Saulius Markūnas

Saulius Markūnas

@markunas.eu

International politics, freedom, human rights, democracy, science, and IT 🇳🇴🇱🇹🇺🇦🇪🇺

561 followers442 following427 posts

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Left: President Trump insults Norway calling it a sh*thouse country Right: Visit Norway, the tourism board, trolls President Trump, displaying some of their best toilets on their Instagram 😅

Saulius Markūnas reposted

1. Not sure when a new, on-the-record rape allegation against a sitting president isn’t considered news — especially considering Trump was found liable by a jury in a similar case — but it was ignored by most mainstream media outlets

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While Russian drones strike Ukraine, the daughter of a Russian drone executive lives her best life in Toronto. 🧵 1/11 ⬇️

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Zelenskyy: “Just imagine, there are Ukrainian children who have never known peace. That’s absolutely horrifying. Many children in Ukraine, including among the fallen, have never lived in peace. We lived in a different time. We understand what it’s like to live without sirens, shelling, and

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Ukraine was winning the war, so Trump kneecapped Ukraine to help Russia. I wish it weren’t that simple, but it is. Our president is in bed with our enemies.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Report from @csis.org: the Alabuga drone factory is 4-country joint effort: 🔹Iran provided the design and manufacturing expertise 🔹North Korea supplies mass labour 🔹China supplies batteries, engines, electronics, etc 🔹Russia built the factory and fires the drones at Ukraine

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When are we going to get an answer by European supporters of Ukraine? This is where it's decided whether the US can just openly use its remaining leverage to try and actively force Ukraine into subjugation without any backlash.

Angry@angrystaffer.bsky.social

This is pathetic. Ukraine tested Starlink speed restrictions in Europe and had no issues - the restrictions only exist in Ukraine. The Trump administration is actively helping Russia kill Ukrainians - and risking the lives of US and NATO advisors in Ukraine.

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The United States is actively helping Putin murder civilians in Ukraine. Trump is doing everything he can to force Ukraine to surrender to his friend and ally Putin so they can be subjugated by the Russians again.

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What next? Trump, Witkoff & Kushner to start supplying US weapons, intelligence, and state secrets to russia? This administration has turned the US into a complete joke, and it might have been funny if the damage done wasn't permanent.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Ballistic shelling of Kyiv and the region lasted 2.5-3 hours. The Russians launched 39❗ballistic missiles, damaging 26 power grid assets and 4 gas grid assets. Over 600k people are without power.

Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦@perevaa.bsky.social

It’s 5 AM. Kyiv and the surrounding region are under another ballistic missile attack. At least the air raid alerts went off early enough.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Many people have a wrong idea about what US intelligence sharing with Ukraine is. In reality it's largely early warnings about air strikes so Ukrainians can seek shelter. This requires US satellites. But it looks like Trump might have instructed his military to stop giving Ukrainians that warning.

For the second evening in a row, Zelensky says Ukraine received no warning from Western partners before Russia launched ballistic missiles at Kyiv. Tuesday’s strike hit a key energy facility and damaged a residential building, he said. meduza.io/en/news/2026...

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Replying to @kyivindependent.com

Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv late Oct. 13, as explosions rocked Ukraine's capital moments after an air raid alert was issued, with presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn telling reporters that allies had not provided early warning of the launches for the second day in a row.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Replying to @twmcltd.bsky.social

Outrage upon outrage. 1) Trump announces energy ceasefire 2) Putin hits a thermal power plant 3) Presidementia says oh it was only a refinery ceasefire. 4) Ukraine has only 1 refinery remaining and it's not working. Trump is a Russian asset. Shame on the US.

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Trump: "Zelensky could have settled this war many, many times, but he chooses not to." Sick liar! This rant is full-on Russian propaganda straight from the mouth of the US president. There is no deal on the table that Ukraine could have accepted.

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🚨 UPD: The death toll from a Russian airstrike on Zaporizhzhia has risen to 20 people, including three children, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.  Rescue operations continue at the site.

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This is completely outrageous and disgusting. This must immediately be blocked by Congress and Trump should be impeached for this. The US is now funding Putin’s war machine as he murders civilians including children. We are lost as a country.

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Putin has bought Trump with Russian diesel. Just before the US elections. Meanwhile, Russia keeps killing our children while they sleep at night. So Americans are now funding Russia’s war machine? I’m sorry, guys, but WHAT A FUCKING DISGRACE.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November ... "

Saulius Markūnas reposted

🕯️💔🇺🇦President Zelenskyy: The search-and-rescue operation in Pryluky is complete. Sadly, 22 people died, including 5 children. 54 people were injured, including 7 children.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

OTD in 1951 *2nd* wave of Operation Osen's deportations began. Over 16000 Lithuanians were forcibly sent to Siberia as USSR continued to liberate them from fascism & also their freedom 6 years after WW2 ended. Imagine mass deportations happening today?

