Former U.S. Special Forces soldier & Army PA (18D, 65D). Now supporting Ukraine’s fight against ruSSian occupation
Nome, Alaska/Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Joined April 2016
- Tweets23.7K
- Following951
- Followers660
- Likes106K
Pinned Tweet
Russians gonna Russian.
Remember: when a Russian steals from, abuses, rapes, or kills somebody who can’t fight back — it’s not an error, a mistake, or a glitch in the system. It IS the (Russian) system, just as completely as Nazi atrocities WERE the German system in that time.
These are socially sanctioned and expressed patterns of abuse and repression, in which the strong prey on the weak and the weak prey on anyone who is weaker still. The problem is not precisely the “ordinary Germans” then or the “ordinary Russians” now. Rather the problem was and is the fact that these societies required and require their citizens to embrace and practice the philosophy of “might makes right.” The war crimes are merely the expression of that philosophy.
Yes, individual Russians casually and systematically commit war crimes, ranging from the banal (looting their own countrymen’s homes) to the unspeakable (kidnapping young women in occupied territory and raping them for entertainment). These war criminals are individually responsible for their crimes and if justice prevails they will be held to account, just as individual Nazis were after WWII.
But the root cause, the inciting factor, underlying every individual Russian war crime is a society that is so fundamentally broken that it cannot be reformed without being torn out at the roots. That was the correct conclusion regarding Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. Germany and Japan now are not the atrocity factories they were. The same could be true for Russia.
However I lack the patience or compassion necessary to do that work. My opinion is that it is sufficient to kill or drive back every Russian soldier found outside of Russia’s internationally recognized borders. And if Ukraine, Georgia, Chechnya or any of Russia's other targets choose to seize territory as part of resolving Russia's imperial delusions? Also fine with me. Shouldn't have gone playing the "might makes right" game against free nations and free peoples.
“Why do we murder innocents? Because we are Russians, and because we can.”
The horrific screams of "Tato! Tato!" (meaning "Dad! Dad!") will haunt my dreams forever.
Russian terrorism must be stopped. It must be! To strike a busy railway station full of civilians just to punish us is completely inhuman, next-level barbarism. I struggle to convey my disgust, my rage... and sorrow.
Why was it done, why kill people like this? To say "we are letting Oleshky evacuate, but we will still keep murdering you?" I cant wrap my mind around it. I can't. Why? Why??
14 people are dead after the russian strike on a railway station in Dnipro.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
It’s no longer a question of whether Russia has committed war crimes, but whether world leaders have the political will to bring those responsible to trial.
My latest for LLB on the attack in my home city of Dnipro.
There can be no lasting peace without justice. 🇺🇦
Thirteen killed in Dnipro massacre amid 'a horrific Russian strike’ #Dnipro .@ShaunPinnerUA #Russia #Ukraine - londonlovesbusiness.com/thir…
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
If you told me two years ago that the US President would pressure American companies to buy fuel it doesn’t need from a Russian terrorist state still waging war in Europe, I would have said, so Trump gets reelected? What a humiliation.
NEWS: Trump admin officials want US companies to accept the Russian diesel currently crossing the Atlantic.
But American firms want nothing to do with it. They’re very scared of the legal and reputational risk, industry sources tell me and @jstein_sun
washingtonsun.com/whitehouse…
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Please read and share. Thank you, @Mariam__Lambert
A detailed report soon.
‼️ Urgent: the situation in Oleshky.
The power of social media is real. Whether through X, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp or Viber, people can speak for themselves and share the truth; even when politicians try to obscure the reality.
This is the message I received this morning from Oleshky:
“Yes, it’s all a staged show. They’re cleaning all the streets, painting the curbs, and sprucing everything up for the cameras. They’re trying to create a pretty picture in the middle of hell.
Meanwhile, the Russian military is demining everything and carrying ammo and supplies to their positions — and soon all of that will be flying toward Kherson (((
The number of troops in the city has increased dramatically, there are so many of them...”
