Luke Harding
@lukeharding1968
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Journalist @Guardian, #1 New York Times best-selling author. New book: Invasion: Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival. Agent: @SLANYC
Joined April 2009
Six months of war. My new book Invasion, published in November by @VintageAnchor in US and @FaberBooks in UK, tells the story. The personal and political, #Russia's bloody assault and #Ukraine's heroic fightback, the thumps of battle, Putin and Zelenskyy. First draft of history
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Our basement in Kyiv now filling up with families with small children. The kids are holding colouring books. Heartbreaking.
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For anyone wondering why Trump refuses to criticise Putin, while hectoring Zelenskyy, here's my piece on the US president's 1987 trip to Moscow. Trump's visit was arranged by the . KGB. Extract comes from my #1 New York Times bestselling book 'Collusion'
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Exclusive: Leaked Putin papers appear to show #Russia’s plot to put a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump into the White House – my story with @julianborger in Washington and @dansabbagh in London
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Here's Matthew Elliott - chief executive of Vote Leave, given a peerage today by Liz Truss - in Moscow, on a trip organised in 2012 by a Russian spy. Elliott was a leading figure in the Conservative Friends of Russia, and is pictured right. @RhonddaBryant
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Deputy mayor of #Mariupol Sergiy Orlov has just been speaking. Says city under "continuous Russian shelling", genocide taking place, 1170 people killed, 47 buried today in a mass grave. No water, heat, power, gas, with residents drinking snow and burning firewood. "It's medieval".
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Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klichko has put out statement. Says Ukraine is under attack from aggressor: "In Kyiv we can hear noise of shelling. The worst enemy now is panic. Keep calm. Everyone not involved in critical city functions, stay home. We have to prevail".
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A terrible story: in August the Russians poisoned the Seym river, just across the border from Ukraine. Toxic chemicals went downstream killing everything: fish, molluscs, crayfish, weed. For 650kms, the Seym and Desna rivers are dead. Photos: @AlessioMamo
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The situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - behind me yesterday - is alarming. Kyiv says the Russians have placed explosives today on top of reactors three and four ahead of a possible false flag operation. Rus Telegram channels report an imminent “Ukrainian attack”
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Zelenskiy speaking now. He says he's spoken with Joe Biden, tells Ukrainians to stay home and to stay calm: "The army works. I will be with you all the time. Stay strong. We will win because we are Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine".
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Lviv, Ukraine, 10am, March 1. Home made sign on car windscreen says “children” in Russian. Kids’ booster seat in back. Heartbreaking
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My latest dispatch from #Odesa with @dansabbagh on Ukraine's unexpected progress in the Black Sea. Russia's fleet has left Sevastopol, a new "grain corridor" is working, and Kyiv has been striking occupied Crimea with drones and storm shadows.
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A group of peers and MPs are taking legal action against Boris Johnson over his refusal to investigate #Kremlin meddling in the EU referendum vote - my @guardian story. thanks @carolecadwalla @allthecitizens
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Defiant address by President Zelenskiy from outside his office in Kyiv this morning: "Always remember #Ukraine existed before this enemy appeared, and will exist after it"
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The document discusses the damage western sanctions have inflicted on the Russian economy. It concludes the #Kremlin can best destabilise the US by backing the “impulsive” and “mentally unstable” Trump, a person with conservative views and an “inferiority complex”.
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Saint Sophia cathedral in Kyiv, symbol of Ukrainian nationhood. Still standing 8am local time, a few people on streets, queues for cash machines, one cafe amazingly open, mood of fear, shock & quiet defiance
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The expert report appears to confirm the Kremlin possesses kompromat on Donald #Trump, secretly collected during his many visits to Moscow. It refers to “certain events” that happened during his stay "on Russian Federation territory". No dates or locations are given.
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More shocking revelations 10pm tonight from unmissable @C4Dispatches film on Boris Johnson and #Russia. Evgeny Lebedev- we learn - was the owner of hotels in occupied Crimea *after* Putin annexed the peninsula in 2014. Johnson then made him a peer. @campbellclaret @PippaCrerar
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A grim moment for #Kyiv. A second Trump presidency means the probable end of US military assistance to Ukraine. The country's troops are already outgunned on the battlefield, with Russia advancing at the fastest rate since 2022. East - most of Donetsk oblast - may be lost in 2025.
