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People And Nature ☭ Russia’s federal security service (FSB) is preparing a new case, for high treason, against Ruslan Siddiqi, the Russian-Italian anarchist serving a 29-year sentence for sabotaging a train carrying munitions to the Ukrainian front.

14-September-2026

Siddiqi was convicted in May last year, and the Military Court of Appeal upheld the sentence on 1 July this year. In 2023 he blew up railway tracks in the Ryazan region, derailing a freight train carrying munitions, and organised a drone attack on the Dyagilevo military airfield.

Ruslan Siddiqi in court last year

Siddiqi confessed to these actions and told the court he sees himself as a partisan, opposing Russia’s war on Ukraine. He denied a further charge of preparing another attack. He was tortured extensively during questioning, but the authorities have refused to investigate.

Fires of Freedom, who give legal and other support to Siddiqi, said that, although he should have been transferred to prison after conviction, he is being held at a pre-trial detention centre (SIZO) in Ryazan. Transfer has now been delayed because of the new case.

Here is a facebook post about the new charges by Ivan Astashin, who campaigns in defence of prisoners, translated by Giuliano Vivaldi:

“Isn’t that enough for them?” is the first thought that automatically springs to mind upon hearing the news of a new criminal case against anarchist Ruslan Siddiqi, who has already been sentenced to 29 years in prison for two anti-war acts of sabotage and has now also been charged with treason.

And yet for the security forces, everything is much more mundane, has a more practical raison d’etre. The sentence itself plays no role here.

It was the Investigative Committee [a federal agency answerable directly to the Kremlin] who took on the first case against Ruslan. And not just some district department, but the central bureau of the Investigative Committee — or, to be precise, the department for investigating war crimes, genocide, and the rehabilitation of Nazism, which [Investigative Committee chairman Aleksandr] Bastrykin established in 2022.

At the same time, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, only the Federal Security Service (FSB) can investigate cases of high treason. So if the Investigative Committee had “discovered” signs of high treason in Ruslan’s actions, it would have had to hand the case over to the security services.

Naturally, the Investigative Committee did not want to give such a juicy case to anyone else, so they “didn’t discover” high treason, but only terrorism, terrorism, and once again terrorism … which the Investigative Committee has the right to investigate on an equal footing with the FSB.

At the same time, the version that Ruslan was cooperating with Ukrainian military intelligence, which has now become the basis of the treason charge, was always foregrounded. Indeed, it was one of the central elements of the prosecution’s case.

The investigation explicitly proceeded on the assumption that Siddiqi coordinated his actions with representatives of Ukraine’s Chief Directorate of Intelligence. It was precisely through this framework that his actions were classified, among other things, as having been committed by an “organised group”.

So the evidence on which the FSB is now building a new treason case was already there in the materials of the first case. But turning this evidence into a separate charge based on the violation of Article 275 [on high treason] would have meant transferring the case to another agency, the FSB.

The central office of the Investigative Committee took on a high-profile case, “investigated” it itself, gathered the “evidence” itself, brought nine (!) criminal charges, and saw the case through to a conviction. There was absolutely no reason for it to hand such a case over to another agency.

Now the Investigative Committee’s work is finished. The verdict has been handed down; the appeal has been heard. And this is where the baton is already passed to the FSB Directorate for the Ryazan region.

For them, it’s a perfect case. The accused is already in custody. The skeleton of the case has been assembled by colleagues from another agency. All that remains is to rewrite the Investigative Committee’s material to fit the structure of the article of the criminal code on treason, and receive a ready-made crime against state security that has already been “solved”.

I have already told a similar story about Aleksander Leleko: he was convicted as a teenager for setting fire to railway relay cabinets, and several years later the FSB began reworking those same events into a new treason case. [Leleko, from the small Siberian town of Sharypovo, was arrested in 2023, then aged 16, and sentenced to six-and-a-half years. In April this year it was reported that he was in prison hospital, and being administered psychtropic drugs, while investigators sought to put together the new case.]

Therefore, the question “Really, is 29 years not enough for them?” hardly makes sense here. It’s not about the sentence, but about the crime-solving rate, which our investigative authorities so badly need to improve. Especially now, when generals are being blown up and shot at home.

