Russo-Ukraine War Resources

 Ever since Russia attempted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine beginning on February 24, 2022, I've searched for and found numerous resources I consider to be reliable. Obviously, I have my own perspective on the current phase of a war that started almost a decade ago, and the sources I seek out are ones that likely share my perspective. There's a difference between having an editorial slant and being a propaganda outlet. I have no room in my life for the latter. The sources I rely upon are ones willing to report the good, bad, and ugly as well as can be expected under obviously difficult circumstances. So let's get to it.

First, I rely a lot on the Institute for the Study of War. ISW currently covers both the war between Russia and Ukraine and the current unrest in Iran that has been ongoing since last summer. For now let's stick with Ukraine. The coverage is based on any information that is open-source and publicly available, with relevant links provided. ISW is a US based think-tank and goes to great lengths to be objective in its analyses. You won't always read what you want, but you'll read what you need.

Any Reddit users out there? I am not active on Reddit, but am something of a long-time lurker. Around the start of the war, a set of Reddit users started an on-going thread collating coverage of the war (mainly via Twitter, which has its own problems currently) that I find quite helpful. It is simply known as /r/World News Live Thread for the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. I strongly recommend bookmarking it. 

If you use the Telegram app, which has its own risks, I've found several English-language channels worth seeking out and following: Live:Ukraine, United24Media, and The Kyiv Independent. There was once a Ukraine Now channel in English, but it was discontinued last fall. It's not hard to get translations from Ukrainian to English on the Telegram app, so don't be shy about subscribing. 

On Twitter, I rely on a couple lists. One is a fairly broad filter, Ukraine - Breaking News. It tends to catch plenty of tweets that really have nothing to do with the war, so please keep that in mind.

Ukraine milTwitter is arguably a bit more focused. 

Twitter resources are not as helpful as they were before Elon Musk bought the platform, but they are still functional enough. 

On Mastodon, I rely on uanews, which is a bot. It collates news relatively well. One big advantage is avoiding Twitter altogether. Even better is Ukraine War Bulletins and News, which is not a bot, but rather a human who curates current news updates on a very regular basis.

Finally, I want to recommend Julia Davis' YouTube channel Russian Media Monitor. Julia Davis is a journalist who writes for the Daily Beast, and who provides videos of Russian propagandists doing propaganda things as the war continues. If you want to know what the Russian elites really think of Ukrainians, as well as Ukraine's allies, it's an invaluable resource. The videos are in Russian language with English subtitles. Let's just say that having a window into what the average Russian is exposed to and how the folks in Moscow who are running their country into the ground really think of the rest of us is invaluable. 

At some point, I want to recommend some vloggers - some Ukrainian and some Russian - to further gain an insight into what is happening not only in Ukraine, but in Russia as well, and what is going on with Russian and Ukrainian expat communities. 

Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to MSNBC journalist, Ali Velshi  During the early weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he spent considerable time not only in Poland and Hungary covering the refugee situation as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion, but also spent time (and at considerable risk) in Lviv. More recently, he's reported from Kyiv. His reporting, his questions, and his perspective were very valuable especially during those early dark days. He helped put a human face on what was and is not only a tragedy, but an atrocity. And to think that when I first heard of him, he was just another econ journalist who valued relatively free and reasonably regulated markets (a value I share). It turns out that he's in his element in war zone environments. 

I'll have more soon. Slava Ukraini.

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