Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 **Media Thread** NO DISCUSSION #3

[PommyMommy]

April 23 2021
Ukraine: Russians try to storm Mariupol plant, strike Odesa | The Star
''KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces in Ukraine tried to storm a steel plant housing soldiers and civilians in the southern city of Mariupol on Saturday while attempting to crush the last corner of resistance in a place of deep symbolic and strategic value to Moscow, Ukrainian officials said.

The reported assault on the eve of Orthodox Easter came after the Kremlin claimed its military had seized all of the shattered city except for the Azovstal plant, and as Russian forces pounded other cities and towns in southern and eastern Ukraine.

A 3-month-old baby was among six people killed when Russia fired cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, officials said.

The fate of the Ukrainians in the sprawling seaside steel mill wasn’t immediately clear; earlier Saturday, a Ukrainian military unit released a video reportedly taken two days earlier in which women and children holed up underground, some for as long as two months, said they longed to see the sun.''

“We want to see peaceful skies, we want to breathe in fresh air,” one woman in the video said. “You have simply no idea what it means for us to simply eat, drink some sweetened tea. For us, it is already happiness.”

''Ukrainian officials have estimated that about 2,000 of their troops are inside the plant along with the civilians sheltering in the facility’s underground tunnels. Arestovic said the Ukrainian forces were trying to counter the new attacks.

Earlier Saturday, the Azov Regiment of Ukraine’s National Guard, which has members holed up in the plant, released the footage of around two dozen women and children. The contents could not be independently verified.

If authentic, it would be the first video testimony of what life has been like for civilians still trapped in Mariupol’s underground bunkers. The video showed soldiers giving sweets to children who respond with fist-bumps.

One young girl says she and her relatives “haven’t seen neither the sky, nor the sun” since they left home on Feb. 27.''

 

[PommyMommy]

https://twitter.com/JohnReedwrites/status/1517973943206002688?t=wS3V-vBq_IkvQ0GTYS7ChQ&s=19

First church bells at midnight in Kyiv, and now the sound of an air raid warning too. Happy Easter #Ukraine

(Financial Times reporter)

 

[PommyMommy]

Olga Rudenko @olya_rudenko
"These were the best 40 weeks ever. Our girl is 1 month old now. Daddy got her her first flowers. It's a whole new level of happiness." (posted 11 weeks ago)

Today both the woman who posted it and the baby she's writing about were killed by a Russian missile in Odesa.https://twitter.com/olya_rudenko/status/1517971752097361920/photo/1

@olliecarroll
Zelensky on today’s Odesa rocket attacks, where at least 8 have died “One of victims was 3 months old! 1 month old when the war started. What has come of the world?! Scumbags! Stinking scumbags!

 

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 7 hrs ago
Kuleba: 'Russia must be designated a state sponsor of terrorism and treated accordingly.' Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, “the only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror.” Earlier, two rockets hit Ukraine’s port city, killing five and injuring 18.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 5 hrs ago
US expert: Without national mobilization, Donbas is the last offensive Russia can afford. Whether the Donbas offensive succeeds or fails, the Russian military will be largely exhausted after it, military expert Michael Kofman said on April 23.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
President Volodymyr Zelensky is giving a press conference on the platform of a metro station in central Kyiv.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 4 hrs ago
Zelensky calls Russian military 'stinky bastards' after airstrike kills 3-month-old in Odesa. President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t hold back during his press conference held hours after Russian missiles killed eight and injured 18 people in Odesa.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
“It’s simply horror,” Zelensky said. “During these (Easter) days, so they just don’t care.” He added that however difficult it is, Ukraine must continue peace talks to prevent more children from being killed by Russian attacks.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Zelensky: Ukraine will pull out of peace talks if Russia kills Ukrainian troops in Mariupol. Ukraine will also halt the talks if Russia holds pseudo-referendums in occupied territories, he said on April 23.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Zelensky: Ukrainian army not ready to unblock troops besieged in Mariupol. The city has been surrounded by Russian troops for almost two months, with Ukrainian soldiers still holding on to the highly fortified Azovstal steel mill.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 3 hrs ago
Zelensky: If Putin lost contact with reality, he may use nuclear weapons. "Is this possible?" he said at a news conference on April 23. "It is. Do I believe in this? To be honest, I don't want to believe in this."

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Russian statements interpreted as veiled threat to attack Odesa Oblast with chemical weapons. Russia's Defense Ministry on April 23 accused Ukraine of planning to use ammonia as a chemical weapon as part of a "provocation" at the seaport of Yuzhny in Odesa Oblast.

APR 23, 2022
First-hand account from Mariupol: “I begged God to let me die quickly!” | Euromaidan Press
“I just lay there, thinking I’d never get out of this hell alive. This will be my grave. I had lost hope. I could neither pray nor hope.” This is the first-hand account of 17-y.o. Mariya from Mariupol, who survived Russian occupation and a filtration camp and now tells her story from safety.

 

[PommyMommy]

2nd apparent mass grave site in Mariupol is also expanding, satellite photos reveal

 

[PommyMommy]

April 23 2022
Russia’s war on Ukraine amplifying risks of human trafficking: experts - National | Globalnews.ca
“The problem is that these women fled from hostilities. They have been on the road for days. They are stressed out. They don’t know what the future holds,” she said.

Dmytrieva said posters have been mounted between bordering countries to warn people of the threat of human trafficking. “You cannot reasonably expect these women will be in any condition to assess the risks.”

A volunteer at the international humanitarian group Save the Children sits next to a banner giving advice on personal safety at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Monday, March 7, 2022. As millions of women and children flee across Ukraine’s borders in the face of Russian aggression, concerns are growing over how to protect the most vulnerable refugees from being targeted by human traffickers or becoming victims of other forms of exploitation. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Demand for explicit Ukrainian videos rising
And not just human trafficking, according to Dmytrieva, but the demand for explicit graphic videos of Ukrainian women have also skyrocketed since the start of the invasion.

“We know that the demand for videos with Ukrainian women are now trending on resources. And we know that some of those videos are tagged ‘Ukrainian girl’ that depict adults who look like teenagers, or actual teenagers,” she said.

Earlier on in Russia’s invasion during the beginning of March, terms such as “Ukrainian ,” “war ” and “Ukrainian girls,” became trending searches on PornHub, according to Exodus Cry, a organization committed to internationally fighting sexual exploitation.

On Google Trends, “Ukrainian Girls Reddit” has also had a huge spike in searches since Feb.''

''While working in Ukraine during the invasion, Dmytrieva has seen an “overwhelming” amount of support from other women around the world.

“They’re sending money. They’re sending support. They are sending kind words. They are sending morning-after pills and menstrual cups,” she said, expressing gratitude.''

 

[JerseyGirl]

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Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 **Media Thread** NO DISCUSSION #4