November 21, 2024

Sodium Haze

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Tubthumping for war? Day in the life of The Guardian’s LIVE WAR BLOG

admin 3 years ago 8 min read

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Do you remember when Journalism was claimed to be about unbiased factual reporting, balance and supplying necessary nuance and context? That is what you are being sold when The Guardian solicits for Donations to fund its activities.

But does the purported flagship of the western liberal media really offer that and how does it fair when the West is at war?

We spend 24 hours with The Guardian’s war blog to find out:

I will update this post throughout the day. Sources are in red and you can draw your own conclusions as to whether (a) this is balanced (b) this is journalism.

We will post our own thoughts tomorrow afternoon.

04:39 – Summary by Samantha Lock

  • Ukrainian president claims Russian forces have neither the strength nor the spirit to conquer Ukraine and also claimed Russia is trying to create new “pseudo-republics” in Ukraineto break the country apart. 
  • Ukranian governor claims town totally destroyed by Russian bombardment
  • Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg says Russia may use chemical weapons
  • France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz detect   “No willingness on Putin’s part to end the war.”
  • Ukrainian ministry of defence says Russia’s generals are uncertain about their “strategic objectives” and have been hindered by fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces.
  • Ukraine initially accused Russia of firing at a convoy of civilian evacuees from the village of Peremoha while they were in a designated humanitarian corridor, but later said it was not such a route.
  • Satellite imagery [supplied by western company] shows damage in Mariupol – humanitarian aid groups say those remaining have not had access to water or medications in days.
  • The rate of refugees crossing the Ukrainian border has slowed 
  • UK government  “cash for accommodation” scheme
  • Ukrainian officials inform IAEA that Russia planning to take “full and permanent” control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant – an allegation that Russia denies.
  • Cities all over the world to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including in Berlin, Warsaw, London, New York and Los Angeles.
  • US president Joe Biden has authorised $200m in weapons and other assistance for Ukraine, The White House has said.

05:06

  • Russian attack on Yavoriv military training ground

Sources:

Various including Luke Harding of The Guardian in the town

05:18

  • Air strike on Ivano-Frankivsk

Source: Tweet by Ukrainian Independent (Newspaper)

05:30

  • Russian strike near Lviv

Source: Buzzfeed reporter

05:33

  • Ukraine’s centre for international peacekeeping and security bombed

Source: Ukrainian military

05:38

  • Russian strike near Lviv

Source: Guardian reporter

05:48

  • Russian strikes near Lviv

Source: Ukrainian Mayor of city

05:50

  • Arms shipments a legitimate target says Russia

Source: Guardian article

06:17

  • Russian air strikes on or near Lviv

Source: The Live Blog itself

06:46

  • Russian forces hit Ivano-Frankivsk airbase

Source: Tweet by Ukrainian Independent (Newspaper)

08:19

  • Russian attack on Yavoriv military training ground

Source: Ukrainian government, Luke Harding (Guardian)

 

08:45

  • UK has issued more than 3,000 visas to Ukrainians

Source: UK Government

08:58 & 09:12

  • Starmer calls for emergency protection visas for Ukrainian refugees, more aid and more sanctions against Russia

Source: Keir Starmer quoted on Sky News

09:28 & 09:39

  • Polish president (Poland is in NATO) says it would be a ‘gamechanger’ for Nato if Putin uses weapons of mass destruction

Sources: NATO member via the BBC

09:48

  • The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has said there is no case for new investments in Russia.

Source: UK Government

09:54

  • Ukrainian MP has said countries such as France and Germany have not gone far enough with sanctions against Russia.

Source: Ukrainian Government via Sky News

10:06

  • Rocket attack on Ukrainian military base “significant escalation” says UK government minister.

Source: UK Government via Sky News

10:07

  • Russian attack on Yavoriv military training ground

Source: The Live Blog itself (noting differing casualty figures)

10:08

  • Kyiv has a two-week supply of food in case of a blockade.

Source: Ukrainian Government

10:20

  • More quotes from Micheal Gove’s interview

Source: UK Government via Sky News

10:31

  • The mayor of a city in southern Ukraine arrested by Russian forces

Source: Ukrainian Government

10:36

  • Nine people killed in Mykolayiv on Sunday.

Source: Ukrainian Government via Reuters

10:52

  • Reports about shelling of mosque in Mariupol.

