“Dad, I’m scared of the plane” whispers the two-year-old Kira and snuggles against her father. Her longing for protection fills my heart with pain. I dreamed that our baby girl would associate airplanes with travel and leisure while enjoying a relaxed and prosperous life. Instead, airplanes have come to mean death.A joint project of TEXTY and "Vist" newspaper (Chernihiv)

The rumours about the next big wave of mobilization are raising concerns among Russians. The government says not to worry as only a grave external threat for the Russian Federation might prompt a general mobilization. However, it looks like it is already there. According to the propagandists, Russia is on the brink of a “long and bloody conflict” with NATO. Their only hope lies with common Europeans who are tired of anti-Russian policy and want to go back to their usual lives. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

Mykola Topol, a member of the territorial defense unit from Chernihiv, miraculously survived the bombing of school No. 18 in his home city on March 3, 2022.“The lad pushed four fingers into the gap between the slabs,” Chernihiv State Emergency Service Officer Maksym Zhilko says.The rescued young man lived at 46 Bohuna Street. Shortly before the bombing, he came to the school which housed the headquarters of the local territorial defense.Translated by Dmitry Lytov, Mikhail Lytov

The only way to get a peace guarantee is to land American Tomahawks on Russia’s airbase for strategic aviation.Authors: Editorial Ukraine is getting Patriot air and missile defence systems. One from the US and another one from Germany. We could bargain, of course, asking for more – at least two or three from each country. But it doesn’t really matter how many systems we eventually get. We will receive other military support, including different defence systems; although not many, again, we’ll be able to protect civilian critical national infrastructure. It has not been protected yet, as evident from Russia’s latest missile strike on Ukraine, when a rocket destroyed a turbine at one of the thermal power stations, putting it out of use for a very long time.Read this article in Ukrainian

The continuing supplies of weapons to Ukraine, which are soon to include Western tanks, have been causing growing concerns on Russian media. Russia is losing grip over the Caucasus and Central Asia, but is too proud to admit it. To save face, its propagandists are putting all the blame on “the machinations of the West”. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

“First, they pulled the nail off my little finger. Then my middle finger. The second time was not as painful as the first time. The pain was so immense I didn’t know what hurt more: when they were making a meat chop out of me with the rifle butt or when I stopped feeling my hands. They tortured me with an electric current. They called this ‘electrophoresis’ or ‘a phone call to Zelenskyi’,” says Oksana Minenko from Kherson. Her story is an account of the horrific crimes committed by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine. Oksana is 43 years old. For the past four years, she was happily married to 37-year-old Oleksiy Khvostyk, a lieutenant of the National Guard of Ukraine.Translated by Tetiana SykesRead this article in Ukrainian

Russians are desperately trying to hide their concerns about Ukraine’s rearmament behind fake optimism. While seeking international support for their aggression, they keep fueling internal conflicts in Ukraine by calling its people to rise against the government and dishing dirt on both Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

There are many parallels between the history of Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In particular, both countries were once Soviet republics and both have been going through a painful process of decolonization in recent years. The sooner they both go through this path, the sooner they can move on.As the Kazakh academic Aynash Mustoyapova notes, there are two important things that our peoples should realize in order to achieve a new interpretation of history.We published the abstracts of her speech on the YouTube channel of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.You can subscribe to the channel about Ukraine and the Middle East here (in Ukrainian)Translated by Dmitry Lytov & Mike LytovRead this article in Ukrainian

Last week, Russian media quoted Putin’s bluster and calls to the Russian people to stand as one with the government. The hackneyed Russian fakes never stopped coming: the propagandists claimed that it was only mercenaries who were fighting for Ukraine while Western arms were being sold to terrorists. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

Russia is systematically shelling electrical substations throughout Ukraine. We tried to analyze where Russian missiles are most often aimed at and what targets they choose.Earlier, we wrote about how Russian propagandists rejoice in response to attacks on Ukrainian power grids. We tried to investigate in more detail where the Russian forces were directing their strikes and saw how they are trying to isolate Ukraine's power grid and divide it into separate pieces. Notably, a lot of effort is being made to cut off electricity from the north of the country (Kyiv and Kharkiv).Translated by Dmitry Lytov & Mike LytovRead this article in Ukrainian