It'a just over 5 years since I started freelancing & went straight to cover a 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. After a ceasefire, Russian soldiers were sent in as peacekeepers(!). I wonder how many went on to die, or kill, in Ukraine. It's mind blowing how much has happened.

[Featured] #UkraineWar: Europeans rush to foil #Ukraine deal favouring Kremlin, by @lizcookman.bsky.social | The Observer observer.co.uk/news/interna...

I am a finalist for a British Journalism Award! I am so honoured! For feature journalism from Ukraine, Syria and Somalia for the @theguardian.com and the @telegraphnews.bsky.social. So many brilliant journalists here 👉 pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...

There is a fundraiser to help George Ivanchenko, the Ukrainian photographer who was badly injured in a drone strike last week in Donbas - the same one that killed Antoni Lallican. Please help if you can: send.monobank.ua/jar/6qRivvU8...

10s of 1,000s of Ukrainian veterans have suffered heavy injury resulting in disability. Many are young men, who have to relearn how to live with new bodies, facing a taboo subject in a religious country - how to reclaim their sex lives. For @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

“I understood it wasn’t just play.” @lizcookman.bsky.social for @theguardian.com reveals how 200+ Russian “camps” groom Ukrainian children for war, erasing their identity. 📰 Read & share: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... #SaveUkraine

I’ve been longlisted for Freelance Journalist of the Year at this year’s @rorypecktrust.bsky.social Awards, alongside some incredible journalists with work I really admire. 🎉🎉😎😎 Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽 rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...

I’ve been longlisted for Freelance Journalist of the Year at this year’s @rorypecktrust.bsky.social Awards, alongside some incredible journalists with work I really admire. 🎉🎉😎😎 Freelancers are 💪🏽💪🏽 rorypecktrust.org/awards/2025-...

Russia is running a network of at least 210 camps to re-educate, Russify and militarise Ukrainian children, a Yale report has found. It follows my report last week that outlined how stolen children are being “trained to fight for Russia”. For @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Russia is running a network of at least 210 camps to re-educate, Russify and militarise Ukrainian children, a Yale report has found. It follows my report last week that outlined how stolen children are being “trained to fight for Russia”. For @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Children from occupied Ukraine are being forcibly taken to miltary camps in Russia, where they train to rig booby traps and load guns. Many fear they are being prepared for the Russian army. Some may already be on the frontline. My story @theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Children from occupied Ukraine are being forcibly taken to miltary camps in Russia, where they train to rig booby traps and load guns. Many fear they are being prepared for the Russian army. Some may already be on the frontline. My story @theguardian.com. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

This summer, Ukraine was hit with record nos of Russian drones - the deadliest run for civilians in over 3 years. The drones are getting faster, better, with attacks set to grow in autumn. But air defences are evolving quickly to catch up. For @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

In Kyiv, the Cabinet of Ministers building caught fire, likely after drone debris fell on it. PM Svyrydenko wrote: “For the first time, a government building — its roof and upper floors — has been damaged by an enemy attack. Firefighters are battling the blaze. Thank you for your work.”

This summer, Ukraine was hit with record nos of Russian drones - the deadliest run for civilians in over 3 years. The drones are getting faster, better, with attacks set to grow in autumn. But air defences are evolving quickly to catch up. For @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

A woman has been arrested by Russia’s FSB for attempting to attack its HQ in Sevastapol, Crimea, with a religious icon rigged with explosives on behalf of Ukraine’s SBU. Me for @thetimes www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

An interview with former Ukrainian president Poroshenko, and the view from Kyiv, amid the push for peace for @observeruk.bsky.social. “We don't need anything from Russia. Stop the war, stop the killing, stop grabbing territory, stop blackmailing us and get out.” observer.co.uk/news/interna...

An interview with former Ukrainian president Poroshenko, and the view from Kyiv, amid the push for peace for @observeruk.bsky.social. “We don't need anything from Russia. Stop the war, stop the killing, stop grabbing territory, stop blackmailing us and get out.” observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Powerful reporting and incredible stories here from @lizcookman.bsky.social , edited by @tomlevitt.bsky.social for our new in-depth reporting series on the war in Ukraine www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

"In the three years since then, maternity care in Ukraine has remained under constant attack, with more than 2,000 strikes on medical facilities, including 81 affecting maternal care and delivery rooms." By @lizcookman.bsky.social from Kharkiv, Kherson, Sloviansk www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

I travelled to three frontline cities to show what new mothers face in Ukraine - attacks on maternity hospitals, circling drones, power cuts and constant air raid sirens. Ukraine had the lowest birth rate in the world last year - and highest death rate. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

From Lavrov’s jumper choices to whether Putin will be given the red carpet treatment, follow our live updates from today’s “HIGH STAKES” Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/us/american-...