This situation illustrates my point very well that a repressive system has rules. It can produce an utterly monstrous result, but internally it still remains a bureaucratic machine with jurisdictional boundaries, departmental interests, reporting requirements, and its own rules.

An all-powerful security official cannot simply take any desirable article of the Criminal Code and put it into his casework. Even when the decision to imprison someone has already been taken, you still have to properly document who exactly is supposed to imprison them and under which article.

Perhaps, in Ruslan’s case, there also exists a more personal motivation on the part of the Ryazan security services officers. They could not find Ruslan after the first action, caught him only three weeks after the second, and subjected him to brutal torture.

But a much more mundane and so perhaps more frightening mechanism is quite enough to explain the emergence of a new case: the agency needed a criminal case of its own; a ready-made defendant was available with a “body of evidence” already sitting on their desk.

For the security agencies, the people involved in these cases are primarily numbers in a report, not human beings.

🔴 Fires of Freedom, which supports Ruslan, is on telegram (Russian only). In English, there are reports on Ruslan Siddiqi’s case, and information about how to give support, on the Autonomous Action site e.g. here, here and here. Ivan Astashin was interviewed here

🔴 Ruslan Siddiqi’s final statement in court, and letters describing his anti-war action and arrest, are included in the book Voices Against Putin’s War, free to download here. The letters were published by the Russian Reader here

☭ People & Nature is now on mastodon, as well as twitter, whatsapp and telegram. Please follow! Or email peoplenature@protonmail.com, and we’ll add you to our circulation list (2-4 messages per month)

Russia 🪶Jailed Anti-War Partisan Ruslan Siddiqi Faces New Treason Charges

Robert Reich ★ Writing in Substack. Recommended by Christy Walsh.

The Real Meaning of the Midterm Election

Friends,

Multiple polls show Trump’s approval at record lows, but I think what’s happening runs deeper than this. Something very dramatic is occurring.

Many people who consider themselves non-political or independent — or moderate Republican or who even voted for Trump in November 2024 — can’t avoid seeing what’s come so clearly into the open. And they’re finding it disgusting and terrifying.

They’ve watched Trump order the National Guard into cities over the objections of mayors and governors. They’ve watched Trump’s ICE agents drag people out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip-tie them and their children, and haul them away.

They’re watching the Justice Department argue that if the Democrat wins in Alaska’s Senate race, she shouldn’t be certified. They’re seeing Trump threaten to revoke the citizenship of Representative Ilhan Omar.

They see Trump direct the IRS, FBI, and Justice Department against liberal groups that oppose him. They’ve watched him push broadcasters to take off the air comedians who criticize him — Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel. They’ve watched him establish immunity from IRS investigations of himself and his family.

Continue @ Substack.

Trump And His Sycophants Exposed

Dr John Coulter ✍ Forty years ago this month, the then DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley gave me an exclusive interview for the Belfast News Letter which was headlined: Paisley ‘ready to form army’.


Within days that ‘army’ had been unveiled - it was called Ulster Resistance, and was known for its distinctive red berets. It was formally launched at a packed Ulster Hall in Belfast, complete with colour party and organisation standards.

Earlier, in his News Letter interview with me, Dr Paisley said:

I appeal for the mobilisation of the Ulster people. At the moment, structures are being set up for that mobilisation. I will also be advocating the enlistment of the Northern Ireland people in a show of strength - dedicated to die if needs be rather than surrender to a united Ireland.

Initially, it seemed the soon to be formally launched Ulster Resistance paramilitary group would be a mirror image of the earlier loyalist group, The Ulster Third Force, established in late 1981.

As a freelance BBC NI journalist at that time, I got the exclusive story on the Third Force’s show of strength in the Co Antrim villages of Kells and Connor in early November 1981.

If we take the renowned chronicle of victims of the Troubles, Lost Lives, as a benchmark, there is no record of either the Third Force or Ulster Resistance carrying out a murder.

