No, sweetie. Donetsk was a city of a million roses when its own Ukrainian flag flew above it. Back then, it was also the fastest-growing and most rapidly prospering city in Ukraine -- home to what was the finest regional airport in Eastern Europe, one of the world's best football stadiums, a state-of-the-art railway terminal, and one of the cleanest, best-maintained cities in the region. Its elites were running Kyiv, and every time I visited Donetsk as a student, riding the famous trolleybus Route No. 2 through the city, I was amazed by how many new office buildings were appearing, how much money was flowing into the city, and how many international companies were opening their doors there. Fifteen years ago, to us kids from Donbas, Donetsk felt like the center of the universe because it had everything one could possibly dream of. It was a young city of universities and libraries, where the overwhelming majority of boys and girls from across Donbas went to study, including those from my own small hometown an hour away by bus. Names like Liverpool or Detroit Rock City may mean nothing to you, but our Ukrainian Donetsk was a city of great rock clubs and unforgettable concerts. We traveled there to see Western bands perform. We bought rock merchandise at the legendary Right House store near Krytyi Market. Scorpions, Rihanna, and Beyoncé performed at the famous Donbass Arena. Schoolchildren from across Donbas were bused in to watch Shakhtar Donetsk matches. The city even had a famous monument to The Beatles. It was a city where we sang songs on guitars in its beautifully maintained parks and along the Kalmius embankment before heading out to buy the famous "green Donetsk burgers." Our older friends moved there after graduation, formed rock bands, recorded full albums, and held wedding celebrations in the squares around Donbas Arena. We traveled there to visit the legendary Radio Market in search of films, music, and books. And then you arrived. And you turned the wealthiest, most prosperous Ukrainian city into a piece of shit. You deceived many of its people with sweet promises of Russian oil-fueled prosperity broadcast from television screens, but what you brought instead was war. You transformed a thriving city into a criminal wasteland ruled by ethnic gangs from Russia, into a kingdom of Stalinist terror straight out of the 1930s, complete with torture chambers in the infamous Izolyatsia prison camp. You turned the magnificent Donetsk Airport into lifeless gray rubble, while the vast stands of Donbas Arena have spent a second decade slowly being reclaimed by weeds instead of hosting Champions League finals and Metallica concerts. You swept away an entire generation of the city's men through your forced mobilization and threw them against Ukrainian machine guns until there were barely enough people left to keep basic municipal services running. Because of you, prosperous Donetsk became a withered desert without reliable water, because your war destroyed the canal system that carried water from the Siverskyi Donets River into Donbas. For years now, people have lived with chronic water shortages and have been reduced shitting into plastic bags forever. You dragged Donetsk back like seventy years in time. You turned it into a depressed backwater, devoid of hope and future. Even ten years ago, tens of thousands of people, the most active, the most talented, the most entrepreneurial, fled the city and found refuge in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine. Many of them still remember our Donetsk with tears in their eyes, the Donetsk that existed before the arrival of the "Russian World." You transformed it into something that even my pro-Russian acquaintances are shocked to see when they return after years of occupation. It was you who trampled the million roses of our Ukrainian Donetsk into shit beneath the tracks of your tanks and the boots of your death troops, turning them into a foul swamp of death and despair. And that stain will forever remain on the conscience of fascist Russia, which brings nothing but destruction, decay, and death wherever it goes.

Today is the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. For Ukrainians, this is a painful reality that has become part of everyday life. Since 2022 alone, Russia has killed 707 Ukrainian children, injured 2,548, and left 2,318 missing. The youngest victim was just two days old - born and killed in a maternity hospital. These figures may be far higher, as the full truth about what has happened in the temporarily occupied territories remains unknown. In addition, at least 20,470 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia or forcibly displaced. Eternal memory to all the children whose lives have been taken by Russia's aggression...