Please reshare and let those people speak up!
@ZarinaZabrisky @anneapplebaum @CaolanReports
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Imagine buying a train ticket, heading to work or visiting your family, and never making it home because Russia decided to send a military drone into a railway station.
At least 13 people are dead in Dnipro.
And somehow, the international conversation keeps returning to what territorial concessions Ukraine should make to satisfy Moscow.
Why is the country being attacked constantly asked to compromise, while the country launching these attacks is offered another opportunity to negotiate?
The current US administration calls the architect of these crimes “a humanitarian.”
😭Father screams by the body of his deceased daughter: video from Chernihiv, where Russia killed two 15-year-old girls.
Nightmare morning: at least 18 civilians killed in attacks across various regions of Ukraine.
▪️Dnipro: 13 killed and 10 injured.
▪️Chernihiv: 2 killed and 11 injured. The deceased are 15-year-old girls.
▪️Kremenchuk: 2 killed, with injured.
▪️Zaporizhzhia: strike on a minibus, 1 killed.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Today, the evacuation of civilians from the russian-occupied city of Oleshky is supposed to begin.
Moscow has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Oleshky, and today, there will be no independent third-party observers, such as the UN, and no free press. Only a handful of journalists, escorted and controlled by russians throughout their visit to the city, will be allowed access.
Civilians will not be permitted to evacuate to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Instead, they will be forcibly taken to russia or occupied Crimea. What happens next to these 2,000 people, including 47 children, remains unknown.
Today, we may witness not an evacuation, but a forced deportation. All eyes on Oleshky.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
FREE TO READ 🇺🇦 Russian torture, imprisonment and a death sentence, now we fight for accountability in the courts.
As I finished writing this article, Russia struck the railway station here in Dnipro, killing multiple civilians, a brutal reminder of why this fight matters.
This isn't about money, but about justice, accountability and refusing to allow Putin's crimes to be whitewashed.
There can be no lasting peace without justice.
shaunpinner.substack.com/p/p…
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
The United States is a full ally of fascist Russia. It has arranged a local ceasefire in Kherson region, Ukraine, to deport the residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky to the Russian Federation.
The USA is enabling the Russian invasion army to reinforce its positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River, ruining years of work by Ukrainian defenders.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Every Ukraine backer who argued Trump would not be so bad, Trump could be persuaded to back Ukraine, that Trump was getting irritated with Putin, that the US just wanted peace--should have the basic decency to admit that they made it all up. Trump was with Putin, always.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
54+ hours into the Oleshky ceasefire, the First Lady amplifies Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev and bills a Newsmax crew as "neutral observers." With no US officials on the ground, that crew is effectively the American presence. The US side is reportedly coordinated by Marc Beckman, her private adviser and producer of her documentary, with no diplomatic or humanitarian experience.
Saving lives in Oleshky matters most. But is this becoming PR for both the White House and the Kremlin, packaged as a MAGA win before the midterms?
h/t @OstapYarysh
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Dnipro.
Oh my God.
At least 13 killed in Dnipro - a Russian drone hit a train close to the central railway station.
Many more injured.
Looks like it was a deliberate Russian strike, not an accident.
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Please read this article about Russian-occupied Oleshky and the situation with its news coverage.
@ZarinaZabrisky has been working in Kherson for a long time, she understands the situation very well.
As always, Russia is using human suffering to its advantage.
Please read my article on the political spectacle staged by the Kremlin in Oleshky.
Many thanks to @TheAtlantic and @anneapplebaum for their support of Ukraine and the Kherson region at this critical moment.
The hypocrisy is real.
In Florida, Republicans ran a candidate with the same name. In Alaska, they've suddenly discovered election ethics.
miamiherald.com/news/local/c…
An Alaskan in Ukraine retweeted
Don’t look away. These are the people dead and dying because Trump wanted to give his KGB handler a lifeline.