Whilst in the early stages, the DUP - and especially Dr Paisley personally - publicly voiced their support for Ulster Resistance, that backing essentially evaporated once it became clear the group actually had access to a significant arsenal of weapons.


The late state agent, Brian Nelson, was a key player in getting a massive haul of weapons smuggled into Northern Ireland to be divided equally among the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance.

Although much of the consignment destined for the UDA and UVF was found over the years, mystery still surrounds where much of the Ulster Resistance haul ended up.

Was it found? Was it given to other loyalist terror gangs, or is it still in so-called ‘safe places’ as there is no formal record of Ulster Resistance decommissioning its arsenal as part of the peace process?

In terms of who actually was a member or activist in Ulster Resistance four decades ago, given on and off the record interviews I had with journalistic sources inside the organisation in North and East Antrim, the membership seems to fall into two distinct categories.

The first group were people, who like those who were involved with the earlier Third Force, just wanted to be ‘mobilised’ into some form of organisation, but would not have the religious fervour to allow themselves to become active gunmen or bombers. They seemed to see themselves as some form of ‘doomsday’ outfit in the event of Irish unity.


The other faction were dedicated terrorists, who would have been prepared to use the weapons brought in from South Africa to carry out attacks on the republican community and the Republic of Ireland.

However, the publicity surrounding the so-called Paris Three and the DUP distancing itself from Ulster Resistance ‘persuaded’ them not to take up the gun in defence of Northern Ireland’s place in the Union.

In this respect, Ulster Resistance resembled an even earlier fundamentalist Protestant paramilitary group known as Tara, which was run by the late William McGrath, the convicted paedophile at the centre of the Kincora Boys Home scandal in east Belfast.

The Tara group also seemed to be a loyalist ‘doomsday’ group which would only activate its terrorist activities in the event of a united Ireland. Again, taking Lost Lives as a benchmark, there is no known record of Tara claiming responsibility for murdering anyone in the Troubles.


This begs the question - are Ulster Resistance weapons rusting away somewhere under the floorboards in someone’s home? Could a situation ever arise that they could be used (if they are usable some decades after they were brought into the Province) in the event of Unionism losing a border poll?

During the recruitment period for Ulster Resistance in the late Eighties, I had an off the record conversation with a representative of the movement. He was a former member of the security forces who alleged he was recruited by Ulster Resistance because of his knowledge of explosives.

A few years later when I was deputy editor of the Larne Guardian weekly newspaper, I got an exclusive interview with the so-called commander of Ulster Resistance’s East Antrim brigade, who again emphasised in the published interview that the group was receiving assistance from the security forces.

This has fed into the whole debate about allegations of collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. As one of the researchers for the controversial Channel Four Dispatches programme, The Committee, which was broadcast in October 1991, footage of the Ulster Hall recruitment rally for Ulster Resistance was used.

Indeed, was the arms cache brought into Northern Ireland for Ulster Resistance merely a lever to put pressure on the British and Irish governments to take a more firm hand militarily against republican terrorists. Was the message to these two governments from that specific element in loyalism merely to say - if you can’t do the job against the IRA and INLA, we have the manpower and resources to do it!


Was there also the danger in the aftermath of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that Ulster Resistance weaponry could be used against pro-Agreement Unionists linked to the UUP? The Belfast Agreement saw some very bitter divisions emerge in Unionism between the Yes and No camps.

One of the anti-Agreement militant groups which emerged in the late 1990s was the so-called Orange Volunteers. Ironically, there was a group of the same name which was active in the Seventies, but this original group was largely seen as defunct by the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.

I recall on one occasion the Nineties version of the Orange Volunteers threatening my late father, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, who was a UUP MLA for North Antrim for 13 years and in the pro-Agreement camp in the party.

One evening, two men came to my parents’ home and shouted into the front door intercom that they were from the Orange Volunteers and that my dad was to be shot. But the two ‘volunteers’ made a hasty retreat when they believed they were being filmed!

The badges which adorned the Ulster Resistance red berets may now be collectors’ items, but to quote the headline on a feature I wrote in January 2006 in the Irish Daily Star to mark the 20th anniversary of the formation of Ulster Resistance - ‘So where are the loyalist weapons?’

