Journalist based in Ukraine. DM me for comment/assignment. Byline @Domanigiornale @RSIonline. Podcast "Guerra" @Internazionale
Kyiv
Joined October 2011
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Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Un vicepresidente repubblicano arriva a nominare, pubblicamente, l'alleanza con Israele come una delle concause principali della sconfitta elettorale, insieme alla guerra scatenata contro l'arcinemico iraniano. Al netto della possibile ipocrisia di JD Vance, e del suo occultare altri malesseri dell'elettorato, è un fatto dirompente, per il discorso pubblico statunitense: il segno del crollo di tabù decennali.
Se prima del 7 ottobre 2023 la Questione Israele era relegata alla sola sinistra radicale - cioè nascosta sotto un tappeto - e dopo il cessate il fuoco-farsa dello scorso autunno molti scommettevano (o speravano) in una sua definitiva liquidazione, tramite conformismo violento, oggi invece si ha una conferma della sua ineludibilità. La sinistra socialista può festeggiare una innegabile vittoria, un cambiamento profondo dell'opinione pubblica e una spaccatura nella destra che dovrà capitalizzare.
È, ovviamente, anche un capolavoro politico in negativo dei gruppi filo-israeliani intransigenti. E forse pure l'inizio della campagna elettorale di Vance contro il suo stesso presidente.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Useful observations
A few observations on what happened in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka:
1. The bare-bones facts
Yesterday a crowd gathered in front of a private house near Kyiv that was being used by the 1st NG Azov Corps to detain soldiers, especially deserters and possibly mobilized people. The crowd accused the military inside of torturing their prisoners and demanded their release. Clashes ensued, with police and national guardsmen firing in the air and using tear gas, while the crowd threw stones, tried to topple a bus and force its way into the premises. At some point, dozens of people in dark clothes came into the area chanting patriotic slogans, and they beat and pushed some members of the crowd.
In the end, four of the people detained inside the house were hospitalized, while the others were transferred to another facility. The SBI announced an investigation for excess of authority or official powers by a military official. Another investigation has been opened into the behaviour of the crowd and of the people accused of staging the protest (more on that later).
2. The context
The house was an example of a well known "grey area" in the military mobilization and discipline pipeline, where many abuses have already be denounced, very often by the Ukrainian press. At present, the mobilization system in Ukraine is the result of four years of ad hoc, often bottom-up, improvisation that happened while the central political leadership tried in every way to stay away from an issue considered vital yet politically toxic.
The exact extent of the abuses perpetrated in the Petropavlivska Borshchahivka house is yet to be determined, while police and media are saying that some of the most outrageous claims (rape, torture, blackmail) have alreay been disproven.
3. A "Russian info operations"?
Many in the Ukrainian press and commentariat are claiming that the episode was staged. Suspicions are focusing on the behaviour of some members of the crowd, judged excessively aggressive by journalists present at the scene, and on the pseudo-paramedic who apparently was among the first to come to the house and that livestreamed a great part of the confrontation. Investigative journalists discovered that in early October she was involved in a failed pro-peace protest in Kyiv and that when at the house she pretended to be a paramedic, while she apparently owns a beauty clinic with no connections with emergency services. Yet, as other episodes have proved in the recent past, in Ukraine there’s a real and popular anger about the mobilization and the abuses by which it is often accompanied. The large crowds that quickly gathered in many of such episodes and the attention they always gain on social media show that the issue is real enough for many Ukrainians.
4. The authorities
The authorities in Ukraine are clearly taking this kind of protest seriously, especially if they happen near Kyiv, always a very politically sensitive city. Within a couple of hours of the first news of the clashes, first General Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of the National Guard, and then Kyrylo Budanov, Zelensky’s chief of staff, came to the spot and tried to defuse the situation. They spoke with journalists, let some members of the crowd inside and they fundementally acted as if the protest was legitimate. Their presence tells us that they themselves thought that at least some of the accusations were plausible and that the leadership didn’t see the issue as a purely public order problem, to be solved just by the deployment of riot police.
5. What was it about?
What happened in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka seems to have less to do with Russian influence operations or the abuses during the mobilization process (both things which are absolutely real in present Ukraine) and more with the ever-growing rift opening in Ukrainian society, making people polarized and more and more ready to believe the most outlandish claims about the other side (that the government rapes 14-year-old boys, or that hundreds of their compatriots are ready to march in the streets at Moscow’s order).