Saulius Markūnas reposted

How much I would love to have a normal night's sleep again, instead of staring at the ceiling and thinking about how russia struck a school today during the day, and an animal shelter at night, where poor dogs and cats had no chance of escaping their cages. How a private house in Kyiv is

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Today at 4 AM, Russia attacked Kharkiv. The strike fell on the 2nd floor of an apartment building, destroying the 2nd and 3rd floors. ​As of now, the number of injured has reached 20 people, including 8 children. ​A 12-year-old and an 8-year-old boys have been hospitalized.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Replying to @twmcltd.bsky.social

The worst death toll of the day came in Kharkiv this morning. A Banderol missile hit workers sorting vegetables at a farm. Six employees, 2 men and 4 women, were killed and 12 injured in Hnylytsia, east of Kharkiv. Three are said to be seriously wounded. #RussiaIsATerroristState

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The moment the fourth Russian drone struck near Kyiv’s Central Railway Station. This is happening in the heart of a major European capital in the 21st century. The entire civilized world can’t stop one old mental patient.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Investigation: Cuban dance instructor recruits random people to carry out acts of terror in Europe

eualive.netInvestigation: Cuban dance instructor recruits random people to carry out acts of terror in EuropeA joint investigation by Deutsche Welle, Lithuania’s LRT, Czech Television and Spain’s RTVE identified Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban-born dance instructor living in Petrozavodsk, as the man behind the aliases “Dios” and “Adrian.” From Russia he directed a loose network of mostly Latin American recruits to carry out arson and reconnaissance against targets in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Lithuania during a four-month stretch in 2024. Lithuanian prosecutors publicly linked the campaign to Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, and placed Romagoza on an international wanted list. He remains at large and is believed to be in Russia. The case is a textbook illustration of how Russian hybrid operations function after 2022: cheap, deniable, and designed to exploit people who need money more than they understand the mission. A dance teacher with two lives Romagoza was born in Camagüey, Cuba. He has lived in Russia for at least seven years, married a Russian woman in 2022, obtained Russian citizenship, and taught salsa, bachata and kizomba at a studio called Made in Cuba. Videos of his classes show him leading groups in front of a mirror. In April 2026 – after he had already been named by Lithuanian authorities – the studio posted another video of him teaching. Investigators found no public explanation of when or how he began working for Russian services. Leaked data suggested he faced financial pressure in 2023. Online he used different names and posted job ads on Telegram and Facebook. One Russian-language post in a Poland work group offered photography work. Another, in Spanish-language groups for Latinos and Cubans in Russia, sought people with “military experience in monitoring, intelligence, logistics and tactical maneuvers” and promised $1,500 plus a bonus per completed operation. Recruits were often young, short of cash, or looking for a way to reach Ukraine. Some had military backgrounds. Most did not know who they were ultimately working for. Disposable agents, remote control This is the core of the method. After European countries expelled large numbers of Russian diplomats following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow lost many of its traditional intelligence officers on the ground. The response was to recruit “disposable agents” – amateurs hired online who could be directed remotely, paid little, and abandoned if caught. Intelligence researchers describe the approach as low-cost and high-deniability. Detection itself becomes part of the message: Russia can reach into European cities without sending uniformed officers. Romagoza organized travel, hotels and tasks from a distance. Recruits received satellite images of targets and instructions to photograph sites or start fires. Not every assignment succeeded. Authorities arrested at least nine people connected to the network. Two received prison sentences of six to eight years. One documented case is Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, a 34-year-old Colombian who had served in his country’s army. Recruited after expressing interest in joining Ukrainian forces, he travelled to Romania in July 2024. Investigators say he photographed a recycling facility, oil wells and a gas station with the intention of setting them alight or destroying them. He was detained before he could act. In 2025 Romania’s Supreme Court upheld a six-year sentence for attempted sabotage. Murillo claimed he only wanted to reach Ukraine. In Lithuania the network targeted TVC Solutions in Šiauliai, a company producing mobile radio-spectrum analysis stations for Ukraine. Two arson attempts in September 2024 using flammable liquid failed. A mixed group of Colombians, a Spaniard, a Belarusian, a Russian and a Cuban woman were later detained; trials continue. Similar fires or attempted fires hit construction-supply businesses in Poland and a bus depot in the Czech Republic. Some targets were chosen because they supported Ukraine’s war effort; others appear selected for disruption and publicity. Why this model works for Moscow The operations cost little, require no sophisticated tradecraft from the people on the ground, and create headlines that amplify a sense of vulnerability. They sit below the threshold of open conflict while still imposing costs – security spending, political pressure, public anxiety – on countries helping Ukraine. European officials have recorded a sharp rise in suspected Russian-linked arson, parcel devices, drone incidents and infrastructure interference since 2023. The Cuban instructor’s network is one documented strand in a larger campaign that uses both professional officers and rented amateurs. Romagoza himself has not been arrested. European warrants have not produced extradition from Russia. In the months after the investigation became public he was still appearing in dance videos and joining new Facebook groups aimed at Latin Americans looking for work in Poland. The contrast is the point of the method: an ordinary-looking life in a provincial Russian city, a Telegram account, and a string of fires hundreds of kilometres away. That combination – plausible deniability plus visible disruption – is how this form of hybrid pressure is designed to operate. With DW and LRT Caption: Oemis Romagoza Durruthy teaches Latin dance in northern Russia [Photo from his account in Vkontakte social media, the Russian version of Facebook]

