Roland Oliphant
@RolandOliphant
Followers
57K
Following
20K
Media
1K
Statuses
25K
There are not enough words to do justice to the great friend and colleague we have lost. Curious, imaginative, kind, a personification of journalistic rigour and integrity. Massive 40k fan. Many of us have achieved things we would not have even tried without him. RIP.
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our colleague, David Knowles. David was a talented journalist and a much-loved friend and a colleague. He will be greatly missed.
30
92
803
Message from a Ukrainian solider:.If anything happens don’t let us be forgotten. We are surrounded in Mariupol no way out.
1K
15K
69K
Zelensky stakes Ukraine’s own claim to Soviet victory day, with a characteristically powerful and well delivered speech. Reclaiming May 9 instead of viewing it as irrevocably contaminated. Quite bold
457
5K
20K
Took a little drive round Kharkiv. Current situation:. - streets deserted.- some kind of fight/operation still going on around Shevchenko avenue/Hidropark. - city in Ukrainian hands.
125
1K
9K
Firing missiles at apartment blocks in Kyiv just as the G7 and Nato meet seems pretty dumb if your goal is to break Western unanimity about arming Ukraine. But as I keep being reminded, the world looks different from the Kremlin.
117
1K
8K
Russia quits Snake island. - Russian mil telegram: trying to retain control of the island under Ukrainian fire from French Caesar shore artillery was a suicide mission.- Russian MoD: withdrawal is a voluntary gesture of goodwill to allow grain exports.
170
1K
7K
So I had this wild idea the Russian high command wd retreat from Kherson in good order, taking every effort to avoid a repetition of the Kharkiv disaster. Then I got home and opened Telegram and Christ on a bike it doesn’t look good does it.
105
270
4K
Needless to say, they are speaking Russian. Because Kharkiv is a Russian speaking city, full of ethnic Russians, who must be killed by the Russian army to save them from not living in the Russian Federation. It is a cliche that war is madness, but this one really is psychotic.
40
1K
4K
Bizarrely one place that doesn't seem to have been badly hit is. anywhere near the actual front. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to spell out why.
27
461
3K
Ukrainian source: "war in Donbas now looks almost inevitable. As for full scale invasion. objectively it still does not make sense, but I can't rule out that Putin has completely lost his mind.".
52
593
3K
Had an interesting (and quite long!) conversation with exiled Iran crown prince @PahlaviReza last week: He reckons Iran is on the brink of a revolution like the one that brought down his father - and that this time it might produce a democracy.
390
1K
4K
Aftermath of the strike on Kharkivs administration building on the central square. “That’s my car” says the man at the end.
133
1K
3K
Spoken to two people in Kosovo now. It does not sound like a Balkan war has broken out. It sounds like last year's number plate protests.
23
279
2K
Absolutely blistering watching @ZelenskyyUa at Munich. Just furious: You’re telling me the invasion is 100 percent happening in a few days, and you won’t implement the sanctions until it happens. We don’t need your sanctions when our country is already being fired at.[paraphrase].
50
498
2K
Here is what I know out east. The main roads are still open, Kharkiv is not encircled. Ukrainian troops with NLAWS ambushed and destroyed a Russian tanks and some other vehicles on the outskirts yesterday.
22
290
1K
It is six months since Vladimir Putin's lunatic and criminal invasion of Ukraine began. My long read on how we got here, and how it has changed Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of us.
20
208
933
An Afghanistan vet I know on the end of the airlift: "Very few interpreters got out. None of my veteran friends got any of their people out. Honestly don't know who these 15k and 117k people the UK and US government are talking about. I suspect a ton of double counting.".
39
331
934
Vyacheslav Zadorenko - the head of Derhachi district outside Kharkiv - reunited with his mum at Kozacha Lopan, a village on the border held by Russia since Feb.
15
103
854
Ukraine takes ‘substantial’ victory over Russians in Kharkiv offensive. Probably the worst defeat for a Russian army since 1943 - spookily in the same area.
