Bucha has come to symbolise the cruelty of Russia’s war. Of the civilians killed, many were shot at close range. Some with their hands tied behind their backs. Four years after these mass killings, we remember the victims. What happened here cannot be denied. (1/2)

The EU is committed to ensuring that these crimes do not go unpunished, including by supporting the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, alongside the Claims Commission. Russia must be held accountable for what it has done to Ukraine. (2/2)

Let’s be clear: Russia attacks, Russia refuses a ceasefire, Russia chooses to continue its war of aggression every single day. Ukraine has offered an unconditional ceasefire and wants peace. While Ru refuses to stop the war, Ukraine defends itself and retaliates. Ukraine has never attacked anyone.

The weather is very nice today, it’s a sunny day, and I really want to go outside for a walk, but we are staying at home because russian Shahed drones are flying around. They are being shot down, we can hear explosions, so we are hiding. This is what our Sunday looks like.

Look, world. This is a maternity hospital in Odesa that was targeted by a russian “Shahed” drone. At the moment of the strike, there were 32 pregnant women, 22 newborn babies, and 27 medical staff members inside. Everyone was evacuated. Including newborn twins who were on ventilators. 1/2

🤩 The situation in St. Petersburg after the attack by Ukrainian drones on the ports of the Leningrad region

Dit verhaal van mijn collega @lamyae.bsky.social moet elke Nederlander lezen www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...

AI made elite chess more human, by @kevinlincoln.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Phillips is completely right here. It is absurd to repeat an obviously false framing. And it is harmful, because once stated in the NYT it becomes credible.

Ukraine is holding back Russia and thus fulfilling the entire traditional mission of NATO without any soldiers or sailors from other countries. Trump is meanwhile demanding NATO allies leave the continent they are supposed to be defending to join him in a doomed adventure he chose in the Middle East

A well-timed pawn break

Historians will record the Ukrainian war as a turning point when the free world eventually got its act together and resisted the pressure."

Putin made this same mistake as many dictators before him. He underestimated the power of free people, the power of freedom. While Putin expected to take Kyiv for 3 days, it was very painful to see that Americans and Europeans also expected Ukraine to fall.

KASPAROV: "The outcome of the war in Ukraine will affect every struggle for democracy. The heroic battle of Ukrainian nation led by great President Zelenskyy offered us hope. It demonstrated again, at a very high cost, that nothing can break the will of free people.

One of the greatest thinkers of our time, Jürgen Habermas, has passed away, whose works we studied back at university. Much later, in February 2023, I sent a letter to Herr Habermas through my publisher at Suhrkamp. The letter was a response to his call for dialogue between Ukraine and Russia.. 1/6

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

Today, media outlets around the world are publishing my winter essay in different languages. In the text, I mention my friend, whom the war gave me and took away from me and everyone who loved Viktoria Amelina. I know that as long as we remember our dead, they are alive.

Begin 2022, met sombere vooruitzichten op een Russische aanval, schrijft Victoria Amelina: "Er zullen black-outs zijn en...... " (in haar postume manuscript was deze zin onvoltooid)

◾️ Ukraine, War, Love: A Donetsk Diary by Olena Stiazhkina; ◾️ The Showman by Simon Shuster; ◾️ Looking at Women, Looking at War by Victoria Amelina. Friends, have you read any of these? And what books would you recommend reading on this subject? 📹: ancienttorecent/Instagram

Victoria Amelina schreef een indrukwekkend dagboek over Oekraïense vrouwen in oorlogstijd www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...

Na de Russische inval kon de Oekraïense schrijfster Victoria Amelina zich niet meer concentreren op fictie. Ze begaf zich naar de frontlinie om verslag uit te brengen van oorlogsmisdaden. Op 1 juli 2023 overleed ze aan haar verwonding na een Russische raketaanval.

First day of spring 🌱 So much is behind for Ukrainians in this simple sentence.

So, calendar spring is here. Ukraine surviving this winter was not a miracle. It is tireless, professional, devoted, 24/7 work of Ukraine's energy workers and Defence Forces. Heroyam slava!

‘Vrouwen die oorlog zien’ van Victoria Amelina, vertaald door @wordsecho.bsky.social is aangrijpend vanaf de eerste zin: ‘Ik heb net in het centrum van Lviv mijn eerste pistool gekocht.’

