Tim Mak

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

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The HARDKISS The HARDKISS is an alternative band from Kyiv, established in 2011. The authorship of all The HARDKISS songs belongs to its founders, Julia Sanina and Valeriy Bebko.

Here’s what Oleksandra is listening to today:
THE HARDKISS- Festival

Trump’s 'Peace' Plan Means More War Myroslava voices Ukraine’s fear that the new US peace plan resembles capitulation. Despite fatigue and losses, the Counteroffensive team believes a just peace is possible only on Ukrainian terms.

Missed our story about Trump’s peace plan? Find out what The Counteroffensive thinks via the link!

41% of Americans said the U.S. should provide military assistance to Ukraine, while
28% want it to stop, according to Pew Research Centre.
These figures are similar to those from 2024, indicating strong support for Ukraine despite Trump's inconsistent support for Ukraine.

Russia's oil and gas revenue may fall by 35% in Nov compared to Nov 2024, Reuters reports.
Oil and gas revenue accounts for 25% of Russia's federal budget. Sanctions on major Russian oil producers and the rouble strengthening have brought down the total revenue generated.

У простір Молдови залетіли шість безпілотників. Один із них упав на будинок — Міноборони Під час масованої російської атаки по Україні в ніч проти 25 листопада шість безпілотників залетіли в повітряний простір Молдови.

Here's what The Counteroffensive is reading today:
6 drones breached Moldovan and Romanian airspace during Russia's attack on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said that at least 4 Russian drones flew into both countries.
This follows earlier breaches of European airspace by Russia.

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

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YouTube video by Green Day Green Day - 21 Guns [Official Music Video]

Here's what Aidan is listening to today:
Green day- 21 Guns

Trump’s 'Peace' Plan Means More War Myroslava voices Ukraine’s fear that the new US peace plan resembles capitulation. Despite fatigue and losses, the Counteroffensive team believes a just peace is possible only on Ukrainian terms.

Missed our story about how Trump's peace plan means more war? Read via the link

America’s Toothless Sanctions on Russian Oil Last month, the Trump administration imposed fresh sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, signaling a renewed desire to drive Moscow to the negotiating table in its war a...

China continues to be a major importer of Russian oil, thereby weakening the impact of U.S.’s sanctions, according to Foreign Affairs.

The sanctions will be more effective if the U.S. sanctions Chinese entities that are buying Russian oil.

For a Weakened Zelensky, Yielding to Trump Is Riskier Than Defiance With most Ukrainians rejecting a surrender, he would court a crisis with his own military if he accepted major concessions to Russia.

The fallout from the U.S.-Russia peace plan is helping Zelensky overcome the recent corruption scandal, according to the WSJ.

Despite being one of the biggest scandals in Ukraine's history, Zelenskyy has managed to evade calls to step down from prominent Ukrainian politicians.

Chinese exporters charge Russia more for war supplies as sanctions bite Price increases show that western restrictions are limiting Moscow’s capabilities, Bank of Finland research finds

Here’s what The Counteroffensive is reading today:

Chinese exporters have raised prices for Russian military buyers, exploiting Moscow’s isolation created by sanctions.

Prices of export-controlled products from China to Russia rose 87% in 3 years. For others, the rise was 9%.

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

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YouTube video by Дефенестрація - Topic Маргінали й радикали

Here's what Tania is listening to today:

Маргінали і радикали – Дефенестрація

Trump’s 'Peace' Plan Means More War Myroslava voices Ukraine’s fear that the new US peace plan resembles capitulation. Despite fatigue and losses, the Counteroffensive team believes a just peace is possible only on Ukrainian terms.

If you want to know what The Counteroffensive team thinks about Trump’s ‘peace’ plan, read the full story via the link.

The rival European peace plan draft, leaked to The Telegraph, contains significantly more favorable terms for Ukraine.

It does not: impose restrictions on the size of the Ukrainian army; prohibit Ukraine from joining NATO or prohibit the deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine.

Україна повернула з Білорусі 31 цивільного українця У Координаційному штабі з питань поводження з військовополоненими підтвердили, що Україна повернула з Білорусі 31 цивільного громадянина, засудженого там до різних строків ув’язнення — Суспільне Новин...

31 Ukrainian civilian prisoners have returned from Belarus, some of whom have serious illnesses. The youngest to return was detained at the age of 18 on charges of terrorism.

The exchange came as a result of cooperation between the American, Belarusian and Ukrainian officials.

Lawmakers say Rubio distanced US from peace plan Members of Congress attending an international security forum said Secretary of State Marco Rubio called them to say the Americans did not instigate the proposal.

Here’s what The Counteroffensive is reading today:

Rubio told U.S. officials that the 28-point plan was from Russia, not the U.S., Politico reports.

This contradicts Rubio’s posts on X saying the plan had U.S. input.

The plan is widely criticised as too favourable to Russia.

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

Don’t just skim the surface - explore the complexities and realities of the War.

Head to the link to explore top-notch reporting from Ukraine.

YouTube video by Green Day Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams [Official Music Video] [4K Upgrade]

Here’s what Aidan is listening to today:

Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

Missed our latest story on why Trump's peace plan is a roadmap to more war. Head to the link to read.

www.counteroffensive.news?utm_source=g...

Zelenskyy formed an official negotiating team to address the U.S. peace plan, solidifying it with a presidential decree.

The delegation is headed by Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who is currently under scrutiny for his role in a major corruption scandal.

x.com/ChristopherJ...

US official contradicts Ukraine’s Umerov’s claim that he didn’t amend peace plan The draft reportedly originally proposed an audit of all international aid to Ukraine, but the language was later changed to offer "full amnesty for actions during the war" to all parties involved.

U.S. officials told the Kyiv Independent that former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov approved parts of the U.S. proposal.

Umerov denies the reports, including one allegation that he added a clause offering “full amnesty for actions during the war” to all parties involved.

Putin backs US peace plan as ‘basis’ for settlement in Ukraine Washington’s proposal would confirm Ukraine’s sovereignty but would limit its armed forces, hand a significant amount of territory to Russia and bar Kyiv from joining NATO.

Here’s what The Counteroffensive is reading today:

Putin says the U.S. plan could serve as the “basis” for peace, shifting from a statement yesterday that it hadn’t been substantively discussed.

The plan would cap Ukraine’s forces and hand Moscow significant territorial gains.

her lungs

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak | Substack A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week...

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DOG OF WAR:
Nastia met this dog in a café when she met up with her friends. The dog was really friendly and asked Nastia for some pets.

UKRAINE-JFK ASSASSINATION
FACT: The most famous video footage of the incident was taken by a man named Abraham Zapruder, in what became known as the Zapruder film. Here's the Ukraine connection:
Zapruder was born in Kovel, part of the Volyn Oblast of Ukraine

Kyiv says work continues on technical level between teams to study US proposals Ukraine called on its partners to respect its position as work continues on the technical level to study a U.S.-backed plan to end the war, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. Rustem Umerov, t...

UMEROV: UKRAINE CONSIDERING PROPOSAL: Rustem Umerov, the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council says that Ukraine was "studying" the proper proposal, which limits Ukraine's military to 600K troops.

In his first public comments, Putin says Trump’s 28-point peace plan wasn’t discussed ‘substantively’ with Moscow but could serve as ‘basis for a final peace settlement’ — Meduza In his first public comments on the Trump administration’s 28-point peace plan for the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said on Friday that an early version of the White House’s proposals was part of di...

PUTIN HASN'T BACKED PLAN: Putin said Friday that the 28 point plan "has not been discussed with us in any substantive way," per Meduza, but that it could become "the basis for a final peace settlement."