Friday, March 04, 2022

Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine's Information War

Stuart A. Thompson and Davey Alba
Thu, March 3, 2022, 

A quiet embankment along the Dnieper River in Kyiv, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times).

Just days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a pilot with a mysterious nickname was quickly becoming the conflict’s first wartime hero. Named the Ghost of Kyiv, the ace fighter had apparently single-handedly shot down several Russian fighter jets.

The story was shared by the official Ukraine Twitter account Feb. 27 in a thrilling montage video set to thumping music, showing the fighter swooping through the Ukrainian skies as enemy planes exploded around him. The Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s main security agency, also relayed the tale on its official Telegram channel, which has over 700,000 subscribers.

The story of a single pilot beating the superior Russian air force found wide appeal online, thanks to the official Ukraine accounts and many others. Videos of the so-called Ghost of Kyiv had more than 9.3 million views on Twitter, and the pilot was mentioned in thousands of Facebook groups reaching up to 717 million followers. On YouTube, videos promoting the Ukrainian fighter collected 6.5 million views, while TikTok videos with the hashtag #ghostofkyiv reached 200 million views.

There was just one problem: The Ghost of Kyiv may be a myth.


While there are reports of some Russian planes getting destroyed in combat, there is no information linking them to a single Ukrainian pilot. One of the first videos that went viral, which was included in the montage shared by the official Ukraine Twitter account, was actually a computer rendering from a combat flight simulator originally uploaded by a YouTube user with just 3,000 subscribers. And a photo supposedly confirming the fighter’s existence, shared by a former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, was from a 2019 Twitter post by the Ukrainian defense ministry.

           IT'S BEEN DONE BEFORE

During the summer of 1914 in a crucial battle in Mons Belgium British troops claimed to have seen St. George and a group of Longbowmen in the skies, which they claimed to have turned the battle in their favour.

This is known as the Legend of Mons, and occult horror author Arthur Machen claimed at the time that it was based on his short story called the Bowman which had been published in the popular press of the day. However historian A.J.P Taylor believed the story and recorded it in his history of WWI.

The fact that the tale and trench rumours of Angels of Mons appeared the summer before may have had a subconcious effect on the soldiers in the trenches facing the first industrialized war of mass murder. 

          LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: WWI Xmas Mutiny (plawiuk.blogspot.com)


When fact-checking website Snopes published an article debunking the video, some social media users pushed back.

“Why can’t we just let people believe some things?” one Twitter user replied. “If the Russians believe it, it brings fear. If the Ukrainians believe it, it gives them hope.”

In the information war over the invasion of Ukraine, some of the country’s official accounts have pushed stories with questionable veracity, spreading anecdotes, gripping on-the-ground accounts and even some unverified information that was later proved false, in a rapid jumble of fact and myth.

The claims by Ukraine do not compare to the falsehoods being spread by Russia, like laying the groundwork for a “false flag” operation in the lead-up to the invasion, which the Biden administration sought to derail. As the invasion neared, Russia falsely claimed that it was responding to Ukrainian aggression and liberating citizens from fascists and neo-Nazis. And since the assault began, Russia made baseless claims that Ukrainians had indiscriminately bombed hospitals and killed civilians.

Instead, Ukraine’s online propaganda is largely focused on its heroes and martyrs, characters that help dramatize tales of Ukrainian fortitude and Russian aggression.

But the Ukrainian claims on social media have also raised thorny questions about how false and unproven content should be handled during war — when lives are at stake and a Western ally is fighting for its survival against a powerful invading force.

“Ukraine is involved in pretty classic propaganda,” said Laura Edelson, a computer scientist studying misinformation at New York University. “They are telling stories that support their narrative. Sometimes false information is making its way in there, too, and more of it is getting through because of the overall environment.”

Anecdotes detailing Ukrainian bravery or Russian brutality are crucial to the country’s war plan, according to experts, and they are part of established war doctrine that values winning not just individual skirmishes but also the hearts and minds of citizens and international observers.

That is especially important during this conflict, as Ukrainians try to keep morale high among the fighters and marshal global support for their cause.

“If Ukraine had no messages of the righteousness of its cause, the popularity of its cause, the valor of its heroes, the suffering of its populace, then it would lose,” said Peter W. Singer, a strategist and senior fellow at New America, a think tank in Washington. “Not just the information war, but it would lose the overall war.”

In previous wars, combatants would try to sabotage enemy communication and limit the spread of wartime propaganda, even cutting physical communication lines like telegraph cables. But there are fewer such cables in the internet age, so in addition to downing communication towers and disrupting pockets of internet access, the modern strategy also involves flooding the internet with viral messages that drown out opposing narratives.

That digital battle moved at startling speed, experts noted, using an array of social media accounts, official websites and news conferences streamed online to spread Ukraine’s message.

“You have to have the message that goes the most viral,” Singer said.

That was the case with another report from Ukraine involving a remarkable confrontation on Snake Island, an outpost in the Black Sea. According to an audio recording released by Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper, and later verified by Ukraine officials, 13 border guards were offered a frightening ultimatum by an advancing Russian military unit: surrender or face an attack. The Ukrainians responded instead with an expletive, before apparently being killed.

Audio of the exchange went viral on social media, and the clip posted Feb. 24 by Pravda received more than 3.5 million views on YouTube. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine personally announced the deaths in a video, saying they would each be awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.

But just days later, Ukrainian officials confirmed in a Facebook post that the men were still alive, taken prisoner by Russian forces.

Social media has become the main conduit for pushing the information, verified or not, giving tech companies a role in the information war too. The fake Ghost of Kyiv video, for instance, was flagged as “out of context” by Twitter, but the montage posted to Ukraine’s official Twitter account received no such flag. The false photo posted by Poroshenko, the former Ukrainian president, also had no flag.

