Notices by Tim Mak (timkmak@journa.host), page 2

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It’s a part of the war that gets far less attention: on the home front, the mostly female crowd, led by mothers and sisters and daughters and wives, are demanding greater govt recognition for the sacrifices their families have endured since 2014.

Photo: Memorial wall in Kyiv

The protest scene I described above with Svetlana is the opposite of what was allowed to happen in Moscow earlier this week.

Russia marked its annual Victory Day, commemorating the USSR's defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, but in a far more subdued manner...

NYT: "The cancellation of the nationwide ‘Immortal Regiment’ march, when ordinary Russians take to the streets to display pictures of their veteran forebears, is perhaps the most striking change...."

Svetlana and her fellow Ukrainian demonstrators played out what for the Russian government is their big fear: dissent against the government, with many holding portraits of their loved ones in a somber fashion and shouting slogans.

But that’s allowed in Ukraine.

For many Ukrainians, there are two reasons why this war is being fought.

Photo: Poster in Kyiv, with the caption 'Heroes Don't Die.'

The first is the obvious one: Russia invaded them, so they want to defend their land.

The second reason is what they are trying to build: a more progressive, more democratic country, more transparent country – and one more closely linked to the EU.

“My biggest worry is not that we lose the war. We will not lose,” a Ukrainian friend told me yesterday. “My biggest worry is that we will return to the way before the war. That all these lives will have been lost, and we won't become a freer, less corrupt country.”

@aral Thanks Aral! I hope you will subscribe! http://counteroffensive.news/

This is first on Mastodon! Please boost this thread. It’s an important one.

Good morning to readers. Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

Some career news: I’m leaving NPR as part of the layoffs that dramatically reduced the company’s workforce.

I’ve decided to go back into Ukraine to keep reporting.

But this time, alone.

Here are the results of testing a Ukraine thread on Mastodon.

I only have 1/20th the following here as I do on Twitter.

Yet you folks provided 1/4 the boosts/likes/comments that Twitter did on similar news reporting.

I’m staying.

And maybe I’ll even post to Mastodon first for my next big announcement!