Another two decades on from that feature, the question of the location of the remaining Ulster Resistance weapons is still as relevant in 2026 as it was 20 years ago.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News.

So Where Are Ulster Resistance Weapons Being Hidden?

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand One Hundred And Thirty Four

 

A Morning Thought @ 3305

Anthony McIntyre ☠ When offered the opportunity to travel to Dublin to see this play I jumped at it. 


It was in Dublin that I first met Beano Niblock, one of the creators of The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary. While we had been in touch regularly, with many of his writings appearing on The Pensive Quill, it was when he delivered a talk in Liberty Hall that I got to press the flesh for the first time. We ended up in a bar close to Connolly Station for a few pints before he made the journey back to Belfast.

My wife booked us into a hotel for the night so that we could turn our latest visit to the capital into a two day trip. That is the type of thing we do annually in the days running up to Xmas, but a special play merited a special occasion. After drinks in the Bank Bar in Dame Street, we checked into the Mercantile just up the footpath. It was quality from the get go. While we always loved Morrisons for our Dublin sojourns, the Mercantile is the go-to place from here on in.

The play was staged in the Smock Alley Theatre on Dublin's southside, right in front of the Liffey. Just as we arrived at the front door Beano's partner, Jackie Drummond, recognised me and came over to greet myself and my wife and thank us for coming. We owed her even more gratitude for having secured the invitation.


I had never been to the theatre before. A former church building, it was quite an impressive layout on the inside, ready-made for staging plays. In the middle of the floor was a huge dictionary serving as the stage. It was a great prop, capturing the ambience of the evening perfectly.

David Ervine was a very articulate working class loyalist politician who commanded an expansive vocabulary which he was unafraid of using. He wasn't ribbed Dictionary Dave for no reason. Dealing in abstract concepts was not his thing, but he did have a love of words. For anybody not understanding his words it was a simple matter of looking at the dictionary. Once the word was understood the concept he sought to convey was easily grasped.

Ervine, brilliantly acted by Paul Garret, came over as a passionate character determined to fight his corner while studiously avoiding intruding into the corner of his opponent. A man more inclined to employ ring craft rather than punching power as he navigated his way around the political boxing ring that was the political arena in the North, he brought to loyalism a level of articulateness expressed only by a few others, of whom men like Davy Adams and Billy Hutchinson stand out. The natural intelligence possessed by these activists was complemented by Beano Niblock in the literary world. All four in their own way were men who sought to reflect on the world of loyalism unlike say Jamie Bryson who, despite a sharp intellect of his own, only ever seeks to reflect it. In that sense they rather than he always brought more to the loyalist world, managing to bring more out of it than what is on display today with hate marches and burning migrants out of their homes. Collectively they acted as a foil against a deeper entrenchment of the laager mindset which is ultimately polarising and marginalising.

Unfortunately, Beano died a few months ago, depriving the audience of his presence. His fellow writer Martin Lynch was in Dublin for the occasion so it was pleasing to catch up with him. The last play I travelled to in Belfast was one written by him, Chronicles Of Long Kesh. a place where Beano and I spent many years together but always apart. 

The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary took the audience through the life of David Ervine who grew up on the streets of East Belfast, followed Glentoran, married, had children, joined the UVF, went to jail, came out, became a milkman, had grandchildren, and without ever abandoning the loyalist cause he fervently believed in managed to take it on a journey away from political violence. While never conciliatory towards the concept of a united Ireland, he sought to build loyalist opposition on a foundation more redeeming than hatred. 

I left the theatre, looking forward to Mercantile cocktails, dazed by the sorrowful, grief stricken way in which the play concluded, my dominant emotion, empathy. As we made our way through the cobblestone streets that still feature in parts of Dublin, I reflected on an audience, which included myself, that applauded the life of a man who was a member of an organisation which, in May 1974, visited a massacre on the streets of the same city, just across the river. It left me feeling that therein lay the real achievement of the work of Beano Niblock. He never filled his pen with an arrogant presumption that he could whisk people into a make-believe world where they would forgive or forget. His goal was a better understanding. The applause suggested that he succeeded.  