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Amazing scenes today from liberated Kherson. I'm just back from Mylove, on the Dnipro River. The Ukrainian army is pounding the retreating Russians with Grad missiles and heavy artillery. Lots of booms, black smoke on the horizon, and a tank column trundling past sunflower fields
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The day after winning the 2019 election Boris Johnson went to Alexander Lebedev’s 60th birthday party in London. Canada sanctions Lebedev today for his links with Kremlin. Johnson makes Lebedev’s son Evgeny a peer, overruling MI5 advice. A scandal
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As I report in my book 'Shadow State' Russia's ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, boasted after the Brexit vote to another diplomat: “We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees, and they will not rise for a very long time"
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Here’s the brush off I got from Downing Street when I asked about Johnson’s private meeting in March 2020 with Evgeny #Lebedev , after MI5 vetoed Lebedev’s peerage on security grounds: “No information is held”. A whiff of cover up.
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I'm holding a copy of my book 'Invasion' in solidarity with my Ukrainian publisher Vivat. This morning Russia attacked Vivat’s printing house in Kharkiv. Colleagues were killed and injured. My condolences. Buy Vivat titles & other Ukrainian books. Don't let Russian fascism win
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The report says: “Considering certain events that took place during his stay on Russian Federation territory (Appendix 5 – personal characteristics Donald J #Trump, paragraph 5), it is urgently necessary to use all means to promote his election to the post of President of the US”.
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This documentary to be screened tonight on German TV is worth watching. Reporter Peter Kreysler travels undercover to London and talks to the shadowy PR firms behind Brexit. They are willing to influence #Germany's election for a fee. I appear towards end
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Orlov: "Putin is intent on having Ukraine without Ukrainians. It's pure genocide. The attack being waged by Russia isn't simply treacherous. It's a war crime. They are attacking us with aviation, shells, multiple rocket launchers.".
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Here's an extract from my book #Collusion on the KGB's operation to cultivate Donald #Trump, including during #Trump's 1987 trip to Soviet #Moscow via @politicomag.
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Russia hits #Kharkiv with missiles. Kharkiv answers … with a concert this evening in an underground car park. Singer is Serhiy Zhadan - novelist, poet, rock star - with his band, Zhadan i Sobaki. Unbreakable nation
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For anyone alarmed by recent developments in the US, can I recommend my book 'Collusion'. It sets out #Trump's longstanding ties to Moscow, going back to 1987; the Kremlin's multi-decade operation to cultivate him; and the FSB's use of cameras & kompromat
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Russia’s biggest offensive in months - an attempt to encircle #Avdiivka, involving tanks, armoured vehicles & thousands of soldiers - has failed, a top Ukrainian commander tells me. “Given the scale of their losses it’s a very obvious defeat,” he says
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Breaking: key paragraphs in #Russia report paragraphs 39-45: UK government of Theresa May and Boris Johnson did not "seek evidence" of Russian interference in British politics including during the 2016 EU referendum; MI6 sent cursory "six-line" note when asked about it.
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Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov today dismissed the report as “a great pulp fiction”. Independent experts say the documents accurately reflect Kremlin security thinking and chain of command. The security council - or Sovbez in Russian - is analogous to the Politburo.
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Elliott should now explain why he decided to go to Moscow and what contact he had with Nalobin? As the Russia report points out, the government refuses to investigate alleged Rus interference in the 2016 vote. As one MP put it: "They didn't want to know"
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Christopher #Steele gave evidence to UK security and intelligence committee on #Russia interference in British politics. Boris Johnson is sitting on committee's report. my @guardian latest with @dansabbagh
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Elliott says his trip to Moscow was "a mistake" and he had no further contact with Russians. But it's worth remembering that Brexit was a Kremlin foreign policy objective - supported by an extensive social media campaign in 2015-2016 and other covert measures.
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Boris Johnson faces legal action from MPs over his refusal to investigate #Russian interference in the 2016 #Brexit vote - my @guardian piece. Thanks @carolecadwalla @allthecitizens
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Lviv's mayor tells me Boris Johnson should seize the mansions of Russian #oligarchs in London and use them to house Ukrainian refugees. "There's been too much blah blah," he says. "#Putin will go down in history with Hitler and other war criminals"
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A mysterious Scottish company owned by two Russians helped keep the far-right website 8kun online, used to plot last week's Capitol attacks. The Russians' other clients include the ministry of defence in Moscow. Story by @kari_paul, me and @severincarrell
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Ukraine's armed forces raising the blue and yellow flag above the #Lyman entrance sign on the outskirts of the city. "Stabilisation measures" are being carried out, eastern command says, amid reports that around 5000 Russian soldiers remain trapped inside
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Ukraine's operational command says "cruise and ballistic missile strikes are underway at the control centres in Kyiv".
