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Today — 15 December 2025Main stream

Zelensky Offers Compromise Before Latest Round of Peace Plan Talks

15 December 2025 at 00:31
Ukraine’s president is meeting with U.S. negotiators on the latest plans to try end the war with Russia. He said he would give up hopes of joining NATO, at least for now, if he got strong security guarantees.

© Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Chancellery in Berlin in May.
Before yesterdayMain stream

Russia Bombs Ukraine Port of Odesa Amid Peace Talks

13 December 2025 at 21:34
Much of Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port was without power, heat and water on Saturday after strikes from Russia, which has shown little appetite for a deal to end the war.

© Nina Liashonok/Reuters

Firefighters at the site of a Russian strike in Odesa, Ukraine, on Saturday.

Russia Sues Holder of Frozen Assets Europe Wants for Ukraine Loan

12 December 2025 at 22:01
The lawsuit was a warning to European officials who are racing to agree to a plan to use Russian government assets in Europe to lend money to Ukraine.

© Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press

The headquarters of the Euroclear depository in Brussels. Russia’s Central Bank said it had filed a lawsuit in Moscow against the depository.

How Power Cuts Are Affecting Ukrainians

Russia has been targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine, leaving multiple cities without electricity. Kim Barker, who’s been covering the war, gives us a glimpse into the daily life of Ukrainians living with power cuts.

How Ukraine Has Responded to Trump’s Peace Plan and Russia’s Demands for Territory

A Ukrainian peace plan, sent this week to Washington, pushes back against President Trump’s proposal that Ukraine give up more land for peace, although Russia is unlikely to accept it.

© Pool photo by Maxwells

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainian peace proposal now being discussed consisted of three documents, one of which lays out plans for rebuilding the country.

Zelensky Says Revised U.S. Plan Still Calls for Ukraine to Leave Donbas

12 December 2025 at 04:05
The Ukrainian leader rejected the demand, making clear that territorial issues remain unresolved as Ukraine and Europe sent a counterproposal to the United States.

© Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

After a Russian missile attack in Ternopil, western Ukraine, last month.

Macron Urges Xi to Help End War in Ukraine

4 December 2025 at 18:03
As President Emmanuel Macron of France visited China, its leader, Xi Jinping, said his country would play a constructive role in ending the fighting.

fun with flags

By: fivestone
17 April 2024 at 17:02

有个新闻,我这一年闲聊时经常提起。从各方面都切合了我的审美。

2022 年 12 月 18 日,乌克兰国防部在 twitter 发文,感谢来自 52 个国家的军事及个人援助,视频中列出了这些国家的国旗。其中,没有大陆的五星红旗;有台湾、有香港,而代表香港的旗子,是时代革命运动中的黑紫荆旗。

(视频里有 8×7=56 面旗子,推文里说是 52 个国家,其对应关系,大家有兴趣可以连连看。)

随后,香港官方各种抗议,具体后续不了了之。原始的推文已经被删除。

这些国旗的出现,可以追溯到 2022 年 6 月,在基辅独立广场(Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kiev)上的一个展示项目。

从网上搜的图片可以看到,中间有一小段时间,是已经挂上了台湾国旗,但还没有挂上黑紫荆。第一批在乌克兰参加志愿者的台湾导游「莊育瑋」,也在这个期间,就去合影

后来黑紫荆旗怎么挂上去的,无从考证。但是很容易想象:有个来自香港的家伙,也在乌克兰做志愿兵,看到挂了台湾旗,就跑去说:我来自香港,所以你们也要挂香港的旗帜啊,就挂黑紫荆吧!


这个事情让我觉得很嗨的原因,在于:以往涉及国旗的场合中,那些对于个体,构成被迫的身份绑定,甚至是负担的层面,在这个事件中,消失了。参战的志愿者,可以凭借自己的意愿,来决定我所属的「国家」的旗帜,应该用什么样的方式展示。

而且,我们经常面对的,同一类身份的人,在另一个层面上意见不一致,而带来的割裂感,这里似乎也消失了。

就是说,理论上会有这样的情况:一个爱国小粉红,也去乌克兰参战,看到这种场面,坚持要改成五星红旗、或者红紫荆旗,怎么办?——但现实中,真会有这样的人,去乌克兰参战吗?没有啊。只有几个脑残,跑去俄罗斯那边当炮灰

即使有中国大陆籍贯的人,在乌克兰做志愿者(我相信是有的),也不介意国旗被改成什么样吧。这样的人,看到黑紫荆旗,会与之争吵吗?不会的啊。大概只会为此感到欢乐。

这种在现实层面实现的同温层过滤,感觉很好。

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