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Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔  2-November-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ UN on Russia’s crimes against humanity.
⬤  Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s independent newspaper evicted.
⬤  Kherson mayor’s story.
⬤ Russia press gangs.
⬤ Ukraine anti-corruption strategy keeps. disappearing.
 ⬤ Comments on Oleshky ceasefire.



News from the territories occupied by Russia

“In Taganrog, at least six people were killed in front of me” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 30th)

Russia killed Nonna Halka’s sister, now it is jeopardising her life because her son is defending Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 30th)

The Face of Resistance: Political Prisoner Yashar Muiedinov (Crimea Platform, October 30th)

Gravely ill Crimean Solidarity political prisoner Tofik Abdulgaziev finally freed! (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 29th)

Massive sentences against Berdiansk mother and son in latest Russian ‘thwarted Ukrainian saboteur trial’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 27th)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, October 27th)

Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhayev led the occupied city for 4 months, was eventually abducted and has been in captivity for 5 years (Babel, October 26th)

Italian Human Rights Advocates Call for Release of Crimean Political Prisoner Amet Suleimanov Amid Threat to His Life (Crimea Platform, October 26th)

Abducted Melitopol men tell Russian court of four years ongoing torture and of prisoners executed in Russia’s secret prison (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 26th)

FSB stages fake ‘arrest’ of 63-year-old Crimean after abducting her almost two years ago (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 26th)

Progress of the war

Russia fuel shortages ease as Ukraine faces Trump pressure to halt refinery strikes (Kyiv Independent, 30 October)

Humanitarian convoy prepares to enter Oleshky (Kyiv Independent, 30 October)

Everyone's afraid, but they're pressing on: how the local ceasefire in Oleshky became a test for a broader deal (Ukrainska Pravda, October 29th)

Putin calls Musk ‘genius’ as Ukraine recovers from Starshield throttling (Kyiv Ind’pdnt, 28 October)

Ukraine’s west under attack: how Belarus helps Russia’s war. (Ukrainska Pravda, 21 October)

News from Ukraine

Ukraine’s fugitive ex-prosecutor general alleges conspiracy (Kyiv Independent, 30 October)

Why Ukraine’s anti-corruption strategy keeps disappearing from parliament’s voting schedule. (Ukrainska Pravda, 27 October)

Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Ukrainian Schools (Cedos, October 27th)

War-related news from Russia

Russia: the revolt of the letter-writers (Centre for European Policy Analysis, 30 October)

Russia: Roundups to force men into the war are surging again (Meduza, 30 October)

Novaya Gazeta evicted: a statement from the editorial team. Plus “taking down our fallen friends” (Mediazona, 29 October)

Can independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta arise from the ashes again? (Meduza, 30 October)

The regime’s optics: Despite sanctions, Russia is advancing quantum and laser technologies for military use (The Insider, October 28th)

Lima-Donbas express. Russia recruits Peruvian nationals for war (iStories, 28 October)

Yan Shenkman: The Meaning of the Network Case, Nine Years On (The Russian Reader, October 27th)

Russia in a whirlpool of repressions: regime consumes itself (zn.ua, 24 October)

Comment and analysis

Supporters of the theory that Russia is waging a "defensive war against NATO expansion" never want to face the facts (Andreu Movtxan, Facebook, October 30th)

Why did Russia agree to the Oleshky ceasefire? (Kyiv Independent, 29 October)

Research of human rights abuses

Human Rights in Ukraine 2025 and the First Half of 2026: Challenges in Holding Suspects Accountable for International Crimes (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, October 26th)

Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity through attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and trafficked foreign nationals to fight with their armed forces in Ukraine, says UN Commission of Inquiry (UN Human Rights, October 26th)

Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to the UN General Assembly (UN Human Rights, October 26th)

International solidarity

Denys Matsola: fifth birthday in captivity (Solidarity Collectives, 1 November)

Freedom for Denys Matsola! Protest in your city on November 1! (Ukraine Solidarity EU, October 29)

Repression in Sweden against anarchist who fought for Ukraine (Solidarity Collectives, 30 October)

Statement of Solidarity with Vladyslav Starodubtsev (Ruta, October 25th)

Trade union aid to Kriviy Rih college (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 27 October)

Also not to be missed

Report from Lithuania: drone threat to Europe real & serious (Eastern Frontier Initiative, 30 October)

Investigation: Rising hate against Ukrainians in Central Europe (Kyiv Independent, 30 October)

Upcoming events

Wednesday 4 November, 6.0pm. On-line Meeting: Hear the Voices of Ukraine Live from the Frontline Regions. Michael Kearney, NEU National Executive Member, reports directly from teachers and children living and learning in Ukraine’s frontline regions. Meeting hosted by the National Education Union. Register here

Thursday 5 November,, 6.0pm. On-line Meeting: Crimean Tatars in times of occupation and war. A discussion of Crimea's indigenous Crimean Tatar people, their history, and their present under Russian occupation. Hosted by UCU members for Ukraine and USC. Register here

Saturday 7 November,, 10.0am. Meeting: Voices against Putin's war. Anti-war protesters speeches in Russian courts. SOAS, Room B305, London, during the conference of Historical Materialism 2026. With Aleksandra Zapolskaia (Posle media editorial collective), Oleksandr Kyselov (Sotsialnyi Rukh Ukraine) and Simon Pirani (editor, Voices against Putin’s war). Meeting hosted by Resistance Books

Wednesday 11 November, 7.0pm. Public meeting: Stand with the people of Ukraine. Meeting with Oleksandr Kyselov (Sotsialnyi Rukh Ukraine). Somers Town Community Hall, 150 Ossulston St, NW1 1EE. Hosted by Anti Capitalist Resistance

Friday 13 November, 6.0pm. Meeting: The US midterms, Ukraine and the fight against fascism. with Tanya Vyhovsky, Vermont State Senator (Progressive / Democratic), and Dylan Burns, journalist, streamer and founder of Track Ukraine. Hosted by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. Register here
🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 219

Friendly Atheist ★ Throughout the country, voters rejected politicians who wanted to put conservative Christianity into law.

I’m still processing everything that happened during Tuesday’s Blue Tsunami, at least through a church/state separation lens, but I wanted to get a few thoughts down here while people are still happy and optimistic.

According to preliminary exit polling that breaks down results by religion, from NBC News, the share of “Nones” who voted rose from 24% in 2024 to 27% in 2026. We are a growing segment of American voters—and we’re reliably liberal. 78% of the Nones supported Democrats. That’s a shift of roughly 6 points to the left compared to two years ago.

Meanwhile, 82% of white evangelical voters continued to support Republicans—roughly on par with previous elections—showing yet again how they’re willing to overlook all kinds of cruelty and corruption in the name of partisan politics. (Christians who are not white evangelical or born-again, like Black Protestants, favored Democrats over Republicans.)

There’s a very good chance that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, one of Donald Trump’s more loyal allies and advocate for Christian Nationalism, will be fired in the days to come as Trump looks for someone to blame for his debacle in Iran.

Continue @ Friendly Atheist. 

The Blue Tsunami Was A Blow To Christian Nationalism

Merrion Press ðŸ”– has published a new book by James Durney.




BOYHOOD'S FIRE
Na Fianna Éireann at War, 1916-1986

James Durney


A compelling new history of Na Fianna Éireann, revealing how Ireland’s youngest revolutionaries shaped key events from the Easter Rising to the Troubles.

On 24 April 1916, 1,600 revolutionaries assembled in Dublin and declared an Irish Republic. Among those who advanced on the city’s strategic strongholds were boys of Na Fianna Éireann, the youth wing of the Irish Volunteers. They took part in every major action that week, and four were killed, including fourteen-year-old Seán Healy, the Rising’s youngest fatality.

Boyhood’s Fire is a gripping account of those young warriors who helped shape Ireland’s fight for freedom. From the chaos of Easter Week, through the War of Independence and Civil War, to the streets of Belfast and Derry in 1969, successive generations of youth were forged in the fire of revolution.

Drawing on vivid first-hand testimony and original research, James Durney delivers a powerful, fast-paced history of youth in revolt, uncovering the forgotten faces behind Ireland’s long fight for freedom.

Paperback • €18.99|£17.99 • 272 pages • 215mm x 135mm • 9781785376016
Get your copy

Out Now 📚 James Durney

Right Wing Watch ðŸ‘€ Written by Kyle Mantyla.


In the wake of an election that saw Republicans across the country swept out of office by a massive blue wave, former Trump attorney and religious-right commentator Jenna Ellis is calling for the Constitution to be amended because the voters are too "stupid" to be trusted to elect their own senators.

Outraged by Michigan voters' decision to elect Abdul El-Sayed to the U.S. Senate, Ellis said on her radio program today Republicans must focus on making "generational" changes to our electoral process via a Convention of States that will propose constitutional amendments to alter our system of government as it currently stands.

Originally under the Constitution, senators were chosen by their respective state legislatures, but that was changed by the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913 which gave voters the power to elect their senators.

This was a mistake, Ellis said, because "the people can be stupid," as demonstrated by the election of El-Sayed.

Ellis said:

The whole Trump era has basically been a dam and a wall against this entire deluge of the worst from the left . . . There are cracks now that we've seen over the last couple of years in that wall and I think that the dam broke last night.

Continue @ RWW.

Jenna Ellis Wants To Change The Constitution Because Voters Are Too 'Stupid' To Elect Their Own Senators

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand One Hundred And Forty Seven

 

Pastords @ 70

 

A Morning Thought @ 3318

Anthony McIntyre ☠  Last weekend in London, British police in a message symptomatic of Burnham draconian intent arrested 325 people at a protest rally outside the US embassy.


The rally had been organised by Defend Our Juries. 

Most of those detained were bearing placards proclaiming I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action. Yet a woman brandishing a placard I support genocide, I oppose Palestine Action was allowed to proceed without police intervention. This prompted a wry observation that “You can’t make this up . . . you can openly cheer for mass murder, but you can’t protest against it.” 

Fortunately, for now, on this turf where Burnham’s writ does not run we can still protest against mass murder and voice our support for Palestine Action without fear of arrest. The elderly Jewish human rights lawyer, 94 year old Margaret Owens was not so lucky. She was one of those arrested.

Echoing the earlier seniment, Rita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, described what is happening under Burnham who remains on course to complete what Keir Starmer began.

The Kafkaesque UK laws adopted under the Starmer (government) to appease Israel are such that you’ll get arrested for terrorism if you hold a sign saying, ‘I support Palestine Action.’ But if you hold a sign saying ‘I support genocide, I oppose Palestine Action,’ then you’ll be fine.” 

Zack Polanski, leader of the UK Green Party served it up on a plate in his scathing criticism of the Burnham policy:

This is truly dystopian . . . Israel killed eight people, including a child, in Gaza this weekend as they continue their genocide . . . After a weekend of arresting pensioners for protesting against this horror, Labour has (put) Israel far above serving our local communities.

Welcome to Burnham’s Britain which is tough on grannies but easy on Genocide.

The protests that took place in London were staged against a background of ongoing genocide in both Gaza and The West Bank. In respect of the latter Israeli policy has been spelt out by the Tel Aviv human rights body B'Tselem in The Elimination Report in which the body drew on 2000 testimonies from Palestinians taken since October 2023 complemented by three decades of monitoring the behaviour of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. B'Tselem said:

The report looks at the current reality not as a collection of isolated incidents or specific harms, but as part of a comprehensive mechanism of elimination that works to dismantle the conditions for continued Palestinian existence in the West Bank, while deepening Jewish control and supremacy in an irreversible manner. An examination of the current reality in the West Bank reveals that the project of elimination is now being implemented more openly, directly and violently than before, and increasingly relies on cooperation between official state authorities and settler militias operating in the West Bank with state backing and support.

Since the start of 2023 almost 50,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes or land and 1,333 killed by settlers or soldiers. While the October 7 attack simply cannot be justified by any group purporting to hold to the universal application of human rights, the figures show that more people have been killed in the West Bank since 2023 than died on October 7. 

On top of this a UN Commission of Inquiry reported in the middle of October that Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of persecution against Palestinian children, where in the West Bank “the harm inflicted on children is not incidental or collateral to the broader violence affecting civilian population, but forms part of a pattern of intentional violence.” According to Human Rights Watch:

Their findings recognize an important dimension that has not been given enough attention: children in the West Bank have been deliberately targeted—not just because of their nationality, race or ethnicity but also due to their age—in attacks causing serious bodily and mental harm.

This is entirely consistent with the claim made by Simon Harris shortly after the onset of the Israeli genocide that Israel was waging war on children. 

Margaret Owen and others are being arrested for standing in opposition to what has been clearly identified by a UN Commission of Inquiry and B'Tselem. It is what we stand against week in week out. Like Margaret Owen we stand here weekly, not meekly or weakly. Today we stand also with Margaret Owen and her colleagues who constantly fear arrest. In doing so we stand resolutely against Burnham who despite replacing him continues to stand with Starmer. 
 
⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Tough On Grannies 🪶 Easy On Genocide

Geordie Morrow ðŸ–Œ with a painting from his collection of art work.


Belfast from a window in the Winchester ward - oil on panel - 24”x24”

⏩Geordie Morrow is a Belfast artist.

Ommadawn

FOwen O'Shea ðŸ”–will see his book on Austin Stack launched in Dublin next week. 


Unchanged And Unchangeable: Austin Stack And The Irish Revolution


Venue: Chapters Bookstore, Parnell Street, Dublin

Date: 12-November-2026

Time: 1900

Guest Speaker: David McCullough



Book Launch 📚 Owen O'Shea

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin ðŸ”–has just finished the a recently published book on Sinn Fein.