While Twitter monitors its service for harmful content, including manipulated or mislabeled videos, it said that tweets simply mentioning the Ghost of Kyiv do not violate its rules.

“When we identify content and accounts that violate the Twitter Rules, we’ll take enforcement action,” the company said.

In exercising discretion over how unverified or false content is moderated, social media companies have decided to “pick a side,” according to Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and a former head of security at Facebook.

“I think this demonstrates the limits of ‘fact-checking’ in a fast-moving battle with real lives at stake,” Stamos said. He added that technology platforms never created rules against misinformation overall, instead targeting specific behaviors, actors and content.

That leaves the truth behind some wartime narratives, like an apparent assassination plot against Zelenskyy or simply the number of troops killed in battle, fairly elusive, even as official accounts and news media share the information.

Those narratives have continued as the war marches on, revealing the contours of an information war aimed not just at Western audiences but also Russian citizens. At the United Nations on Monday, the Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, shared a series of text messages that he said were retrieved from the phone of dead Russian soldier.

“Mama, I’m in Ukraine. There is a real war raging here. I’m afraid,” the Russian soldier apparently wrote, according to Kyslytsya’s account, which he read in Russian. The tale seemed to evoke a narrative advanced by officials and shared extensively on social media that Russian soldiers are poorly trained, too young and don’t want to be fighting their Ukrainian neighbors. “We are bombing all of the cities together, even targeting civilians.”

The story, whether true or not, appears tailor-made for Russian civilians — particularly parents fretting over the fate of their enlisted children, experts said.

“This is an age-old tactic that the Ukrainians are trying to use, and that is to draw the attention of the mothers and the families in Russia away from the more grandiose aims for war, onto, instead, the human costs of war,” said Ian Garner, a historian focusing on Russia who has followed Russian-language propaganda during the conflict. “We know that this is really effective.”

Official Ukrainian accounts have also uploaded dozens of videos purportedly showing Russian prisoners of war, some with bloody bandages covering their arms or face. In the videos, the prisoners are heard denouncing the invasion. The videos may raise questions about whether Ukraine is violating the Geneva Conventions, which has rules about sharing images of war prisoners.

Russia has also engaged in its own form of mythmaking, but experts say it has been far less effective. Rather than targeting international observers with emotional appeals, Russia has focused on swaying its own population to build support for the battle, according to Garner.

Since Russian state media is still calling the conflict a “special military operation” and not a war — in line with the description used by President Vladimir Putin of Russia — state broadcasters are left “trying to talk about a war that is apparently not happening,” Garner said.

The Russian government “can’t play to its strongest narratives of individual sacrifice,” he added, instead relying on stories of Ukrainians bombing hospitals and civilians, providing no evidence.

Ukraine’s efforts to amplify its own messages also leave little room for Russia to dominate the conversation, according to Singer, the strategist from New America.

“A key to information warfare in the age of social media is to recognize that the audience is both target of and participant in it,” Singer said. He added that social media users were “hopefully sharing out those messages, which makes them combatants of a sort as well.”

© 2022 The New York Times Company
Fire out at Ukraine's key nuclear plant amid Russian attacks





















1 / 21
Ukraine Nuclear PlantThis image made from a video released by Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant shows bright flaring object landing in grounds of the nuclear plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine Friday, March 4, 2022. Russian forces shelled Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday, sparking a fire as they pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea. 
(Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant via AP)

JIM HEINTZ, YURAS KARMANAU and MSTYSLAV CHERNOV
Thu, March 3, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A fire at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant ignited by Russian shelling has been extinguished, Ukrainian authorities said Friday, and Russian forces have taken control of the site.

Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far. It said staff are studying the site to check for other damage to the compartment of reactor No. 1 at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of Enerhodar.

The regulator noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling.

The shelling of the plant came as the Russian military pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea. As the invasion entered its second week, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.

Leading nuclear authorities were worried — but not panicked — about the damage to the power station. The assault, however, led to phone calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders. The U.S. Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.

Earlier, nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells fell directly on the facility and set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, he said.

The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said that measurements taken at 7 a.m. Friday (0500 GMT) showed radiation levels in the region “remain unchanged and do not endanger the lives and health of the population.”

The mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, announced on his Telegram channel Friday morning that “the fire at the (nuclear plant) has indeed been extinguished.” His office told The Associated Press that the information came from firefighters who were allowed onto the site overnight.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in “coming hours” to raise the issue of Russia’s attack on the nuclear power plant, according to a statement from his office.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted that the Zaporizhzhia plant’s reactors were protected by robust containment structures and were being safely shut down.

In an emotional speech in the middle of the night, Zelenskyy said he feared an explosion that would be “the end for everyone. The end for Europe. The evacuation of Europe.”

“Only urgent action by Europe can stop the Russian troops,” he said. “Do not allow the death of Europe from a catastrophe at a nuclear power station.”

But most experts saw nothing to indicate an impending disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the fire had not affected essential equipment and that Ukraine’s nuclear regulator reported no change in radiation levels. The American Nuclear Society concurred, saying that the latest radiation levels remained within natural background levels.

“The real threat to Ukrainian lives continues to be the violent invasion and bombing of their country,” the group said in a statement.

Orlov, the mayor of Enerhodar, said Russian shelling stopped a few hours before dawn, and residents of the city of more than 50,000 who had stayed in shelters overnight could return home. The city awoke with no heat, however, because the shelling damaged the city’s heating main, he said.

Prior to the shelling, the Ukrainian state atomic energy company reported that a Russian military column was heading toward the nuclear plant. Loud shots and rocket fire were heard late Thursday.

