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Tymofiy Mylovanov

@mylovanov.bsky.social

8.5K followers 32 following 1.6K posts

President, Kyiv School of Economics; Minister of economy, Ukraine, 2019-2020; Associate professor, University of Pittsburgh

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · Dec 25

This Christmas, please donate to support the education of children displaced by war in Ukraine

Meet Anastasiia Bazir: from hiding from tanks at 10 to leading at KSE. Her village lies in ruins, but she’s rebuilding her future - and helping others to do the same 1/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Source: gov.uk/government/n...

Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

“We will increase pressure on Russia as President Putin continues his stalling tactics and abhorrent attacks in response to peace talks.” 4X

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

“We agree to develop further bold and innovative mechanisms to increase the cost of Russia’s war and ramp up pressure.

This includes driving forward action on the Russian shadow fleet.” 3/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

“And thus bring Russia to the negotiation table. We aim to do this in close cooperation with the United States of America.” 2/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Britain, France, and Germany move closer to giving Russian assets to Ukraine.

“We are ready to progress towards using the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces.” — Starmer, Macron, and Merz in a joint statement. 1/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Source: thetimes.com/world/russia...

Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

The marines endure weeks in the reeds, hunted by drones and surrounded by animals — raccoons, goats, boars, deer.

“Psychologically it’s very hard. But they never knew we were there,” said squad leader “Hare“. 9X

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

“Cop,” the Barracuda unit commander, said the boat destroys Russian targets without risking a single soldier.

“On our last mission we blew up two enemy boats. Barracuda saves lives — we can mine the river without sending men into danger.” 8/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

“This changed everything on the water,” said engineer “Habat.”

“The Russians began burning their boats because they didn’t want to attack. Just because Barracuda is on the Dnipro.” 7/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

The brigade’s engineers, with British help, developed the Barracuda — a remote-controlled speedboat that reaches 95 km/h.

It can carry grenade launchers or mines, or strike like a kamikaze boat.

Other versions evacuate the wounded under fire. 6/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Chief Sergeant “Razor,” 25, led one of the night raids.

“We arrived silently. No artillery, no tanks, only personal weapons. We tore apart the 4 Russians stationed there and disappeared like phantoms,” he said.

The island is now under Ukrainian control. 5/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

The cost of failure is high.

At Krynky in 2024, 765 Ukrainian marines were lost and 264 confirmed killed.

Now, new tactics rely on precision and stealth — jamming drones, pre-raid reconnaissance, and quiet landings. 4/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Major “Bars,” 28, trained in Britain, commands the battalion’s staff.

“The enemy increases its presence every day. They bring antennas, generators, build infrastructure. We have to destroy all that.” 3/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

The 1st Battalion of the 40th Coastal Defence Brigade operates in the floodplains of the Dnipro River.

They raid islands at night, in silence, to prevent Russia from building bases for future attacks.

Each operation is small — 4 to 6 men per team. 2/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 7h

Ukrainian marines fight like “phantoms in the night” on the Dnipro delta — striking Russian bridgeheads and vanishing before dawn.

Their mission is to stop Russian troops from crossing the river into Kherson, writes The Times. 1/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

Source: www.pravda.com.ua/articles/202...

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

He calls his current life “a long vacation.” He avoids arguments about politics or mobilization.

“I don’t know how to talk to people who never served,” he says. “I just try to protect that small piece of light I still feel in myself and see in others.” 8X

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

Faith, for Dron, lives in those small gestures. “Love is wrapped in sleeping bags and carried out,” he writes about retrieving the bodies of comrades.

After publishing that line, he got a message from the widow of one of the men — she said it was written about her husband. 7/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

His war is about holding on to humanity.

He writes of tenderness among soldiers: “When one man falls asleep in the trench, another covers him with his own sleeping bag. That’s love at war. You just don’t call it that.” 6/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

Dron’s book, “Hemingway Knows Nothing,” rejects the pacifism of Western war classics.

“Those writers fought in someone else’s wars. They didn’t fight for their own parents or cities. They didn’t know what it means when your country might disappear.” 5/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

He was discharged “for disability” before even reaching mobilization age. His arm no longer feels 3 fingers.

“Ahead is civilian life, more rehab, and maybe one more surgery. I’ll reach conscription age already a veteran.” 4/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

On October 20, 2022, his unit was hit. “There were 4 alive and 2 dead. A cheerful song played in my head,” he later wrote.

He suffered a concussion, shrapnel wounds to both arms and legs, and a fractured radius. Months of surgeries followed. 3/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

Dron fought for 3 years and 4 months in Ukraine’s east — in the Seredbriansky forest on the Luhansk front.

He volunteered on March 2, 2022, joined the 125th Territorial Defense Brigade, and carried a rifle he named ‘Ernest’. His callsign was “Davyd.” 2/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 8h

“I had read Hemingway and Remarque for years. I thought they knew everything about war. But they didn’t know mine.”

“When I came back from the front and saw my bookshelf, I felt like a fool,” wrote 25y old Ukrainian soldier and author Artur Dron in UP. 1/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 1d

Source: www.airandspaceforces.com/ukraines-f-1...