Volodymyr (@vicechat) header
Volodymyr (@vicechat) profile picture

Ukraine based producer for BBC News. @newsemmys nominee Digital veteran of war on disinformation. Friend of dogs.

Dnipro
Joined June 2009
Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)Photo by Volodymyr (@vicechat)
❗️According to hackers from the groups “Cyber Partisans” and Silent Crow, who hacked Rosstat and obtained about 23 TB of data, as of the end of August 2026 Russia had lost at least 412,576 military personnel in the war with Ukraine (not including those missing in action or foreign mercenaries). From medical certificates, 440,982 death records related to combat operations were selected.
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“Daddy, Daddy, come back…” A child screams at a railway station in Dnipro after a russian strike. His father will never hear him again. He was killed. World, will you hear this child’s cry? You don’t have to be Ukrainian to feel this pain. You just have to be human.
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A horrific Russian strike in the Kharkiv region. A “shahed” struck people directly – in a park near an ordinary café. Pure atrocity. Six people were killed, including children. A little girl was killed in a stroller – her name was Angelina, she was just over a year old, born in August 2025… Her mother’s name was Inna. She died in the hospital… Another girl who was killed was 11 years old. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Another 14 people were injured, including six more children. I am grateful to everyone who supports Ukraine under these circumstances and helps us shoot down “shaheds,” shoot down missiles, and stop Russian assaults. These are horrific photos, but behind them are shattered lives and the truth about this war. Lives must be protected. Ukraine needs air defense. You can't think about making money with Russia as long as it continues its asinine war. We ask that sanctions on Russia stay in place as long as the killings continue. We ask America to be strong, and we ask it to apply the Lindsey Graham law. We ask Europe to continue its support. We ask that everything possible be done to bring peace and guarantee security. Ukraine wants peace. It is Russia that has insisted on continuing the killing all this time. The world has enough strength to stop the war. That strength must finally be used – against the murderers.
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With Yandex data centers under constant attack, I’m starting to worry that the White House will issue yet another demand to stop the strikes. After all, it would be a tragedy if Russia’s valuable bot traffic dried up just before the midterms.
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Volodymyr retweeted
Which Ukrainian unit is specifically targeting Russian oil/diesel and how can I support them?
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Volodymyr retweeted
A timely reminder that the Russian "opposition", which is here advocating for the lifting of sanctions on Russia in exchange for the release of political prisoners, is another enemy of Ukraine and the wider western world.
❗️ Заявление Фонда борьбы с коррупцией о снятии санкций и освобождении политических заключённых. Мы приветствуем любые реальные усилия, направленные на освобождение российских политических заключённых. Недавно стало известно, что администрация США рассматривает возможность смягчать санкции в отношении России в обмен на освобождение тех, кто преследуется по политическим мотивам. Пока неясно, станет ли эта идея предметом реальных переговоров и к чему они могут привести. Но если такое окно возможностей откроется, его нужно использовать, чтобы добиться освобождения как можно большего числа людей. Мы считаем, что в таких переговорах нельзя ограничиваться списками отдельных фамилий. В России сотни людей находятся в заключении за антивоенные высказывания, мирный протест, поддержку оппозиции, пожертвования организациям, объявленным властями «экстремистскими», и другие формы мирной политической деятельности. Далеко не все политические дела становятся публичными, поэтому мы считаем, что составить полный список политзаключённых в России просто невозможно. Более того, после освобождения одних политзаключённых российские власти смогут на следующий день возбудить по тем же законам новые дела, а значит, в рамках такой сделки мы не решим проблему по-настоящему. Поэтому мы предлагаем другой принцип: санкционные послабления должны быть связаны не только с освобождением отдельных людей, но и с отменой репрессивных норм российского законодательства и прекращением целых категорий политически мотивированных уголовных дел. Декриминализация статей 207.3 и 280.3 УК РФ, известных как статьи о «военных фейках» и «дискредитации армии», означала бы освобождение осуждённых по ним людей, прекращение уже возбуждённых дел и невозможность возбуждать новые дела по этим статьям. Тот же принцип должен применяться к политически мотивированным преследованиям по статьям об «экстремизме», «финансировании экстремизма», «оправдании терроризма» и подобным им, когда уголовным преступлением объявляются мирная политическая деятельность, пожертвования, слова и убеждения. Санкции — один из немногих реальных рычагов давления на Кремль, которые есть у демократических стран. Если санкционный режим будут смягчать, важно, чтобы каждое такое решение сопровождалось конкретными, проверяемыми и долгосрочными изменениями внутри России. Возможность добиться этих изменений нельзя упускать, как нельзя и разменивать ослабление санкций на символические уступки. Мы будем добиваться того, чтобы любые такие переговоры принесли максимальную пользу российскому гражданскому обществу.
