"Chinese satellite imaging of Ukraine links with Russian strikes on energy facilities - Zelensky
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that a link
has been observed between Chinese satellites imaging Ukrainian
territory and Russian strikes on energy infrastructure facilities.
Zelensky reported this on Telegram following a briefing by Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukrinform reports.
"In particular, we are recording increased ties between Russia and
entities in China that may be providing space-based intelligence data.
Unfortunately, there have been correlations between Chinese satellite
imaging of Ukrainian territory and Russian strikes on the corresponding
energy infrastructure facilities," Zelensky said.
He noted that he views such cases as activities that enable Russia to prolong the war..."
WASHINGTON — Former first son Hunter Biden is blaming the “really
distasteful” “hypocrites” who worked for then-President Barack Obama for
setting in motion his most controversial foreign business dealings during his father Joe Biden’s eight-year vice presidency.
Hunter, now 55, blamed Obama’s staff for forcing him to start back at
“square one” because they were concerned about conflicts of interest in
his domestic lobbying work, using a new 5 ½-hour podcast with “The Shawn Ryan Show” to blast former associates and powerful Democrats.
“Obama picked him to be vice president. And in so doing, he had a
group of people that I find to be really distasteful and hypocrites, but
they said that I needed to give up my [domestic lobbying work],” he
said.
“I was working for these universities, but I was assisting them both in
the legal and the policy perspective and lobbying to help them get
money… I was a lobbyist and so I voluntarily, but with a lot of pressure
from them, none from my dad, had to give up that business.”
Hunter said in his woe-be-me account that he had been earning money from
“like 14, 15 Jesuit universities. And that was my entire practice and I
was really proud of it.”
“And so I basically started back in square one,” he said.
“And I started a consulting firm because I also stepped down from the
board of Amtrak because they said that that was a conflict of interest
and they were concerned that it was a conflict of interest,” the
disgraced former first son said.
“I had to rebuild and I didn’t have any savings — had three girls,
all in private school at the time, and, you know, don’t have any money.”
Hunter said that he initially worked with new domestic clients,
including a “large Midwestern infrastructure firm” after his dad became
vice president in 2009, before joining in 2014 the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, which famously paid him $1 million per year despite no industry experience.
“I was very, very naive about what a viper’s den Ukraine is. What an
absolute, like, talk about a, like, a level of corruption that [is]
still staggering,” said Hunter, whose dad led the Obama administration’s
Ukraine portfolio when he was raking in millions there.
“It was absolutely a mistake,” he said of the Burisma job, “not
because of anything that I did that I am embarrassed about or in anyway
whatsoever feel conflicted about as it relates to what I did for
Burisma. But because of the political position that it put us all in.”
He brushed past his dealing with twoChinese government-linked entities, which paid him additional millions — including after he wrote in a 2017 text message that he was sitting with his dad and expecting payment — and laughed off concern about his art career later during his dad’s presidency.
“I was on the cover of the New York Post more times in one year than
anybody in the history of the paper going back to like 1780. And none of
it was good,” he complained — misstating The Post’s 1801 establishment
by founding father Alexander Hamilton.
Hunter repeated his claim that an infamous 2017 email penciling in a
10% cut for his father — the “big guy” — as part of a Chinese energy
venture was written by a business partner without any reflection of
reality.
“What f—ing foreign business are you talking about? I had a partner
who was Chinese, who was part of a private equity company, and we were
gonna invest in natural gas in the United States in an industry that I
knew of. And it fell apart and it didn’t happen,” Hunter blustered.
“And I worked for, on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, and as a
lawyer, I represented a guy that was from Romania for a three month
period of time. There’s my foreign business. I never had any business
with any foreign government ever, ever.”
He blasted his former “best friend in business” Devon Archer, whom President Trump pardoned in March for
defrauding an American Indian tribe, for gaining his clemency after he
“literally stuck his lips around the ass of [first sons] Don Jr. and
Eric [Trump].”
Hunter Biden said he’s roughly $15 million in debt with no plan to
pay it off after federal prosecutions and congressional investigations
throughout his dad’s four-year term of office.
He didn’t mention specific debtors, presumably including Hollywood
attorney Kevin Morris, who spent at least $6.5 million to bankroll
Hunter’s defense and Los Angeles lifestyle, including covering
his $17,500 monthly rent...
One Democratic source jokingly referred to the book-length interview as
“the podcast from Hell” — a reference to Hunter’s infamous laptop
containing embarrassing photos and documents linking his dad to foreign
patrons across the globe.
A former Biden aide, who admitted they hadn’t listened to the
sprawling soliloquy, said Hunter is entitled to his own views, and that
his sniping at Obama’s aides was understandable because “they hated his
dad from the beginning and were actively mean and dismissive.”
Hunter also sought to turn the tables on the Trump administration on
tape, arguing he had more experience to justify his foreign work than
businessman Steve Witkoff has to serve as Trump’s special envoy to the
Mideast and Russia.
“Witkoff… has zero experience. Everybody says that I don’t have
experience. I was a f–king adjunct professor at Georgetown University
School of Foreign F–king Service,” he exclaimed.
He insisted that his tax fraud, for which his dad last pardoned him
after he pleaded guilty, stemmed from his addiction to crack cocaine and
the fact that his accountant died, and argued that his illegal
gun-possession conviction, for which he also was pardoned, won’t be a
constitutionally valid rap for long due to a pending court case.