11
90
705
Mariupol mayor Vadim Boichenko says Russian ministry of defence promised him ceasefire and safe corridor for civilian evacuation this morning - then proceeded to shell the road. Evac cancelled, talks on safe passage on going
22
289
701
Telegram Statement under the name of Vadim Boichenko, mayor of Mariupol. Says 6yr old girl trapped under a destroyed house died of dehydration before rescuers found her. No water, electricity, heating, mobile connection. Accuses RF of blocking evac & humanitarian deliveries.
12
242
650
The siege of Leningrad began with a notorious air raid on the city’s food warehouses.
I saw a food warehouse hit in #Mykolaiv on Monday, and another at #Brovary north of #Kyiv attacked today. No other targets in the area, and both direct hits. Suggests Russians are targeting food supplies.
10
314
611
Kharkiv is beginning to look like Ukraine’s second major victory over Russia. But shells still flying in nearby
23
116
596
She’s threatening to shoot down another airliner.
💬 Maria #Zakharova: We call on #EU & #NATO countries to stop the thoughtless flooding of the unviable #Kiev regime with the latest weapons systems in order to avoid enormous risk to intl civilian aviation & other means of transport in Europe & beyond. 🔗
18
299
622
Iran made the right decision to admit this. It spares the families the agony MH17 victims have gone through and avoids years of transparent lying that would only generate anger and disgust. Russia could learn a lot
29
241
613
Spent the day in a town near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. They have long standing meltdown evacuation contingency plans based on the lessons of Chernobyl - but the war makes them impossible to implement. So all they can do is hand out iodine tablets and hope for the best
8
237
600
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BOMB SHELTER still flashing up on my phone. That's a Kharkiv alert. Kharkiv is a glorious city and what is being done to it is a crime.
4
166
589
Western officials said today their govt(s) want Russia to withdraw to pre-Feb 24 lines “at minimum.” Which the nearest I’ve heard to a coherent definition of what “Putin must fail” mantra looks like.
24
101
589
Putin’s conditions for negotiation (as cited here) are utterly divorced from current battlefield reality. He’s in cloud cuckoo land. People like Musk listening to him probably reinforces the false impression western elites are too.
24
123
564
Trying to think of something to say about Putin’s Peter the Great comments, but there is really nothing to add. This was clearly an old fashioned, Hitler-ish war of imperial conquest from the word go.
14
122
521
Russians have entered Kharkiv. Street battles audible
23
263
536
Russian troops are fanning out across Central Asia's largest and most important country. And every time I turned into @BBCr4today between school drop off etc it was talking about some tennis player.
13
98
525
Why are people interviewing this Mearsheimer fellow like he’s the Pope? Clearly hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about. Very confused.
45
44
508
Russia said this morning it would ceasefire to allow evacuation of civilians. Ukrainian military says Russians are still shelling the Mariupol road. Third day of these hopes raised and dashed.
40
156
516
Ukrainians hoping to use nuclear power plant battle to call for nato intervention.
Nuclear terrorism requires decisive action in response. At the #UN Security Council meeting, we called for closing the sky over 🇺🇦 and launching an operation to maintain peace and security. The goal is to save hazardous facilities. The world must not watch, but help!.
20
103
458
Intensified firing from Belarus too. Is he trying to expand the war? Bring Minsk in? Convince Berlin and Paris that actually yes, there is only one way to negotiate with him and it involves missiles? I was never much good at 3-D chess so possible I'm missing smth clever, but. .
13
51
490
Horrible horrible scenes of parting and family break up at Zaporizhia station today. Evacuation train to the west. Not enough room. Many left waiting for the next.
9
205
485
Caveats apply. City is big, impossible to see everything, line of sight only tells you so much. Could change rapidly. But this is my current understanding.
3
37
507
Last update from Mariupol city council last night said the food/medicine/aid and evacuation convoy from Zaporizhia had travelled “most of the agreed route.” Maybe it will get through today. Fingers crossed.