The moment of one of today’s Russian strikes on Kyiv. I can see that fewer and fewer people are reading news from Ukraine. I understand that on a Sunday morning, people don’t want to read about war. They want to sleep a little longer, drink good coffee, and sit in the sun. I understand that. The algorithms on X limit content about war, destruction, and suffering. You have to make an effort to even see this information. All of this is understandable on a human level. But unfortunately, if you remove Putin and the war from your information feed, they do not disappear from reality. Putin is a sadist and a maniac. He is a threat to all of humanity. There needs to be active resistance. News from Ukraine needs to be shared. People need to keep their focus. Despite a sleepless night, I’m still here. And I’m grateful to everyone who continues to stand with us. One day, we’ll drink morning coffee together in a beautiful, peaceful Kyiv.

💔 Russia is a terrorist state, one murdering civilians with missiles with impunity as the richest nations with the most powerful military forces in the world right next door choose every day not to stop it.

The search and rescue operation at the site of Russia’s strike on a residential building in Kyiv has been completed. Our first responders from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine worked continuously for more than a day. The Russians practically demolished an entire section of the building with their missile. Twenty-four people were killed by this strike, including three children. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Everyone who was wounded or lost their home must receive the necessary assistance. In total, 48 people were wounded in Kyiv as a result of yesterday’s attack, including two children. I thank the State Emergency Service, the National Police, and everyone who dealt with the aftermath of this Russian attack and helped people. A Russia like this can never be normalized – a Russia that deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished. Pressure is needed. It is Ukraine that is defending Europe and the world so that such strikes, in which children are killed, do not spread further. That is why support for the defenders of life must continue. Ballistic missile defense is always needed. I thank the partners who continue investing in the PURL initiative and develop our anti-ballistic coalition. All of this must be implemented. I am grateful to everyone who did not remain silent and condemned this savage strike.

Nelle ultime 24 ore la Russia ha lanciato oltre 1.400 droni e più di 50 missili sulle città ucraine. Ma il nostro problema è non censurare l’arte del padiglione di Putin alla Biennale di Venezia.

Sintetizzo

Altro che tregua. Oggi le forze russe hanno bombardato un asilo nido nel centro di Sumy. Un crimine di guerra dopo l’altro, mentre noi discutiamo del padiglione di Putin alla Biennale di Venezia.

Salvini imita l'Uomo Ragno.

This is what it looks like when you’re critically out of your depth, yet still trying to speak about things you have absolutely no understanding of -- things you neither care about nor even grasp, because they lie far beyond the horizon of your knowledge and your thinking. Go ask those questions to your Russian counterparts whether they should keep grinding hundreds of thousands more of their own people into a bloody pulp over a few square kilometers of territory. And no -- you are not smarter than the Ukrainians who have been fighting for years over those “few square kilometers” in Donbas. It means nothing to you but for people here on the ground, the Sloviansk–Kramatorsk area is the largest defensive stronghold, fortified and prepared for battle for over a decade, and one the Russians have been trying to break for just as long, including four years of full-scale war. What looks like a stupid inconvenience to your boss, something standing in the way of what he imagines will be profitable deals with the Kremlin, is, for Ukraine, the main defensive line protecting the country’s heartland from a deeper breakthrough. Ukrainians refuse to surrender it not because they are less clever than JD Vance, but because they understand exactly what the consequences would be and what the word of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is worth. And that’s not even getting into the fact that this is the homeland of hundreds of thousands of people, their homes, their land, which they would be forced to abandon. It’s about abandoning our own people and their hopes, about a nation and its sovereignty, things that are often absent from this kind of discussion. You see, people here in Ukraine are dealing with matters far more serious and consequential than posturing in front of TV cameras, talk this delusional arrogant BS, and acting as a rally agitator for a corrupt authoritarian in Central Europe that your boss likes very much.