Later, a livestreamed security camera linked from the homepage of the Zaporizhzhia plant showed what appeared to be armored vehicles rolling into the facility’s parking lot and shining spotlights on the building where the camera was mounted.

Then there were what appeared to be muzzle flashes from vehicles, followed by nearly simultaneous explosions in surrounding buildings. Smoke rose into the frame and drifted away.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have brought their superior firepower to bear over the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains in the south.

The Russians announced the capture of the southern city of Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 280,000, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed the takeover of the government headquarters there, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.

A Russian airstrike on Thursday destroyed the power plant in Okhtyrka, leaving the city without heat or electricity, the head of the region said on Telegram. In the first days of the war, Russian troops attacked a military base in the city, located between Kharkiv and Kyiv, and officials said more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

“We are trying to figure out how to get people out of the city urgently because in a day the apartment buildings will turn into a cold stone trap without water, light or electricity,” Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said.

Heavy fighting continued on the outskirts of another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea. The battles have knocked out the city’s electricity, heat and water systems, as well as most phone service, officials said. Food deliveries to the city were also cut.

Associated Press video from the port city showed the assault lighting up the darkening sky above deserted streets and medical teams treating civilians, including a 16-year-old boy inside a clinic who could not be saved. The child was playing soccer when he was wounded in the shelling, according to his father, who cradled the boy’s head on the gurney and cried.


APTOPIX Germany
Many thousands of demonstrators walk down Willy-Brandt-Strasse, a main thoroughfare in Hamburg, Germany, carrying banners reading ""No more war"." and ""Another world is possible"." on Thursday, March 3, 2022. The Fridays for Future organization is taking to the streets around the world this Thursday to express solidarity with Ukraine and to protest Russia's attack on the country. (Daniel Reinhardt/dpa via AP)

Severing Ukraine’s access to the Black and Azov seas would deal a crippling blow to its economy and allow Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014.

Overall, the outnumbered, outgunned Ukrainians have put up stiff resistance, staving off the swift victory that Russia appeared to have expected. But a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia’s seizure of Crimea gave it a logistical advantage in that part of the country, with shorter supply lines that smoothed the offensive there.

Ukrainian leaders called on the people to defend their homeland by cutting down trees, erecting barricades in the cities and attacking enemy columns from the rear. In recent days, authorities have issued weapons to civilians and taught them how to make Molotov cocktails.

“Total resistance. ... This is our Ukrainian trump card, and this is what we can do best in the world,” Oleksiy Arestovich, an aide to Zelenskyy, said in a video message, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during World War II.

MAKHNOVIST BANNER 1917-1921 UKRAINE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemelyan_Pugachev

Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (Russian: Емелья́н Ива́нович Пугачёв; c. 1742 – 21 January [O.S. 10 January] 1775) was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks who led a great popular insurrection during the reign of Catherine the Great. Pugachev claimed to be Catherine's late husband, Emperor Peter III.

 ...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin

The second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations was held in neighboring Belarus. But the two sides appeared far apart going into the meeting, and Putin warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its “demilitarization” and declare itself neutral, renouncing its bid to join NATO.

Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron he was determined to press on with his attack “until the end,” according to Macron’s office.

The two sides said that they tentatively agreed to allow cease-fires in areas designated safe corridors, and that they would seek to work out the necessary details quickly. A Zelenskyy adviser also said a third round of talks will be held early next week.

Despite a profusion of evidence of civilian casualties and destruction of property by the Russian military, Putin decried what he called an “anti-Russian disinformation campaign” and insisted that Moscow uses “only precision weapons to exclusively destroy military infrastructure.”

Putin claimed that the Russian military had already offered safe corridors for civilians to flee, but he asserted without evidence that Ukrainian “neo-Nazis” were preventing people from leaving and were using them as human shields.

The Pentagon set up a direct communication link to Russia’s Ministry of Defense earlier this week to avoid the possibility of a miscalculation sparking conflict between Moscow and Washington, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the link had not been announced.

___

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Chernov reported from Mariupol, Ukraine. Sergei Grits in Odesa, Ukraine; Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; and other AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

What is Zaporizhzhya, Europe's largest nuclear power plant?

Michael Ruiz
Thu, March 3, 2022,
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which has six reactors and supplies a quarter of the country’s electricity, is the largest facility of its kind in Europe and one of the biggest on the planet.

Russian forces attacked the plant early Friday morning local time, according to Ukrainian authorities, who warned that a meltdown there could be up to 10 times larger than the one in Chernobyl in 1986.

The bombardment sparked a fire, but authorities said radiation levels appeared normal, "essential" equipment had not been affected and that crews were addressing the damage.


The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is pictured in the town of Enerhodar April 9, 2013. Reuters

RUSSIAN TROOPS SHELLING UKRAINE'S LARGEST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SPARKING FIRE, OFFICIALS SAY

The plant is located in the town of Enerhodar near the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. It’s one of four active nuclear facilities in Ukraine and accounts for six of the country’s 15 total reactors.

Zaporizhzhya’s reactors were commissioned between 1984 and 1995, according to its website. Construction on the first reactor began on April 1, 1980. The fifth was completed in 1989.

Officials added a sixth in 1995 after lifting a moratorium on further nuclear development.

It’s operated by Ukraine’s NNEGC Energoatom.

According to Power-Technology, an energy trade publication, the site was chosen because the surrounding land was unsuitable for agriculture and because of the site’s distance from other countries. The site also houses a spent-fuel storage facility underground.

In 2014, an apparent short-circuit at the facility led to some safety concerns, according to Reuters.

Local officials and the French nuclear safety watchdog IRSN later said they found no unusual radioactivity or danger to the public as a result.

