Diane De Han

FACED MY FEARS IN PORTLAND is available in both ebook & paperback format. 🎉

🍷 “Is he drunk?” Putin-supporting singer slammed after concert in Tyumen Outraged Russians took to social media to complain that Filipp Kirkorov could barely stand on his feet and was skipping entire lines of his songs. The singer's representatives later blamed his strange behaviour on what they claimed was illness and poor health. Not everyone bought that explanation, of course. For context, Filipp Kirkorov is one of Russia's most popular entertainers. He proudly calls himself the “King of Russian Pop”.

❗️Zelensky: The Russians genuinely believe they have occupied half of the Donbas territory that Ukraine actually controls — and it is truly half, not just one village, which they openly talk about. Our team is amazed that they can even say this while our soldiers are still there. Putin lives in a different reality.

“Neighbors from hell”: Family from Oleshky reveals how they survived Russian occupation Serhii Samarsky, his wife Olha, and their son Vladyslav remained in Russian-occupied Oleshky in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 2022. After finally escaping to Ukrainian-controlled territory, they shared their story with The Kyiv Independent. Russian soldiers moved into their apartment building and launched drones directly from it. At one point, Serhii and Olha were detained and interrogated in a basement for three days. According to Olha, even a trip to the grocery store was dangerous: a drunk Russian soldier could turn hostile over a Ukrainian word or clothing in blue and yellow. During winter, the family lived without heating or electricity, slept wearing three jackets, and hid Ukrainian writing on food packages delivered by Ukrainian military drones. Food supplies to the town had almost completely stopped. The family survived on homegrown zucchini, grains, and canned food. On October 31, the family finally escaped Russian occupation through a humanitarian evacuation. They could take only one bag each and their two cats. Their son saved photographs of the family albums on his phone. “We’re free. We were walking through Kyiv, thinking: there are cars here, people, and the lights are on in the houses. It’s incredible,” Olha recalled. Back in Oleshky, the family left behind a hidden three-meter-long Ukrainian flag. They hope to return for it one day 💔

Putin has transferred control of Japan Tobacco International’s Russian assets to a company owned by former FSB officer Sergei Dremov. He served in the security services from 2000 to 2016 and later held positions in Crimea, including as a regional lawmaker. His phone number appears in leaked contact databases under labels referencing the FSB and Rostec. The transfer covers JTI’s Russian factories and its import, sales and management subsidiaries.

BIG | 🇺🇦🇷🇺‼️‼️ UKRAINIAN STRIKES HAVE DISRUPTED NEARLY 30% OF RUSSIA’S OIL REFINING CAPACITY! According to Reuters, Ukrainian attacks have disrupted operations at nine of Russia’s 35 largest oil refineries since late October, dealing a major blow to the country’s energy infrastructure. The affected facilities have a combined processing capacity of approximately 300,000 tons of crude oil per day, compared with Russia’s total refining capacity of around 930,000 tons daily. Russian refineries were processing roughly 700,000 tons per day at the end of October, but subsequent strikes could have reduced actual output by another 200,000 tons. The affected facilities include refineries in Ryazan, Yaroslavl, and the Volga region. On November 9, Ukraine also targeted the Kirishi refinery, Russia’s second-largest. The scale of the disruption highlights Ukraine’s growing ability to strike Russia’s energy infrastructure far beyond the front lines. Sustained attacks on refining facilities could increase pressure on domestic fuel supplies, military logistics, and the broader Russian economy. However, disrupted capacity does not necessarily translate into an equivalent reduction in actual production, and the duration of the damage will be critical. See the latest updates with us: @visionergeo

📽 Five weeks of russian terror in a 57-second video. This is what everyday life looks like for ordinary people in Ukraine today. A glimpse of what we go through, day after day.

Putin sent GRU assassins into the meeting with Kushner, Witkoff, Budanov and the rest of the Ukrainian delegation. These are the new allies of the White House, while only 3% of the US electorate supports Russia.

The last of the tankers carrying Russian diesel towards the US has made a U-turn about 400 nautical miles from New York. So no Russian diesel has not reached the US.

russia brought an FSB general accused by Ukraine of organizing the assassinations of two Ukrainian intelligence officers to the negotiating table in Abu Dhabi. Dmitry Minaev was accused of orchestrating the 2017 car bombings that killed HUR General Maksym Shapoval and SBU Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberiush. His department was also linked to an assassination attempt on Kyrylo Budanov. Now Minaev sits at the negotiating table while Budanov represents Ukraine. The people accused of organizing the murders of Ukrainians are now pretending to negotiate peace. This is russia.