⏩Follow on Bluesky.


The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary

Independent Dublin Republicans ðŸ”–will be facilitating a launch of the Constantine B Darcy book profiling the 22 Irish Republicans who died while on hunger strike in Ireland (both the six and twenty six counties) and in England during the revolutionary period 1917 - 1981. 

Independent Dublin Republicans 🔖 Upcoming Event : Book Launch "Ireland's Hunger Strike Martyrs" by Author Constantine B Darcy. Sunday 1st November Peadar Brown's Bar Dublin 8 5.30pm. Chair Patrick Burke.
 
While all 22 Martyrs will be detailed, the book will include a record setting feature on the funeral and reinternment of Frank Stagg provided by former SF Councillor and life - long Republican Gerry Ginty.
 
The Mayo man was one of a unit of "volunteers" who seen to it that a commitment given to Frank's mother to have her sons final wish to be buried in the Republican Plot in Leigue Cemetery was honoured.
 
Despite the IRA committing to doing so following the Fine Gael (Blueshirt) abduction of Frank Stagg's body in order to prevent a massive Republican funeral and burial, Gerry Ginty and a close knit hand picked group acting outside of the (Provisional) Republican Movement, dug through the concrete and carefully removed Frank's body before reinterning him alongside Michael Gaughan in the Republican Plot.
 
Gerry Ginty's participant role is eye opening and at odds with the narrative being promoted by Sinn Fein.
 
"I can say to any of them that I will not stand silent and allow them to rewrite history." Gerry Ginty 2026.
 
Frank Stagg died on hunger strike in Parkhurst Prison on the 12th of February 1976, his body was encassed in concrete by Free State forces on the 21st of February 1976 and was reinterned in the Republican Plot in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina, Co Mayo on the 5th of November 1977.
 
Constantine B Darcy's book will be launched in Peadar Brown's Bar, Clanbrassil Street, Dublin on Sunday the 1st of November 2026 at 5.30pm, with music provided after.
 
The event will be Chaired by Independent Dublin Republican's Patrick Burke.
 
All are welcome.
 
Below is the Roll of Honour of all 22 Hunger Strike Martyrs

Thomas Ashe, died Mountjoy Gaol after being force fed while on hunger strike for POW status 25th September 1917.
Michael Fitzgerald, died Cork Gaol, 17th October 1920.
Terence McSwiney, died Brixton Prison England, 25th October 1920.
Joseph Murphy, died Cork Gaol, 25th October 1920.
Dan Downey, died in the Curragh Internment Camp 10th June 1923.
Michael Joseph Whitty, aged 19, died in the Curragh Internment Camp 2nd September 1923.
Denis Dinny Barry, aged 40, died in Newbridge Internment Camp 20th November 1923.
Andy O Sullivan, aged 41, died in Mountjoy Prison 22nd November 1923.
Joe Lacey, aged 25, died Curragh Internment Camp 24th December 1923.
Seán McCaughey, died Portlaoise Prison, 11th May 1946.
Michael Gaughan, aged 24, died Parkhurst Prison Isle of Wight 3rd June 1974.
Frank Stagg, aged 35, died Wakefield Prison Yorkshire 12th February 1976.
Bobby Sands, aged 26, died Long Kesh 5th May 1981.
Francis Hughes, aged 25, died Long Kesh 12th May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh, aged 24, died Long Kesh 21st May 1981.
Patsy O Hara, aged 23, died Long Kesh 21st May 1981.
Joe McDonnell, aged 30, died Long Kesh 8th July 1981.
Martin Hurson, aged 29, died Long Kesh 13th July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, aged 25, died Long Kesh 1st August 1981.
Kieran Doherty, aged 25, died Long Kesh 2nd August 1981.
Thomas McElwee, aged 23, died Long Kesh 8th August 1981.
Mickey Devine, aged 27, died Long Kesh 20th August 1981.

Ireland's Hunger Strike Martyrs

Atheist Ireland ★The Irish Constitution treats not attending religion class differently to all other school subjects.