Sources: Ukrainian Government and Turkish Government

10:59

  • Picture of closed Chelsea FC ticket shop after owner, Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK

Source: AFP (wire agency)

11:09

  • Ukraine is working with Israel and Turkey as potential mediators in peace talks.

Source: Ukrainian Government

 11:19

  • About 1 million people are without gas and heating in Ukraine

Source: Ukrainian state energy company

11:28

  • The Pope has said Ukrainians are being massacred and called for the invasion to stop

Source: AFP

 11:39

  • India is temporarily relocating its embassy in Ukraine to Poland

Source: Reuters

11:45

  • Western intelligence believes Putin’s personality has changed dramatically over past five years

Source: Western intelligence (unspecified)

11:50

  • Picture of police detaining woman during a protest against the conflict in Ukraine, in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow

Source: AFP / Getty images

11:57

  • A bus carrying dozens of Ukrainians has overturned in Italy, killing one woman.

Source: Reuters

12:04

  • £24.16m of military aid will be sent from the Czech Republic to Ukraine

Source: Czech government (NATO member) via Reuters

 12:12

  • Nearly 125,000 evacuated via Ukrainian humanitarian corridors

Source: Ukrainian Government

12:31

  • 14,000 people in 112 cities have been arrested in Russia for anti-war protests

Source: Independent human rights body (unspecified)

12:40

  • The Orthodox spiritual leader Barthomew I has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine while praising the nation’s “powerful resistance” against invading Russian forces

Source: Not given

 12:41

  • Unexploded bomb was removed from the window of a house.

Source: Tweet from Nexta TV (Ukrainian TV)

 12:51

  • New York Times journalist killed near Kyiv

Source: Ukrainian Police

13:01

  • Video of war damage in Cherniv in which Ukrainian government official speaks

Source: Ukrainian Government

13:31

  • Delegates from both sides of peace talks have sounded positive

Source: Ukrainian (via video post) and Russian (via Reuters) delegates.

13:39

  • Protests have continued in Kherson

Source: Pro-Ukrainian twitter feeds

 14:00

  • US film maker Brent Renaud killed by Russian forces in Irpin

Source: Tweet from U.S journalist

14:04

  • More on Italian bus crash (see 11:57)

Source: Guardian

14:26

  • Efforts are underway by the Ukrainian government to provide humanitarian relief to the city of Mariupol

Source: Ukrainian Government

14:43

  • Various pictures of the war

Source: Wire agencies

14:51

  • Summary of above posts

 14:56

  • 2,187 killed in Mariupol

Source: Ukrainian City Authorities

14:59

  • Map of Russian rocket attacks / air strikes

Source: Rochan Consulting, The Institute for the Study of War.

15:06

  • Picture of protest in support of Ukraine in Berlin

Source: EPA (European Press Photo Agency)

15:14

  • Pope Francis on Ukraine – video

Source: Not given but widely available online

15:26

  • Russia would pay ‘severe price’ for chemical weapons attack

Source: US national security adviser

15:57

  • Our complete guide to the invasion of Ukraine

Source: Link to re-hash of reportage above

16:21 & 16:45

  • Russia’s defence ministry has admitted responsibility for the rocket attack on the International Centre for Peacekeeping & Security

Source: Both subsequently vanished from the blog!

17:27

  • More than 140,000 civilians have been evacuated from conflict zones in Ukraine

Source: Ukrainian Government via Reuters

17.38

  • Mariupol faces “a worst-case scenario” if the warring parties do not urgently reach a “concrete humanitarian agreement”

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross

18.17

  • President Zelensky visited wounded soldiers in a hospital today

Source: President Zelensky Twitter feed

18.29

  • Zelenskiy says he spoke with Boris Johnson and Czech PM

Source: President Zelensky Twitter feed

18:50

  • Zelenskiy calls on software companies to stop supporting its products in Russia

Source: President Zelensky Twitter feed

19.08

  • Power has been restored to the Chernobyl nuclear plant

Source: Ukrainian state energy company

19.28

  • Boris Johnson said Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric actions” are a test of “all of humanity”

Source: UK Government via PA

19.53

  • Russia has asked China for military equipment since the start of the invasion

Source: US Officials (un-named)

20.19

  • Ukraine is working with controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI

Source: Reuters

20.45

  • Chinese embassy in the US said the priority right now is to ensure the tense situation does not escalate or get out of control

Source: Reuters

21.06

  • Oracle says it was the first to stop all of its operations in Russia

Source: Oracle Tweet

21.21

  •  5,550 people were evacuated from cities on the frontline

Source: Ukrainian Government via Reuters

21.37

  • Access to Instagram in Russia appears to be restricted across multiple providers.