It’s a complex rift that doesn’t run along the usual political lines, it's not simply about East and West, Russian or Ukrainian speaker (at the confrontation, almost everyone, on every side, spoke Russian), or even class, which is only one part of the explanation. It’s a product of the war that, after pushing the Ukrainians together, is now tearing them apart, between the ones who found something in the invasion, even just a sense of meaning and community, and the ones who are starting to think that fighting, or at least the current fight, is just making them lose more and more.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Worth reading @DM_Deluca
A few observations on what happened in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka:
1. The bare-bones facts
Yesterday a crowd gathered in front of a private house near Kyiv that was being used by the 1st NG Azov Corps to detain soldiers, especially deserters and possibly mobilized people. The crowd accused the military inside of torturing their prisoners and demanded their release. Clashes ensued, with police and national guardsmen firing in the air and using tear gas, while the crowd threw stones, tried to topple a bus and force its way into the premises. At some point, dozens of people in dark clothes came into the area chanting patriotic slogans, and they beat and pushed some members of the crowd.
In the end, four of the people detained inside the house were hospitalized, while the others were transferred to another facility. The SBI announced an investigation for excess of authority or official powers by a military official. Another investigation has been opened into the behaviour of the crowd and of the people accused of staging the protest (more on that later).
2. The context
The house was an example of a well known "grey area" in the military mobilization and discipline pipeline, where many abuses have already be denounced, very often by the Ukrainian press. At present, the mobilization system in Ukraine is the result of four years of ad hoc, often bottom-up, improvisation that happened while the central political leadership tried in every way to stay away from an issue considered vital yet politically toxic.
The exact extent of the abuses perpetrated in the Petropavlivska Borshchahivka house is yet to be determined, while police and media are saying that some of the most outrageous claims (rape, torture, blackmail) have alreay been disproven.
3. A "Russian info operations"?
Many in the Ukrainian press and commentariat are claiming that the episode was staged. Suspicions are focusing on the behaviour of some members of the crowd, judged excessively aggressive by journalists present at the scene, and on the pseudo-paramedic who apparently was among the first to come to the house and that livestreamed a great part of the confrontation. Investigative journalists discovered that in early October she was involved in a failed pro-peace protest in Kyiv and that when at the house she pretended to be a paramedic, while she apparently owns a beauty clinic with no connections with emergency services. Yet, as other episodes have proved in the recent past, in Ukraine there’s a real and popular anger about the mobilization and the abuses by which it is often accompanied. The large crowds that quickly gathered in many of such episodes and the attention they always gain on social media show that the issue is real enough for many Ukrainians.
4. The authorities
The authorities in Ukraine are clearly taking this kind of protest seriously, especially if they happen near Kyiv, always a very politically sensitive city. Within a couple of hours of the first news of the clashes, first General Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of the National Guard, and then Kyrylo Budanov, Zelensky’s chief of staff, came to the spot and tried to defuse the situation. They spoke with journalists, let some members of the crowd inside and they fundementally acted as if the protest was legitimate. Their presence tells us that they themselves thought that at least some of the accusations were plausible and that the leadership didn’t see the issue as a purely public order problem, to be solved just by the deployment of riot police.
5. What was it about?
What happened in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka seems to have less to do with Russian influence operations or the abuses during the mobilization process (both things which are absolutely real in present Ukraine) and more with the ever-growing rift opening in Ukrainian society, making people polarized and more and more ready to believe the most outlandish claims about the other side (that the government rapes 14-year-old boys, or that hundreds of their compatriots are ready to march in the streets at Moscow’s order).
It’s a complex rift that doesn’t run along the usual political lines, it's not simply about East and West, Russian or Ukrainian speaker (at the confrontation, almost everyone, on every side, spoke Russian), or even class, which is only one part of the explanation. It’s a product of the war that, after pushing the Ukrainians together, is now tearing them apart, between the ones who found something in the invasion, even just a sense of meaning and community, and the ones who are starting to think that fighting, or at least the current fight, is just making them lose more and more.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Low chances of this happening, but if it does, it will inject more supply to the energy market and might enable the looming confrontation with Iran.
US officials are promoting a plan for Russia to resume sales of natural gas to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine, the WSJ reported
🇺🇸🤝🇷🇺
The scheme would involve selling Russian gas via a US intermediary to avoid European restrictions
wsj.com/world/europe/u-s-pus…
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
1/ I profili del centro radicalizzato - anonimi come i bot che denunciano, attivi solo su X, fissati con il complotto russo come chi non ha strumenti per interpretare il reale - applicano al dissenso sociale le stesse categorie del putinismo: chi protesta è manovrato dal nemico.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
A thread with some disjointed thoughts on this week's evacuation from Oleshky, as the ceasefire that allowed the humanitarian operation is set to expire tonight:
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Molto interessante.