1
85
483
Dreadful scenes from apparent Grad strike on Kharkiv. This is apparently Shevchenko Avenue on NE Kharkiv where there was fighting yesterday. Very heavy shelling was creeping closer to centre this morning.
18
278
480
Ukraine can win the war “this year” if it gets Western tanks and longer range missiles, @Podolyak_M told me this morning. And he seemed quite confident they’ll get both.
17
61
457
The great grain grab ghost fleet is still sailing and still docking at Turkish ports.
Disappearing ships of the Black Sea: Russia's great grain plunder continues unabated. Russian flag Sormovskiy 48, carrying 3000t corn from occupied Kerch, enters the port of Karasu with no AIS. Vessel went dark from tracking 3 days ago with false destination Izmir. #OATT
17
286
454
Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Marines in Azovstal, Mariupol. The latest of a series@of desperate appeals from the defenders in the past 24 hours
21
137
462
Questions for the drawers-of-arrows-on-maps: Will Ukrainian forces face the same fate/resupply problems if they try to land there? Do they even need to if they've denied it to the Russians?.
24
22
455
Have been reading about Mariupol a lot today. As horrible as any siege I have ever read about. It will prove even more horrible when and if we get access to it.
11
104
437
"As long as it takes," they said. Who will believe American promises ever again.
Massive Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. At least nine civilians declared dead and more under the rubble of buildings. Ukraine has essentially run out of air defenses because of the cutoff in American aid, and Russia is taking advantage of this strategic
19
105
451
Spent the past few weeks trying to find some of the people I’ve met over the past year. Two of them - both remarkable - are in this piece. An essay on war and unfathomable loss.
7
102
454
I wonder what she thinks of how Ireland won its independence. 🤔.
This video shows why Eastern Europeans have been so frustrated for years with Western Europeans who just don’t understand what Russia is & how it works. Irish MEP tells a Bulgarian MEP in the European Parliament that peace can only come through diplomacy.
37
76
448
2187 Mariupol residents have died since the start of the war, according to the city council.
14
242
423
If, of course, Nato/G7 fail to do anything serious, provide a lot of blah blah blah backed at best by half-measures etc, he wins. And they will have only themselves to blame.
10
47
412
Kharkiv is not encircled! The roads to the south and west are still open and were never cut. Do not understand why Defence Intelligence keeps saying this.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 12 March 2022. Find out more about the UK government's response: 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦
19
154
418
Prominent pro Russian war bloggers saying Russia has abandoned both Izyum and Liman (and reporting Ukrainian progress down in Kherson too). A collapse I doubt even Ukraine’s generals expected.
13
101
391
Shocked, shocked.
Exit polls show Putin has won re-election with 70%
6
67
409
A native of Kherson recently told me Stremousov was locally famous before the war. What as, I asked. A politician? An activist?.“A freak,” he replied. “Just a freak.”.
This poetry performance by Russian-installed Kherson official Kirill Stremousov is truly one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen
21
74
409
Threats pretty explicit now. Russian ambassador to the US repeats absurd/offensive/untrue “genocide” claim, says protection of ethnic Russians is the only “guarantee of Ukrainian statehood and territorial integrity.”
20
138
380
Frankly I also struggle to get my head around the idea of Russia bombarding this city, or trying to fight its way in, or assuming that resistance would just melt away and it would fall. But tbh that's what I thought about annexing Crimea back in the day, so don't listen to me.
28
40
382
Such nonsense. They have an effective monopoly: No one else makes leopards and they blocked other countries from sending theirs. At least come up with an excuse that stands a moment’s scrutiny.
⚡️Scholz explains why he's refusing to send German tanks to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Die Welt that his country does not want to "act alone", meaning that other Western countries should also send their tanks if Germany does.
12
101
368
Navalny’s researchers on the eye-watering, country-impoverishing scale of alleged corruption at Gazprom since Vladimir Putin took power. Very worth reading given current Russian gas as a weapon of war issue.
