Elena Višnar 🇺🇦

Russia’s war against Ukraine is also a war against children.   We cannot look away from these crimes. Director Sarah McCarthy didn’t look away. She came to Brussels to share her documentary “After the Rain”, which gives voice to Ukrainian children and families affected by Russia’s illegal deportations. x.com/eu_enlargement…

Russia unlawfully deported and forcibly transferred more than 20,000 Ukrainian children, while depriving millions more of safe childhoods since the start of the invasion. Russia’s systematic violations of children’s rights make a coordinated international action more urgent than ever. On 11 May, the EU, Ukraine and Canada will co-host a High-Level Meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children in Brussels, bringing together Coalition members and partner countries that share our commitment to trace, return and reintegrate every child, and to ensure accountability for Russia’s crimes. Find out more: link.europa.eu/B8XNwr

Over 20,000 Ukrainian children have been unlawfully deported. This is a violation of human dignity.   On 11 May, we co-host a high-level meeting with 🇺🇦 and 🇨🇦.   Our goal is to trace every child, secure their return, and ensure full accountability ↓   link.europa.eu/HCR7jK

Sasha was abducted by Russia and his grandmother fought to get him home. But thousands more Ukrainian children still haven't been returned. This is why, along with EU HRVP @kajakallas , Ukrainian Foreign Minister @andrii_sybiha, and Canadian Foreign Minister @AnitaAnandMP, we will co-host a high-level meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children on 11 May in Brussels. This meeting was outlined by President von der Leyen during her State of the EU speech, when we met Sasha in Strasbourg. We will join forces at the meeting again to support Ukraine’s work to trace, return, and reintegrate the children while ensuring accountability for Russia’s crimes.

🔴 Humanitarian catastrophe in Russian-occupied Oleshky, the Kherson region. A sustained drone siege. Thousands of civilians trapped without food, water, medicine, electricity, heating. No evacuation corridor. 🧵based on 2 months of my reporting. bylinetimes.com/2026/04/16/esc…

Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has fired wave after wave of missiles, bombs, and drones at Ukrainian civilians—at their homes, businesses, water supply, & energy infrastructure. Please join me in raising funds for defense equipment snyder.substack.com/p/sky-defense

Two nights ago, Russia sent nearly 700 drones & dozens of missiles at Ukrainian civilians. In the 5th year of the war, attacks on Ukrainian civilians have become even more intense & more frequent. Please join me in this campaign for air defense equipment. You can help save lives

Ehm, nahoře alma mater Filipa Turka, kde absolvoval bakalářské studium. Což samozřejmě nic neznamená, ale připomnělo mi to, že jsem si chtěl přečíst jeho jeho bakalářskou práci, která by měla být ze zákona v archivu. Není. Přečíst se nikde nedá. Neví někdo proč?

1/ Už příští týden bude jasno o novém šéfovi České inspekce životního prostředí. Do finále se dostal i člen a sponzor Motoristů sobě Pavel Straka, který podniká v realitách a není známé, že by dříve působil v oboru. Postoupil přes neobvyklý písemný test, zatímco jiní kandidáti se zkušeností z inspekce neuspěli. S @Tomes_Michal a Tobiáš Pospíchal denikn.cz/2036451/sefem-…