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Volodymyr retweeted
Absolutely huge explosion in Kyiv just now, and subsequent most distant blasts. Lots of chatter about a long night of ballistic threats. Dangers constant these days. At times, Kyiv feels like a front line city. People say it's more dangerous than Kharkiv at the moment.
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Head of #NATO @SecGenNATO says Russia strike on Ukraine train near Polish border “shows how desperate Putin has become” . He accused Russia of lashing out with reckless and dangerous attacks on civilian infrastructure but said NATO answer would be to give Ukraine more support
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Volodymyr retweeted
It is strategic malpractice at its worst that the US and Europe have not outfitted Ukraine with a proper combat air force. They're surviving on bravery and 80s vintage F16s/ Mirages. They would win and defeat Russian evil if given the proper equipment. yahoo.com/news/world/article…
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The Kremlin, realizing just how dire its situation is, has stepped up the activities of its “opposition figures.” Yashin’s interview, Andrey Melnichenko’s article for The Economist, and similar moves are coordinated actions aimed solely at convincing Europe and the entire Western world that Russia’s defeat is dangerous. The main argument plays on the West’s greatest fear: that if Russia loses, it will break up into dozens of republics led by criminal gangs with access to nuclear weapons. And the main message is a literal call to put pressure not on the aggressor, but on the victim: “We must put pressure on Ukraine so that it stops attacking Russia and sits down at the negotiating table.” And the biggest problem with all of this is the Western media’s fascination with Russia. Whether out of naivety, bribery, or simply incompetence, many major media outlets portray Russian billionaire Melnichenko and Russian “opposition figures” as if they were truly standing up to the Kremlin. But all it takes is a little common sense — and everything falls into place. The West itself has declared that Russia is a totalitarian country. The West has long equated Putin with Kim Jong Un. So why is it suddenly believed that a genuine opposition could emerge and operate freely within such a system? Against this backdrop, figures like Yashin or Kara-Murza look incredibly out of place. People who opposed the Kremlin sat quietly in Russian prison, showing no signs of torture and not even losing weight, and were then conveniently exchanged and carefully transported to the West — to promote those very same narratives of Putin’s, only now from European platforms. But now things in Russia are so bad that they have to dust off all their “reserves” and deploy “opposition figures” in a coordinated information operation. Because everyone in the Kremlin understands: if the war isn’t stopped immediately, the empire will fall. The conclusion is simple. There is no such thing as a “good Russia.” There is only a single imperial machine that, in moments of weakness, simply changes its tools: if it failed to intimidate with missiles, it will try to intimidate with “collapse” and “nuclear chaos” through the mouths of its systemic “opposition figures.”
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Маніфестимо вуличні бої за пальне 🙏🙏🙏
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Volodymyr retweeted
Former ABC News producer and driver Maksym "Max" Oseredchuk was killed in a Russian drone strike on Wednesday night while serving in Ukraine’s military. He was 30 years old, and is survived by his wife, Kateryna, and his baby daughter, Maria. abcnews.link/IfWxNNK
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A young victim of Russia's overnight attack on Dnipro was a 3-year-old boy. Rescuers recovered his body from beneath the rubble of a four-story apartment building destroyed by a Russian strike. A child who should have had his whole life ahead of him. My deepest condolences to his family. Every child killed by Russia is a tragedy that cannot be undone.
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Chinese UAV with zero(zilch, null) verified real-world battlefield testing. 👏
BIG: China and Saudi Arabia have signed a $5 billion deal to build a Wing Loong-3 UAV assembly line in Jeddah, producing 48 drones per year. The contract includes full training, maintenance, and avionics integration, marking a strategic shift from sales to industrial collaboration. clashreport.com/defense/arti…
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