Last week we published an investigation into the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller. One of Putin's closest friends. The person who has been running the state gas monopoly for more than two decades. One of the richest people in the world.A thief and a criminal.
3
103
376
"The UK has no barrel machine. Setting one up could create skilled forging jobs, contributing to the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. But no such forward thinking has taken place" Brutal assessment of UK/Western lethargy on the war from @Jack_Watling .
10
101
380
On the idea of a Russian assault on Kyiv as predicted by @POTUS (& departure of numerous foreign embassies): "Maybe Biden has seen things I haven't. I can't rule that out. But just can't see how it would work." Source staying put - as are most people I know.
12
45
354
Russia now has 3 plays: accept, but give up battlefield momentum; reject, but antagonise Trump; do neither and bamboozle the Americans with counter offers and nit-picking that go nowhere. Will be an interesting week.
30
87
393
Russian mil Telegram: “we’re v interested in why the MOD explains this not as objective mil reasons/saving lives, but a “gesture of goodwill” - and also who the audience is for such explanations is when the international community is actively arming Ukraine”
7
34
340
The MoD: RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY: BY WITHDRAWING TROOPS FROM SNAKE ISLAND RUSSIA DEMONSTRATES THAT IT DOES NOT HINDER UN EFFORTS TO ORGANISE CORRIDOR FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS FROM UKRAINE - RIA.
12
33
335
There will be consequences in Moscow. I am not sure in quite what way, but I cannot remember another time Putin seemed to have lost his grip on events. Maybe last time was Bolotnaya.
I am quite certain that in terms of territory gained, UAF captured more sq km since Thursday than Russia since the 2nd phase of this war started (late April). It is difficult now to image that Russia’ll rebuild from this failure and seriously threaten Ukraine in this direction.
15
62
321
Today we said goodbye to David. If you missed the service and want to watch, you still can here.
23
88
345
So. Western officials assess Russia is looking to double or triple its forces in Donbas ahead of this great big battle we are waiting for. I'm not entirely clear how many they have there now.
14
60
318
I will be interested to see if the collective West continues to ignore Ukrainian requests for modern air-defence systems. I interviewed @DmytroKuleba in London before the invasion and he was asking for it then. This seems a. moment.
11
78
317
Saw Valery Zaluzhny make his first public remarks as ambassador to London yesterday. Basic message: there's a technical revolution/race in warfare, and democracies better make sure they win it.
7
110
322
The Moskva is/was ever so slightly bigger than the Admiral Belgrano (about one meter longer and wider). Which I *think* would make it the largest warship lost in combat since WW2. Is that right?.
14
29
308
Same Telegram channel included V interesting thread on sudden intensification of artillery attacks on the island a couple of days ago. Sounds like Ukraine made a very specific effort on this (regardless of which guns were involved).
2
22
299
Which is the story of this war. This was an isolated position with re-supply issues where Ukraine could bring superior firepower. That is also how Russia is advancing in Donbas - so while significant, this doesn't change the course of the war/the big land fight.
9
21
295
Russian ministry of defence claims Ukraine tried an amphibious landing across the Dnieper to seize the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Frankly difficult to believe. Operation described sounds bold/suicidal.
28
37
296
I am not a Balkan expert. But I know the Italian military police are parked on the Mitrovica bridge pretty much everyday. A picture of two cars of Carabinieri is not “peace keepers rush to the scene”.
2
33
291
Interesting additions to the UK's Russia sanctions today: 29 regional governors; half a dozen Syrians accused of recruiting mercs to fight in Ukraine; and. Graham Phillips.
12
41
284
The children killed in Vinnytsia today were four, seven and eight. The youngest a girl, the other two boys. The pictures are as horrific as you could imagine and not publishable here.
13
100
269
These billboards have appeared all over Dnipro quoting the snake island border guards. “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
6
78
260
Death toll in Kramatorsk climbs to 50 after 12 wounded died in hospital - city mayor. Fatalities include five children.
