Abducted, likely tortured and sentenced to 10 years for opposing Russian occupation of Kakhovka Iryna Hedzyk had been held incommunicado for almost 18 months when Russia announced 'spying charges' and then, two weeks later, a 10-year sentence

Iryna Hedzyk abducted, likely tortured and sentenced to 10 years for opposing Russia’s occupation of Kakhovka
khpg.org/en/1608815499

3rd Congress of Women of Donetsk happening today in Kyiv 🇺🇦
Representatives from Donetsk Region Administration, women rights organizations, private sector, international partners sharing how every day they support Donetsk women & girls: incredibly inspiring

Honored & impressed to meet Oleksii Sobolev Minister of Economy, Environment & Agriculture of Ukraine 48hrs after 🇺🇦 Cabinet of Ministers damaged by Russian attack
Government resilience at work: including for women’s economic empowerment & employment

Its has been another long night in Ukraine
From Mayor Klitschko: “In the Pechersk district, a fire broke out in a government building as a result of a probable UAV strike.
Firefighters are working on the scene.
In the Sviatoshynskyi district, warehouse premises are burning again.”
From my window:

Editorial: That meeting was sickening. Putin loved it Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless. Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold. On our screens, a blood-soaked dictator and war criminal received a roy...

Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless.

Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.

It’s 12:40 in Kyiv 🇺🇦
Rather than doom scrolling
Getting 1000 times angry & depressed
Im going to sleep, a long deep sleep, confident that all that red carpet stuff was bought with a promise not to send missiles against Kyiv tonight
Good night 💤

Armenia, Azerbaijan Sign Deal Aimed At Ending Decades Of Conflict The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a US-brokered peace deal aimed at ending decades of conflict between the two countries at a ceremony hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House...

in terms of concrete steps, there seems to be only one. The agreement to abolish OSCE's Minsk Group that had anyway failed it's mission.

I wish this puts pressure on Baku to agree on some additional steps re. Turkey-Armenia normalisation, while Americans can try to sort out the tripp.
2/2

Hard to get excited about the carefree camp of #eurovision2025 this year with such a mess around all of us

Wishing all who celebrate a peaceful & happy Easter from Kyiv!

Kyiv 17:25: Easter eve supermarket shopping interrupted by a drone overhead. Literally above me according to Telegram channel Eи, Киiв!

Where am I?
Tashkent? Nope: Kyiv (Podil)
And a group of Hasidic jews just walked by…
Beautiful Easter weekend in 🇺🇦

Bucha’s women take down the drones that once hunted them Forged in occupation, Bucha's women turned from war victim into drone hunters, protecting the very ground where they once ran for cover.

Forged in occupation, Bucha's women turned from war victim into drone hunters, protecting the very ground where they once ran for cover.

euromaidanpress.com/2025/04/19/b...

Russian drones attacked a bread bakery in Sumy today.

A 61 year old driver who was loading Easter cakes into the vehicle was killed.

Friends,

For Christians, today is Good Friday.

I guess it is a symbol of the words "it is always darkest before dawn".

We in Ukraine are waiting for our dawn to come - we are exhausted and fragile, we continue fighting and living, but over three years of full-scale war are taking their toll.

Russia's attack on Sumy on April 13: UN Women calls for unwavering support for Ukrainian women’s rights organizations Every day, millions of Ukrainians in cities and villages across the country live under the persistent threat of indiscriminate attacks by the Russian armed forces. Human and women’s rights organisati...

In Sumy where Russia killed at least 34 civilians on Sunday & continued to attack w/drones & missiles on Monday, women’s right organizations & activists persevere. In their words, there’s no alternative:

ukraine.unwomen.org/en/stories/o...

Dream and Achieve in Ukraine
Love hearing women pitching their new businesses after 3 months of mentorship & skills development with UN Women & Impact Force

#Turkey’s two prominent investigative journalists Murat Ağırel and Timur Soykan have been detained this morning
#Journalismisnotacrime

❗️If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.” @wfp.org

Can you imagine starting your Monday morning with an air alert saying ballistic missiles target where you live?

That’s the reality for many this morning in Ukraine

Kyiv 5:20: after an overnight drone attack, Russia launched several ballistics on the city. V loud. Now we wait to hear if cruise missiles are also coming our way

Why Georgians Won’t Give Up | Journal of Democracy As the ruling party grows more repressive, the people keep protesting. They know the government’s true goal is to appease Russia and will never accept it.

www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclu...

Something remarkable is happening on 5th Ave right now.

100s of 1000s of people, a spontaneous outpouring of anger, demanding Trump/Musk keep their hands off our healthcare, our schools, our democracy.

This is a turning point in the fight back against the Trump presidency.

Workers at Wilson Center Put on Leave as Trump Seeks Shutdown About 130 employees of the Wilson Center were told they were being put on leave, just four days after workers for Elon Musk’s team entered the center.

This is just gutting. I spent four years at Wilson. It made my 1st book, HOW TO LOSE THE INFORMATION WAR, possible, and funded important work on free speech and online harms. It was never a place concerned with splashy headlines, just quality, nonpartisan work.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/u... 1/

Russia is clearly not grateful
Though the US imposed no new tariffs
Tonight massive Russian drone attack on Ukraine including on Dnipro, Kyiv and Kharkiv where 2 reported killed so far

What’s happening in Georgia’s parliament is shocking …
In addition to the measures described below gender & gender equality is being taken out of laws

Wow. I never thought that Dodik would give up & flee to Russia.
If the High Representative had known many years ago that this would be the outcome, he could have done a lot sooner to protect BiH state level institutions & laws. BiH could have been a much stronger country today

I’ve been a close reader of your tweets/posts for many many years. Sorry to hear the news. Such an undermining of the human rights community is going on!! I hope we can all find a way to push back. Good luck in your next steps 🌟

Radio Free Europe, Trump and the fight for ‘sharp power’ Stepping in to save the media outlet after US cuts could help European democracies combat Russian disinformation, writes Peter Pomerantsev

“Just in these examples, we already see the outline of what a democratic network to counter authoritarian “sharp power” could look like.” So many good ideas in here from @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social, But who’s going to do it? What country/agency is strategic enough? www.ft.com/content/274a...

U.S. Institute of Peace Staff in U.S. Fired as Trump Seeks Nonprofit’s End (Gift Article) Nearly all of the institute’s U.S.-based staff members were fired and asked to sign a separation agreement, according to notices reviewed by The Times.

USIP staff fired: how can this happen so quickly?
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/29/u...

The resilience of Ukrainian women is awe inspiring: Friday Ukrainian Women Congress brought together some 300 women to strategize on how to further strengthen political & economic empowerment & resist Russia including by supporting national culture