More rolling coverage and snippets from social media (graphic by Imogene Salva)
2:15PM:
Poland is supplying Ukraine with military supplies free of charge, including a Polish equivalent of “Stinger” missiles.
2:04PM:
Georgians, of course, have their own memories of the Russian invasion in 2008 and, coincidentally, have also lost two breakaway regions that Russia recognises as independent:
Massive rally today in Tbilisi, Georgia to support Ukraine and oppose the Russian invasion pic.twitter.com/E1nV8bHvGV
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 25, 2022
2:00PM:
Pretty psychotic:
Appearing even more psychotic than in his declaration of war on Monday, Putin says the Ukrainian authorities are a "gang of drug addicts and neonazis who've holed up in Kyiv and taken the entire Ukrainian nation hostage" pic.twitter.com/8V93uYqEwL
— Francis Scarr (@francska1) February 25, 2022
The money is still on the Russian army, but things aren’t going as smoothly as Putin hoped for.
26 Feb, 1:54PM:
Polish government now saying they will accept any number of Ukrainian refugees – and they can bring their pets with them.
Polish newspaper “Rzeczpospolita” reports the majority of Poles (58%) including majorities of supporters all the significant parties from the right to the left support extending refuge to Ukrainians affected by war.
Also this:
Apparently, thousands of Romanians have been waiting in their personal vehicles to pick up #refugees at one of the NE borders with #Ukraine.
I'm not often elated at news from back home, but this makes my heart swell. #StandWithUkriane #standwithrefugees pic.twitter.com/pvc4vNvNu7— Alexandra Friedman (@AM_Friedman) February 25, 2022
8:53PM
The bastardry of the Lukaszenko regime in Belarus really should not be forgotten. The only reason Kiev is under ground attack at the moment is that the Russian forces had such a short distance to travel from Belarus. Were to strike at the capital from the east it would be some time yet that Kiev would be in danger.
8:55PM:
In his speech, Putin has threatened a massive retaliation against any outside power that dares to intervene in the conflict on the side of Ukraine. Presumably this means anything up to and including a nuclear threat. Having enjoyed peace in Europe for such a long time, particularly in the absence of even a cold war since 1991, no one seems to have contemplated the following horror scenario: Russia hell bent on reconstituting not just the Soviet Union but a form of the Russian and/or the Soviet empire, and threatening nuclear war against the West should it try to protect Eastern and Central Europe. Sure, we have NATO, but would Western Europe really call Russia’s bluff and risk apocalypse for the sake of the Baltic, Polish or Hungarian independence? I have serious doubts that Berliners, Romans or Amsterdamers would be ready to see their cities vaporised to defend Warsaw and Tallinn.
7:38PM:
Poland said it’s ready to accept up to one million Ukrainian refugees.
7:30PM:
This used to be my road home. Now it’s blown up to prevent Russian tanks from entering Kyiv pic.twitter.com/9dSIYRgeHt
— Anastasiia Lapatina (@lapatina_) February 25, 2022
7:17PM:
One of the most remarkable stories to emerge from the war so far. Rest in peace, heroes.
https://twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1497107378692669454
7:03PM:
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1497134952844087296
Follow them on Twitter, one of the very good accounts to keep track of what’s happening in the region.