8
146
269
I think there is a lot to this. Saw it in Crimea in 2014 - far right European "referendum observers" drinking themselves paralytic in the Hotel Moskva bar in Simferopol and slapping each other on the back about Putin doing something they would love to but never could.
It's simple. They love bullies. They want to be one or at least live vicariously through one.
9
65
245
I didn’t think Putin would or could do this to Ukraine. I thought the Russian public would not wear it, not there, not against their relatives and friends. But he is doing it, and it’s awful.
22
99
236
Kharkiv administration building, right in the historic centre of the city. Russians have definitely given up on sparing the centre. changed to more brutal tactics
14
142
240
“More than 160” cars carrying civilians left Mariupol around 1300 and have passed Berdyansk en route to Zaporizhia, the Mariupol city council says. Silence on green corridor being observed. That’s some kind of good news
4
57
236
The liars at the Russian ministry of defence pretending that the war is only in Donbas and that they are only destroying “armed nationalists”. Disgusting.
6
57
240
On Russia's war economy - and the "fucking insane" lack of urgency in Western response (thus far).
🇺🇦New episode of Ukraine: The Latest. @djknowles22 is joined by @FrancisDearnley, @Barnes_Joe, @DomNicholls and @RolandOliphant to discuss the latest updates in Ukraine. 🎧 Listen 👇.
8
72
230
Just been told by Ukrainian source “latest information” is Mariupol evacuation cancelled again by continued shelling. Not sure if that is confirmed, everything is confused. Relatives waiting for family in Zaporizhia done in by uncertainty, unable to reach family by phone.
11
108
238
Interesting insight into the (mad/dangerous) mentality that must be driving many in Moscow right now. This is what great powers do, we don’t live in paradise, the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq justifies it. Regime change operation must be completed.
"Do you seriously believe that these are Ukrainian missiles inflicting damage on Ukrainian civilians?". @mattfrei asks academic Dmitry Suslov how Russia can justify its invasion of Ukraine and the killing of its civilians.
23
99
241
Russian war blog Rybar says the evacuation of Kherson is complete and the bridges at Antonovka and the Kakhovka Dam were blown earlier this morning (then blames “Ukrainian shelling” for damage to the dam itself and hints it may collapse).
10
54
227
To my surprise I managed to geolocate this all by myself. Does indeed appear to be the central intersection in Volokhiv Yar, and shadow angle suggest it was filmed in the evening. Suggests Ukrainians were there before dark last night.
Visual confirmation that Volokhiv Yar has been retaken by Ukraine Armed Forces. Balakliya cut off from Kupyansk.
4
19
221
I would never call the Donets a backwater! But I enjoyed writing this. I’ve wanted to write about that river for years. Featuring выхухоль and plashy fens.
24
40
224
Rang my editor yesterday evening to explain I hadn't got the material I set out to get. He asked me to write about why not. So here is a piece about when reporting just has to take a back seat.
5
80
221
Drone footage of the Kramatorsk strike site. Gives a sense of the scale I was trying to explain yesterday. Footage via Ukrainian Telegram
5
80
212
Did he say in which direction they would leave?.
Belarus' deputy defence ministry says upcoming massive Russian-Belarusian drills in Belarus pose no threat to other countries. He insisted that Russian troops will leave Belarus as soon as the war games are over:.
7
35
213
Russian War Telegram now reporting “factual operational encirclement”. Russian MoD meanwhile goes with the important news that the band of the Baltic Fleet’s marines played a concert for mobilised conscripts.
The Russian salient at Lyman is looking more and more vulnerable. Would be another major military setback for Russia if it falls - and a worse political blow if it ends up in a pocket first.
7
35
196
He is speaking Russian here, in an address to Russians.
“If you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of.”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Russian allegations that Ukraine is developing chemical weapons - and says Russia is “capable” of such attacks.
7
57
212
UK suspends Belavia and tells airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace. first concrete thing.
3
52
183
Unbelievable. No, all too believable and predictable.
Staff at British embassy in Ukraine not offered refuge in UK, say diplomats | The Independent
5
72
195