Source: Netblocks Tweet

21.57

  • Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, said he travelled to Ukraine to visit Chechen troops attacking Kyiv

Source: Reuters

22.09

  • US secretary of state Antony Blinken condemns recent Russian attack

Source: Antony Blinken Twitter feed & AP

22.29

  • New video footage of Russian missile attack on the western Ukraine military base

Source: Buzzfeed Twitter 

22.33

  • Twenty-one Ukrainian children have arrived in the UK and will receive cancer treatment for free

Source: UK Government

23.09

  • Senator Mitt Romney said former Hawaii House representative Tulsi Gabbard is spreading “treasonous lies.” regarding Russian claims of biological weapons in Ukraine.

Source: Twitter Feed of Romney & Julia Davis.

23.09

  • President Zelenskiy urges NATO to implement no fly zone

Source: Ukrainian Government video via AFP

23:47

  • Summary of its own reportage

00.08

  • Detail surrounding the Russian government’s announcement to restrict access to Instagram

Source: Guardian

00.31

  • China responds to claim Russia asked Beijing for military support

Source: Reuters, Chinese Government, Financial Times, US Government

00.33

  • US security advisor warns Beijing it would face consequences if it helped Moscow

Source: US Government via CNN, Reuters

00.41

  • UK will donate more than 500 mobile generators to Ukraine

Source: UK Government

00:47

  • Ukrainian civilians are using city subways as bomb shelters

Source: AP

01:09

  • Russia to ban Instagram over ‘calls for violence against Russians’

Source: An email from Rozcomnadzor and shared with the Guardian

01:19

  • Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron underscored commitment to holding Russia accountable for the invasion of Ukraine

Source: The White House

01:26

  • Russian naval forces are “effectively isolating Ukraine from international maritime trade”

Source: UK Defence Ministry

01:30

  • US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, discussed during a call on Sunday the diplomatic efforts to stop Russia’s invasion of its neighbour

Source: US State Department

01:51

  • Daily operational report

Source: Ukrainian Military

02:27

  • Negotiations are set to continue between Ukraine and Russia

Source: Ukrainian Government tweet

04:34

  • Talks are set to continue between Ukraine and Russia

Source: Ukrainian Government tweet

04:40

  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated his calls for Nato to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine

Source: Ukrainian Government video

04:40

  • Images of the war

Source: Getty Images

04:56

  • US to convince China not to supply arms to Russia

Source: Guardian article quoting The White House via CNN

05:08

  • Repeat of 01:28

UK Defence Ministry

05:10

  • Belarusian armed forces are pushing asylum seekers from the Middle East into Ukraine

Source: Guardian article quoting unnamed sources in refugee camps.

05:21

  • Food prices soaring to record highs

Source: UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

05:26

  • Russia’s coal and fertiliser tycoon Andrei Melnichenko has urged for a ceasefire in Ukraine

Source: Reuters

05:34

  • Residential apartment building in Kyiv is on fire

Source: Kyiv Independent

05:49

  • Images of war – refugee crisis

Source: Getty Images

06:01

  • Leader of Russia’s Chechnya region claims to be outside Kyiv

Source: Agence France-Presse

06:06

  • Diplomatic efforts to end the war to begin at 10.30am local time.

Source: Ukrainian Government

06:13

  • Pregnant woman seen in images fleeing Ukrainian hospital bombing has died with her baby

Source: AP

06:27

  • Two killed after shell hit a residential building in Kyiv

Source: Ukrainian Government

06:45

  • Antonov aircraft plant in Kyiv has been shelled by Russian forces

Source: Ukrainian Government

06:50

  • Desperately needed medical gear and equipment, including trauma kits, is reaching Ukraine

Source: World Health Organisation

07:10

  • Germany will reportedly purchase up to 35 F-35 fighter jets

Source: German government spokesman (unnamed)

07:25

  • Summary of Live Blog’s own list of tweets etc

07:30

  • Video of Antonov aviation industry plant just outside Kyiv on fire.

Source: Nexta TV (Belarus TV station – incorrectly reported by the Guardian as Ukrainian earlier)

 

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