Più che il grande supporto per la causa palestinese che ha investito le nostre società, ciò che trovo sorprendente, e rivelatore, è l'appoggio e la difesa d'ufficio che continuano a ricevere il governo israeliano e la sua politica.
Non parlo solo dell'appoggio ufficiale dei governi, ma di quello di giornalisti, intellettuali, semplici cittadini. Un sostegno che, ci dicono i sondaggi, non è mai stato così basso, ma che pure resta vocale, visibile e ben più forte di quello che ricevono altri paesi in situazioni simili: nostri alleati geopolitici ma impegnati in conflitti moralmente discutibili.
Non è un fenomeno consueto e non si spiega con cause elementari, rubricabili sotto questa o quella cospirazione di potenti. Paesi come l'Arabia Saudita o gli Emirati Arabi Uniti spendono nel soft power e nelle operazioni di influenza risorse superiori di almeno un ordine di grandezza rispetto a Israele, ma non ottengono una frazione della sua difesa d'ufficio.
E il fatto che gli Stati Uniti abbiano un numero probabilmente comparabile di vocali difensori è comunque abbastanza incredibile, considerato che stiamo affiancando un paese relativamente periferico di 10 milioni di abitanti con la superpotenza egemone per gli ultimi 40 anni.
Mi sembra difficile capire qualcosa di come la questione palestinese viene affrontata nei nostri paesi se non ci rendiamo conto che scegliere una parte in questo conflitto si è da tempo completamente saldato con la nostra realtà politica quotidiana ed è diventato il primo banco di prova su cui si misura ogni orientamento politico.
E in questa funzione di cartina tornasole la posizione che ognuno assume sulla questione palestinese ha un enorme successo perché ha effettivamente uno straordinario potere predittivo. Prendiamo un difensore delle attuali politiche israeliane e troveremo probabilmente una persona scettica se non proprio avversa alle proteste in Europa di queste settimane; scettica se non proprio contraria alle azioni radicali per contrastare la crisi climatica; una persona che probabilmente ha i "populisti" piuttosto in alto nella lista delle sue preoccupazioni e così via.
È questo il modo in cui, da sempre, le cause distanti diventano popolari. Quando per una ragione o per l'altra le persone iniziano a proiettarci sopra i loro problemi quotidiani, quando nel piccolo della loro quotidianità ritrovano le divisioni e gli schieramenti delle grandi questioni.
E se in un certo senso è vero che, come dicono alcuni con disprezzo, esiste una "religione pro-pal", nel senso che molti hanno abbracciato la questione palestinese non solo per virtù della causa, ma perché è parte di una coerente visione del mondo, lo stesso accade a molti dei difensori di Israele, che abbracciano non lo stato ebraico in sé, ma la sua potentissima funzione di simbolo vivente dello status quo.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
[...] lo stesso accade a molti dei difensori di Israele, che abbracciano non lo stato ebraico in sé, ma la sua potentissima funzione di simbolo vivente dello status quo.
Più che il grande supporto per la causa palestinese che ha investito le nostre società, ciò che trovo sorprendente, e rivelatore, è l'appoggio e la difesa d'ufficio che continuano a ricevere il governo israeliano e la sua politica.
Non parlo solo dell'appoggio ufficiale dei governi, ma di quello di giornalisti, intellettuali, semplici cittadini. Un sostegno che, ci dicono i sondaggi, non è mai stato così basso, ma che pure resta vocale, visibile e ben più forte di quello che ricevono altri paesi in situazioni simili: nostri alleati geopolitici ma impegnati in conflitti moralmente discutibili.
Non è un fenomeno consueto e non si spiega con cause elementari, rubricabili sotto questa o quella cospirazione di potenti. Paesi come l'Arabia Saudita o gli Emirati Arabi Uniti spendono nel soft power e nelle operazioni di influenza risorse superiori di almeno un ordine di grandezza rispetto a Israele, ma non ottengono una frazione della sua difesa d'ufficio.
