aha, we can hear it
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) December 29, 2023
sounds like explosions, though pic.twitter.com/vZIc1isl6X
How is Schmemann allowed to show his face anywhere after his Putin-apologist screeds have been proved wrong over and over? This is a huge problem with Western media, the "experts" always failing upward. Same with govt officials, keeping their jobs after being wrong about… https://t.co/UT4ep1UBMg
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 28, 2023
Now we’re supposed to listen to these clowns again as they tell Ukraine to sacrifice its land, its sovereignty, and its precious people to Russia's genocidal invasion. To surrender the war they said would never happen. To trust Putin, who they said would never invade. No.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 28, 2023
Ru business still cannot find replacements for manufacturing equipment they used to procure from the west as there don't seem to be alternatives. Large complex multi-ton machines with closed off software are not easy to buy in ways that evade sanctions.https://t.co/z6SHAzd8uP
— Stanimir Dobrev (@delfoo) December 28, 2023
The naked celeb party & subsequent apologies are fairly revolting. But what tells me more about Kremlin losing its mind are 6 and 7 year prison sentences handed to anti-war poets. And 3 yr sentence handed to an LGBT blogger for social media “pornography”. Both in last 2 days. https://t.co/llv5bPStPt
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) December 28, 2023
Russia has officially deployed a battalion formed of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) to the frontline in Ukraine, further confirming a myriad of apparent Russian violations of the Geneva Convention on POWs.
Russian state-controlled outlets RIA Novosti and Rossiya-1 reported on December 28 that soldiers from the "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" battalion, formed of Ukrainian POWs and subordinated to the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Ministry of Internal Affairs "Kaskad" formation, took part in their first engagement against Ukrainian forces near Urozhaine, western Donetsk Oblast.[13]
Russian media had previously reported on October 27 that the battalion recruited around 70 Ukrainian POWs from penal colonies in Russia and sent them to train before deploying to the western Donetsk Oblast area in early November.[14]
ISW continues to assess that the use of Ukrainian POWs in the "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" battalion is likely a violation of The Geneva Convention on POWs, which prohibits the use of POWs in military activities on the side of the power that has captured them and states that "no POW may at any time be sent to or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone" and shall not "be employed on labor which is of an unhealthy or dangerous nature."[15]
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 28, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War
