Bennett Murray
@BDMurray
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Master's student at @FletcherSchool. Previously reported in 🇺🇦. Was also once @dpa Vietnam bureau chief.
Massachusetts
Joined March 2009
I spent the past week and a half in the Donbas, where I embedded with the 28th Mechanized Brigade in the Bakhmut direction. The shell hunger is acute, with FPV drones the only thing keeping the line steady. But Ukraine's grim determination continues.
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RT @sstrangio: Awful news. Dara is a fantastic journalist, and has been responsible for a hefty percentage of the reporting on Cambodia's o….
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This thread illustrates a point often lost in the U.S. and elsewhere. The predominant strain of Ukrainian nationalism since 2014 has been highly civic in nature, and doubly so since 2022. If it was of the blood and soil variety, they would have probably lost the war years ago.
I know people who were born in russia, are ethnically russian as far as they know, moved to Ukraine, learned the language, got their citizenship and are now fundraising for the AFU and consider themselves Ukrainian. They’re 100% Ukrainian in anyone’s book. I also have a cousin.
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The fact that Ukraine is letting a whole CNN team so close to the front in Sudzha is a pretty good indication that Russia simply doesn't have FPV and other drone assets in place there. Meanwhile, Ukraine almost certainly does. Will be a very lopsided fight until that changes.
"It's very surreal to be inside Russia with Ukrainian forces leading the way.". @npwcnn gained some of the first access to Ukrainian-held Russia, witnessing their control over the town of Sudzha and the intensity of the fight.
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My dear friend Nguyen Chi Tuyen is about to go on trial for the audacity of demanding an end to single party rule in Vietnam. He wouldn't hurt a fly. All he wants is free elections. And the Communist Party might destroy him for advocating for it.
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6 weeks ago, Evan Wright called an article I wrote from the frontline a "great piece of work." The funny part is that it was in the context of us arguing. Never interacted with him beyond this exchange, but I was beyond flattered. Hard to believe that he's now gone.
@BDMurray That is great piece of work. If you were to reread my post, you would notice that I'm on your side.… I was actually trying to explain to advocates of Ukraine, but I think you're shooting yourselves in the foot, when you start attacking opponents of Ukrainian aid here as MAGA.
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FDR: Ladies and Gentlemen, ADOLF HITLER!.Churchill: I'm better!.
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Stumbled upon this 4th of July party in Tirana. First full day in Albania and I'm getting the sense that I'm not in Belgrade anymore.
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RT @ASPertierra: Not exactly the prompt but in the 60s the Cuban gov suddenly cancelled all accountant degree programs in higher ed bc they….
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Russia wants to sell more weapons to Vietnam. They'd also like Vietnam to open up their shell stockpiles to them. But China will prevent RU from selling the really good stuff, and Vietnam is too pragmatic to give Russia firepower for use against Ukraine.
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Lavrov can't visit Serbia anymore because none of the surrounding countries allow his plane to overfly their airspace. If the EU/NATO is paying attention, they'd do the same for any Belarusian extradition flight for this guy.
Three top Belarusian athletes told me Andrei Gnyot was instrumental in setting up a network of sportspeople in opposition to Lukashenko. Now Serbia plans to deport him to Belarus on a dubious Interpol warrant.
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It's almost as if factual accounts of literal government conspiracies are no fun to conspiracy theorists.
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This story has been live for almost a week and I'm sort of shocked at how little traction it's getting from anyone. Not even the predictably "America bad" types seem to have noticed a well-reported account of a literal Pentagon psyop concerning vaccines.
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These Russian ISR drones are a terror on the battlefield. They don't shoot at you but certainly relay info to those who can (I know from experience). But shooting them down in volume simply hasn't been cost effective. at least up until now. This could be a game changer.
1/ QUICK TAKE - Russians are worried that Ukrainian military is targeting their fixed-wing ISR drones: "This is an extremely alarming development. While people do not directly die from such actions, the consequences may be more serious than from the delivery of dozens of Abrams
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I'm begging everyone wildly speculating about the motives of the recent assassination attempt in Slovakia to please first Google the words "Fico" and "Mafia.".
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Aid groups are rightfully livid at Israel right now. Also, many of those same groups (World Central Kitchen being a major exception) avoid confrontation with Russia by simply not putting themselves into harm's way in Ukraine in the first place.
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No one, military or civilian, uses convoys in Ukraine anywhere near the frontline. The UN and most major NGOs avoid the area entirely. The rough equivalent would be giving credit to Israel for not striking an aid convoy in the Golan Heights since October 7.
I was in Ukraine recently and talked to aid groups about how deconfliction works there. They said that Russia has been consistent about not striking deconflicted aid operations; sometimes to the point of calling to ask if convoys have departed an area before they resume attacks.
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RT @IlyaMatveev_: It takes a special kind of bravery to dress like this and wear a pin with a Ukrainian flag in provincial Russia in 2024.….
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