The plant has an automated radiation monitoring system that posts real-time results on its website. The monitor was revamped in February 2021.


CRITICAL RACE THEORY

'Incredible and tragic' story of America's largest free Black settlement comes to Pensacola



Kamal Morgan, Pensacola News Journal
Thu, March 3, 2022

Leading up to the Highlights in Black exhibition in December, museum manager Mike Thomin and Pensacola City Councilwoman Teniadé Broughton were figuring out which significant archaeological sites featuring Black history they should focus on next.

The fort at Prospect Bluff was the first to come to mind.

Following the War of 1812, Prospect Bluff held the largest free Black settlement in the United States. The new exhibit details how the maroons, or free Black people who escaped slavery, worked hard to protect their beacon of freedom and how the fort's destruction showed the commitment the U.S. government had to maintaining the institution of slavery.

"One of the reasons why this settlement was so feared was because it was enslavers' in the American South's worst nightmare," said Thomin, museum manager of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. "It was a free community of formerly enslaved people who had emancipated themselves and were literally fighting back to maintain their freedom."


The Florida Public Archaeology Network is presenting a new exhibit called "The Maroon Marines: Archaeology at Prospect Bluff." It details the battle at Prospect Bluff, which held the largest free Black settlement in what is now the United States.

Highlights in Black: Show will spotlight 5 exhibits in Pensacola that illuminate Black history

Black Heritage Trail: Black History Month: 8 stops on Florida's Black Heritage Trail

The Florida Public Archaeology Network, with support from Broughton, will hold an opening reception of the new temporary exhibit, "The Maroon Marines: Archaeology at Prospect Bluff," from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Destination Archaeology Resource Center at 207 E. Main St. in Pensacola.

Broughton said she is thankful to sponsor and highlight events that have shaped Pensacola's history.

"Exhibit openings welcome guests to ask questions and offer their opinions in a casual setting. More so, exhibits give a moment to reflect, to actually sit with the artifacts and connect objects to the people who created them," Broughton said. "We don't know all of the names and personal thoughts of freedom seekers at Negro Fort. But the material culture that survives them sends a power message from the past that says, 'We were here and we died for our freedom.'"


Part of a moat that once surrounded the fort that stood at Prospect Bluff remains in the Apalachicola National Forest in this April 2019 file photo. After the War of 1812, Prospect Bluff held the largest free Black settlement in the United States.

The fort was constructed during the War of 1812 when the United States and British were at odds. The British decided in 1814 to open up a front in the Gulf South. They constructed Prospect Bluff, which was also called the British Post or Negro Fort by the Americans, along the Apalachicola River in what is now the Apalachicola National Forest.

It was mainly built by the Corps of Colonial Marines, which consisted of fugitive slaves and Creek tribesman who the British recruited. Because fugitive slaves did not want to go back into slavery and the Indigenous communities were resisting changes to their native lifestyles and encroachment onto their lands, some members of both groups were willing to side with the British against the Americans.

When the War of 1812 ended in 1815, the British left Florida and left the 300 African Americans and Indigenous people with all their weapons hoping they would defend themselves from the United States. The fort garnered a reputation as a beacon of freedom for escaped slaves as eventually 800 fugitive slaves from the Pensacola region, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi, came to settle in the surrounding areas.

Daniel Vasquez, an archaeologist with PaleoWest, digs out a layer of sediment April 17, 2019, from a test site as the U.S. Forest Service studies the land where the fort at Prospect Bluff was located. After the War of 1812, Prospect Bluff held the largest free Black settlement in the United States.


Escambia history: From 1821 to 2021: Creating a sense of place by linking the modern with the historic

"They didn't just hand these guys guns and they had to figure it out, they were highly trained Marines and there were hundreds of them," Thomin said of the fort's occupants. "And that guaranteed safety if you could get there and so that became, in the U.S. government's eyes and in slavers' eyes, a huge problem."

When Gen. Andrew Jackson heard about the fort, he came with the Army and Navy to destroy it. After a few skirmishes, Jackson ordered Maj. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines to destroy the fort. On July 27, 1816, Gaines fired a heated cannon ball to ignite gunpowder stored inside the fort.

The explosion killed over 270 men, women and children, and most survivors were executed or sent back into slavery. Those who did survive and escape went to Seminole towns nearby or to another free Black settlement called Angola in the vicinity of present-day Sarasota.


The Florida Public Archaeology Network is presenting a new exhibit called "The Maroon Marines: Archaeology at Prospect Bluff." It details the battle at Prospect Bluff, which held the largest free Black settlement in what is now the United States.

The upcoming Pensacola exhibit will feature many artifacts that were loaned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Forest Service. Some of these include brass straps that were probably from the exploded powder kegs that destroyed the fort in 1816, military items such as bayonets and ammunition and pottery fragments to showcase the daily life of people living in the fort.

Thomin and Broughton said they feel the exhibit demonstrates how Black and Indigenous history needs to also be told.

"The hope is that people, maybe if they're learning about it for the first time through the exhibit, that they'll then go and do more research and learn about it," Thomin said. "It's an amazing, incredible and tragic story, but it really shows the resilience and I think that's something that we can all really appreciate as human beings, is that resiliency."

For more information, visit the Destination Archaeology Resource Center's website at destinationarchaeology.org or its Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola exhibit examines Prospect Bluff, large free Black settlement
‘I feel empty, scared’: Dubai-based Ukrainian expats share their ordeal amid invasion


People wait to board an evacuation train from Kyiv to Lviv at Kyiv central train station following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 1, 2022. (Reuters)

Tala Michel Issa, Al Arabiya English

Published: 03 March ,2022: 

Ukrainian expatriates living in the United Arab Emirates shared their fears and concerns about their family and friends who are still stuck in Ukraine since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Dubai-based Ukrainian expat Olga told Al Arabiya English that her life has not been the same since the start of the invasion.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“I’m totally destroyed and frustrated,” the 33-year-old said. “This has been the worst week of my life. Me and my friends here in Dubai are trying to help in every possible way.”