Hunter Biden served no prison time for either set of crimes after his father’s pardon last December — despite similarly situated offenders often being put behind bars..."
***
Democrats, needless to say, are notoriously silent about what Hunter Biden was doing in Ukraine.
"Putin will not be satisfied with any peace plan that prevents him from destroying Ukraine, says Merezhko
Tanya Polyakovskaya, December 24, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined the 20-point peace plan that Ukraine developed jointly with the United States... UNIAN spoke about this plan with Oleksandr Merezhko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation.
- Does the "framework" plan, as outlined by Zelenskyy, have a chance of being adopted in Russia?What points will Putin definitely disagree with?
Absolutely not.The fact is that they (Russia, - ed.) stupidly and stubbornly repeat their demands, which, in essence, amount to Ukraine's capitulation.That is, they demand, first of all, the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk region.Recently, they've even started hinting at a "Novorossiya."This means their appetites could expand, and, accordingly, their demands.
Secondly, they demand a "neutral status for Ukraine," which is unacceptable to us.It's impossible, both legally and politically, from the standpoint of the state's survival—giving up the prospect of NATO membership.
Thirdly, restrictions on our armed forces, so-called demilitarization, or holding elections, for example.Some of Russia's demands are aimed at weakening our defenses as much as possible, so that they can be seized in the future.Others are aimed at destroying us from within.
In other words, all their demands have one goal: to destroy Ukraine, to subjugate and destroy Ukrainian statehood.And we must understand that everything else is just words, a political game.Putin has not abandoned this primary goal: the destruction of Ukraine.
Therefore, he will not be satisfied with any option, any plan that does not give him the opportunity to destroy us.This must be understood very clearly.Of course, we must negotiate so that Trump sees that we are committed to peace, that the issue is not about us.This is to prevent Putin from shifting responsibility onto us, as he is trying to do through Vitkoff.
Now the project will be presented to Russia.Putin won't even read it.He will repeat: "It's not a bad plan, but fulfill our demands."He formulated what he demands from the West: "We need to be respected, our interests."What are they?Very simple ones: a sphere of influence."Give us Ukraine, our sphere of influence. Stop supporting Ukraine so that we can destroy its statehood."This is Putin's main demand.He is not refusing and is unlikely to refuse.Only when the pressure is so great that he has no other choice.Therefore, the plan is correct, but we should not expect it to produce results.
- Doesn't the clause: "If Ukraine invades Russia or opens fire on Russian territory without provocation, security guarantees will be considered null and void. If Russia opens fire on Ukraine, security guarantees will come into effect" open wide scope for manipulation and provocation?
Of course.We remember the Minsk agreements.There were constant provocations, the Russians were constantly shelling us.They will continue to do so; let's have no illusions.
What are security guarantees?
When you read this draft, you see that there are only abstract formulations, from which it's unclear what exactly is meant by a security guarantee.
The only thing that can guarantee security is something that will deter Putin.And what can deter him?Only Ukraine's membership in NATO.Kissinger said that Ukraine absolutely must become a NATO member, but only within the territories currently under NATO control.Kissinger believed that this would guarantee that Ukraine would not begin to liberate these territories by armed force without NATO's consent.That was his plan.It's a highly questionable plan, of course.But at least Kissinger understood that this was the only guarantee of security for Ukraine, even though he was not at all favorable to Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy stated that the US wants "compensation for security guarantees," but Zelenskyy himself said Ukraine doesn't understand what that means.What exactly could the US want?
First, tell us, what exactly do you mean by security guarantees?If you're against NATO for Ukraine, then give us the security guarantees you gave to Japan and South Korea: a reciprocal bilateral security agreement that clearly states that if Russia attacks Ukraine, the United States will consider it an attack on itself.With corresponding consequences involving the use of armed force.Then I understand.This isn't NATO, but at least let's talk about it.Accordingly, if you agree to this, then it makes sense to discuss the economic aspects.
- And how realistic is an $800 billion investment fund?
We've already signed the Minerals Agreement.It talks about creating such a fund through the extraction of minerals and rare earth metals.But to develop and extract all this, we need peaceful conditions.Because business is unlikely to operate under fire or in occupied territory.So let's first have peace and guarantees, and then start extracting.
- The US plan suggests that the United States will somehow pressure Europe to lift sanctions against Russia, and similarly pressure Europe to admit Ukraine to the European Union.How realistic is this, given the deterioration in US-EU relations over the past year?
The US cannot force Europe to make such decisions.Europe and the EU have their own procedures, and they decide.Trump doesn't understand how EU law operates, how the procedural issues of joining the EU and EU membership work.This is a naive view.Every EU member state must express its consent.This is a rather complex process.There are key states that support Ukraine's membership in the EU, but the United States cannot tell Germany, "Do it."That could be counterproductive.The populations of these countries may not accept attempts to dictate this to them.I would respect the sovereignty of every country that is a member of the European Union.The United States cannot guarantee that Ukraine will become an EU member tomorrow, or next year, or the year after that.That depends on the EU, on its member states...
- What, in your opinion, could be the most problematic aspect of all this, and what could provoke rejection and resistance from society and the military?