14-September-2026

Article 44.2.4 singles out religious instruction, while all other subjects come under Article 42. That distinction matters when exercising our parental rights in relation to the religious education of our children.


Article 44.2.4 takes the control of the arrangements for not attending religious instruction out of the remit of the Department of Education and puts it firmly as the responsibility of the Oireachtas. Article 44.2.4 links religious instruction to the funding of schools while other subjects are not linked to state aid to schools.

Telling us that we should just treat religion like any other subject is telling us to ignore our Constitutional rights.

For example: 

  • The right to not attend religious instruction in schools comes under Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution, while not attending SPHE comes under Article 42.1.
  • The right to not attend religious instruction is linked to the funding of schools under Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution, while the right to not attend SPHE is not.
  • Under Article 44.2.4, legislation providing state aid for schools must not prejudicially affect the right to not attend religious instruction, but this does not apply to not attending SPHE.
  • Article 42.1 does not explicitly refer to ‘not attending’ subjects such as SPHE, while Article 44.2.4 refers explicitly to ‘not attending’ religious instruction.

The right applies to state and patron body religion classes

It doesn’t matter whether a religion course is developed by the state or by a patron body, because the right is based on parental rights and conscience under the Constitution. What matters is the text of Article 44.2.4 and the rights and duties that flow from it.

The Supreme Court said that the inalienable rights of parents under Article 42.1 of the constitution in relation to the religious education of their children must be read in the context of Article 44.2.4, the right to not attend religious instruction.

That firmly links the right to not attend religious instruction Article 44.2.4 with the inalienable rights of parents in relation to the religious education of their children under Article 42.1.

Article 44.2.4 is a sub-section of Article 44.2, the right to freedom of conscience. It makes no sense to claim that the right under Article 44.2.4 only applies to religion courses (religious instruction) developed by patron bodies, as that would conflict with the relationship of the right to not attend religious instruction with freedom of conscience and parental rights under the Constitution.

Why would the Constitution leave it up to the executive to decide what is or is not against the conscience of parents? That would simply undermine the right. And the Oireachtas has clearly reflected parents’ conscience under Article 44.2.4 in Section 30.2(e) of the Education Act 1998.

The duty to protect the right lies with the Oireachtas

One of the key implications of the text of Article 44.2.4 is that it puts the obligation and duty to protect the right to not attend religious instruction onto the Oireachtas, not the executive.

Article 44.2.4 begins with the word ‘legislation’. Only the Oireachtas can put in place legislation so the Constitution puts a duty on the Oireachtas in relation to not attending religious instruction. That duty is linked to the funding of schools. It is a condition of state funding that children have a right of access to publicly funded schools and exercise the right to not attend religious instruction. The Education Act 1998 does not reflect this aspect of Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution.

If the Constitution treated religion the same as any other subject then it would have left the protection that Art 42.1 affords to the rights of parents regarding the religious education of their children under Article 42.1. It would also have left the arrangements for not attending religion classes under the control of the executive. But it does not do this.

We believe that the legislation in place has failed to protect our rights under Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution.

Constitutional and Legal Rights

Here are the key Constitutional and legal rights involved

Article 42.1

The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.

Article 44.2.4

Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school

Section 30-2(e) Education Act 1998

The Minister –

Shall not require any student to attend instruction in any subject which is contrary to the conscience of the parent of the student or in the case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student.

Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act, 1878

Section 7

The Board shall not make any payment to the managers of any school unless it be shown to the satisfaction of the Board that no pupil attending such school is permitted to remain in attendance during the time of any religious instruction which the parents or guardians of such pupil shall not have sanctioned, and that the time for giving such religious instruction is so fixed that no pupil not remaining in attendance is excluded directly or indirectly from the advantages of the secular education given in the school

Keep up with Atheist Ireland.

The Irish Constitution Treats Not Attending Religion Class Differently To All Other Subjects

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔  12-October-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Trump helping Putin to win.
⬤ Europe’s sanctions
⬤ Far-right thugs attack Ukraine socialist.
⬤ Latest on Oleshky.
⬤The scale of Russia’s unlawful detentions.
⬤ Student organising in Ukraine. 