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Extraordinary: Ukrainian journalists are in the Kursk region town of Sudzha, reporting on a humanitarian operation to deliver food to civilians hiding in basements. This was - until a week ago - Russia.
Ukrainian report from Sudzha, where many residents were left to deal with hunger and Russian air strikes until Ukrainian aid arrived together with journalists.
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This is a super new podcast, which tells the story of how Russian spies infiltrated the Conservative party. Their goal: to push Kremlin ideas and to cultivate right-wing Eurosceptic activists. Cast includes a bald embassy intelligence officer, Tory MPs, and a heroic whistleblower.
NEW: Meet Sergei Cristo, a Russian-born Conservative party activist turned whistleblower. Ep 1 out today: A meeting at the Carlton Club. And the start of efforts to uncover the biggest Russian intelligence operation since the Cambridge Spy Ring. 1/.
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The UK- based Russian spy who organised Elliott's Moscow trip was Sergei Nalobin. The goal was to improve relations with the Conservative party after the murder of Alexander Litvinenko & to identify a new generation of Eurosceptic "influencers" who might be useful to the Kremlin.
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What strikes me about Navalny's murder is its timing. Trump has said he won't defend Nato allies, Republicans in Congress have blocked vital aid to Ukraine, and the US looks divided & weak. Putin thinks he is winning: on the battlefield and in his broader war with the west.
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Ramzan Kadyrov's bouyed up Chechen troops on their way to Rostov, shouting Allu Akhbar and Akhmat Sila - "Akhmat is our strength." A clash with Wagner looms. Another incendiary element in an already crazy day
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Wooo!! My book #Collusion is top of the New York Times best seller list. #1 paperback non-fiction title in the US. US edition: UK here:
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Ukraine's #Kursk raid is becoming a disaster for the Kremlin. Blue and yellow flags painted on road signs *inside* Russia, civilians fleeing & columns of reinforcements wiped out. Whatever its outcome, Gen Syrskyi's operation has boosted Ukrainian morale and confounded #Moscow.
⚡️New design of road signs in Lyubimovka, 🇷🇺Kursk region.
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Here's my @GuardianUS story on today's stunning Senate intelligence committee report. It suggests Vladimir #Putin's spies snooped on #Trump during his 2013 visit to Moscow. And that Trump's campaign fed intel to Konstantin Kilimnik, a career #GRU officer
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Orlov says #Russian army has shelled evacuation corridor, mined the road and put in a check point. 200K people desperate to leave, only 2-3K able to get out daily on 21 municipal buses. The others destroyed. Russians deliberately shelling assembly points for those trying to exit.
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Breaking: #Ukraine has brought an inter-state case in the European Court of Human Rights against #Russia over its covert assassination programme - #Litvinenko, #Skripal, @navalny. Some 20+ victims on the list including Anna Politkovskaya & Boris Nemtsov
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Boom! Leaked documents from #Moscow shed light on Vladimir Putin's shadowy cyber-warfare capabilities: hacking, disinformation, propaganda. Here's our story on the #VulkanFiles, supplied by a whistleblower unhappy at Ukraine war and who is now a "ghost"
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I’ve been to some extraordinary press conferences. This one was surreal - a metro station, trains rumbling past - and moving. Zelenskiy asked for weapons, called Russia’s leaders “Nazis” and mourned the death of a baby killed today by Russian strike
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Extraordinary address by Volodymyr #Zelenskiy this morning from snowy downtown Kyiv. He pays tribute to Ukrainian soldiers on armed forces day, greets passers-by and says: "Victory is ahead. Is there an alternative?" Much criticism of Ze recently but no other leader can do this.
Congratulations on Ukraine’s Armed Forces Day! 🇺🇦
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President Zelenskiy has just arrived for a press conference. I’m in front row. Amazing moment - Ukraine stands, Kyiv stands, Volodymyr stands - a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion
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My dispatch from a lithium mine in central Ukraine, claimed by Donald Trump. Residents are unimpressed by US demands for their mineral resources. "It's blackmail," one told me, adding: "America is trying to destroy our potential. It would finish us off."