How Europe can hit Russia where it hurts — and why it probably won’t. The Continent is home to €260bn of frozen Kremlin assets. Ukraine wants it all seized like a sanctioned oligarch’s yacht. Me for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

Russia is attempting a “digital occupation” of Ukraine using a vast network of pro-Kremlin bots that flood people’s mobile phones in the occupied east with subtle and locally-targeted disinformation. My story for @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

Over 120 health facilities across Somalia are at risk due of closing due to cuts in international aid, with children paying the heaviest price. Our CEO Moazzam Malik visited Baidoa, the epicentre of the crisis, with @lizcookman.bsky.social. This is what they saw 👇

Her name was Diana Koshyk and she was 23. She liked to write poetry and paint, and was seven months pregnant with a son she named Damir. She was killed in a Russian missile strike last week. My first story for @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Thousand are on the streets in Kyiv for a second night, incl. wounded veterans, to protest Zelenskyy’s signing of a controversial bill on the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions. Some compared him to Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Maidan Revolution.

I went out with firefighting teams on the frontline of Turkey’s battle with devastating wildfires at their epicentre - Izmir province. Blazes are tearing through homes and farms. They have killed at least three, including one firefighter. @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

I went out with firefighting teams on the frontline of Turkey’s battle with devastating wildfires at their epicentre - Izmir province. Blazes are tearing through homes and farms. They have killed at least three, including one firefighter. @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Four people died and several more were injured on Wednesday after hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse in Gaza

Gaza’s youngest influencer, Yaqeen Hammad, was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 23rd. She was 11-years-old and documented life in the Gaza Strip. Her death is one of more than 15,000 children reported killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023

Turkey’s four-decade conflict with the PKK is ending, and its diplomatic rise is reshaping global power dynamics. I discuss why Turkey is a force to watch on @thetimes.com World in 10 podcast. Listen here: podfollow.com/world-in-10/...

“Is there anything more beautiful than the smile of children in Gaza?,” the Strip’s youngest influencer, Yaqeen Hammad, posted to her Instagram. Days later she was killed in an Israeli air strike at just 11. My story for @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

All eyes are on Turkey for the first direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in years. So far, though, there is only one winner: President Erdogan. Once viewed by the West as a difficult partner, he's emerging as a key diplomatic bridge. My story @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

The only VIP to turn up in Istanbul today for the Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

Turkish state TV may have just accidentally settled the debate over whether Erdogan is on Russia's side or Ukraine's.

US officials have arrived in Istanbul, while Zelensky and Erdogan are speaking now in Ankara. Uncertainty still looms over the possibility of the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks since 2022, follow our live updates here: www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

An end to one of the world’s longest-running and deadliest insurgencies is in sight after the PKK announced this morning it will disband and formally end its armed struggle against the Turkish state. Me for @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

The world’s most expensive honey went in sale at Harrods last month for £1,250 a jar. It’s produced in a secret valley in the Kaçkar mountains, north-east Turkey. I travelled there for @thetimes.com to meet the beekeeper & ask why it costs almost as much as UK rent. www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

The world’s most expensive honey went in sale at Harrods last month for £1,250 a jar. It’s produced in a secret valley in the Kaçkar mountains, north-east Turkey. I travelled there for @thetimes.com to meet the beekeeper & ask why it costs almost as much as UK rent. www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Istanbul just suffered a 6.0 earthquake. Everyone is out in the street worried a bigger one is coming - a devastatingly huge one is predicted at some point in soon. Or that buildings might collapse.

Late posting my interview with Turkey’s main opposition leader, Ozgur Özel, for @thetimes.com last week. He vowed to push for an early election, and warned UK PM Keir Starmer: “We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

I had an amazing weekend in Paris studying childhood, migration, trauma and ethical reporting with @columbiajournalism.bsky.social’s @dartcenter.bsky.social. I learned a lot, met great people and it felt really poignant amid aid cuts and an increasingly inhumane migration debate.

I’m with protesting students who are marching over Istanbul’s historic Galata Bridge now, as taxis honk in solidarity. It’s the sixth night of protests tonight in Turkey after the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu and the first time this has happened.

The most iconic photo of Turkey’s protest so far. Ümit Bektaş for Reuters.

A fifth night of protests kicked off in Turkey after Istanbul mayor @ekrem-imamoglu.bsky.social was formally jailed on corruption charges and suspended from office. It was the biggest march yet, with protestors clashing with police amid plumes of tear gas. My story: www.thetimes.com/world/middle...

Istanbul Mayor @ekrem-imamoglu.bsky.social, the leading challenger to President Erdogan, has urged Turkey’s judges “not to remain silent’ after he was arrested on corruption and terrorism charges widely seen as politically motivated. My story for @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Huge news for Turkey: Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, has called on the Kurdish militant group to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A giant leap towards ending one of the world’s longest running conflicts. More than 40k people have been killed in decades of fighting.

24.02 #ukraine