There are "red lines."First, the limitation of state sovereignty.It is unacceptable for someone to dictate to us whether or not to join another international organization: NATO or any other.We are not dictating Russia's withdrawal from the CSTO.Then there is the issue of territorial concessions, that is, the violation of territorial integrity.This is absolutely unacceptable.In any form.For Ukrainian society, parliament, and the president.
Limiting the size of the army.There's a very simple principle underlying international law: the sovereign equality of states.So, if someone raises the question that Ukraine, the victim of aggression, should limit its defense, then the question arises: why doesn't the the perpetrator of aggression do the same?"
"Kasparov voiced the only way to end the war: "Putin understands well..."
Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov stated that the Ukrainians can only end the war by military means.
There is no diplomatic way to end the war in Ukraine, so peace talks will lead nowhere, Garry Kasparov said.He also emphasized that next year could prove decisive in many ways, as the strategic picture will finally take shape.
Kasparov expressed his views on peace talks on the Delfi Lithuania YouTube show.
"Life makes its own adjustments. The war continues because for Putin, war has become a way to maintain power. Even in the highly unlikely scenario of a pause in Ukraine (I believe the likelihood of this is close to zero), Putin's army, which numbers almost 1 million people, will go elsewhere precisely because under no circumstances will this million, I believe, deranged people ready to kill, be returned to Russia," the opposition politician opined.
Kasparov also pointed out an important nuance: "The return of these people to Russia will create a situation in which the emergence of a new Prigozhin will only be a matter of time, and Putin understands this well. Therefore, the war will continue in all its forms (both hybrid and real on the ground). 2026, in my opinion, will truly be a turning point, because this is the year when the strategic picture must be determined. There is no other option for ending the war other than the defeat of Putin's military machine. Everything else is just wishful thinking or attempts to profit from it, either politically or financially.""
"The US wanted compensation for security guarantees for Ukraine, says Zelenskyy
Nikita Shenderovsky, 24.12.25
The US plan to end the war in Ukraine included a clause compensating Washington for providing Kyiv with security guarantees, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters.
"It stated here: the US will receive compensation for security guarantees. We simply don't understand what that means, and we're raising this issue. Now it's been deleted," Zelenskyy said."
"The United States believes that Ukraine has failed to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements, Zelenskyy said
Nikita Shenderovsky, December 24, 2025
Russia is questioning Ukraine's compliance with the peace agreement, believing Kyiv failed to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed this opinion during a conversation with journalists, a UNIAN correspondent reports.
"You have to understand the Americans, who have been in a months-long dialogue with the Russians, who tell them: yes, but what's the point of what they sign or don't sign? They signed the Minsk agreements, but they didn't implement them. It's the common opinion of Americans and Russians that Ukraine didn't implement them. We're not debating whether this is true or not. We must defend our interests," Zelenskyy said.
He added that although the agreement was signed, it was impossible to implement.Some of its provisions were deadlocked.And Russia failed to fulfill those obligations that could realistically be fulfilled.
"Now they're saying Ukraine didn't fulfill them. But the agreement was designed to be impossible to implement; it was drafted and concluded that way. It's a stalemate. No one can do it. Neither side. But it's assumed that Ukraine signed it, meaning they were expected to fulfill it. Often, a little more is required of Ukraine," Zelenskyy added.
As a reminder, in 2023, former Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov stated that when drafting the Minsk agreements, the Russian leadership assumed they would not be implemented.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously noted that in order to conclude an agreement to end the war, Kyiv must receive reliable security guarantees.He also noted that no one believes in the Budapest Memorandum, Minsk II, or Minsk III, as new security guarantees must be legally binding and approved by parliament."
BERLIN — Far-right German politician Ringo Mühlmann has taken a
noteworthy interest in exposing information his political opponents say
could be of great interest to Russian intelligence.
Using the rights afforded to him as a lawmaker for the Alternative
for Germany (AfD) in the parliament of the eastern German state of
Thuringia — where the AfD is the strongest party — Mühlmann has
repeatedly asked the regional government to disclose intricate details
on subjects such as local drone defenses and Western arms transports to
Ukraine.
“What information does the state government have about the extent of
military transit transports through Thuringia since 2022 (broken down by
year, type of transport [road, rail], number of transits, and known
stops)?” Mühlmann asked in writing in September.
One day in June, Mühlmann — who denies he is doing Russia’s bidding — filed eight inquiries related to drones and the drone defense capabilities of the region’s police, who are responsible for detecting and fending off drones deemed a spy threat.
“What technical systems for drone defense are known to the Thuringian
police (e.g., jammers, net launchers, electromagnetic pulse devices),
and to what extent have these been tested for their usability in law
enforcement?” Mühlmann asked.
Such questions from AfD lawmakers on the state and federal
parliaments have led German centrists to accuse the far-right party’s
lawmakers of using their seats to try to expose sensitive information
that Moscow could use in its war on Ukraine and to help carry out its
so-called “hybrid war” against Europe.
“One cannot help but get the impression that the AfD is working
through a list of tasks assigned to it by the Kremlin with its
inquiries,” Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier, a member of the
center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), told German newspaper Handelsblatt.
