gaza and instigated a reckless and unnecessary escalation of already-tense situation in the region by attacking an Iranian embassy, has large and modern air force and top of the line air defense systems to protect itself against inevitable Iranian retaliation.

Ukraine which is unjustly being victimised by its larger and more powerful neighbour and is struggling to defend its crucial infrastructure against sustained VKS strategic bombing campaign against civilian infrastructure, only has very dated airforce with sad pledge of old-model hand me down F16s way overdue and air defense supply running low after months of aid stalling in US congress.

Guess which country gets direct intervention by US and UK to defend its airspace and which country gets a finger-wagging lecture by Anthony Blinken for daring to launch retaliatory attacks against Russian oil and gas infrastructure that might push up the price of gas a few pennies per gallon? If I was Ukrainian I’d be incredibly insulted.