E il fatto che gli Stati Uniti abbiano un numero probabilmente comparabile di vocali difensori è comunque abbastanza incredibile, considerato che stiamo affiancando un paese relativamente periferico di 10 milioni di abitanti con la superpotenza egemone per gli ultimi 40 anni.
Mi sembra difficile capire qualcosa di come la questione palestinese viene affrontata nei nostri paesi se non ci rendiamo conto che scegliere una parte in questo conflitto si è da tempo completamente saldato con la nostra realtà politica quotidiana ed è diventato il primo banco di prova su cui si misura ogni orientamento politico.
E in questa funzione di cartina tornasole la posizione che ognuno assume sulla questione palestinese ha un enorme successo perché ha effettivamente uno straordinario potere predittivo. Prendiamo un difensore delle attuali politiche israeliane e troveremo probabilmente una persona scettica se non proprio avversa alle proteste in Europa di queste settimane; scettica se non proprio contraria alle azioni radicali per contrastare la crisi climatica; una persona che probabilmente ha i "populisti" piuttosto in alto nella lista delle sue preoccupazioni e così via.
È questo il modo in cui, da sempre, le cause distanti diventano popolari. Quando per una ragione o per l'altra le persone iniziano a proiettarci sopra i loro problemi quotidiani, quando nel piccolo della loro quotidianità ritrovano le divisioni e gli schieramenti delle grandi questioni.
E se in un certo senso è vero che, come dicono alcuni con disprezzo, esiste una "religione pro-pal", nel senso che molti hanno abbracciato la questione palestinese non solo per virtù della causa, ma perché è parte di una coerente visione del mondo, lo stesso accade a molti dei difensori di Israele, che abbracciano non lo stato ebraico in sé, ma la sua potentissima funzione di simbolo vivente dello status quo.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
🚨Лубінець заявив, що не знав, як в Україні відреагують на його гуманітарну місію, але запевнив, що навіть заради одного врятованого українця пройшов би той самий шлях⤵️
🗣️"Я щасливий, що повернувся [...] особисто підходив практично до кожного. Деякі люди казали, що хочуть лишитись. Ті, хто сказали, що хочуть в Україну, от сьогодні ви бачите їх тут. Там були люди, які сказали, що хочуть поїхати на територію рф. Я сказав, що це їхній вибір. Ми готові в тому числі й вам допомагати".
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Chissà cosa porta Vannacci a questa posizione sacrosanta. O a rifiutare l'abominevole importazione della definizione IHRA da noi. Non credo voglia fare il Carlson Tucker italiano, -cioè un boicottatore di Meloni - é che abbia contezza del filoarabismo di una parte della destra meridionale. Ma è grave ci si debba appigliare alle divisioni tra fascistodi e postfascisti per difendere un po' di cultura davvero liberale tra i nostri conservatori.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Updated schedule for tomorrow, of questionable reliability (it's 10.10pm and light still isn't back, despite what the schedule says):
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Just happy that Oleshky people are back in Ukraine. I have lots to share and will do so soon but tonight let’s just enjoy one good moment.
I gave 18 interviews in 3 days so need to sleep on it before I report again.
Doing a BBC interview while filming red zone in Kherson.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
The exact moment the sisters spotted their father inside the bus — the first time they’ve seen his face since two years ago when the girls fled Oleshky by foot.
I will never forget this.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
I know I can be wrong and that I don’t see the whole picture (obviously). But I’m sick of what I see on Twitter, where people just repost news and question nothing for a pathetic reason: they’re afraid of being wrong and of having an opinion. Well, I don’t care. So here is my take on a few things:
- I don’t believe in the effectiveness of .50 cal turrets against Geran-4/5. In April 2026, one private Ukrainian company had 50 .50 cal turrets across Eastern Ukraine. In a whole month they managed to shoot down... 6(!) Geran-2s(!). Now we regularly see news stories (likely planted by the turret manufacturers) about how effective this is. It isn’t. 20–30 mm guns perform better, but even they are far from “effective”.
- Interceptor drones against Geran-4/5 are a dead end in counter-drone development. Cruise missiles should be shot down by cheap interceptor missiles. The Russians can raise the speed of their Geran-4/5 by 15% (and they will), and we’re losing again. News that some company got a drone up to, say, 700 km/h says nothing about how effective it is against cruise missiles. It doesn’t work as primitively as we’d like to think.
- An incredible number of companies around the world are making copies of primitive interceptors aimed at Geran-2-type drones (although the future belongs to jet-powered ones). Nobody talks about the fact that, in Ukraine, the success of intercepting any threat is determined mostly by building out the radar field, integrating software, and managing the crews on the ground. There are no miracle technologies.
