🇺🇦 Ukrainian journalist. Now staff writer at the
@spectator
. 🏆Young Journalist of the Year 2024 by The Press Awards. Get in touch: svitlana
@spectator
.co.uk
My Ukraine in Focus newsletter has reached 15,000 readers🎉 If you're interested in receiving the latest updates on the war from a Ukrainian perspective every Friday, sign up for free here:
I follow many Ukrainian soldiers whose clear message is to shut up about counter-offensive and show respect for those who will have to fight (and die). When the time comes, the counter-offensive will happen. But it is not a show. It is a bloody war.
I met Matt Hancock at the Spectator summer party last year. I knew little about British politics, so Hancock told me he was a 'very important person in the UK'.
Now I get why.
On my 16th birthday, a tall, shy guy from my hometown invited me to dance. Today, I found out he died while defending our country. Russia killed so many people I cared about, all under 30, just learning to live. All of them loved Ukraine. What a price we have to pay for freedom.
I am subscribed to TwitterBlue.
@elonmusk
, why do I have this ban? Maybe because I tweet about the war in Ukraine, like all my Ukrainian friends, who were shadowbanned today?
While my mum cuts the cake for my brother’s birthday, Russian missiles and Iranian drones are in the sky over our region. There is no bomb shelter to run to.
All of Ukraine is under attack now. We live every day like the last one. We don't know if we will be alive tomorrow.
The West scrambled to help Israel because they wanted to deter an aggressor and prevent a wider war in the region. Surely the same logic applies to Ukraine and Europe? Me for
@spectator
:
“No other modern country…” Excuse me, what about Ukraine, which is attacked by Shahed drones and missiles every day? I can’t believe a senior reporter wrote this
It's sad Israel has to live under constant threat of missile and rocket attacks like this
No other modern country has to live with this constant threat
I interviewed a Ukrainian boy who was abducted by Russians and sent to a camp in occupied Crimea. He told about what he witnessed.
You can watch our full conversation at SpectatorTV: My article about Russia's child snatchers:
Putin called the president of Kazakhstan, but Tokayev washed off his hands, saying that dealing with Prigozhin was 'an internal matter of Russia'. I am looking forward to hearing from China.
Grateful to be shortlisted for Young Journalist of the Year by
@PressAwardsuk
. Writing about the war in my country for English-language readers has been the most important job of my life. All I want is for my contribution to help Ukraine's cause.
Putin expected Ukrainians to meet his army like this, but with Russian flags.
That never happened. Today Ukrainian army is being greeted in Kherson by thousands of grateful residents. It is what real liberation looks like.
The first video is from March. Second from today.
Just as Russia is trying to claim Ukraine as its own, other countries are eyeing chunks of Russian land, spotting an opportunity as the war shows just how weak the Russian army is.
Moscow would be wise to watch its back. My column for
@Telegraph
:
Thank you
@edwardlucas
for standing by my side yesterday. We defeated the motion by a margin of two-to-one, but I still did not expect so many people to support the idea of making peace with Putin. But if we changed at least one mind on the matter - we have already won.
Soldiers defending Ukraine have not left the battlefield for the past two years. Kyiv is about to pass a tough conscription bill to replace those exhausted by fighting, injured and dead. This started a public backlash. Me on Ukraine's conscription crisis:
Funerals. Every day. Of people I knew and didn't know, but it does not hurt less.
In Ukraine, we kneel in front of our heroes and their families. President, general or minister - we all kneel when the soldiers return from the war with the shield or on it.
Ukraine believes its drone army can win the war with Russia. I spent last week with Ukrainian drone manufacturers and soldiers who learned to be drone operators. Read about how a drone arms race unfolds here:
Kherson is famous for its huge, sweet watermelons. So today Ukrainians are eating watermelons to celebrate the liberation of the city.
You are welcome to join!
This morning at least 10 missiles have hit two of the biggest universities in Mykolayiv. This city in the south of Ukraine is the next strategical target for Russian troops on their way to Odesa.
Russia won in 2020 when Lukashenko suppressed peaceful protesters in Belarus and stayed in power. Could Putin use Belarus as a launchpad for assaults on Ukraine if Lukashenko had lost? We will never know.
But what we can do is not let Russia win in Georgia today.
Ukraine…
I translated everything Wagner mercenaries said yesterday about killing Ukrainian kids, women and PoWs. I am terrified thinking about how much we don’t know yet.
Prime ministers in Britain are resigning with the same frequency as Zelensky was firing Ukraine's ministers before the war. 'I will be doing it until we make a perfect government', he said in 2020.
