MikePole

Talked to my dad in Ukraine. Today is the anniversary of the day he moved to Kyiv from Poltava to pursue his PhD. The letter he received from the university said that he had to show up there at 9 AM on November 1st. He only had a short time to pack, and what’s worse, there were no train or plane tickets available. As was often the case in the Soviet Union, my grandmother arranged for him to fly on a mail plane through someone she knew. So, on October 31st, my dad boarded an An-2 plane to Kyiv. There were only two passenger seats available. The rest of the space was taken up by mail covered with a tarp. My dad found out why it was covered shortly afterward, when it started raining and it turned out that the plane’s roof was leaking in several places. Shocked by what he was witnessing, my dad went up to the pilot and asked him if it was dangerous. “Don’t you worry!” the pilot said. “The floor is leaking too, so we won’t drown!” This story made me laugh. I hope it puts a smile on your face too!

"They killed us." With these words Novaya Gazeta, Russia's most famous independent newspaper, announced it is closing. Six of its people were murdered under Putin. 🧵Here is what Russia is losing. [1/12]

🤬 WHILE HUMANITARIAN MISSION CONTINUES IN OLESHKY, RUSSIA LAUNCHES DOUBLE-TAP ATTACK ON DNIPRO RAILWAY STATION Emergency crews arrived at the scene following the first Russian strike when Russia attacked the same location again, launching several additional drone strikes as rescuers responded. Just yesterday, a Russian drone strike on a passenger train at Dnipro railway station killed 14 people and injured 10 others. While Moscow participates in a humanitarian ceasefire in Russian-occupied Oleshky, its forces continue launching repeated strikes elsewhere in Ukraine.

This WSJ story from TODAY was outdated before the ink dried. Ukraine is once again striking refineries like there's no tomorrow. As they should.

The President of Finland & PM of Norway demonstrated their Russophobia by failing to agree that Jaroslav the Wise's protection of the Pechenegs in the 11th century is the root of why Ukraine attacked itself.

Since a few Kyiv Independent readers have asked, I’d like to explain what happened with Caolan Robertson’s video, out of respect for our supporters. Our team found that a video on Caolan’s @CaolanReports YouTube channel included a fragment of an earlier Kyiv Independent video, used without permission and without a request for permission. It wasn’t just footage. It was an animated map that takes our team a lot of work to produce. Importantly, Caolan’s video cropped out our logo from the fragment. Instead of crediting our work, it fully removed the attribution to the Kyiv Independent. That isn’t citation or fair use. Our team member did what is standard when your content is used this way on YouTube: They filed a copyright report. YouTube reviewed the case and removed the video. We follow the same process whenever our work is used without permission, regardless of who the creator is. Worth noting that a removal like this doesn’t kill the creator’s work: The video can simply be re-uploaded without the copyrighted material. So I was surprised that Caolan instead chose to publicly attack the journalists whose work he lifted, and to appeal to journalistic solidarity in a case where he didn’t demonstrate any. Our team has been reporting on the ground in Ukraine since before the full-scale invasion. We’re independent, funded mostly by our readers, and we earn every dime. We’re very proud of our work, from front-line reporting to war crimes investigations. We respect the work of other journalists and expect the same for ours. I wish Caolan all the best in telling his audience about Ukraine. If he ever wants to use our work, he’s welcome to ask, like anyone else. We are all on the same side when it comes to this: We want as many voices as possible telling the world about Ukraine. But being on the same side means respecting and crediting each other’s work. Credit matters because the reporting everyone draws on has to come from somewhere. Thank you.

Content of Tense Conversation Between Budanov and Trump's Team Revealed Negotiations between the Ukrainian delegation and Donald Trump's special envoys in Miami, as reported by Le Monde, escalated into a conflict. According to the publication, during a three-hour meeting at the Shell Bay golf club, Steve Witkoff "with irritation" demanded that Kyrylo Budanov, head of Zelenskyy's office, cease strikes on Russian oil refineries. Budanov, per Le Monde's information, "barely contained his anger" and felt that he was being "treated like a child, trying to teach him how to make money." The Americans presented an ambitious plan for postwar "regional prosperity," which envisioned resuming the transit of Russian oil and gas to Europe through Ukraine, with dividends paid to Kyiv. Budanov was outraged that such a deal would tie Ukraine to Moscow, after which the negotiations broke off. When the meeting resumed, the Americans proposed accepting a deal for supplies of Russian diesel to the United States. The publication's sources noted that they had never seen Ukrainians "so upset and alarmed." Zelenskyy's entourage described the situation as "hopeless," since Trump's envoys "think only about business." 📸: Press service of the President of Ukraine