“What struck me was an incredible interest in critical infrastructure
and the security authorities here in Thuringia, especially how they
deal with hybrid threats,” Maier subsequently told POLITICO. “Suddenly,
geopolitical issues are playing a role in their questions, while we in
the Thuringian state parliament are not responsible for foreign policy
or defense policy.”...
Tino Chrupalla, one of the AfD’s national leaders, strongly pushed
back against the allegations his party is attempting to reveal arms
supply routes to benefit the Kremlin.
“Citizens have legitimate fears about what they see and experience on the highways every evening,” he said in a talk show last month
when asked about Mühlmann’s inquiries. “These are all legitimate
questions from a member of parliament who is concerned and who takes the
concerns and needs of citizens seriously. You are making insinuations,
which is quite perfidious; you are accusing us of things that you can
never prove.”
Mühlmann, a former police officer, speaking to POLITICO, denied that
he’s following an assignment list “in the direction of Russia.”
Government ministers, while obligated to answer each parliamentary
inquiry, are not obliged to reveal sensitive or classified information
that could endanger national security, Mühlmann also argued.
“It is not up to me to limit my questions, but up to the minister to
provide the answers,” he said. “If at some point such an answer poses a
danger or leads to espionage, then the espionage is not my fault, but
the minister’s, because he has disclosed information that he should not
have disclosed.”
Flood of parliamentary questions
Marc Henrichmann, a conservative lawmaker and the chairman of a
special committee in Germany’s Bundestag that oversees the country’s
intelligence services, said that while the government is not obliged to
divulge classified or highly sensitive information in its answers to
parliamentary questions, Russian intelligence services can still piece
together valuable insights from the sheer volume and variety of AfD
inquiries.
“Apart from insignificant inquiries and sensitive inquiries, there is
also a huge gray area,” Henrichmann said. “And what I have regularly
heard from various ministries is that individual inquiries are not
really the problem. But when you look at these individual inquiries side
by side, you get a picture, for example, of travel routes, aid
supplies, and military goods to or in the direction of Ukraine.”
AfD factions in German state parliaments have submitted more than
7,000 security-related inquiries since the beginning of 2020, according
to a data analysis by Spiegel — more than any other party and about one-third of all security-related inquiries combined.
In Thuringia — where state intelligence authorities have labelled the AfD an extremist group — the party has submitted
nearly 70 percent (1,206 out of 1,738) of all questions filed this
legislative period. In the Bundestag, the parties parliamentary
questions account for more than 60 percent of all inquiries (636 out of 1,052).
The AfD’s strategic use of parliamentary questions is nothing new,
experts say. Since entering the Bundestag in 2017, the party has
deployed them to flood ministries and to gather information on perceived
political adversaries, experts say.
“From the outset, the AfD has used parliamentary questions to
obstruct, paralyze, and also to monitor political enemies,” said
Anna-Sophie Heinze, a researcher at the University of Trier.
With regard to the flood of inquiries related to national security,
the question of what is driving the AfD is largely irrelevant, said
Jakub Wondreys, a researcher at the Hannah Arendt Institute for
Totalitarianism Studies at the Technical University Dresden who studies the AfD’s Russia policy.
“It’s not impossible that they’re acting on behalf of Kremlin. It’s
also possible that they are acting on behalf of themselves, because, of
course, they are pro-Kremlin. But the end result is pretty much the
same. These questions are a potential threat to national security.”"
"I was 14 when Epstein recruited me. He demanded that girls show their school IDs
Susie Coen
Jeffrey Epstein demanded that young girls show their school IDs to prove they were underage.
Marina
Lacerda, who was abused by Epstein from the age of 14, said the
paedophile was “furious” when an 18-year-old was brought to him,
immediately sending her away.
Ms
Lacerda, now 37, was forced to recruit other victims, and told The
Telegraph that Epstein instructed her to only present him with girls who
had a student school ID.
Brazilian-born Ms
Lacerda said Epstein stopped abusing her when she was 16 or 17 because
he thought she was too old and she was not bringing him girls who were
young enough.
“I
did bring him somebody at the age of 18, and he booted her out... He
just looked at her and knew she wasn’t the age of 14, 15, or 16. And he
really, he was like, ‘Get the f--- out’... he was aggressive,” Ms
Lacerda said.
“He
turned to me, and he was like, ‘I’m done.’ He’s like, ‘You need to start
bringing me IDs when you bring girls here... I want school IDs.’”
After the partial release of the Epstein files,
Ms Lacerda accused the government of orchestrating a “cover-up” by
redacting swathes of documents and failing to release everything it held
to “protect” powerful men.
Ms Lacerda’s testimony
about being subjected to years of abuse was critical in securing the
2019 charges against the paedophile months before he died in jail.
She
is referred to as “Minor-Victim 1” in the 2019 indictment and spoke
publicly for the first time in September to call for the release of the
Epstein files.
She
said she had looked through some of the recently released files and saw
notes about Epstein demanding to see girls’ IDs, information that
appeared to be from her interview with the FBI in 2019, two months
before Epstein’s arrest.
On
Saturday, she also said the paedophile would “brag” to his powerful
friends that he was being massaged by a “beautiful girl” while on a
call, and make her say hello to them.
“We did speak to a lot
of people on the phone who were, you know, politicians, some were
princes... [they] were very important people,” she told The Telegraph.