Olga’s family members are from Kyiv and have decided to stay in the capital throughout the invasion to help with the situation however they can.

“My mom is volunteering and helping to weave the camouflage nets for our army and sorting the donated clothes that will be sent to the most affected regions,” she said, adding that her pregnant sister, however, fled Kyiv out of fear for her life.

“My family is in Western Ukraine. There have been some airstrikes there, but it is still a little bit safe than other regions. My sister is pregnant, so she made a decision to leave Kyiv after the first missile strikes hit the city,” Olga explained. “She said she had never been more scared in her life.”

Many residential buildings were destroyed in Kyiv, Olga said. Despite this, many of her friends refused to leave the city despite the critical situation.


A view shows an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine February 26, 2022. (Reuters)

“The last time the city looked like this was probably after World War Two.”

‘I feel empty and scared’

Ukrainian expat and operations manager at a media firm in Dubai, Anna, 31, told Al Arabiya English that it has not been easy for her friends and family to reach the European border.

“We [Ukrainians] all know what is going on. This is not a ‘special operation,’ this is a real war,” said Anna. “The invasion has united all Ukrainians. We want to say to Putin that we don’t want his help on the territory of our independent country.”


Rescuers remove debris in the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. 
(File Photo: Reuters)

“I am from the east [of Ukraine] and for my family and friends, it has not been easy to reach the border with Europe. We are 1,300 kilometers away from the border with Europe. My father and brother can’t leave the country now, under the new update from the government,” she explained.

“I feel empty inside… and scared. I can’t help them,” she said. “Everything I wanted 10 days ago, I don’t want it anymore. All I want is for the Ukrainian people stuck in Ukraine to be safe.”

She continued, “One thing I can say for sure is that our people are very strong, and they hope that this will end tomorrow.”

There have been conflicting accounts about the number of civilian deaths in Ukraine since the start of the invasion. The country’s State Emergency service said on Wednesday that over 2,000 civilians have died because of the invasion, but the United Nations has cautioned that this number might be much higher.

“Ukraine is fully destroyed. I really don’t know what the future holds for my country, but I am sure we will win,” Anna said.

Dubai-based communications professional and Ukranian expat Maria S., 31, used to live in the Solimyanskii District, had lived abroad ever since she was 22.

A residential building right next to the school she used to go to has been bombed, she said, which is about a five minute walk from her home.

“My friends are there and my uncle, who is my closest relative.”

“I woke up on February 24 with a message from my friend at around 7 in the morning. She texted one word: it [the invasion] started," she explained. “Since then, I’ve gone through lots of phases, I guess. I couldn’t sleep for three days…I was crying.”

“I have some of my childhood friends who are volunteers in the [Ukrainian] army right now,” Maria S. said in an interview with Al Arabiya English. “Most of my friends have left the country, the majority of them are in Europe. In Poland and Germany.”
‘Crime against humanity’

Maria P., 32-year-old Dubai-based Ukrainian expat, told Al Arabiya English that her family has been hiding in shelters.

“It’s a war. My city Kharkiv is under attack. My family and friends are hiding in shelters,” she said, deeming the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “crime against humanity.”

A satellite image shows a damaged bridgeroad and nearby homes, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022. (Reuters)

The northeastern city of Kharkiv, is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine and has long-been renowned for being a major cultural and educational hub in the country.

Russian paratroopers landed in the city to fight and take control of it early Thursday, with intense shelling.


Three men stand in the rubble in Zhytomyr on March 02, 2022, following a Russian bombing the day before. (AFP)

More than one million people have fled Ukraine to seek refuge in neighboring countries since last week, the United Nations reported on Thursday, adding that the number could increase to four million.

“I am against war. I am against Putin,” said Maria P.


“One of my old classmates went by bicycle from Kyiv to Lviv, which is around 10 hours by car, so I don’t even know how much time it took for her to go there by bicycle but she got there and she managed to cross the border to go to Poland and eventually, Germany. I’ve been watching her stories [on Instagram] from the shelter and in the conditions they are in right now and bombed cities,” said Maria S. “I feel like the people abroad are panicking more than them. I never thought that people could be that brave. They [Ukrainian people] never stop trying. They never stop believing.”

“Everyone has been extremely brave.”

Tensions rise between Russians and Ukrainians

Many Ukrainians took to social media over the past week to express their fear and disappointment over the Russian invasion and the state of their country, but this has since caused tensions to rise between Russians and Ukrainians.

“For us, Ukrainians, our normal life stopped last Thursday at 5 in the morning with the first Russian airstrike,” Olga said, adding that she was disappointed by many of her Russian friends who were posting videos of themselves having fun and partying on social media while all the Ukrainians they knew were grappling with fear and guilt, trying to help their families back home in any way possible.

“Some of my Russian friends are sincerely sorry about what’s been happening in Ukraine. Some others I used to regularly chat with before suddenly started to avoid me, or if they can’t [avoid me], they pretend like nothing is happening,” she said, adding that some of her Russian friends and relatives living in Russia had not texted her since the beginning of the invasion.


“They didn’t check if I’m OK or if [my family] are safe. This silence for me is also an answer.”

Maria P., 32, told Al Arabiya English that she felt a little tension with her Russian expat friends.

“The Russian invasion has caused some tension between me and some of my Russian expat friends. But the majority of my Russian friends are against the Russian regime and the war,” said Maria P.

