RT @HavryshkoMarta: I recommend that the commander of the Pravyi Sector soldier wearing the "1488" patch provide a written explanation. Th….

2018 film (English, Ukrainian, Russian) -

I'm back in touch with a priest I filmed on a 2018 BBC doc with @SkyYaldaHakim and @tarasissimus, when the split began. His two sons are on the frontline fighting the Russian invasion, but he feels his community is treated as enemies by the state they're fighting to protect.

Ukraine's largest church has historical ties with today's strongly pro-war Russian Orthodox Church - ties it has cut and an invasion most of its believers bitterly oppose and many fight. The Church's future legality and its believers' practices are under threat in Ukraine.

I'm on @BBCFooC this morning 1130 telling a little-covered side of the #UkraineRussiaWar, religion - the split of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and a new law accused of interfering with people's freedom of religion in Ukraine -

Many held since 2017, sentences up to 20 yrs. Wives / kids of men from #is say they’re innocent, without fair trial / lawyers / diplomatic help. 2023 - In 2023 promised issues to be addressed, say nothing has changed. This time ‘won’t stop’ hunger strike.

At least 30 women prisoners are on day 5 of a hunger strike in the Rusafa prison #baghdad #iraq. Mostly from #Russia. Resumption of a May 2023 3-week hunger strike of 400 women and child prisoners from #Russia, #turkey and elsewhere.

That's certainly been the case at the #BBC, where I've been working for most of the war (in the UK since June '22). There are obviously exceptions - and I say this with all due respect to people who work very hard and take big personal risks in dangerous circumstances.

Exasperating that western #media outlets not explored / shone light on our countries' failures / share of blame. Often been repeating each other / largely stuck to conventional understandings /narratives of the war, not always really been doing our job as well as we might.

OK, #Trump going to sell out #Ukraine, sideline Europe, seeks financial gain eg Ukraine's natural resources. Yes, #Putin not trustworthy. But previous US administration and govts across Europe and West also share responsibility for the human cost and destruction.

Little effort by western countries to work with other countries eg India or China, both surely had the potential for impact. The cost has been an ongoing war, and a Ukraine bleeding unsustainably.

. other than weaponry and aid, themselves insufficient for the Ukrainian military or population. Western countries not particularly bothered to work with Qatar, or Turkey - both of which made progress.

eg last August potentially promising talks in #Qatar ditched after Ukraine's incursion into the #Kursk Region in Russia - whose government cited the incursion as a reason not to participiate. One of various Middle Eastern initiatives without much from western countries.

Valuable window of opportunity to stop this war was missed. Putin's military made steady and costly gains since, and no doubt his war aims are no different now from what they were in 2022. Momentum is on Russia's side. The talks in 2022 were just the first missed opportunity. .

Suggests complacency, lack of focus/resolve, hope Ukraine could defeat much larger neighbour whose govt cares little how many Russian lives lost / how many majority Russian-speaking towns flattened. Similar disregard in western caps for how many Ukrainian lives it might cost?.

Standard negs steps have not been taken (no twin track approaches of big picture questions plus local ceasefires in parallel). Neither the US, the UK or EU countries seem to have prioritised appointing skilled diplomats with weight and influence to focus on finding solutions.

Apr '22 Boris #Johnson evidently advised #Zelenskyy against negs, that western countries would have Ukraine's back, that Ukraine can win on the ground. Zelenskyy probably believed him. Johnson role not decisive, other western countries probably felt the same.

Instead of building on that start - when #Ukraine 's military and population had momentum and belief - western govts failed to come up with security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian invasions (and are still unable to offer anything),.

A while ago now, but we know #Russia expressed readiness to make important concessions in talks in spring 2022 after failing to take #Kyiv, #Kharkiv and other major cities. Documents signed, Russian side recognised Ukraine's right to join EU + that status of Crimea open to negs.

Obviously, #Trump's #Ukraine policy amounts to rewarding Putin for the invasion - and the destruction, death and everything else that went with it. It also seals 3 years of US and other western countries' failures to find an end or even pause the war through diplomacy or resolve.