He would “make it clear that he knew everybody and he owned everybody... he manipulated us,” she said.
After
lying down for a massage, Epstein would ring his contacts to “talk
business and would always bring up the fact like, ‘oh, you know, I have
this nice, young, beautiful girl giving me a massage.’”
He
would hand her the phone and tell her to “just say hello”, Ms Lacerda
said. She would tell the men something like “Hey, how are you?” but
would not discuss anything “deep”.
Ms Lacerda said Epstein never explicitly told the powerful men that she was underage...
“There’s a reason why everything’s redacted,” Ms Lacerda said, adding that it was “100 per cent a total cover-up”.
“It’s almost like a
joke, right? Like, we have to look at it as it’s like, this has to be a
comedy show. Like, why did you even put out all these files?”
She
added: “Who are we really trying to protect? Are we protecting
survivors, or are we protecting these powerful men?... We’re tired of
it. It’s gotten to the point where, you know, we’ve protected these
powerful men for a long time.”
Ms Lacerda met Epstein
in 2002 when she was recruited by a friend, who did not give her details
other than that she could make money massaging someone.
Ms
Lacerda, a Brazilian immigrant, was sharing a single bedroom with her
mother and sister at the time and saw it as an opportunity to support
her family.
“It got
to the point where I think I got really desperate for money,” she said.
However, she could not face working for him any more after being forced
to recruit young girls.
She said: “I didn’t want to bring any more underage girls, being 17 and having some knowledge of what was really going on there.
“You
had no choice but to bring him somebody because he’s so persistent and
just he wanted to have, you know, a new face, a new girl.”"
"‘Peace in Ukraine is impossible while Putin remains in power’
Roland Oliphant,
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Battle Lines podcast, Sir Laurie Bristow
said Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical ambitions ‘cannot be reconciled with
our interests’
A deal between Russia and Ukraine to end their war with each
other is impossible while Vladimir Putin is alive and in power, a former
British ambassador to Moscow has said.
Sir Laurie Bristow, who
served as British ambassador to Russia between 2016 and 2020, said the
idea that Putin could be persuaded to stop fighting in exchange for
territorial concessions was a “fantasy”, and that Western leaders must
accept that Moscow’s position would not change as long as he is in
office.
Sir Laurie, who later headed the UK mission in Kabul
during the evacuation from Afghanistan, also said British and other
Western governments should face up to the scale of that disaster.
“Specifically on Russia, it is: understand the nature of the problem,” he told The Telegraph’s Battle Lines podcast when asked how he would advise the Prime Minister if he were still a diplomat.
“The
key to thinking about how the war might end is first of all do away
with fantasies. There is not a deal to be done with Russia where you
trade some Ukrainian land for some other Ukrainian land and somehow
Putin’s happy and goes home. That isn’t going to happen.
“What [Putin] wants to do here is essentially assert the rights
as he sees them of a great power to a sphere of influence – essentially
an empire in central and eastern Europe – and that cannot be reconciled
with our interests.
“The second fantasy to do away with is that this conflict is resolvable
while Putin is in office. By which I think I mean while Putin is alive.
For the conflict itself to resolve, Russia has to fundamentally change
and that will not happen [while Putin remains in post].”...
Sir Laurie, for his part, said Putin’s own public statements made clear that he was not interested in compromise.
European
leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, instead must accept they will have
to continue to arm Ukraine in order to deter Russia from pressing ahead
“not because we want the war to continue but because we want it to
stop”, he said.
“If the Americans decide their interests are
elsewhere, our interests are still in European security and there is no
escaping from that. This is fundamentally about the UK’s security,” Sir
Laurie added."
"Putin’s army of influencers selling pipe dreams of a Russian Mariupol
Iona Cleave
Elizaveta Chervyakova poses in front of a high-rise building in occupied Mariupol that is being rebuilt into a block of luxury apartments.
She ignores the fact that the building was once home to hundreds of Ukrainians before it was obliterated by Russian bombs during Moscow’s three-month siege in 2022.
In videos that garner
thousands of views, the 21-year-old blogger paints a rosy picture of the
coastal city returning to life as part of a Putin-era mega project of
“magical” new apartment complexes, shopping centres and neighbourhoods.
In an interview, Ms Chervyakova insists that the Russian-occupied city is not a “ghost town” and that she wants to “dispel any myths” that it is not a good place to live.
But a Telegraph investigation has found she is one of a growing number
of social media influencers who are becoming increasingly key to a
co-ordinated Kremlin-led propaganda campaign to promote the
Russification of the city and of life flourishing under Russian rule.
Elizaveta Chervyakova says she wants to ‘dispel any myths’ that Mariupol is not a good place to live - Instagram
Moscow’s 85-day offensive against the city
on the Sea of Azov killed between 20,000 and 88,000 civilians and
damaged or destroyed 90 per cent of the city’s residential buildings.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled, leaving just 100,000 of its
original residents.
Since then, Moscow has poured billions of roubles into remaking the city
in a Russian mould by 2025, a plan significantly behind schedule as a
result of the scale of devastation its military inflicted. The local
influencers are key to pumping out positive updates and pro-Kremlin
narratives.
Four influencers living in Mariupol explained how their aim was to show Vladimir Putin’s “amazing” development of the city and dismissed accusations of them being propagandists, instead presenting themselves as truth tellers.