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Russia’s secret detention system for Ukrainian civilians (Kyiv Independent, 18 October)

Meeting with young people returned from occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, October 17th)

Four Ukrainians sentenced over attacks on Melitopol collaborators (Media Zona, 16 October)

Young Crimean couple sentenced to 25 and 17 years for act of resistance to Russia’s war of aggression (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 16th)

The Faces of Resistance: Political Prisoner Fevziye Osmanova (Crimea Platform, October 16th)

Abducted Kherson oblast teacher forced to ‘repent’ before trial on ‘terrorism’ charges for supporting Ukraine’s defenders (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 15th)

71-year-old Anna Sotsenko, abducted in occupied Crimea with her daughter, has been on hunger strike for 43 days (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 14th)

Weekly situation in temporarily occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, October 14th)

Russia systematically seizes property in occupied territories (Zmina, October 12th)

Russia’s ‘trial’ begins of Crimean Tatar mother of five and three young women for ‘trying to violently seize power’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 12th)

64-year-old Liubov Plakhina sentenced to 17 years for resistance to Russian occupation (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 12th)

Monthly news bulletin: Life Under Occupation (Alter Pravo, September)

Progress of the war

Ukraine drone attack hits St Petersburg oil and data facilities (Kyiv Independent, 18 October)

Russian drones hit western Ukraine (Kyiv Independent, 18 October)

Russia has attacked Ukraine's energy sector 76 times since Trump announced truce, Zelenskyy says (Ukrainska Pravda, October 18th)

Russians executed Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia Oblast (Ukrainska Pravda, October 17th)

Dodging drones on Europe’s highway to hell (Centre for European Policy Analysis, 16 October)

Without food, water, or a way out: Russia responsible for situation in Oleshky (Tribunal for Putin, October 16th)

Russian attacks killed 328 civilian Ukrainians during September: Kyiv, Kherson and Sumy suffered the most – UN (Ukrainska Pravda, October 16th)

Peklo to Palyanytsia: Ukraine’s expanded arsenal is changing the war (The Insider, October 15th)

China’s drone modem pipeline: How mesh technology helps Russian UAVs penetrate deep into Ukraine (The Insider, October 14th)

Data centre bombings: Russia has backed itself into a corner (iStories, 12 October)

News from Ukraine

Appeal for solidarity: far-right thugs attack Ukrainian socialist (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 18 October). More on this video from Social Movement Ukraine

Ukraine’s plan to tighten military exemptions draws lawmakers’ fire (Kyiv Independent, 16 October)

Kyiv’s Dark Lord: 10 locations, one company and zero completed power plants (Zn.Ua, 16 October)

Russian soldier accused of killing five Ukrainian servicemen and civilian remanded in custody (Ukrainska Pravda, October 16th)

‘People, not generals, win wars’: Independent student organising in Ukraine (Links, October 12th)

War-related news from Russia

Striking where it hurts: Ukrainian drones are having a tangible effect on the Russian economy (The Insider, October 14th)

Political life brings voter interest – and election observers (Posle.Media, 14 October)

Russian murderer honoured (Facebook, October 13th)

Ukrainian Boxer Imprisoned in Russia Needs Medical Care (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 12th)

Comment and analysis

Garry Kasparov: Russia wants to intimidate Europe into surrendering Ukraine (The Eastern Frontier Initiative, 18 October)

Is Ukraine in danger of a nuclear accident if sub-stations fail? (Zn.Ua, 17 October)

What if the Ukrainian army is cut off by Starlink entirely? (Meduza, 16 October)

Russia’s bloody shift from subimperialism to new old imperialism (People and Nature, October 15th)

Trump’s diesel deal reveals Putin’s weakness (Kyiv Independent, 14 October)

Kyiv Independent: Trump is helping Putin win the war (The Russian Reader, 14 October)

The Trump–Putin Diesel Deal: A Betrayal Of Ukraine (Labour Hub, October 12th)

Russian Strikes At Civilians: Do Ukraine & Europe Understand What To Do? (Ukraine Solidarity EU, October 12th)

