Google Maps Is Blocking Edits In Ukraine After Claims It May Have Been Used To Coordinate Russian Ai

Buzzfeed News
Sarah Emerson BuzzFeed News Reporter
Richard Nieva BuzzFeed News Reporter

Responding to claims that its Maps were being used to coordinate Russian military activity in Ukraine, Google on Tuesday began removing user-submitted locations within the borders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The company is removing new content such as photos and business information “out of an abundance of caution,” a Google spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

Across social media platforms on Tuesday, people accused Google Maps of hosting content allegedly used to target airstrikes on cities such as Kyiv and Kharkiv.

“The tags in Google Maps were created on Feb 28th, and people noticed that the tags match the places the missile strikes today,” one of these individuals, Oleksandr Balatskyi, told BuzzFeed News in a Twitter DM. People claimed that the tags, or user-generated pins, began appearing yesterday with titles such as “ФЕРМЕРСЬКЕ ГОСПОДАРСТВО,” or Ukrainian for “farm,” and “СІЛЬСКЕ ГОСПОДАРСТВО,” or Ukrainian for “agriculture.”

BuzzFeed News could not independently verify the existence of specific pins, or the claim that Russia’s military added them to Google Maps. Dozens of Twitter users have shared the same set of screenshots showing pins labeled “ФЕРМЕРСЬКЕ ГОСПОДАРСТВО” in Kyiv, though it is unclear when they were created and by whom.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahemerson/russia-google-maps-tags-ukraine?origin=web-hf

Putin signs decree to prohibit leaving Russia with more than $10,000 in foreign currency

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree that prohibits taking more than $10,000 worth of foreign currency in cash and “monetary instruments” out of Russia.

The move comes in response to the crippling sanctions Western nations have imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which this week tanked the ruble and sent Russians flocking to banks and ATM in fear for the fate of their savings.

Other measures Putin ordered this week included obligating Russian exporters to sell 80% of their revenues in foreign currency, prohibiting Russian residents from providing nonresidents with foreign currency under loan agreements and from depositing foreign currency into foreign bank accounts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-signs-decree-to-prohibit-leaving-russia-with-more-than-10000-in-foreign-currency/ar-AAUu3Ha

10,000 rubles isn't worth enough to buy a bus ticket to Lithuania, I suspect

Belarus president stands in front of battle map indicating Moldova invasion plans

Images have emerged of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko standing in front of a battle map that appears to show a planned invasion of Moldova, along with Ukraine.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was reportedly addressing his security council Tuesday while standing in front of a battle map of Ukraine.

The map appeared to show troop movement plans and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, as well as targets in Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.

Some of the Russian lines of attack in the map have already taken place, while others are yet to occur, including an incursion into Moldova — a former Soviet country and Ukraine’s neighbor to the south — from the port city of Odessa.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/596409-belarus-president-stands-in-front-of-battle-map-indicating-moldova

Biden banning Russia from US airspace because of Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will vow to make Vladimir Putin “pay a price” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in his first State of the Union address, rallying allies abroad while also outlining his plans at home to fight inflation and the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.

In addition to recounting U.S. and allied economic sanctions against Russia, Biden planned to announce that the U.S. is following Canada and the European Union in banning Russian planes from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, according to two people familiar with his remarks’ They spoke only on the condition of anonymity before the speech.

Biden planned in his Tuesday night remarks to highlight the bravery of Ukrainian defenders and the resolve of a newly reinvigorated Western alliance that has worked to rearm the Ukrainian military and cripple Russia’s economy through sanctions. He was set to deliver an ominous warning that without consequences, Russian President Putin’s aggression wouldn’t be contained to Ukraine.

“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden was to say, according to advance excerpts released by the White House. “They keep moving. And, the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.”

https://apnews.com/article/biden-state-of-the-union-4d6eb9fed9a46bb4efb63ea4e015725c

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin Tests Positive for COVID-19

AP via NBC Washington

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin announced Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Raskin said he tested positive on Monday, after taking a test for members of Congress who planned to attend the State of the Union address Tuesday night.

In a statement, Raskin said he has been fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot. He wrote that flu-like symptoms “have been pretty mild so far.”

Raskin, a Democrat, said he will work from home and quarantine this week. He also said he will use proxy voting procedures that have been used by other members since the pandemic began.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/coronavirus/maryland-rep-jamie-raskin-tests-positive-for-covid-19/2986831/

Ukraine's Secret Weapon Against Russia: Turkish Drones

Time via MSN

In a video that went viral on Twitter Sunday night, a massive explosion rips through what appears to be a Russian convoy, scoring a direct hit on a surface-to-air missile system.

The black-and-white footage, posted to the account of the Ukrainian armed forces, is one of several that have emerged on social media in recent days showing the devastating impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian hardware. As the drone’s payload explodes in the video—which appears to be a cellphone recording of a screen in a Ukrainian drone facility—people at the facility can be heard gasping in awe before breaking out in cheers and applause.

The video racked up more than 3 million views on Twitter in two days. “Have fear, enemies! There will be no peace for you on our earth!” the Ukrainian armed forces wrote in the video’s caption.

The star of this video and others circulating on Twitter is the Bayraktar TB2 – a type of Turkish drone that the Ukrainian military has increasingly deployed against Russian forces in recent days. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said that Bayraktar drones had destroyed one tank and two surface-to-air missile systems overnight. In other videos shared on Twitter, Bayraktar drones, in use by the military since at least 2021, are shown blowing up what appears to be a Russian fuel convoy and a group of supply trucks.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-s-secret-weapon-against-russia-turkish-drones/ar-AAUtZco

I just tried contacting Verizon Communications about dropping Russia Today

Haven't heard back but will post if I hear something

link to contact:

https://www.coinspeaker.com/contact/

Some Russian troops are surrendering to Ukrainian forces without a fight as morale drops

Yahoo News

Some Russian troops have been surrendering to Ukrainian forces "without a fight" as morale drops amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, a US senior defense official told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.

The US official said that there has been evidence "of a certain risk averse behavior by the Russian military," in the last six days since Russia launched its attack on the eastern European country, CNN reported.

"You've seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight," the official said, according to the news outlet.

The official said that many among Russia's military are young draftees who have never faced combat.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-troops-surrendering-ukrainian-forces-172723599.html

EU considering asylum for some Russian soldiers: report

Kadyrov forces unit, which aimed to kill President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, eliminated: Ukrain

Kadyrov forces unit, aiming to kill Zelensky, eliminated – NSDC Secretary

Kadyrov forces unit, which aimed to kill President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, was eliminated.

"We are already aware of the special operation that was to be carried out by Kadyrov forces unit. We received the information from representatives of Russia’s Federal Security Service who do not want to take part in this bloody war. The Kadyrov forces unit, which came to kill our President, was eliminated," Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said on the air of Ukraine 24 TV channel, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that the unit had been divided into two groups and was closely followed. According to him, one group came under fire in Hostomel, another group is at gunpoint.

"We will not give our President or our country to anyone. This is our land, get out of here," Danilov added.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3417134-kadyrov-forces-unit-aiming-to-kill-zelensky-eliminated-nsdc-secretary.html

More: Commander of the 141st Regiment of the Chechen unit of the Russian Guard, Magomed Tushayev, was killed together with the group," the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine posted on Telegram.