- The most overrated technology direction in Ukraine is UGVs. Of course it’s still a young field, but it is extremely primitive, and it hurts to watch those batteries on wheels crawling along at 12 km/h.
See you sometime in the indefinite future✌️
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Finland's President @alexstubb has provided important new details about his phone call with Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to Finnish public broadcaster Yle, Stubb explicitly rejected the Financial Times' account that Putin had spent most of the 90-minute conversation delivering a lengthy history lecture.
According to Stubb, Putin opened by presenting his familiar interpretation of events since 2014. But the conversation then developed into what Stubb described as a normal, substantive and concrete exchange, with information flowing in both directions.
More importantly, Stubb explained the diplomatic logic behind the call.
The initiative emerged from discussions with Ukrainian and American representatives following the Oslo meeting on 20 October. Both Kyiv and Washington were consulted and gave their green light.
The timing was deliberate: Finland and Norway wanted to speak to Putin before the planned US–Ukraine–Russia negotiations in Abu Dhabi.
And Stubb has now clarified the broader objective: to create conditions for a possible face-to-face meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin.
The immediate task is to make progress in Abu Dhabi. A meeting between the two presidents would be a subsequent step, provided the negotiations produce sufficient grounds for one.
Stubb also made clear that Finland is not seeking a seat at the negotiating table. He acknowledged the difficulties Europeans have faced in agreeing on a single representative.
To me, this puts the initiative in a clearer perspective. The call was not intended as a breakthrough in itself. It was one step in a diplomatic sequence designed to keep the negotiations moving and ultimately bring the two presidents together.
Whether Putin is genuinely prepared to negotiate remains an entirely different question. His fundamental objectives have not changed, and there is every reason to remain sceptical.
The real test comes next: what happens in Abu Dhabi, and whether Moscow is prepared to move beyond repeating its existing demands.
yle.fi/a/74-20254360
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
❗️The moment we had all been waiting for: residents of Oleshky have crossed the border — the humanitarian mission has been successfully completed!
This mission was made possible with the assistance and coordination of U.S. @FLOTUS. I would like to thank the First Lady for her humanity, her attention to this issue, her extraordinary compassion, and her personal involvement in every stage of the process. This entire mission was successfully carried out thanks to her involvement.
🤝 My sincere gratitude goes to the President of Ukraine, @ZelenskyyUa, for his personal support of this humanitarian initiative. His attention to the situation in Oleshky and his assistance at the highest level of government were essential to making this humanitarian mission possible.
I am also grateful to David Arakhamia for his important role in this humanitarian mission and his support throughout the process.
The mission was made possible through the agreement reached with @yana_lantratova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation.
❗️ We have come a long way — from negotiations and securing the agreement on a ceasefire to delivering humanitarian aid directly to Oleshky and organizing the departure of residents.
The ceasefire will remain in effect until November 1, 10:59 p.m.
This is the longest ceasefire observed by both sides since 2022. I thank the Ukrainian Defense Forces for their responsible adherence to the ceasefire, which made it possible to carry out this humanitarian mission!
It seems that there is hardly anyone who has not been following this unprecedented and historic event. Behind every stage of this operation are the lives of people who have been waiting and hoping.
ℹ️ The oldest evacuee is 94 years old, while the youngest is just over one year old! Another woman will celebrate her 49th birthday tomorrow!
Let me tell you about one family who were literally fighting for survival in a shell-damaged apartment building in Oleshky. Due to his health condition, the father was unable to make his way down from the eighth floor on his own, as the staircases had been destroyed. It is frightening even to imagine the conditions in which these people were living: they were effectively cut off from access to food and water.
But that is now behind them — the family is safe.
👉 There is another story that is equally heartbreaking. A man born in Oleshky survived 16 attacks by Russian drones and four missile strikes on his own home. One of the explosions occurred just one meter from the wall of his house.
Along with the residents, we also managed to evacuate their beloved pets: dogs, cats, a parrot, and even a raccoon!
The ordeal and uncertainty are behind them. What lies ahead is the chance to recover and finally breathe a sigh of relief after living in constant fear for their lives.