What Lies Behind Russian Strikes on Digital Infrastructure (Tribunal for Putin, October 12th)

Europe is not losing the sanctions fight: It is undermining them itself (International Politics and Society, October 1st)

Research of human rights abuses

Human Dimension Conference told of Russian persecution of civilians (Zmina, October 15th)

An exhibition on Russian occupation of Crimea opened in Germany (Crimea Platform, October 14th)

From supporting political prisoners to reintegrating people from occupied territories: ZMINA at Donbas Media Forum 2026 (Zmina, October 13th)

The scale of Russian terror. A report detailing over 8,200 unlawful detentions of Ukrainian civilians was presented in Strasbourg and Brussels (Tribunal for Putin, October 12th)

“Crimea Global” conference explored Kyiv’s cultural heritage and the aftermath of Russian attacks (Crimea Platform, October 17th)

Life after Amputation: Interview with Sociologist Ioulia Shukan (Documenting Ukraine, October 5th)

International solidarity

Ukraine solidarity campaigning and convoy: a model trade union motion (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 16 October)

ZMINA calls on international partners to help protect journalists and volunteers from drone attacks (Zmina, October 13th)

Upcoming event

Thursday 5 November, 6.0pm, on zoom: Reclaiming Crimean Tatar subjectivity under occupation, organised by UCU Members for Ukraine & Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. Details here.
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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 216

Friendly Atheist @ Many of the evangelical pastors who denounce Pride flags in classrooms and Ms. Rachel are celebrating the possibility of a government-sponsored snuff film.

The same white evangelical Christians who want “Thou shalt not kill” posted in every public school classroom, and who oppose all kinds of reproductive rights because they’re “pro-life” are now cheering on the possibility of a live-streamed public execution.

Last week, the Pentagon announced that Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, is scheduled to die by firing squad on December 3. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be live-streamed so everyone can watch. Donald Trump says he’ll make the final decision about the livestream soon, though reports say he’s waffling on the matter. Who knows what’s gonna happen.

The thing is: Prominent white evangelicals who could have denounced this are doing cartwheels because they love violence, especially against a brown guy with a Muslim name.
Pastor Robert Jeffress, one of Trump’s biggest allies, supports it.

He says capital punishment is “commanded by God” and argues that “more people” should see a public execution. He told the Dallas Morning News he would likely watch it himself.

The “Pro-Life” Pastors Who Want America To Watch A Live-Streamed Execution

Merrion Press ðŸ”– has published a new book by Frank Connolly.




EXPOSED
Scandals that Rocked the Irish State

Frank Connolly



In Exposed: Scandals that Rocked the Irish State, Frank Connolly exposes decades of corruption within Ireland’s halls of power. Drawing on many years as an investigative journalist, Connolly charts a culture of bribery, fraud and malfeasance that shook the State – from Charles Haughey’s tenure to Bertie Ahern’s 2008 resignation. His investigations helped trigger tribunals that revealed cronyism, illicit payments and the abuse of office by politicians, business elites and the Garda Síochána.

The book unearths a continuity of wrongdoing and greed in Ireland: from the Moriarty Tribunal’s findings on Michael Lowry, to Garda misconduct in the North-West, to shocking corruption within the planning process that sowed the seeds for today’s housing crisis. Sharp, unflinching and informed by first-hand reporting, Exposed is more than a political exposé – it is a cautionary tale for today’s Ireland, challenging readers to confront the structures of power and demand accountability from those at the top.

Paperback • €19.99|£18.99 • 304 pages • 226mm x 153mm • 9781785376023
Get your copy

About The Author

Frank Connolly is an investigative journalist and author who lives in Dublin. He is currently Head of Communications with SIPTU, Ireland’s largest trade union. His work with The Sunday Business Post and Irish Mail on Sunday contributed to the establishment of tribunals of inquiry into planning and police corruption in Ireland. He has published a number of bestselling books, including NAMA-Land (2017); United Nation: The Case for Integrating Ireland (2022) and The Christy Moore Songbook (1984).

Out Now 📚 Frank Connolly

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