Stay strong, Britain.
Dmitry Medvedev, Putin's henchman, has threatened Ukraine and the West with nuclear weapons nearly 60 times since last February.
Why nobody takes him seriously - in my article for
@Telegraph
:
This is my favourite bridge in Kyiv: every day, it is packed with couples, kids and street musicians. The view is gorgeous. Today the Russian missile tried to destroy it.
Luckily, they failed. Video below.
Russia has failed to regain its seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the 2024-2026 term. It took nearly a decade after Russia invaded Ukraine and committed dozens of war crimes for this to occur. Astonishing.
Ukraine can’t stop Vladimir Putin’s re-election, but that doesn’t mean it can’t shatter the perfect image of his sacred day. Me for
@spectator
on drone strikes on Russia's land and anti-Kremlin Russian militias fighting in the Belgorod and Kursk regions:
Have I ever imagined that I would be standing for war while my family was hiding from Russian missiles? No, I haven’t.
We have no other choice. Or victory or slavery.
My colleague Svitlana Morenets (
@svitmore
), who writes The Spectator's Ukraine newsletter, is debating Peter Hitchens on whether it's time to cut a deal with Putin.
Tickets on sale now!
Ukrainian farmers have been sowing and harvesting grain under Russian shellings in fields contaminated with landmines. Some of them died. Polish protesters are now spilling this grain from Ukrainian freight trains. Where is the response from Polish authorities?
@AndrzejDuda
Zelensky said he is shocked that Ukraine has not received a single response from the UN and the Red Cross to requests for help in rescuing people from flooded houses. (1/3)
!! Two Russian missiles fell in Przewodów in Poland on the border with Ukraine, killing two people.
Polish premier has called an urgent meeting of national security committee.
I have never realised how much Russia has ruined my life. I was 15 when my country was invaded. I knew that I could be killed just because I was Ukrainian. That is why I weaved camouflage nets at school during breaktime to disguise tanks. All kids do it, don’t they? (1/4)
Ukraine owes its independence to the soldiers, who are dying in their hundreds due to poor medical provision.
I went near the frontline, where combat medics, volunteers and fighters told me how corruption, bureaucracy and neglect spike the death toll.
As a Ukrainian, I know how we felt this day one year ago.
What about the rest of the world? You woke up in Britain, Poland, the US, Linvunia or any other country and read the news that the Russian army was on the way to Kyiv.
What were your first thoughts? What did you feel?
This morning, 13 Iranian drones were shot down over Kyiv, which explains reports of explosions. It seems four buildings were damaged, but, in general, air defence worked very well.
‘We go ahead of the infantry, ahead of the intelligence – we go ahead of everyone’. I wrote for
@spectator
about how sappers clear the path for the Ukrainian troops in the Zaporizhzhia region:
Last night there were reports of thousands of Russian soldiers being abandoned in Kherson while others were fleeing the city. Now Ukraine asks them to surrender immediately.
What is happening in Kherson now - read in my article for
@spectator
:
A week before the Nova Kakhovka dam was blown up, the Kremlin lifted the obligation to investigate accidents at dangerous facilities and hydrotechnical structures that occurred as a result of ‘military operations’ and terrorist attacks. More here:
Zelensky has to be honest about the state of the war with Ukrainians while we still can turn the tide. The West must be frank, too: either give Ukraine all the weapons it needs, without restrictions, or accept that it is impossible. I write more here:
Maksym was a wedding photographer but he died as a soldier. He loved his life but he loved Ukraine too.
I am so sorry, my friend. We would have been celebrating your 26th birthday in three days. Now I mourn your death.
Rest in peace, our hero.
Russia will pay for everything.
I have never received so many hate comments under my articles as I do now. Mostly they say, 'send this propagandist back home'. Or 'what a blond young girl can know about the war'.
I wish I didn't know.
Thousands of graves adorned with blue-and-yellow flags across Ukraine felt like a haunting suggestion that the dead may soon outnumber the living. Today, Volodymyr Zelensky has finally revealed the number of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Me for
@spectator
:
Ukraine in Focus newsletter has always been very personal work for me. I tell about the war but also try to make my readers closer to the life of a Ukrainian. Make you understand us better.
I am so close to reaching 10 000 subscribers! Sign up for free:
The helicopter with Denis Monastyrsky, Ukraine’s interior minister, crashed near a nursery.
Three children are reported to be amongst the dead, with 15 others being treated in hospital.
This video is horrific. My deepest condolences to the parents.