Anna said that Russia has been waging an “informational” war by managing to “isolate a lot of people from reality and pin them against us [Ukrainians].”


“Russians who live abroad, they understand what happened and that people should not suffer. Even some Russians living in Russia can’t seem to understand why their government took this step and they feel sorry as we are connected by families and realities. But I can’t understand why some Russians wish us dead and are in favor of the war,” she said.

“Propaganda and Russian TV works well. On the third day of the Russian invasion, Russian TV showed that there were no victims from their army. Can you imagine? And who did they send to fight us? Young men, military students,” added Anna.

“I want Russian people to understand that a game of politics can never make up for the cost of the lives that are lost.”


“I am incredibly proud of our president. If it was not for him, we would lose on the first day,” said Maria S.

“I am not against Russia. I am against the people who support the conflict, regardless of their nationalities,” she added. “They [Russian army] are physically bringing their military technique and military planes, they are shooting our civilians, [destroying] our houses, ruining our childhood memories.”

“Thankfully, all my friends are against what is happening and they are doing their best to help and spread the news,” Maria S. explained. “Right now, we have a strong army and united people despite being under attack, me and my friends from all parts of the world are trying to sort out logistics for those who are in need. No one is asking for money, people giving accommodation, transfer and food for free.”

Throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022, Russia’s military buildup on its shared border with Ukraine had escalated tensions between the two countries and tremendously affected their bilateral relations.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers take part in special tactical training exercises held by police, the National Guard and security services at the Kalanchak training ground in the Kherson region, Ukraine, on February 12, 2022. (Reuters)

Many countries have acted in solidarity, imposing tough sanctions on Russia and denouncing it over its invasion of Ukraine.

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to reprimand Russia over the invasion and demanded that it stop fighting and withdraw its military forces, aiming to diplomatically isolate Russia at the world body, Reuters reported.

Moscow has dealt with unprecedented international backlash over the past few days, especially from the West, whose sanctions have crippled Russia’s economy, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the biggest assault on a European state since the Second World War.
Africa rushes to evacuate nationals from Ukraine

Following reports of mistreatment and racial profiling of Africans in war-ravaged Ukraine, governments have begun to evacuate their nationals. Most of the evacuees are medical students hoping to finish their studies.




A government official spoke with Ghanaian students evacuated from Ukraine on their arrival in Accra


African countries have intensified efforts to evacuate their nationals from Ukraine. The African Union has urged governments to respect international law and assist all those fleeing from war in Ukraine after African students raised concerns of discrimination at the border points.

Although some students are happily back with their families, many remain stranded inside Ukraine and at border points with neighboring Poland. Other Africans have chosen to stay in Ukraine, particularly those without residence permits.

African countries that have repatriated their citizens

Zimbabwe said it had evacuated 118 students from Ukraine to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

Some 79 Kenyan students have left Ukraine following Russia's invasion and have sought refuge in neighboring countries like Poland, Romania and Hungary. However, according to Kenyan authorities, only one student has arrived back in Kenya. The government of President Uhuru Kenyatta has said it is coordinating the evacuation of many other students from various cities in Ukraine.

Nigeria said 256 of its nationals have left Ukraine. Gambia said it is coordinating with Morocco and Nigeria on the possible evacuation of its citizens.

Tanzania's Foreign Ministry said that 38 students in Ukraine had crossed into neighboring Poland, and officials at Tanzania's embassies in Germany and Sweden were overseeing the repatriation of all Tanzanians still stranded inside Ukraine.

An Abidjan news website reported that Ivory Coast's foreign minister, Kandia Camara, held a meeting with envoys from the EU, US and the UK to seek their support in evacuating Ivorians from Ukraine.

Guinea's Foreign Ministry said it has created a crisis unit to help coordinate the evacuation of its citizens from Ukraine.


Samuel Adjar hugs his daughter, Princilla, a medical student who was evacuated from Ukraine

'Chaotic' border crossing

Princilla Ayealey Adjar, 23, from Ghana had spent almost five years in Chernivtsi, western Ukraine, studying medicine. She told DW she had to walk many kilometers to reach the Romanian border to get to safety.

"We got off the bus, and we had to trek over an hour and a half, and that is how we got to the border that was already chaotic," said a relieved Adjar.

"There were so many people, Ukrainians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Indians; everybody was trying to find their way out of the country," she said, as she recalled the challenging journey.

On March 1, Adjar and 16 other students who made it to the Romanian border and other crossing points were evacuated to the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to reunite with their families. According to Ghanaian officials, the first batch of students arrived on separate flights operated by Qatar and Turkish Airlines and are part of about 527 Ghanaians who had safely crossed the Ukrainian border to neighboring Romania, Poland, Moldova, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Princilla's father, Samuel Adjar, told DW that the entire family "is so excited that she made it back home safely. However, Adjar said the government should prioritize evacuating those still stranded in Ukraine.

"We still have our children there [Ukraine], and we are praying that all of them will have an opportunity to move back to the borders safely and then eventually come home," he said.

For now, Princilla Adjar feels lucky to be back in Ghana, but her worries are not over yet. "We are worried that we won't be going back to school anytime soon. Russia is now targeting important infrastructure, and I don't know if our school buildings will be spared. So, it is quite worrisome," she said.



The AU has urged countries to respect international law and assist Africans seeking to flee Ukraine

Ghana vows to speed up evacuations


Ghana's foreign minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said Accra had evacuated at least 500 nationals from Ukraine.

"We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure that all our nationals in Ukraine and those who have successfully exited that country can avoid harm and travel back home if they so wish," Botchwey told reporters.

She urged parents and other families to share information about their family members still inside Ukraine, and their locations, so that authorities can plan their evacuation.