It
is unclear if all the influencers receive direct funding or guidance
from Russian authorities. None of those interviewed would discuss such a
link.
One blogger,
Kirill Sazonov, is accused of selling properties that belong to
Ukrainians who fled the war, a claim that he strongly denies. The houses
he tries to sell are often older and found in poorer, run-down
districts, clearly distinct from the new developments.
Mr Sazonov, 37, originally from Donetsk, said the real estate business
was “good, growing gradually”. Shrugging off the criticism he receives
online, he said: “If I’m making videos, if I’m popular, of course
there’s hate.”
The influencers fail to mention why the city needs to be rebuilt or the
dire conditions the residents living under Russian occupation face. The
remaining Ukrainians suffer from a chronic housing shortage, a collapsed
medical system, a persistent water crisis and the absence of critical
workers.
In her videos, Ms Chervyakova is determinedly upbeat and admiring of the changes the new city administration is making.
“The
city is developing,” she said. “It has its challenges, but so does
every city…Yes, there are still some buildings that are still destroyed
that spoil the view.”
As part of his mega project in Mariupol,
Putin signed a decree in late November instructing officials to use
“media and internet resources, including social networks, video hosting
sites, instant messengers and blogs” to disseminate content aimed at
“strengthening civil unity” in the occupied territories.
The new “blogging
schools”, opening across occupied territories that have the clear
patronage of Russian-installed administrations, appear to be a result of
this.
The Donbass
Media Center (DMC) opened a blogging school in Mariupol in September
2024, following similar schemes in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk and
later Melitopol. It offers free two-week courses for those aged 16-25
on how to build an audience on Russian platforms. Ms Chervyakova is a
graduate.
One of its instructors is Pavel Karbovsky, 24, who is known as “Donbas
Cosmonaut” online. He has racked up millions of views online encouraging
people to visit the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, portraying
Mariupol as a beach, food and clubbing destination.
Pavel Karbovsky encourages people to visit the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic
Mr
Karbovsky, who grew up in Donetsk region, said his aim was to show the
city’s “amazing” development. He unequivocally states in his videos that
Mariupol and Donetsk are part of Russia.
Through
his work at the DMC, “a lot of talented kids have emerged thanks to us…
we taught them how to film, how to create great content”, he told The
Telegraph.
Mr
Karbovsky said he did not know whether it was funded by the Russian
government – but it would be “cool” if it was. His name appears on
Ukraine’s unofficial database of “enemies” of the state accused of
colluding with Moscow.
The organisation that
runs the DMC is partnered with “Russia – Land of Opportunities”, a
Kremlin-funded presidential programme that invests in bloggers
throughout Russia and the “new regions”.
Its
2025 winner was Irina Mishina, a pro-Russia blogger from occupied
Luhansk, who said her goal was to “show real life of our republic: not
through politics or conflicts, but through people’s stories, through the
revival of our cities, and through the eyes of our youth”.
Mr
Sazonov, who also has ties to the DMC, has tens of thousands of
followers and posts about reconstruction efforts in Mariupol and
encourages Russians to invest in real estate.
He posted videos from
inside and outside a property believed to have belonged to Ukrainians
who fled during their siege. Their belongings, including paintings on
the walls and furniture, remain.
The
United Nations estimates that out of 38,000 homes identified as
abandoned in the occupied territories, nearly 12,800 are in Mariupol.
Experts argue that the overall goal is to seize the homes in order to
facilitate the transfer of Russian citizens to the captured cities and
towns.
But behind
the Potemkin facade, exiled city officials and human rights groups argue
that just like the fake villages once built to impress Catherine the
Great, it is little more than a propaganda exercise.
Elina Beketova, a
fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), whose research
focuses on occupied territories, said: “All the bloggers appear to have
been given the same task – to emphasise the redevelopment work Russia
is doing.
“The
same information circulates on social media channels and it looks like
the same co-ordinated effort to show how much better it is to live under
Russian control than Ukrainian.”
Petro
Andriushchenko, a former adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol and
the head of the Centre for the Study of the Occupation, said the
overwhelming “culture of surveillance” in the occupied territories meant
“it is impossible to tell the truth in public”.
“People think they are
seeing independent opinions from bloggers on social media channels, but
it’s impossible to be independent,” he told The Telegraph.
“Every
single person making content, blogs, vlogs, from the occupied
territories is somebody under Russian control,” he added, arguing that
if they were not, they would be quickly detained or brought to heel.
According
to Yulia Gorbunova, a senior Ukraine researcher at Human Rights Watch,
the social media campaign “is part-and-parcel of Russian propaganda
efforts to erase Ukraine’s history, replace its art, language and
historical landmarks, and influence the young”.
Streets have been
renamed, monuments removed, the tricolour flag drapes from buildings,
only Russian-speaking television is shown, number plates have been
changed and the Russian curriculum imposed on schools.
On
top of that, there is a “whole range of occupation-related abuses”, Ms
Gorbunova said, including illegal home seizures, unlawful conscription
of civilians into the Russian military, coercing remaining residents to
obtain a Russian passport and the indoctrination, militarisation and
deportation of children.
Several months after
capturing the city, Moscow produced a “master plan” for the city, which
was widely discovered to be plagiarised from an outdated Ukrainian plan
for 2016 and ignored the city-wide destruction caused by the Russian
bombardment.
