WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
A Russian strike on Ukraine's recently recaptured city of Kherson killed at least 10 people, wounded 58 and left bloodied corpses on the road, authorities said, in what Kyiv condemned as wanton killing for pleasure.
A pro-Moscow official responded by saying Ukrainian forces had launched the attack in a bid to blame the Russian military.
Fresh from a trip to the United States seeking weapons to resist the 10-month-old Russian invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy published photos showing streets strewn with burning cars, smashed windows and bodies.
"Social networks will most likely mark these photos as 'sensitive content'. But this is not sensitive content – it is the real life of Ukraine and Ukrainians," he wrote.
"These are not military facilities. ... It is terror, it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure."
Russia controls most but not all of Kherson region. Local Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych, appointed by Kyiv, told national television the death toll had risen to 10, Interfax Ukraine news agency said.
Vladimir Saldo, the region's Russian-installed governor, said Kyiv had ordered troops to shell the city.
"This is a disgusting provocation with the obvious aim of blaming the Russian armed forces," he wrote on Telegram.
Yuriy Sobolevskyi, deputy chair of the regional council, said a missile landed next to a supermarket by the city's Freedom Square.
"There were civilians there, each of whom lived their own life, went about their own business," he said, noting a girl selling phone Sim cards, others unloading items from a truck, and passersby.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports from Kherson.
Ukraine retook the city, the only regional capital Russia had since its Feb. 24 invasion, in November. Since then, Kyiv says Russian forces have heavily shelled the city from across the vast Dnipro river.
'KILL WITH IMPUNITY'
Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko said the attack came from a Grad multiple rocket launcher.
Another aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, criticized those calling for Kyiv to seek peace talks with Russia, referencing Moscow's relentless pounding of Ukraine's power grid since October that has left millions without heat or water.
"I'll remind those who propose to take into account (Russian) 'peace' initiatives: Right now Russia is 'negotiating,' killing Kherson residents, wiping out Bakhmut, destroying Kyiv/Odesa grids, torturing civilians in Melitopol," Podolyak wrote.
"Russia wants to kill with impunity. Shall we allow it?"
Yanushevych had earlier shared a message from the city's blood bank calling for urgent donations.
Kyiv was still recovering from Monday's wave of missile strikes, which knocked out half the city's power supply into the next day, according to Ukraine's prime minister.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
US spies pushed Twitter to censor ‘anti-Ukraine narratives,’ files show
** The Pentagon, CIA and other US intelligence and law enforcement agencies were getting increasingly “more aggressive” with their takedown requests, the lastest trove of Twitter documents reveals, effectively pushing the platform to engage in censorship of foreign policy stories that ran against the Washington-approved narrative.
“The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA,” journalist Matt Taibbi wrote in the Christmas Eve edition of the Twitter Files, released with a blessing from the company’s owner Elon Musk.
Among thousands of censorship requests flowing to Twitter from what were termed OGA" in the documents, or “Other Government Organizations,” through the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, many had nothing to do with purported “foreign meddling” and were linked to purely domestic issues. But when they did, Twitter executives often struggled to validate government claims and were under constant pressure – but were unable to find evidence to blame any foreign actor, Russia in particular.
“Found no links to Russia,” an unnamed analyst said in one of the emails, later suggesting he could “brainstorm” to “find a stronger connection.” Former Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth admitted he found “no real matches using the info” in another case.
Internal communications show that Twitter had been getting so many requests that its executives lost track and had to improvise a system for prioritizing them. The execs acknowledged it was “odd” how the feds apparently had dedicated personnel tasked with tailoring their takedown requests to Twitter’s policies for faster processing, but even then the company often struggled to find justification for censorship.
“Many people wonder if Internet platforms receive direction from intelligence agencies about moderation of foreign policy news stories. It appears Twitter did, in some cases by way of the FITF/FBI,” Taibi wrote. At least some of these directives originated at the CIA, according to former agent and whistleblower, John Kiriakou, who said he “recognized the formatting.”
