Kyiv Braced for Invasion

Hello Substack readers. Please note I will be making all posts about Ukraine, many cross-posted at Paloma Media, free for all. Peace through strength.

President Zelensky government is handing out 18,000 machine guns to any Ukrainian willing to stand and fight the oncoming Russian invasion and encouraging citizens to stockpile Molotov cocktails. One of whom took up the offer was former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.

CNN @CNN

“How long do you think you can hold out?” “Forever.” Former Ukrainian President @poroshenko takes up a Kalashnikov rifle alongside civilian defense forces as he speaks to @JohnBerman from the streets of Kyiv.

While the bulk of Russian troops remain as much as 30 miles outside the city, some have already reached northern districts, where tanks have been spotted.

"It was more brutal and spread out than anyone had predicted. The shelling, bombing and small-arms fire came from all directions, and the tanks of the Belarus army also joined in the fray." Vladislav Davidzon, "We lived in denial until Putin launched a fusillade on our Kyiv people." New York Post

"For a few precious years, a cosmopolitan optimism which swapped the narcissism of minor differences for the embrace of a common humanity seemed to be the ruling ethos of the world’s most powerful countries." Yascha Mounk, "The End of an Illusion." Persuasion

Hearts and minds:

The New York Times @nytimes

Newborn infants from the neonatal intensive care unit at a children’s hospital in Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, were moved into a makeshift bomb shelter on a lower level of the building on Thursday. nyti.ms/3JVlEQa

Ragıp Soylu @ragipsoylu

Look at the size of anti-war protestors in St Petersburg, Russia. Wow

Keep punching:

• Major sports bodies move to strip Russia of its right to participate in or host events

• Russia's Aeroflot is banned from landing in Ukraine

• Russia kicked out of Eurovision after Ukraine invasion

How to help:

• Chef Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen has been feeding people in crisis since 2010

• Paloma pal Doug Arellanes recommends People in Need, started by one of the leaders of the Velvet Revolution and providing immediate help to people on the ground

• Mosheh Oinounou has an excellent Instagram post, "8 Ways to Help Ukraine.”

  mosheh

  

  A post shared by Mosheh Oinounou (@mosheh)

It's never too late to remember someone's birthday:

One of the best reporters on the ground in Kyiv, Illia Ponomarenko, had a message yesterday for Putin.

Illia Ponomarenko @IAPonomarenko

Oh by the way, happy 30th birthday to me. Vladimir V. Putin of Moscow is more than welcome to offer me the most excellent congratulation by shooting himself in the fucking throat.

Twitter and IG follows:

• Alec Luhn, @ASLuhn

• Sehhiy Kudelia, @skudelia

• Mosheh Oinounou, @mosheh

• Babek Taghvaee - - Μπάπακ Τακβαίε - بابک تقوایی - @babektaghvaee

• Matthew Luxmoore, @mjluxmoore

• Maksim Chmerkovskiy, @maksimc

• Max Seddon, @maxseddon

• Kyiv Post, @kyivpost