Ghana is the first African country to successfully evacuate most of its citizens from Ukraine. Hundreds of Ghanaians are expected to return home in the coming days, according to Botchwey.

More than 2,000 Ghanaians have safely crossed several border points of Ukraine into neighboring countries.

However, despite the efforts to evacuate the African students, some have stayed behind regardless of the safety concerns. For instance, according to the Angolan state-owned newspaper Jornal de Angola, Angolans who had irregularly migrated to Ukraine have refused to be evacuated. The report said the Angolan migrants were afraid that Ukrainian authorities might prevent them from returning to the country.


Isaac Kaledzi in Accra contributed to this article

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu
Fact check: Russia falsely blames Ukraine for starting war

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow was acting to end the "systematic extermination of the Donbas population" that had been supposedly ongoing since 2014. 

DW Fact Check explains why this is false.



The claim is this: "Russia did not start a war, it is ending it," wrote Maria Zakharova, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a recent Facebook post.

In doing so, she framed the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the wider Donbas conflict, which has been raging for years. Russian President Vladimir Putin had argued similarly at the outset of the Russian attack, when he falsely justified Russia's offensive as an act of self-defense in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter. Zakharova also claimed that Ukraine planned the "systematic extermination of the Donbas population."

It's a narrative that's also being spread by Russian state broadcaster RT.


A screenshot taken of Maria Zakharova's Russian-language Facebook statement, with an auto-translated English version below

DW fact check: False


Both of Zakharova's statements are false. The current armed conflict began when Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, shortly after Putin, during a televised speech, announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Russia started the fighting and triggered an ongoing escalation when it crossed into Ukrainian territory.

The second claim made by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson is also false: There is no evidence whatsoever that there was a "systematic extermination" of people in the Donbas.
Russians started the armed conflict back in 2014

Ukraine and Russia disagree on who provoked the start of the conflict in 2014. It erupted after Ukraine's then-President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the EU. Pro-Western demonstrations eventually forced Yanukovych to flee the country, after which an interim government took over Ukraine.



It was then that soldiers in green uniforms but without insignia occupied Crimea. At the time, Russian officials said these troops were not acting on orders from the Kremlin, though many Western observers doubted this claim. That same year, a referendum was held on the occupied peninsula over whether it should join the Russian Federation. A majority of voters voted in favor, thus paving the way for Russian annexation. The referendum, however, was widely dismissed as illegitimate. At the same time, Russia began supporting separatist movements in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, which was met with military action by Kyiv government forces.

The point at which this conflict turned into all-out war is disputed among the parties involved and scholars.

The contested areas of Donetsk and Luhansk declared themselves a "people's republic" in 2014. Moscow recognized them as independent on February 21, just days before this year's invasion. The conflict escalated into interstate war when Russian troops crossed the border of eastern Ukraine on February 24, 2022, entering Ukrainian territory.
No evidence of planned genocide

In her Facebook statement, Maria Zakharova also said that at least at least 13,000 people had been killed in the war in eastern Ukraine since 2014. She also claimed that there was a "systematic extermination of the Donbas population." There is no evidence, however, that proves a "systematic extermination" of the civilian population is occurring. An OSCE monitoring mission active in Ukraine since 2014 has found no evidence of mass targeted killings of civilians in the Donbas region. So far, the Russian Foreign Ministry has not provided any proof to back up its claim that the people of eastern Ukraine are subject to "systematic extermination."


The UN has accused both sides of human rights violations such as torture and raping prisoners, especially during the early years of the conflict. It also says the Minsk ceasefire agreement was repeatedly broken by both sides.

It is true that at least 13,000 people have been killed in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to the latest report by the United Nations, up to 13,200 people died in the conflict until early 2020. Of those, 3,350 were civilians and 5,650 insurgents, according to the UN. It says that 4,100 of those killed were members of the Ukrainian military.

Conclusion: Maria Zakharova's claim that Ukraine started this war is false. The Russian Federation illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sparking broad international condemnation. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine from the north, northeast, and from the Crimean Peninsula in the south, initiating a full-scale interstate war between Russia and Ukraine.
Kherson: Eyewitness reports from a Ukrainian city under siege

One week into the war Russia appears to have taken the first major city in Ukraine. Residents of Kherson tell DW about what it's like to be in a city under siege, with roadblocks and looting.



Missiles reportedly hit civilian targets in Kherson as well

According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian "occupiers" have made it into all parts of the port city of Kherson. They were "very dangerous," Ukraine said.

"We have no Ukrainian armed forces in the city, only peaceful residents who want to live here!" Kherson's mayor Igor Kolychayev said in a statement on Thursday night. Russian soldiers were in the city administration, but the Ukrainian flag was still flying over the building.

Local resident Alexey Sandakov, who lives near downtown Kherson, confirmed on Thursday that the Ukrainian administration was still up and running. He told DW over the phone that he hadn't been onto the street in two days.

"We nailed the windows and doors shut," he said, explaining they'd set up a camera to show them what was going on on the street outside. "We saw military vehicles, but no ground forces."



Residents say there are military trucks on the streets of Kherson

Sandakov and another resident, Artemii Perun, also reported looting by Russian soldiers. Perun said he had temporarily moved to another part of the city because his apartment on the outskirts was within range of the fighting. He was still hearing shots on Thursday night. Reports by the Ukrainian army, however, no longer mention any fighting for the city.

Most people stay at home

The port city of Kherson in southern Ukraine is strategically important for Russia, being close to the Crimean Peninsula and at the mouth of the Dnipro River. With a population of around 300,000, it would be the first major city to be taken by Moscow's troops.

According to Artemii Perun, Russian troops have set up roadblocks. "Anyone who is traveling alone or as a couple and has food or medicine with them can usually pass. But there are also some who have been turned away."