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Replying to @twmcltd.bsky.social

Ukraine tennis star Dayana Yastremska was one of those to have her home destroyed by Russia yesterday. The Odesa native posted about her loss on Instagram, saying the only thing which survived was this orange towel from the French Open championships. #RussiaIsATerroristState

Saulius Markūnas reposted

🚨 BREAKING: A Russian drone struck the locomotive of a passenger train near the Polish border. "This is Putin’s terror “knocking” directly on the doors of the EU and NATO," FM Sybiha wrote in response.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

In the early hours of 12 September, genocidal russians attacked the city of Chornomorsk in the Odesa region. One apartment block was completely destroyed and three others were damaged. A hotel, a rehabilitation centre and nearby parked cars were also damaged. Do not look away! (Katerina Horbunova)

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A missile just crashed into the building I was sleeping in. Built up residential complex intentionally attacked in Odesa. The building is still on fire. Barbaric terrorism.

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Kyiv now looks like this every single day. There are smoke stacks 24/7 It’s a major European capital bigger than Paris and being terrorised every day.

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Another high profile resignation from leading AI company Anthropic. This is the warning to the world he wrote this evening on Twitter. "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Replying to @twmcltd.bsky.social

Last week I wrote about Russian attacks on warehouses storing medical drugs. Now the Good Day Pharmacy publishes before & after photos showing the destruction 100s of tons of medicines that were supposed to be delivered to patients in various regions of Ukraine, were destroyed

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Day 1658 of this terrorism being inflicted on an innocent country. Ukraine is fighting for its life & the lives of every one of its inhabitants. Just hours ago, this happened in Kyiv, a western-looking, freedom loving, European capital city. This may come to you soon. Today's🧵

Saulius Markūnas reposted

ZERO deep strikes on Russia overnight. Zelenskyy said yesterday Ukraine would halt air strikes and Russia should do the same. Russia’s answer: 5 ballistic missiles, 130+ drones. As usual, Russia ignored the ceasefire.

Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦@perevaa.bsky.social

Four people were killed and five wounded in a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kamianske on Sep 5. Three victims are hospitalized, including a 30-year-old woman in intensive care.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Russia fired Iskanders and 167 strike drones at Ukraine overnight, attacking multiple cities despite calls for a ceasefire during the American officials' visit. Meanwhile, a Russian air threat monitoring channel reported yesterday evening that no Ukrainian targets were detected in Russian airspace.

WarTranslated (Dmitri)@wartranslated.bsky.social

Ukrainian units were ordered to hold fire along the front line from midnight Sept 5 to Sept 8, according to Ukrainska Pravda sources.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

🚨 BREAKING: Russia rejected a temporary ceasefire, launching overnight strikes on civilian targets across Ukraine and killing 4 people. Russia's Defense Ministry published a list of struck civilian targets following reports of a proposed Sept 5–8 ceasefire.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Trump, empowered by SCOTUS, entered office convinced he could do insider trading, sell pardons and favors, take bribes, steal and openly flout the law. Now, with the prospect of investigations looming, he is growing ever more fearful that he miscalculated.

Saulius Markūnas reposted

Replying to @gaudipern.bsky.social

(3/3) Dolly called and asked if there was any way to help with this tragedy. Abumrad replied she was on a vaccine research team but it was expensive and they were still seeking grants. When Dolly heard this she replied "Well I have money" and donated $1m. Abumrad's team produced the Moderna vaccine.

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Replying to @twmcltd.bsky.social

Astonishing photos - for all the wrong reasons - from Kupiansk, in Kharkiv region. This is what happens when Russia's "peacekeepers" come to visit. Repeatedly, wherever the arrive. Talks don't work. Stop this genocide through strength. 📷Ukraine's 41st Brigade

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President Zelenskyy: If American partners sell us 5% of missiles, we will go through the winter and save people's lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all Russian ballistic missiles. "Ukraine has 1% now. Each night, we have attacks and 4 or 5 times per month, we have massive attacks.