Three weeks ago, Louise Lyngsholm Lave barely knew who Pete Hegseth was. Now, after co-creating their third music video for Bruce Kluger’s savage satire album “MAGA Country,” it would appear she knows way too much. And the scariest part? Real life is catching up to the absurdity faster than the video could predict. Welcome to Macho Pete territory. 🎥🔥

Dedicato a @SPatuanelli e ai 5S. Ciao, sono Artemko. Avrò per sempre 19 mesi. Sono morto nella mia casa a Kryvyi Rih quando un missile russo ha colpito l'edificio. La mia mamma e il mio papà erano con me.

The Washington Post published an article that, under normal circumstances, would have caused a political earthquake in Europe. But we live in a time when even such things no longer surprise anyone. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) seriously considered a scenario involving a staged assassination attempt on Viktor Orbán. Not metaphorically. Not an “information campaign.” But literally — to stage an attack to boost his approval ratings ahead of the election. An SVR document, obtained and verified by European intelligence, explicitly describes a strategy titled “the Gamechanger” — “the staging of an assassination attempt on Viktor Orban,” which would “shift the perception of the campaign out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one.” The inspiration is obvious: the assassination attempt on Trump in 2024 sharply boosted his ratings. But that’s not the most interesting part. According to European security services, Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó regularly called Lavrov right during breaks in EU meetings and provided “live reports” on the negotiations, the parties’ positions, and possible decisions. In other words, Russia wasn’t “trying to gain access to information.” It already had it. Right at the table. “Every single E.U. meeting for years has basically had Moscow behind the table,” the publication quotes a representative of a European security service. Meanwhile, Szijjártó made 16 official visits to Moscow after the start of the full-scale invasion. But it is important to understand: this is not a Hungarian peculiarity and not a coincidence. It is the Kremlin’s systematic work over decades—within the EU and NATO. During the war in Georgia, Sarkozy was in constant contact with Medvedev and coordinated positions. The result was an agreement that effectively preserved the Russian occupation. After his chancellorship, Schröder joined Gazprom and Rosneft — this was a telling slap in the face and confirmation of Russia’s institutionalized influence on European energy policy. Berlusconi promoted Putin’s interests within the EU for years and also acted as an informant. Fico deserves a separate mention. The Prime Minister of Slovakia, who “miraculously” survived an assassination attempt in 2024, became an even more outspoken conduit for Kremlin narratives after his recovery. He blocks aid to Ukraine, travels to Moscow to pay homage, parrots Putin’s talking points word for word—and yet remains the prime minister of an EU and NATO member state. An interesting coincidence: after the assassination attempt, his approval ratings also rose. The question of “whether there are Kremlin agents in the EU and NATO” is no longer relevant. They exist. The question is: at what level and how many of them are there? Because when a minister from an EU member state calls Lavrov after every meeting—that’s no longer infiltration. That’s integration. And the worst part of this story isn’t even Orbán or Szijjártó. It’s that the system tolerates it. For years, the EU has been “expressing concern” while Russia literally sits at their negotiating table. And until this logic changes—the Kremlin won’t need to “break through the defenses.” It’s already open from the inside.