Critics
argued that it focused on just regeneration in the historic city centre
and the Azovstal steelworks, instead of the levelled residential
districts, where most lost their homes.
“Literally
everything in the city is being updated – from the master plan to the
dog shelter, from transportation to bus stops, from the theatre to city
parks and beaches,” the statement said.
“Literally everything
in the city is being updated – from the master plan to the dog shelter,
from transportation to bus stops, from the theatre to city parks and
beaches,” the statement said.
Analysts
have argued that this is not a long-term development plan but something
more sinister: an attempt to pave over essential evidence of alleged
war crimes.
In 2024,
a Human Rights Watch report said Russia’s refusal to allow independent
investigators into the city before demolishing large swaths of it
“effectively erased the physical evidence at hundreds of potential crime
scenes across the city”.
‘Dancing on the bones of murdered people’
But
there are other long-term goals at play, indicated by the endless
billboards advertising the city as a relocation destination and the
incentives of cheap mortgage rates and higher salaries for Russian
citizens.
So far, analysts believe more than 50,000 Russians have relocated there, with the aim of pushing out Ukrainian residents.
As
Christmas approaches, many of the social media influencers have been
showing redeveloped parts of the city lit up by festive displays. A
14-metre tree, drenched in lights, stands outside the new Mariupol Drama
Theatre.
They do
not mention that it was rebuilt after being destroyed by two Russian
bombs in 2022, killing an estimated 600 sheltering civilians. It remains
one of – if not the worst – single atrocity of the entire war.
Mariupol’s
exiled city council said Russia was trying to “restore the imaginary
‘normality’ of life through attention to the holidays”.
It
accused the occupying authorities of “dancing and singing on the bones
of the murdered people of Mariupol” in a statement on Telegram.
“However, local Mariupol residents remember the truth,” it added.
"A loan that enraged the Kremlin: why the EU decision was a bigger blow than sanctions
By allocating $90 billion to Ukraine, the European Union eliminated Kyiv's key financial risk and bet on a war of attrition that Russia will find increasingly difficult to sustain.
Anders Nielsen, a military analyst at the Royal Danish Defence College, shared his opinion on the EU's $90 billion loan to Ukraine.
Yigal Levin has compiled a summary of the expert's key points.
European media have greatly underestimated the significance of this step.For some reason, it's portrayed as a sign of weakness, as if European countries couldn't agree on the seizure of frozen Russian assets.In practice, there's little difference: the loan implies that it will be repaid by the Russians through post-war reparations, not by the Ukrainians.
The allocation of funds was critical for Ukraine: Kyiv was facing enormous problems balancing its budget for the following year.It's quite likely that Ukraine would have lost within six months.However, Ukraine now has the financial reserves to continue the war of attrition.
The Russian leadership's rhetoric clearly reveals their disappointment with the decision.Putin's talk of "European piglets" is a direct result of the loan to Ukraine.Of course, the Kremlin's plans haven't changed, and won't change anytime soon—the Russian leadership still believes it can win the war, despite the enormous problems in its own economy.However, it at least recognizes that it will now have to invest even more in the current war, and that it will drag on even longer.
What's also important is that the decision to provide the loan has marked Europe as a strategic player on the global stage.Previously, Europe was portrayed as a collection of countries that would follow in the wake of American policy.This is precisely what allowed the Americans and Russians to meet without the Europeans and decide on the future of European security.
It's worth noting that the American leadership was also upset by this decision.They, too, have started talking again about European warmongers who are hindering peace.However, this means that Europe is acting in its own interests, and no matter how upsetting this may be to other "great powers," it forces them to consider it as an equal."
"Portnikov explained why the Ukrainian Armed Forces' advance to the 1991 borders will not end the war
Journalist Vitaly Portnikov rejected the possibility of a ceasefire in the foreseeable future and provided arguments to support his belief.
"I don't think there would have been any peaceful dialogue even in the first year of the war. This is another illusion. I don't think there will be any peaceful dialogue if Ukrainian troops succeed in counterattacking on Russian positions," Vitaly Portnikov confidently stated.
The political analyst voiced his position on the NTA television channel's YouTube channel.
"I keep explaining: even if Ukrainian troops theoretically managed to reach the 1991 state border, that wouldn't be the end of the war. It would mean moving the front line to the Russian-Ukrainian border, with continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and the transformation of Ukraine itself into uninhabitable territory," the publicist warned Ukrainians.
Portnikov also emphasized an important nuance: "In this situation, the front line doesn't matter if we know the Russians' desire to render the entire territory of Ukraine unviable. Therefore, the only real condition that would force Putin, historically speaking, to abandon the continuation of the war with Ukraine is the exhaustion of Russia's financial and demographic resources, creating threats to the very existence of its repressive regime itself."
"If such exhaustion doesn't occur and there are no threats, the war will continue for as many years as Putin needs, especially since the majority of Russians fully support the war's central idea, so to speak, 'returning historical lands to Moscow's control.' I have no doubt that Russians would like the war to end, but they understand the idea of this war perfectly well," the journalist concluded."