There are long queues outside grocery stores and pharmacies, he says. "Many try to help each other and exchange medicines with each other." Most residents, however, stay at home if possible.

US pensioner Donald Flett has been living in Kherson for years. He reported over the phone that shortly before the Russian invasion, he saw missile attacks near his home on the northern outskirts of the city. He sent DW a video that is supposed to show hits on the residential area.

"A missile hit the first floor of a block of flats. An old woman lived there. They carried her out in pieces," he says. He also confirmed that there has been no change in the city administration so far. He is in contact with Mayor Kolychayev, who is currently negotiating a humanitarian corridor with the Russian army.
Russia advances

Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine a week ago and has since attacked several cities. Over the past days, Russia has stepped up its airstrikes — while at the same time, talks have taken place between Moscow and Kyiv.

The much smaller port city of Berdyansk, 350 kilometers east of Kherson, has already been occupied by Russian troops. An offensive is also underway against the port city of Mariupol, a little further to the east.

"Today was the most difficult and cruel day of the war so far," Mariupol mayor Vadim Boichenko said in a video message. The city council said Russia kept Mariupol under constant fire and was deliberately damaging civilian infrastructure.

Destroyed bridges and railroad tracks made evacuations and delivery of supplies impossible. Water supply, energy and heating were also all affected.

According to the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, Russian troops fired on a checkpoint set up by civilians there. The enemy had advanced with a large military convoy and had used weapons against citizens, Dmytro Orlov said on Thursday.

These claims could however not initially be verified. Russia strongly denies targeting civilians.
Key Russian liberal media close, suspend operations amid Kremlin war crackdown


Thu, 3 March 2022, 1

This combination of pictures shows Russian activists protesting government restrictions on freedom of speech (AFP/Natalia KOLESNIKOVA) (Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

Two of Russia's landmark liberal media outlets were dissolved or suspended operations on Thursday, amid an unprecedented Kremlin crackdown over its war with Ukraine.

Alexei Venediktov, chief editor of Ekho Moskvy radio, told AFP that the station's board of directors has decided to disband the iconic outlet following government moves this week to clamp down on the few independent media left in the country.

Authorities say they are targeting outlets that spread "deliberately false information" about the war in Ukraine.

Choking back tears, Natalia Sindeyeva, CEO of independent TV Dozhd said she and her colleagues have made "the hardest decision of their lives" to temporarily suspend the work of the channel.

"We need strength and some time to exhale and understand how to work next," Sindeyeva said on Dozhd's YouTube channel, after its website was blocked by the government on Wednesday.

Founded in 2008, the television channel is considered to be one the few remaining bastions of free speech in Russia.

It had survived several crackdowns and cataclysms, but kept working, providing an unparallelled coverage of anti-Kremlin protests, the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and since last week, the war in Ukraine.

But Sindeyeva said that a bill taken up by the Russian parliament this week that introduces fines and jail time for publishing "fakes" about Russia's war in Ukraine would completely incapacitate Dozhd.

"Our work will be practically impossible. Or we will be left reporting on beautiful art shows and fireworks," a shaken Sindeyeva said.

"We really hope that we will get back on the air."

A few moments later, Sindeyeva was surrounded by a dozen Dozhd employees, some wearing black hoodies with the channel's logo.

Crying or holding back tears, they each said goodbye to their viewers and thanked them for support.

- 'Half war-like environment' -

Dozhd chief editor Tikhon Dzyadko and his wife Ekaterina Kotrikadze, an anchor at the channel, said Wednesday that they had temporarily left Russia, citing government pressure and concerns for their safety.

The atmosphere was slightly more cheerful at Ekho's bureau, where Venediktov, who has been at the helm of the radio station for over 20 years, vowed to continue working.

Speaking to AFP, Venediktov said he would challenge the board's decision and the station would continue operating "until they shut us up with force," Venediktov said.

"We are living in a half-warlike environment now, and the government is introducing, step by step, restrictive laws for the media and in general, not just for journalists."

He compared the actions of the Russian government to the late years of the Soviet Union, before Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika liberalisation campaign started.

"We are returning to that," Venediktov said. "We will continue living and working with all that."

Ekho Moskvy made its name when it became a rare uncensored source of information for Russians during the failed 1991 coup, which precipitated the Soviet collapse.

- Anti-anxiety medication -

At Ekho's office, journalists, many of them young and wearing jeans and hoodies, appeared determined. Laughter and chatter was heard in the halls as reporters hugged and expressed support for one another. A poster on a wall read "No to War."

"We are in a fighting mood," said Nikita Vasilenko 27, a producer at Ekho. "We will continue working as a private journalist collective".

News reporter Oleg Ovcharenko, 26, admitted that some of his colleagues had to take anti-anxiety medication when the news came of Ekho being banned.

"It was a shock for everybody, this piece of news was hard on many people," he told AFP.

But Ovcharenko is not ready to give up.

"It is too early to panic. We are continuing our job," he said.

Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops there under the pretext of "demilitarising and denazifying" Russia's Western-leaning neighbour.

The international community has responded with widespread condemnation and hit Russia with harsh economic sanctions in order to cripple its economy.

But as Russian troops continued shelling Ukrainian cities, causing numerous civilian deaths, Putin was unbowed Thursday, vowing to continue his "uncompromising fight against militants of nationalist armed groups".

Political analyst Kirill Rogov said the media crackdown was a dark sign of more devastation and pain to befall Ukraine.

"The most horrible thing is not the onslaught of censorship gone insane, but that fact that, with a high degree of probability, these (media) closures are a preparation for the storming of Ukrainian cities and for hiding the scale of the losses and destruction," Rogov wrote on Facebook.

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