❗️We want the experience of Oleshky to be more than an isolated case. It could become the foundation for a new mechanism for responding to complex humanitarian crises.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Dnipro's train station has been hit two more times since this happened, with the latest strike happening just a few minutes ago.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
It was the most constructive call with Putin since 2021. Why was it misreported by @FT so badly? Euro diplos often want to derail initiatives they don’t like or simply blabber 3nd hand gossip. Putin doesn’t need to lecture @alexstubb Stubb on Russian history. Stubb in particular and Finnish leaders in general know that history.
The key deliverable from the call was Baltic deescalation and a new, functional channel run by competent people, for a change, to support the Ukraine talks. Kyiv and DC were on board and involved. EU rightfully wasn’t.
Two postures emerge in Europe: in Britain, Denmark and Poland some think that the longer the war lasts the more Russia is drained.
Elsewhere there’s another view: the longer the war lasts the greater the potential for conflict with Russia, whose armaments industry grows by the month.
For my English-speaking followers, let's get the facts straight about the Stubb–Støre call with Putin.
New reporting from Finland provides important details missing from much of the international debate. Some of the initial accusations now look rather premature.
First, why did the call happen?
According to President Stubb, Ukraine's peace negotiations were close to collapsing last week, with relations between Kyiv and Washington in serious trouble. Finnish sources suggest there was even a risk of the US disengaging from the process.
At Zelenskyy's request, Finland and Norway organised the Oslo talks with American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, alongside other European representatives.
The subsequent call to Putin was prepared with Ukraine and the US. According to Finnish sources, key allies were informed beforehand and briefed afterwards. Helsinki also wanted Ukraine to publicly confirm its support for the initiative.
Zelenskyy has since explicitly defended the call and praised its transparency.
Second, the controversy surrounding European coordination deserves clarification.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen accused Finland and Norway of acting independently and failing to coordinate with other European countries.
But Stubb and Støre have both stated that allies were informed in advance and received detailed briefings afterwards. New reporting from Finnish news agency STT supports their account.
There is an important distinction between not being informed, not being consulted on the decision, and fundamentally disagreeing with that decision.
Frederiksen's criticism increasingly appears to reflect a disagreement over whether direct contact with Putin should happen at all, rather than simply a lack of notification. Her initial framing therefore risks creating a misleading impression of an uncoordinated diplomatic operation.
Political disagreement should not be confused with evidence that Finland and Norway acted behind their allies' backs.
Third, what actually happened during the call?
Finnish broadcaster Yle and news agency STT have challenged the Financial Times' account of Putin delivering a lengthy history lecture to passive Nordic listeners.
Their sources describe a substantive exchange in which Stubb and Støre questioned Putin about the upcoming Abu Dhabi negotiations and stressed that prolonging the war would not diminish European support for Ukraine.
Freedom of navigation in the Baltic Sea, keeping maritime routes open and Russia's shadow fleet were also discussed.
Finnish-Russian bilateral relations reportedly were not discussed at all. The parties agreed to keep the communication channel available.
Fourth, the risks were understood from the beginning.
Finnish sources say criticism and possible Russian propaganda exploitation were anticipated. One source described the initiative as values-based realism, which sometimes requires accepting political risks and their consequences.
This was a calculated decision, not an improvised attempt to normalise relations with Moscow.
Zelenskyy has also reminded critics that Putin's diplomatic isolation effectively ended with Trump's Alaska summit in 2025. Other European governments have maintained contacts with Russia, sometimes without comparable transparency towards Ukraine.
Ukraine requested diplomatic assistance, and Finland and Norway responded in coordination with Kyiv and Washington.
Supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary must also mean supporting it in the ways Ukraine actually asks for. That includes diplomacy.
Europe needs military strength, economic pressure and diplomatic influence. These are complementary instruments, not competing alternatives.
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
Extraordinary scenes right now in Russian-held Oleshky, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman is chatting with local residents. Evacuation from the frontline city should begin very soon, Ukrainian MP said this morning 527 people have asked to go back to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
We are in Oleshky! The Ukrainian delegation has safely reached the city.
The ceasefire has been in effect for 80 hours and remains in place. I am currently on the ground, speaking with local residents to hear about their needs and understand what kind of assistance they need most.
I will share more details later.
This work is being carried out in accordance with the agreements reached with Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Yana Lantratova, with the support and coordination of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump @FLOTUS
Davide Maria De Luca retweeted
1/14 The war is becoming harder to sustain and harder to end. Kyiv is recovering territory while Russia destroys the economic foundations of its resistance. Washington explores a bargain w/ Moscow; Europe pays more but struggling to shape the settlement. Essential Ukraine #32. 🧵