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My book Shadow State is out in paperback! It features new material on the Russia report and how the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 Brexit vote, plus Alexey @Navalny's poisoning and Donald Trump in Moscow. @FaberBooks is republishing Mafia State, my 2011 memoir, with a new preface
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Exclusive: Paul #Manafort held secret talks with Julian #Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. By me and @yachay_dc in Quito .
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Evgeny Lebedev is to be sworn in as a member of the House of Lords on December 17. The ceremony is going ahead despite recent revelations about Lebedev's parties (Boris #Johnson a guest, class-A drugs consumed) and concerns from British security services
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British government sources say UK will lift restrictions on the use of Storm Shadow missiles on targets inside Russia. Blinken - speaking in Kyiv - hints US will "adapt" and do the same with Atacms. Expect explosions at R airbases soon. Me & @dansabbagh
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Dramatic events in #Belarus this morning: state agents drive Maria Kolesnikova to the border with Ukraine, she rips up passport to stop them from forcibly deporting her. The opposition leader is now back in Belarus detention, her whereabouts unclear
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Air raid sirens in Kyiv now, wailing across the city, as Russian drones approach. Trump's suspension of US military aid means Ukraine will find it tougher to shoot down enemy drones and ballistic missiles. The result: more death, grief, and ruin.
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Thrilled by @NickCohen4 in Observer: "If you doubt that hostile foreign powers were happy to assist Britain into decline, I recommend Shadow State, Luke Harding's dazzling and meticulous account of #Russian interference in American and British politics"
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This is what #Kherson looks like tonight. Cheering crowds outside the main administrating building, a jubilant soldier on the roof, cars tooting in celebration. All in a city Vladimir Putin said six weeks ago was Russia's "forever"
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US secretary of state Marco Rubio says the Trump administration will soon abandon its attempt to broker a peace deal in Ukraine. Predictable, lazy and absurd: the US has taken no concrete steps to pressure Moscow - zilch! - while blaming Kyiv for the war
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Necessary piece by @carolecadwalla on how the Lebedevs infiltrated British politics and media. Who did Boris Johnson take as a companion to Evgeny’s palazzo in Tuscany? And what did Johnson and Alexander discuss?
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One of the most extraordinary stories I have reported from #Ukraine. In 2023 Russia blew up a dam & destroyed the vast Soviet-era Kakhovka reservoir. Since then nature has come back. Willow trees are 4m tall; sturgeon are swimming again in the Dnipro river
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Arkady was the seventh Novaya Gazeta journalists to be murdered since 2001. The roll includes Anna Politkovskaya, Yury Shchekochikhin, and Anastasia Baburova. Their deaths tell you everything you need to know about twenty-first century #Russia.
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49% of UK voters believe #Kremlin interfered in #Brexit referendum - latest @ObserverUK opinion poll
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Kyiv main train station, 3.30pm local time. Some trains cancelled, others leaving, concourse full but no panic. Queues for tickets and info. A vast human exodus caused by one paranoid man
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The US stops weapons supplies and intelligence to #Ukraine, and cuts off its access to satellite technology. Meanwhile, Russia launches a massive missile strike, knowing that the US early warning system no longer operates. Coincidence or collusion?
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PM accused of cover-up over report on #Russian meddling in UK politics - my latest with @dansabbagh featuring new revelations about Sergey Nalobin, #Moscow's 'spy' in London
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Pressure is mounting on Boris Johnson to impose sanctions on Roman #Abramovich and Alisher #Usmanov. Alexey @navalny has called for them, with opposition MPs and Garry Kasparov today urging the British PM to act. My story with @dansabbagh
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This is outrageous: four #Moscow billionaires are now suing @CatherineBelton in London over her groundbreaking book #Putin's People. It's the definitive account of #Kremlin corruption, from #KGB times through to the scams and schemes of recent years.
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When I spoke to Gen Syrskyi he said Ukraine was outgunned and outmanned. The only way to beat the Russian military was to fight smart. #Ukraine's surprise incursion into the Kursk region is Syrskyi's boldest move yet - an asymmetric strike panicking Moscow
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A terrible crime. Arkady was a fearless and brilliant journalist, the best of his generation, committed to telling uncomfortable truths
Arkady Babchenko, a prominent Russian liberal journalist assassinated in his apartment in Kiev while his wife was in the bathroom. The assassination looks like brazen and demonstrative.
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