The feds sometimes sent massive batches of over 1,000 accounts lined up for “digital execution,” with only a brief explanation of the alleged problems. On multiple occasions they accused “Russian agents” of directing accounts that highlighted “predominantly anti-Ukraine narratives” or documented “purported rights abuses committed by Ukrainians.”
Another intelligence assessment sent to Twitter claimed that accounts spreading information about “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine were part of a Kremlin-controntrolled propaganda campaign and must be banned.
In what Taibi called a “damning admission,” an unnamed former CIA-turned-Twitter executive once noted that the “government partners” were getting increasingly “aggressive” with their takedown requests.
“Due to a lack of technical evidence on our end, I've generally left it be, waiting for more evidence,” he said about the InfoBRICS account. He further argued that since “BRICS is an inherently Russia-dominated economic organization” it was “always likely...directed by the Kremlin.”
“Our window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution and reporting on it…I'm going to go ahead with suspension and marking the domain UNSAFE.”
Spearheaded by Taibbi in cooperation with fellow reporters Bari Weiss, Lee Fang, and several others, the Twitter Files have been published on a rolling basis with the blessing of the site’s new owner, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. To date the documents have shed light on several controversial decisions made by the company, including material surrounding the suspension of ex-President Donald Trump, the practice of shadow banning, as well as a site-wide ban on a New York Post report about the foreign business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. The files also explained how the US intelligence community worked hand-in-glove with the platform to flag speech for suspension that the US government deemed “misinformation,” and showed how the FBI and Twitter locked horns over the agency’s claims of increased activity by ‘propaganda’ bots, of which Twitter said it found no evidence.
BATTLEFIELD REPORTS
** The Russian Armed Forces have obliterated about 400 Ukrainian surface-to-air missile systems since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Saturday.
"In all, the following targets have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation: 352 warplanes, 192 helicopters, 2,719 unmanned aerial vehicles, 399 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,222 tanks and other combat armored vehicles, 936 multiple rocket launchers, 3,704 field artillery guns and mortars, and also 7,737 special military motor vehicles," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroy over 40 Ukrainian troops from two brigades in DPR
"In the Krasny Liman area, the strikes by Russian army aviation aircraft and artillery on the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces’ 111th territorial defense brigade near Torskoye and 25th airborne brigade near Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic eliminated more than 40 Ukrainian servicemen, three combat armored combat vehicles and four motor vehicles," Konashenkov reported.
Russian aircraft down Su-27 warplane, Mi-24, Mi-8 helicopters
"Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 plane in the area of the settlement of Kamyshevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. In addition, Ukrainian Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters were shot down in areas near the settlements of Selidovo and Gruzskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman added.
Konashenkov continued, that "Russian air defense capabilities shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter in the area of the settlement of Kirovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic."
Russian air defense systems also intercepted 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Yegorovka, Yelenovka, Kirillovka, Volodino, Artyomovsk and Olginka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kolomiychikha in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Novaya Zburyevka in the Kherson Region and Pologi in the Zaporozhye Region, the general added.
Russian forces strike 53 Ukrainian artillery sites in past day
"Russian missile troops and artillery struck the following targets: the command post of the Ukrainian army’s 65th mechanized brigade near the settlement of Lezhino and a missile/artillery armament depot in the area of the settlement of Novosyolovka in the Zaporozhye Region, and also 53 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 92 areas," Konashenkov reported.
Russian artillery struck manpower of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 92nd mechanized brigades in the Kharkov Region, eliminating about 50 militants in the past day, Military official noticed.
"In the Kupyansk direction, artillery fire struck manpower and military equipment of units of the Ukrainian army’s 14th mechanized brigade in the area of the settlement of Petropavlovka and 92nd mechanized brigade near the community of Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov Region," he added.
Russian forces strike two Ukrainian army brigades in Kharkov Region
"In the Kupyansk direction, artillery fire struck manpower and military equipment of units of the Ukrainian army’s 14th mechanized brigade in the area of the settlement of Petropavlovka and 92nd mechanized brigade near the community of Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov Region," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated as many as 50 Ukrainian troops, four combat armored vehicles and two pickup trucks, the general specified.
Reuters/RT/Reuters