Special thanks to
@FraserNelson
for guiding me through British journalism and deleting the words 'Putin die' from my articles. Jokes aside, thank you, Fraser, for believing in me.
And, of course, a huge thank you to my readers. I wish you all peace.
Ukraine's Defence Ministry is publishing short videos with gratitude for the allies on the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day. This one is for the UK🇬🇧
Hey
@elonmusk
, it seems like it's no longer possible to have a Ukrainian number verify a Twitter account/two-factor authentication. Ukraine is not in your list of countries, see our screenshot.
It's vital for us to keep showing the world what's going on in our country.
I want to remind you that Prigozhin is not fighting to stop the war against Ukraine. He is fighting because the war is being waged poorly. Prigozhin aims to remove Defense Minister Shoigu (or even take his place) and then continue killing Ukrainians.
Twitter seems to think the war has been paused. Not so. Russia has just started a heavy offensive attempting to capture Soledar, near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.
Hanna Malyar, Deputy Defense Minister, says 'fierce fighting' has begun. This is an important battle.🧵1/3
How to become a Russian peacemaker:
1. Invade the city.
2. Bomb it out.
3. Kill thousands of its citizens.
4. Build a couple of apartment blocks on their bones.
5. Congratulations, now you are a Russian peacemaker.
Russia does not evacuate people from occupied territories that were flooded. Ukrainian volunteers try to get there by boats but get shelled. People sit on the roofs without food or water and wait for a miracle. The UN and the Red Cross were supposed to be that miracle. (3/3)
Russian missiles have disabled 50% of Ukraine's energy system.
'We talk not about scheduled power outages but scheduled power supply. Some will have electricity 2-3 hours a day maximum', said a director of Ukrainian power company.
Western Ukraine is already covered in snow.
Russia has just struck a TV tower in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, disrupting the digital signal. Kharkiv’s electricity grid has already been demolished, and now Russia is attempting to cut off communications.
Advertisement in Ukraine has gone mad.
There is ‘Heroes don’t die’ beer. A banner, 'We returned Kherson; now return the pleasant smell,’ is selling deodorant for sweaty feet. You can buy ‘Ukrainian rage’ onion bulbs.
I wish I was joking.
I love how all Ukrainian media write about occupied territories making sure to add the word “temporarily”.
Temporarily occupied Crimea, temporarily occupied Donetsk, etc. What a nice affirmation.
I tried to do it at the Spectator, but
@FraserNelson
does not allow me 🥲
@jprowell
First, the Ukrainian government leadership (meaning key people) is trying to downplay the expectations they created. Second, some influential members of Zelensky's party keep overhyping the counter-offensive at every corner. They should, at least, coordinate and decide which…
The Netherlands will give 42 F-16s to Ukraine when the pilots' training is complete.
In 2014 Russia shot down MH17, killing 196 Dutch citizens. Now the Netherlands is the first country to give fighter jets to Ukraine. The Dutch remember.
Today, we took another step to strengthen Ukraine's air shield. F-16s.
These jets will be used to keep Russian terrorists away from Ukrainian cities and towns.
@MinPres
Mark Rutte and I reached an agreement on the number of F-16s to be transferred to Ukraine once our pilots and…
Thanks to
@djknowles22
for having me on today. I talked about how some Ukrainian companies use patriotism for profiteering and also discussed conscription issues.
Pierwsze Leopardy z Polski trafiły do naszych sąsiadów z Ukrainy. Dzisiejsza wizyta premiera
@MorawieckiM
ma wymierny charakter dla bezpieczeństwa Ukrainy i Europy.
Równolegle realizujemy kolejne dostawy i zamówienia dla polskiej armii. Dbamy o bezpieczeństwo Polski.
On my way to Brussels to remind them that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been going on for 9 years.
The full-scale war Putin unleashed one year ago is the direct result of years of the West’s ignorance of that fact.
Today, Russia killed another friend of mine. I have no tears left. Just wrath and desperation. I will never forgive them for what they have done to my country and the people I love.
Xi Jinping just spoke to Zelensky on the phone. They did not talk since 2021. Ukraine did not even have an ambassador in Beijing - the last one died in China in February 2021, and since then Kyiv has been struggling to choose a candidate to replace him. (1/2)
Fleeing Russians blew up the bridge right next to Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and its dam.
If they blew up the dam, Kherson (plus 80 settlements) would be flooded.
The video was published by Russian pro-state media.
Discussions in the West over Ukraine’s future often stall when it comes to the question of Crimea and the Donbas.
It’s argued that many Russian-speakers want to be a part of Russia. I explained for
@spectator
why this is a myth: