Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Meduza in English @meduza.io · 6h

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree revoking the citizenship of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed.

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Zelensky strips Odesa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship over alleged Russian passport — Meduza

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree revoking the citizenship of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) confirmed on October 14. The move was first…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 7h

French photojournalist Antoni Lallican spent years documenting Russia’s war against Ukraine. On October 3, he was killed by a Russian drone strike. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

See the work of Antoni Lallican, the French photojournalist killed in a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine — Meduza

French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed in a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine on October 3. The attack wounded four others, including Ukrainian photojournalist Georgiy Ivanchenko,…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 10h

Two Russian women recruited citizens of Cuba and Sri Lanka to fight in Ukraine. Both were later jailed on theft charges and eventually sent to the front themselves.
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The travel agent, the hairdresser, and the war Two Russian women recruited Cubans to fight in Ukraine. Then they were sent to the front themselves. — Meduza

The investigative outlet Sistema has published an investigation into how citizens of Cuba and Sri Lanka were recruited to join the Russian army and fight in Ukraine. Journalists found that two women…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 13h

Russia has opened a criminal case against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and 22 members of the Russian Anti-war Committee, accusing them of attempting to seize power by force and of participating in a terrorist organization.
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Russia charges prominent opposition figures with ‘terrorism’ and ‘plotting a coup’ — Meduza

The Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and 22 members of the Russian Anti-war Committee, accusing them of attempting to seize power by force…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 1d

Over the past three years, courts in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions have issued at least 190 convictions for “treason” and “espionage.”
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Courts in occupied Ukraine have issued 190 convictions for ‘treason’ and ‘espionage’ — Meduza

Over the past three years, courts in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions have issued at least 190 convictions for “treason,” “espionage,”…

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10 19

Meduza in English @meduza.io · 1d

Faced with growing public frustration over tax hikes and the ongoing war against Ukraine, the Kremlin has a plan: fire unpopular governors. The goal, insiders say, is to distract Russians ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.
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‘A short burst of positive emotion’ Ahead of elections, the Kremlin has a plan to distract Russians from war and tax hikes: fire a few governors — Meduza

Faced with growing public frustration over tax hikes and the ongoing war against Ukraine, the Kremlin has a plan: fire unpopular governors. The goal, insiders say, is to distract Russians and project…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 1d

Across Russia, maternity wards are shutting down — even as officials urge women to have more children.
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‘I appeal to our beloved women’ Russia says it wants more babies. So why is it closing maternity wards? — Meduza

Across Russia, maternity wards are shutting down — even as officials urge women to have more children. A mix of falling birth rates, cost-cutting policies, and chronic staffing shortages has made…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 1d

Reporting from Bukhara, journalist @sashaslobodov.bsky.social explores how tourism and the diaspora sustain the last vestiges of Uzbekistan’s Jewish heritage. The Beet’s latest.
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Back to Bukhara How memory, tourism, and the diaspora sustain the last vestiges of Uzbekistan’s Jewish heritage — Meduza

Best known as a stop on the Silk Road trade route, Uzbekistan’s ancient city of Bukhara was home to a thriving Jewish community for more than 2,000 years. But since the Soviet Union’s collapse in the…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 3d

OSINT researchers at Mediazona and Conflict Intelligence Team have expressed reservations about alleged Russian military records leaked by Ukraine’s military intelligence, which show 87K KIAs in 2025. Meduza summarizes their concerns. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Counting bodies, casting doubts Independent Russian analysts dispute the reliability of alleged Russian casualties leaked by Ukraine’s military intelligence — Meduza

This week, researchers at the independent news website Mediazona and the OSINT project Conflict Intelligence Team disputed the reliability of alleged Russian military records leaked by Ukraine’s…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 4d

A full year after late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s memoir Patriot was published in 26 languages, a debate has flared up online over a key difference between editions.
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A disappearing act Why the Russian edition of Navalny’s memoir is missing 100 pages found in the English version — Meduza

A full year after late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s memoir Patriot was published in 26 languages, a debate has flared up online over a key difference between editions. The Russian…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 4d

Russia wants its drone attacks to undermine confidence in NATO’s security guarantees. So far, it’s not working, argues analyst Alexander Baunov.
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Hybrid warfare, hybrid response Russia wants its drone attacks to undermine confidence in NATO’s security guarantees. So far, it’s not working. — Meduza

Two months ago, when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska, the U.S. president signaled that he was willing to accept many of his Russian counterpart’s positions. Trump hoped this would…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 4d

Putin believes Russia can outlast and overpower Ukraine. What does that mean for the war’s future? @msnegovaya.bsky.social breaks down four possible scenarios. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

‘The Kremlin has resources’ Putin believes Russia can outlast and overpower Ukraine. What does that mean for the war’s future? — Meduza

In the weeks since the Trump administration’s push to negotiate a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv stalled, Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine passed the three-and-a-half-year mark. Russian…

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Reposted by Meduza in English

Eilish Hart @eilishhart.bsky.social · 5d

Big thanks to @msnegovaya.bsky.social for joining me on The Naked Pravda to talk about the next chapter of Russia’s war against Ukraine. We cover the mounting costs pressuring the Kremlin, four scenarios for the war’s future trajectory, and so much more. meduza.io/en/episodes/... @meduza.io

Four scenarios for the next chapter in Russia’s war against Ukraine — Meduza

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has now passed the three-and-a-half-year mark, and there is still no end in sight. The Trump administration’s recent push to negotiate a ceasefire ground to a h...

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 4d

Military expert Dmitry Kuznets discusses power-grid warfare in Russia and Ukraine and fields questions about the risk of tactical nuclear weapons and the deadliness of drones on the battlefield. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Blackouts, tactical nukes, and drones Military expert Dmitry Kuznets explains the limits of energy warfare, tactical nuclear weapons, and UAV lethality — Meduza

Winter is coming to Russia and Ukraine, and the two sides have spent the past several weeks pounding each other’s energy infrastructure, seeking to make the falling temperatures as painful…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 5d

The Committee Against Torture is trying to raise awareness about torture in Russia with a new video. The three-minute footage is voiced by the Russian actors Varvara Shmykova and Nikita Kukushkin, it's claymation, and it is absolutely brutal. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Russian human rights activists are raising awareness about torture with this brutal stop-motion video — Meduza

This week, the Committee Against Torture released “The Interview,” an animated video designed to raise awareness about prisoner abuse in Russia. The stop-motion video, voiced by the well-known…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 5d

New podcast alert! For The Naked Pravda, researcher @msnegovaya.bsky.social breaks down the rising costs straining the Kremlin’s war machine — and explores four possible scenarios for the Russia–Ukraine war’s next chapter. meduza.io/en/episodes/...

Four scenarios for the next chapter in Russia’s war against Ukraine — Meduza

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has now passed the three-and-a-half-year mark, and there is still no end in sight. The Trump administration’s recent push to negotiate a ceasefire ground…

meduza.io

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 5d

We watched 10 hours of footage from Russia’s leading conference of experts in smartphone hacking so you don’t have to. Here’s what they can do to your phone.
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What a top Russian cyber forensics conference reveals about the country’s ability to hack iPhones and Androids — Meduza

The human rights group Memorial found a publicly available video recording of the 2025 Moscow Forensics Day conference, held in mid-September in the Russian capital. The event brought together…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 5d

For the first time, Putin has directly acknowledged Russia’s responsibility for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet in December 2024.
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Putin admits Russian air defenses downed Azerbaijan Airlines flight last year, killing 38 — Meduza

For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has directly acknowledged Russia’s responsibility for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger jet in December 2024. The Embraer E190,…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 5d

Jailing people with cystic fibrosis is illegal in Russia. So to keep this 20-year-old behind bars, authorities are denying her diagnosis — and her lifesaving medication. Her crime? Selling drugs to afford that medication in the first place.
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‘I don’t want to die so young’ Jailing people with cystic fibrosis is illegal in Russia. So to keep this 20-year-old behind bars, authorities are denying her diagnosis — and her lifesaving medication. — Meduza

Cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disease that affects the mucous membranes in the lungs and other organs, is one of the conditions that make it illegal to imprison a person under…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 6d

The Yekaterinburg city administration has asked local police to intervene amid a wave of attacks by “hooligans” who have been “terrorizing” public transport drivers.
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Officials in Russia’s Yekaterinburg call for police help as teenagers ‘terrorize’ tram drivers — Meduza

The Yekaterinburg city administration has asked local police to intervene amid a wave of attacks by “hooligans” who have been “terrorizing” public transport drivers, according to a letter from the…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 6d

Kyiv wants to cash in on OnlyFans creators’ millions in unpaid taxes, but there’s a problem: making porn is illegal in Ukraine. Meanwhile, police reportedly exploit the legal gray zone surrounding adult content as a source of bribes and kickbacks.
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‘Turning me into a criminal’ Kyiv wants to cash in on OnlyFans creators’ unpaid taxes. There’s just one problem: making porn is illegal in Ukraine. — Meduza

Ukrainian OnlyFans creators owe nearly 385 million hryvnias (about $9 million) in back taxes, according to Ukraine’s State Tax Service (STS). This figure covers income taxes for just the years 2020…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 6d

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, thousands of Russian soldiers have fled the army. Here’s why so many contract soldiers and mobilized men are deserting — and when it leads to criminal prosecution.

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‘For the Defense Ministry, people are garbage’ Why thousands of Russian soldiers are deserting — Meduza

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, at least 50,000 Russian soldiers have fled the army, according to leaked Defense Ministry documents from 2024. Now, in the war’s fourth year,…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 6d

Astrakhan is famous throughout Russia for its watermelons and produce, but it could soon be known instead as a lifeless desert, thanks to climate change and local human activity like overgrazing.
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‘Another pointless interview’ A report from Russia’s Astrakhan region, where the climate crisis and government indifference are accelerating a once-lush ecosystem’s desertification — Meduza

Astrakhan is famous throughout Russia for its watermelons and produce, but it could soon be known instead as a lifeless desert. That prognosis might sound alarmist, but the once-flourishing region…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 7d

A Russian woman made headlines this summer after Indian police discovered her living in a cave near Goa with her two young daughters. “I didn’t want to live in a concrete apartment block in Moscow,” she told BBC in a new interview.
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‘I didn’t want to live in an apartment in Moscow’ Why did a Russian woman live with her daughters in an Indian cave for nine months? — Meduza

In early July, a Russian woman drew international attention after Indian police on a routine patrol discovered her living in a cave near Goa with her two young daughters. Because their visas had…

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 7d

Putin has claimed Estonia’s and France’s detentions of Russian ‘shadow fleet’ ships are ‘piracy.’ But what does maritime law say?
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Arrr these inspections legal? Putin claims E.U. detentions of Russian ‘shadow fleet’ ships are ‘piracy.’ But what does the law say? — Meduza

In April 2025, Estonia detained the Kivala, a tanker linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. On September 27, the same vessel — now renamed the Boracay — was intercepted by French authorities.

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