In another interview - for the CEO Club Ukraine YouTube channel, Portnikov stated: "I hope that Ukraine will survive as an independent sovereign state. I don't know with what territory or population, but I believe that Russia still lacks the strength to conquer all of Ukraine, and the West has no desire to hand over all of Ukraine to Putin, because that would be a defeat for the West. The main thing is to wait until Russia no longer has the ability to continue destroying this country and its people... I never thought it would be easy.If you think I'm deeply disappointed, no, I'm not.I knew perfectly well how difficult it would be, because I've always understood the Russians' intentions perfectly. I worked in Russia for twenty years, and there were no secrets to me about what would happen.I knew that as soon as Ukraine separated itself from Moscow, what happened would happen, and there was one day in my life in 2014 when I realized it had begun.When I realized the annexation of Crimea was beginning, that Russian troops were entering, I realized a global conflict had begun.It was a difficult day for me, because I saw everything that would happen."
""Between 5 and 10 million Ukrainian citizens with the right to vote live in Russia, and if elections are held, we have the right to demand that they be granted the right to vote in the Russian Federation," Putin said.
Firstly, you have no right to demand anything.
Secondly, naturally, there are no 5-10 million Ukrainian citizens in Russia.
According to the 2021 census, 884,000 Ukrainians lived in Russia.
Also, after the Russian invasion, 1.97 million Ukrainians (including 19,500 deported children) left or were deported from Russia, but calculating the actual number is very difficult because many left through Russia in transit, and many were forcibly Russified.
Putin is also obviously referring to Ukrainians living in the occupied territories, who by hook or by crook hold on to their Ukrainian passports, and who were forced at gunpoint to vote in the "referendums" of the fall of 2022.
Therefore, if they want to fabricate 5-10 million ballots, it won't be difficult for them.
Naturally, voting on enemy territory is as legally nonsensical as "referendums" in territories Putin hasn't yet seized.
But the question here is how good Trump will think this is.Ukraine and Europe will have the added headache of explaining to the American president why this is impossible.
This is simply another manipulation to complicate the elections and thereby pit Trump against Zelensky again or create preconditions for their own non-recognition.
A manipulation that would not have been possible in principle if the White House hadn't fallen for it.
P.S.Putin also added that he is ready to cease long-range strikes on election day, but this will absolutely not allow the elections to be held, since troops on the front lines won't be able to vote.Only a complete ceasefire for the ENTIRE election campaign."
Ukraine has learned that frozen lines mean little without enforcement.
By Dmytro Kuleba
Dmytro Kuleba was Ukraine’s foreign minister from 2020 to 2024.
There is a temptation in every ceasefire negotiation to treat geography
as the main variable. Diplomats sweat over where the front line freezes,
which towns change hands and which lands are labeled “temporarily
occupied.” Yet the central question in these talks is not simply whether
Ukraine might give up a portion of Donbas, the ravaged region on the
nation’s eastern border with Russia, under a negotiated formula. It is
what comes next. What prevents Russia from turning a “ceasefire” into a
means of finishing the job?
This is not merely a theoretical question. Ukraine learned some hard lessons in 2015 that have left it understandably cautious.
That
year, the second Minsk agreement was signed to stop the war in eastern
Ukraine. The ceasefire was set to begin on Feb. 15. As the diplomatic
ink dried, officials spoke hopefully of de-escalation. But on the
ground, the fighting did not stop. Russian forces and their proxies
continued their assault on Debaltseve, a key rail and road junction.
Only after the city fell and Ukrainian troops were forced to withdraw on
Feb. 18 did the ceasefire truly take hold. In practice, the ceasefire
served as diplomatic cover for Russia to seize what it wanted before the
line froze.
Ukraine rightly fears a repeat of this dynamic. If Ukrainian forces
withdraw from certain areas, what physically prevents Russia from moving
into the newly vacated territory under whatever pretense they come up
with? Even if the United States and Europe threaten consequences for
such breaches, everyone understands the grim asymmetry: Sanctions can be
reimposed, weapons deliveries can be accelerated, diplomatic isolation
can deepen, and statements of condemnation can be issued. But no Western
army is going to storm a town in eastern Ukraine to evict Russian
troops after the fact.
A durable ceasefire now hangs on two questions.
First, will Russia accept an agreement in which many of its demands are
satisfied only nominally — on paper, partially or conditionally? It
might, if cornered. President Vladimir Putin’s speech on Wednesday
suggests his full goals remain unchanged. But Moscow has long treated
incremental concessions at negotiations as partial wins to pocket. A
ceasefire that reduces Russia’s immediate costs while preserving the
option to escalate later is not a concession for Putin; it is his
strategy.
Second, how will compliance be enforced in a way that actively blocks
opportunistic advances rather than merely punishes them after the fact?
If the answer is only “we will respond,” then Ukraine is being asked to
trade territory for promises — and to trust that Russia will not test
those promises. Ukraine has no trust left to give.
This is precisely what worries Zelensky and holds him back — and why his
caution is not stubbornness but responsibility. A ceasefire that simply
shifts the battlefield into a slower, dirtier gear — with ongoing
Russian provocations, creeping annexation, acts of sabotage and attempts
at political destabilization — is not a meaningful ceasefire at all...
In negotiations like these, you can traverse nearly the entire distance
and still be forced to stop at the final step. Because it’s at the final
step that risk concentrates and illusions collapse."
