Isabel Coles
@IsabelColes
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Chief International Correspondent @ObserverUk. Previously @WSJ + @Reuters in the Middle East & Ukraine
Here & There
Joined November 2010
How a Teenage Romance Was Cut Short by a Russian Missile https://t.co/MDJ5rZz9vB
#Ukraine
wsj.com
The young Ukrainian sweethearts were among nine children killed when a missile exploded near a playground in Kryviy Rih, exposing the limits of President Trump’s efforts to end the war.
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"Do what is necessary:" Syrian military intelligence files tell the story of the collapse of the Assad regime as seen by its most loyal and brutal agents who documented the fall right up until the last minute:
wsj.com
Hastily abandoned documents show how the fallen government’s vast intelligence apparatus struggled to comprehend and stop the rapid rebel advance.
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Maksym Shaulskyi was only 12 years old when a Russian missile strike on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih took his life on Sept. 21. His biggest dream was to see his older brother Mykyta, who has been in Russian captivity since 2022. https://t.co/pfOlprSREx
kyivindependent.com
Warning: This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes. For a moment, Oksana Latanska could not believe her eyes when she looked down at a cold, little body, gray from dust and ashes. It...
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Inside Assad’s Ransacked Palace: Anxiety Pills, Graffiti and Shredded Posters https://t.co/f497bhh1OS by @jmalsin
wsj.com
A Wall Street Journal reporter in Damascus tours the dictator’s former home, office and underground bunker.
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Here is an early look at the front page of today's Wall Street Journal https://t.co/v9f8hsSPoJ
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In July 2022, Russia blew up the barracks of the Olenivka prison camp in occupied Donetsk, murdering more than 50 Ukrainian POWs and then blaming it on a Ukrainian missile strike. Today, the director of the Olenivka camp at the time, Sergey Evsukov, was killed in a car bombing in
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From global jihad to local regime: we track the unlikely transformation of Jawlani, a former prisoner of an American camp in Iraq who rode triumphantly into Syria’s second largest city of Aleppo last week. With @IsabelColes
wsj.com
Once affiliated with Islamic State and al Qaeda, rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani professes religious tolerance. Many have doubts.
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Spent a couple of months working on this longread about Pablo González / Pavel Rubtsov, the Spanish journalist accused of being a GRU spy. Hopefully it goes some way to answering a few of the questions around Pablo. https://t.co/Q43NrBt48d
theguardian.com
The long read: As a Spanish reporter, Pablo González charmed his way into Russian opposition circles and covered Putin’s wars. Then, in 2022, he was arrested on suspicion of espionage. Many former...
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Here is an early look at the front page of today's Wall Street Journal https://t.co/gUnO6xUbzX
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Two Ukrainian Pilots Lobbied for F-16s. They Won’t Get to See If the Jets Help Fend Off Russia. Our story about Juice & Moonfish w/ @laraseligman + @JaneLytv
wsj.com
The death of a pilot and loss of a critical jet last week highlight the stakes in Ukraine’s campaign for Western weaponry
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The Last Days of Pokrovsk: Ukrainians Dig Trenches and Say Goodbye to Their City as Russians Close In - by @mjluxmoore
wsj.com
The mining town on the eastern front is preparing for impending destruction by Moscow’s troops, now just miles away.
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A Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in a crash on Monday, according to a U.S. official, just weeks after the first of the American-made aircraft arrived in Ukraine https://t.co/Zu5h7Wu0jl by @laraseligman
wsj.com
Kyiv recently received six of the planes to boost its fight against Russia, a symbol of U.S. support.
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During the 6-year legal proceeding that led to Dutch cocaine kingpin Ridouan Taghi’s conviction, 3 people linked to the state’s star witness were shot dead: his brother, his lawyer & a crime journalist who had joined the witness’s legal team https://t.co/mZ3n5RcIbG by @SuneEngel
wsj.com
Dutch drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi was sentenced to life in prison following a deadly crime spree. The EU now considers organized crime a threat to European societies on par with terrorism.
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SCOOP: Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Doha this month to negotiate a partial ceasefire agreement, halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure but Moscow called it off after Kyiv's surprise cross-border offensive in Kursk 🧵
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“You cannot win the war with mere fairness. War is unfair per se.” Ukrainian businesses are lobbying for the chance to pay to exempt workers from military service.But it’s causing bitter debate over what is a fair and just conscription system. New story:
ft.com
Issue of who should be exempt from draft pits military hungry for manpower against those seeking to keep economy moving
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@WSJ "There's one thing I would like to say. It was great to get on that bus today and see not just Americans and Germans but Russian political prisoners.” Evan on advocating for the hundreds of political prisoners left behind.
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Ukraine's National Police says it arrested officials from the territorial recruitment center in Ternopil Oblast who received bribes to help people avoid mobilization. They say it cost $5,000-15,000 to influence military medical commission members to disqualify individuals from
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A Ukrainian soldier returned home to defend his country when Russia invaded - and drowned trying to flee the war earlier this year
wsj.com
A rising toll of men who have drowned in a river on Ukraine’s western border is a grim manifestation of Kyiv’s manpower shortage.
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