Oliver Carroll
@olliecarroll
Foreign Correspondent for @TheEconomist | Covering Ukraine, Russia, Belarus | Opinions strictly my own | DM for Signal
In a sign prez office is doubling down on indefensible, a social media channel widely understood to be one of their agents is now dropping threats they could open politically motivated investigations into the family of one of the MPs brave enough to stand up to them
Needs to be emphasized just how dangerous the moment is: a president facing a major internal political crisis of his own making just as the Ukrainian military finds itself in its most precarious position since 2022.
End of an historic day here in Kyiv. Zelensky's status as an uncontested wartime leader is no more, whatever happens in the coming days. Huge uncertainty ahead.
A tired Zelensky skirts the political storm in his nightly address. Claims Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions still functioning, “but w/o Russian influence or interests.” No reference to protests or nationwide backlash his controversial bill caused. t.me/truexakyiv/555…
End of an historic day here in Kyiv. Zelensky's status as an uncontested wartime leader is no more, whatever happens in the coming days. Huge uncertainty ahead.
At the start of the war, Zelensky + his team defied expectations, using ordinary people in West to pressure their govts to help. Since then, hubris got in the way. The danger of today is Ukraine will start to lose good will of ordinary folk. Making political deals so much harder.
Today’s shocking bill, which tried to overturn an important anticorruption reform, had the stench of something done in a panic. I understand the immediate trigger may have been activation of investigations into the dealings of presidential-office insiders. economist.com/europe/2025/07…
Confirmation is back up again. Official explanation is a bug in the system. Quite the coincidence.
Confirmation that Zelensky signed bill into law has now disappeared from parliamentary website. Reverse ferret warning. pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2025/…
Confirmation that Zelensky signed bill into law has now disappeared from parliamentary website. Reverse ferret warning. pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2025/…
Zelensky has signed the bill into law — despite pressure from ongoing protest and the EU. A very dangerous moment for Ukraine.
What a mess. Cannot defend the indefensible. Ukraine’s allies correctly reacting in disbelief to a spectacular own goal.
Today’s shocking bill, which tried to overturn an important anticorruption reform, had the stench of something done in a panic. I understand the immediate trigger may have been activation of investigations into the dealings of presidential-office insiders. economist.com/europe/2025/07…
Zelensky has signed the bill into law — despite pressure from ongoing protest and the EU. A very dangerous moment for Ukraine.
Today’s shocking bill, which tried to overturn an important anticorruption reform, had the stench of something done in a panic. I understand the immediate trigger may have been activation of investigations into the dealings of presidential-office insiders. economist.com/europe/2025/07…
Ukraine isn’t Russia — not least because there isn’t a system — but Zelensky and Co were dangerously close to Orban today.
Also a reminder that Ukraine, unlike Russia, is a democracy with a strong civil society, despite all its problems. No such protests would be allowed for a second in Moscow.
Today’s shocking bill, which tried to overturn an important anticorruption reform, had the stench of something done in a panic. I understand the immediate trigger may have been activation of investigations into the dealings of presidential-office insiders. economist.com/europe/2025/07…
How to make friends and influence people. 👀 I’m consistently surprised by presidential sources trying to needle Kellogg, who, as far as I can see, in his own way, is trying to protect Ukraine’s bottom line.
This article is completely inaccurate and fake news - top to bottom. Whoever the source from the OP is they lied and did no one any favors. Very disappointing to read this.
Lack of enough data precludes doing the same for Ukraine. But we do find that while Russian forward movement is still slow, it is speeding up. (Special thanks to @olliecarroll and @timjudah1 for input.) More at link: economist.com/interactive/gr…
To estimate Russian losses, I lined up satellite data and shifts to areas of control in Ukraine with more than 200 estimates of total casualties there. This enabled me to construct a credible day-to-day range for the toll of the war since the invasion.