Permettetemi di spiegare perché io, come russa, considero giusto chiudere il padiglione russo alla Biennale, e perché questa chiusura non ha nulla a che vedere con la russofobia o con la “cancellazione della cultura russa”. Allo stesso modo, la decisione di riaprirlo non ha nulla a che vedere con il “costruire ponti” o con la pace. Prima di tutto, non si tratta di un padiglione della cultura russa. È un padiglione dello Stato russo. L’arte russa a Venezia verrà rappresentata dai figli dell’élite. Il commissario del padiglione russo alla Biennale di Venezia è Anastasia Karneeva, nominata dalle autorità russe già nel 2021. Karneeva è figlia del vice direttore generale della корпорация statale russa Rostec — un conglomerato dell’industria militare che, dopo l’invasione dell’Ucraina, è stato inserito nelle liste delle sanzioni dell’Unione Europea. Karneeva è inoltre cofondatrice della società artistica Smart Art, che gestisce il padiglione e che ha fondato insieme a Ekaterina Vinokurova — figlia del ministro degli Esteri russo Sergej Lavrov. Questo significa che il padiglione non rappresenta la cultura russa nel senso più ampio del termine. Rappresenta l’agenda delle attuali élite russe e contribuisce alla loro normalizzazione. Non è un dialogo con la società russa — cosa che si potrebbe anche considerare legittima, visto che il popolo russo esisterà anche dopo Putin. È un dialogo con il regime russo attuale, non con la società. Secondo punto: cosa resta oggi della cultura russa all’interno della Russia? Molto poco. Sapete, per esempio, che gli artisti vengono selezionati e curati da un apposito dipartimento dell’FSB? Gli artisti non graditi semplicemente non vengono ammessi. E una parte enorme degli artisti più interessanti oggi vive in esilio. Per loro partecipare al cosiddetto “padiglione russo” è semplicemente impossibile. Quindi chiamiamo le cose con il loro nome: non è una mostra della cultura russa e non è un ponte verso di essa. È un evento chiuso, una sorta di club interno che serve a normalizzare le élite russe e a esporre opere approvate dall’FSB. Si sente spesso dire: l’arte non è politica. Ma in questo caso è stato lo stesso Stato russo a rendere l’arte politica. È una scelta deliberata del potere. La strategia di Putin è coinvolgere quante più persone possibili nella sua guerra, direttamente o indirettamente. Non solo gli artisti: scrittori, musicisti, attori — tutti vengono spinti a partecipare alla propaganda, a visitare territori occupati, a prendere posizione pubblicamente. C’è poi un’altra questione fondamentale. Quando si parla di “ponti culturali”, bisogna chiedersi: ponti tra chi e chi? Tra le società? Oppure tra istituzioni culturali occidentali e le élite di un regime che sta conducendo una guerra? Perché nel secondo caso non si tratta di dialogo culturale, ma di normalizzazione politica attraverso la cultura. Inoltre bisogna ricordare una cosa semplice: lo Stato russo utilizza sistematicamente la cultura come strumento di soft power e di propaganda internazionale. Non è un segreto. Lo dichiarano apertamente gli stessi funzionari russi. Infine c’è anche una questione morale. Migliaia di artisti, giornalisti e intellettuali russi hanno perso il lavoro, la libertà o la possibilità di tornare a casa perché si sono opposti alla guerra. Molti vivono oggi in esilio e continuano a lavorare senza alcun sostegno istituzionale. Aprire un padiglione gestito dalle élite del regime mentre queste persone restano escluse non è “dialogo culturale”. È il contrario. Una parte enorme della cultura russa oggi vive fuori dalla Russia. Forse proprio lì, e non nei padiglioni ufficiali dello Stato russo, bisognerebbe cercare la vera cultura russa contemporanea. Per questo motivo la questione non riguarda la russofobia o la cancellazione della cultura. Riguarda una scelta molto più semplice: separare la cultura dalla propaganda di uno Stato che ha deciso di trasformare tutto — anche l’arte — in uno strumento politico.

Zoom in on the people in this picture 😭

ATTENZIONE! Vi prego di non seguire la notizia [falsa] della scuola a Minab che sarebbe stata colpita da un missile durante gli attacchi aerei israelo-americani e che avrebbe provocato decine di studenti morti. È FALSO! Fate circolare, per favore, anche sui media televisivi in #Italia che seguono troppo le veline del regime. Ebbene, il video che circola in rete non riprende la scuola di Minab. La scuola di Minab era un noto scudo umano perché attorno ad essa era stata costruita una base navale dei guardiani della rivoluzione sul viale Rasalat, vicino alla Brigata Asaf. La base navale è stata colpita, ma non la scuola. Aggiornamenti a breve... @RadioRadicale #Iran #Turchia

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nessuno intendeva esportare Democrazia. Un malvagio ha ucciso un altro malvagio per scopi malvagi. Ma la morte di Khamenei è cosa buona in sé