Inside Sinn Féin, But None the Wiser


In a lifetime of reading, only two books have seriously tempted me to give up halfway through. The first was Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The second was Siobhán Fenton's account of her time working for Sinn Féin. In both cases, I suspect my expectations had rather more to do with my disappointment than the books themselves.

I bought Fenton's book when it was first released but deliberately put off reading it. I had a holiday coming up and wanted to take my time with it, rather than rush through something I had been looking forward to.

When I finally settled into my seat for a three-hour flight, I opened it with genuine interest. Having spent twenty years in the Republican Movement, I wanted to know whether Sinn Féin had changed much since I left. Had the party changed internally, or had it simply learned to present itself differently? A book written by someone who had worked inside its communications operation seemed a good place to look for answers.

What followed was a long account of the everyday business of political communications. Fenton goes into unremarkable detail about her time working for Sinn Féin. We learn about Mary Lou McDonald's clothes and lipstick, the décor of buildings, press cycles, polling and the arrangements surrounding political announcements. At one point, she even tells us what the choir was wearing at the lighting of the Dáil Christmas tree.

Much of the book is taken up with policy announcements on housing, childcare and other issues, along with detailed explanations of how Sinn Féin tested public opinion and managed the media reaction. We are taken through the mechanics of polling, market testing and press management, often at considerable length.

Fenton also spends a surprising amount of time explaining why she went to work for Sinn Féin. I can understand why a journalist might feel the need to explain that decision. But having done so once, there seems little reason to keep returning to it. I had no particular interest in judging her career choices. I wanted to know about Sinn Féin.

There are also occasions when Fenton repeats Sinn Féin's account of its own history without questioning it. This is particularly noticeable in how the party presents its relationship with the IRA, the peace process and its move into constitutional politics, as though these were all part of a carefully worked-out strategy rather than a series of decisions shaped by changing political circumstances. Sinn Féin has spent years putting its own interpretation on that history. I had hoped Fenton might test some of those claims rather than take them at face value.

Working inside an organisation does not necessarily mean understanding it. Sometimes it simply means becoming familiar with how it wants to be understood. A journalist writing about Sinn Féin should be prepared to question that.

It is not until chapters fourteen and fifteen that the book begins to tell us something about the Sinn Féin I had hoped to read about.

With a general election approaching, the party was struggling to hold together two different groups of voters. There were its traditional working-class supporters, many of whom had stayed loyal through difficult years, and a newer, more middle-class electorate attracted by the prospect of political change.

Sinn Féin was trying to ride two horses, and neither appeared particularly happy with the direction of travel.

At the same time, the party leadership seemed to be losing touch with its grassroots. Mary Lou McDonald appeared increasingly removed from the problems developing around her, while those running the party were busy with polling, public relations and the prospect of entering government.

Here, finally, was something worth reading.

How had a party that once prided itself on knowing its supporters become so distant from them? Had the pursuit of middle-class votes changed Sinn Féin itself? Or had the leadership simply become so used to telling people what they wanted to hear that it had stopped listening to what they were saying?

For years, Sinn Féin had presented itself as the alternative to the political establishment. It was the party that would do things differently. Yet the closer it appeared to get to government, the harder it became for some voters to see what made it different from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.

The party that promised to change the system was now working hard to show that it could manage the system.

These were the questions I wanted Fenton to unpack. Unfortunately, much of what she tells us about the internal disagreements comes through unnamed sources and vague references. We are given glimpses of what was happening but little opportunity to understand why.

And just as the book begins to get interesting, we are back to press releases, polling and the daily work of political communications.

Perhaps I expected too much. Fenton worked in political communications, and it is reasonable that she should write about what she knows. There is value in understanding how a modern political party manages its public image. But the public image is not the organisation.

In recounting the circumstances of her departure from the party, Fenton appears to have discovered something many of us learned long ago. Sinn Féin has a habit of eating its own. You are useful for as long as you are useful, and when that usefulness ends, you can quickly find yourself on the outside looking in. In this respect, I have some sympathy for her. Whatever my criticisms of the book, I recognise something familiar in her experience. Indeed, it is perhaps the one insight the book offers that suggests the movement has changed very little in the twenty years since I left.

I spent twenty years in the Republican Movement before leaving. I wanted to know whether Sinn Féin had changed since I left. Was it much the same organisation, only with better suits and a more professional press office?

Having finally finished the book, which took rather more determination than I had expected, I still don't know.

Siobhán Fenton, 2026. Ourselves Alone: Sinn Féin Behind Closed Doors. ISBN-13:978-1844887095. Publisher - Sandycove.

Ourselves Alone

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