This platform is so flooded with anti-EU propaganda that I feel obliged to add my two cents on the role of a united Europe in general — and the EU in particular — for Ukraine. 1. The anchor of Ukraine's democratic transformation. EU accession has a proven track record of helping countries strengthen democracy, reform public administration and justice sector, and modernize their economies. It played a transformational role in Central and Eastern Europe, providing a major economic boost for countries like Poland, Baltic states, or Hungary (before its illiberal backsliding). Had Ukraine seriously pursued EU membership since 1991, things might have turned out differently. But history has no conditional tense. Yet, even without accession, the EU has played a major role in helping Ukraine build anti-corruption institutions, ensure transparency and decentralize authority and money since 2014. In 2022, EU candidate status helped unblock critical steps related to NABU and judicial self-governance. I hope a future Hungarian government will lift Orban's Kremlin-serving block on Ukraine's EU integration, restoring powerful leverage for further reforms. 2. The symbol of values. Since 2013, when Ukrainians took to the streets to defend our European choice, EU integration has remained deeply popular — reaching record levels after the full-scale invasion. Public support stands at 70–85% according to various polls. When asked what Ukrainians want most from the EU, over 70% say: push for more reforms. Human rights, rule of law, zero tolerance for corruption, and free markets are not abstract ideas for us. We are fighting against a russian regime that seeks to impose the exact opposite here. 3. The historical cradle. Kyiv belonged to Europe when Moscow was still a swamp. Yaroslav the Wise's daughters became queens of European states, including Anna of Kyiv in France. St. Sophia Cathedral, built in the 11th century, served as the social and political heart of Kyivan Rus. That is why Kyiv matters so much to russia's imperial conquest — and why the Kremlin is so obsessed with subjugating or destroying Ukraine. And that is why we must finally return home to Europe by joining the EU — there's no place in the gray zone for us anymore. 4. The mutually beneficial partnership. European countries cannot afford to abandon Ukraine, because russia is a common threat. This is clearly reflected in aid flows — along with bilateral support, the EU plays a crucial role too, with the largest share for macrofinancial support coming from the EU budget and joint borrowing. Ukraine, in turn, has much to offer Europe — no less than it receives, especially given the growing unpredictability of the United States. Ukraine has the largest battle-hardened army, modern combat-tested technology, and the society firmly standing on our values even as defending from the existential war. Yes, I am often frustrated with Europe, because I firmly believe that Ukraine's victory is Europe's best long-term security guarantee — and it is painful that so few fully grasp this. Regardless, Europe remains Ukraine's strongest partner today, and the EU is Ukraine's geopolitical anchor. In a united, well-armed Europe with Ukraine in its heart I trust.

Christ is risen. For the fifth Easter in a row, many Ukrainians have no church to return to — russia left only rubble. Yet even among the ruins, our faith remains unshaken. Remember this, and if you have any humanity left, don’t stop standing with Ukraine.

In his strongest condemnation yet of the Trump-Vance war against Iran, Pope Leo XIV said today: “We are surrounded by a delusion of omnipotence that’s becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive.” “We are met by threats instead of invitations to come together. “Those who pray don’t threaten death. Death enslaves those who have turned their backs on God and turned themselves and their own power into a mute, blind, and deaf idol. “They demand the whole world bends their knee. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! “True strength is shown in serving life!”

Polsko — uhelná velmoc — masivně šlape do modernizace energetiky. A staví obnovitelné zdroje jak o závod. V roce 2025: kapacita OZE v mixu přesáhla 50% výroba eletkřiny z OZE přesáhla 30 % U nás se zatím vládní politici soustředí spíš na šíření hoaxů o větrných elektrárnách.

Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.

“Haggling over a few square kilometres.” Those kilometres have names. Cities. Villages. Mass graves. They also happen to be someone else’s country.

For the second day in a row, the Verkhovna Rada has backed key legislation needed for Ukraine’s European integration and for meeting our commitments to international partners. Today, Parliament adopted: ✅ draft law No. 15111-d on the taxation of digital platforms – in the first reading; ✅ the European integration draft law No. 12426 on the implementation of EU regulations in the field of market surveillance – in full; ✅ draft law No. 14030 on reforming the state supervision system – in full. This is one of the steps needed to continue financing under the Ukraine Facility program. These decisions bring Ukrainian legislation closer to EU standards, make the rules for business clearer, and strengthen the confidence of our international partners. I thank the members of Parliament for supporting these important legislative initiatives.

Only 13 of the children who were abducted by Russians from the Oleshky Specialised Boarding School have made it back to Ukraine. 68 are still being held by Russia. These are not just numbers. They are children who were taken from their families and stripped of their identities. The @emile_fondation is working every day to locate these children and fight for their return. But this work is complex, urgent, and ongoing. We cannot do it alone. If you believe every child deserves to come home, stand with us.

Victor Orbán’s minister offered Sergey Lavrov to send him EU documents through the Hungarian embassy in Moscow. It’s really beyond shocking.

On this day in 2022, Russia targeted the train station in Ukraine's eastern city of Kramatorsk, where families had been gathering amid evacuation. A missile marked “for children” tore through the crowd, killing 61 people, among them seven children. The target was intentional, a train station filled with civilians. The meaning of this strike needed no interpretation. Today, we remember every life taken and carry their names forward with solemn resolve. And justice, however long it takes, will prevail.

On April 8, 2022, nearly 4,000 people were at Kramatorsk railway station waiting for evacuation trains when Russia fired a Tochka-U missile loaded with cluster munitions into the crowd, killing 61 people, including 9 children, and injuring 121 others.