Jan Timman (1951-2026) My obituary: www.chess.com/news/view/ja...

Buildings all over the world are displaying the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag tonight in solidarity with the country on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. Bath Abbey in the UK looks absolutely stunning! 🇺🇦

🇺🇦 The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in blue and yellow

Binnenkort verschijnt: 'De essentie van Laozi' door Carlo Hover. Online lezing: Op maandag 2 maart om 20:00 uur. Aanmelden kan via isvw.nl. In SPUI25: Op woensdag 4 maart om 20:00 uur. Gratis aanmelden? spui25.nl/programma/laozi-chinas-klassieke-filosoof-over-zijn-werk-en-betekenis

Ukraine has been under russian drone attacks for most of the night. Russian cruise missiles are expected to enter our airspace in half an hour, bringing more death and destruction. Again, we play this deadly lottery while the world watches.

Free weekend update is out. The leading story is Ukrainian claims that for two months now Russian losses have significantly exceeded replacements. If that is happening, it will prove a major problem for the Russian military going forward. Armies rarely tread water. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Leve Vladyslav Heraskevytsj en de vermoorde vrienden op zijn helm, het IOC mag zich diep schamen

Despite the snow and cold, a chess game is in full swing in one of Dnipro’s parks. 📹 dnipro. brand / Instagram

Doe ook als Claudia de Breij, en doneer nu voor generatoren voor Ukraine. Ze zijn er binnen een week en maken echt het verschil: vvodiel.nl/doneren/. Reposten is lief.

She’s so real

Ice on the inside of the entry door to our Babusya’s apartment block in Kyiv. The temperature is -12 C outside, and Russia is continuing to attack the Ukrainian capital’s energy infrastructure with drones. The latest air raid ended about an hour ago.

Bestuur van een universiteit in Texas verbiedt filosofiehoogleraar om fragmenten uit Plato’s ‘Symposium’ op te nemen in zijn curriculum.

It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from his sinking under Epstein and skyrocketing healthcare costs.

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

I wish you a Happy Christmas and a coming year of solidarity and resistance. Love and courage to you all.

Chess is in mourning after it was announced English GM Jonathan Hawkins has died aged 42 just before Christmas. worldchess.com/news/jonatha...

Aangrijpend! 👇 #Kijktip

Oekraïne, nu. Twee dagen voor kerstochtend. ❤️‍🩹

Wees als Casper. Stel jezelf teleur, maak een boekverkoper blij.

This has never been done before by anyone.

»Rilke begriff die Kunst als einen Dialog, als Zusammenspiel der Formen verschiedener Kunstgattungen und er war in der Kunstwelt zu Hause.« Petra Olschowski MdL, Ministerin @mwk-bw.bsky.social, zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung ›Und dann und wann ein weißer Elefant. Rilkes Welten‹. #Rilke #DLAMarbach

Und dann, meine Seele, sei weit, sei weit. Daß dir das Leben gelinge, Breite dich wie ein Feierkleid Über die sinnenden Dinge. Rainer Maria Rilke, geboren heute vor 150 Jahren in Prag.

One of the longest air attacks on Kyiv: it began at 11pm & until 9:30am russia kept launching Kinzhals, cruise, ballistics & drones at us. By obsessing over how to protect genocidal aggressor's bloody money instead of the victim's survival, Belgium is doing Europe a very dangerous disservice.

Now, after the russian missile strike on Western Ukraine, the city of Ternopil, a residential building... it's just fucked up! Well, how are we to live next to these sick in the entire head russian bastards?!?

"Es war nicht eine kleine Zahl von Verbrechern, es waren Hunderttausende einer sogenannten deutschen Elite, Männer, Jungen & entmenschte Weiber, die unter dem Einfluss verrückter Lehren in kranker Lust diese Taten begangen haben." Thomas Mann 9. November 1938

De @vvdonline.bsky.social heeft de mond vol van vrouwenrechten en opkomen voor femicide, maar stuurt doodleuk vrouwen terug naar de Taliban. Hoe hypocriet wil je het hebben? Spoedkamervragen zijn in de maak. Dit gaat om mensenlevens. www.trouw.nl/binnenland/k...