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Russian strikes and approaching winter force some in Kyiv to pack bags and flee
BBC News ^ | October 10, 2026 | Paul Adams

Posted on 10/09/2026 4:36:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

As Russia's attacks on Ukraine's cities intensify and autumn's cooler temperatures hint at another tough winter to come, Ukrainians are wrestling with how to meet the twin challenges ahead: Russian drone and missile strikes and the biting cold.

"It was a very difficult winter last year in Kyiv," says mother of two Mariia Shostak, who is now packing her bags and leaving her small flat.

With prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures and frequent power cuts brought about by Russia's attack on the country's power grid, last winter was one of the hardest so far.

"There were some days and weeks that were unbearable. I started thinking I'm not going through another winter like this."

Mariia is not even waiting for winter. Russia's latest assaults on the capital have forced her hand.

"Everything changed in late August and the beginning of September, when Kyiv started being attacked around the clock," she said.

"Earlier, the drones and missiles were intercepted somewhere on the outskirts. Now it was happening in the centre, right above our heads."

After weeks of escalating Russian attacks, which by the end of September had included petrol stations, power plants and key bridges over the Dnipro river, Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the city was facing a "very dramatic situation".

The attacks, he said, were "tearing Kyiv apart".

Mariia's children, four-year-old Artur and Kira, who's two, were both born after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Unwilling to subject them to another miserable, dangerous winter, she's taking them abroad. They plan to spend the winter in Hurghada, on Egypt's Red Sea coast. It's cheaper than Europe, Mariia explains, and warmer too.

"I don't feel safe in Ukraine in any way," she says.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Ukraine
KEYWORDS: anticipating; dumbass; putinstoogery; zconfirmed
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1 posted on 10/09/2026 4:36:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Dictator Zelinsky wintering in his GriftMansions in France..


2 posted on 10/09/2026 4:42:28 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: FlyingEagle

Do you have a link to those French mansions?


3 posted on 10/09/2026 5:29:42 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle

Putin is the dictator, the evil man who launched a brutal attack on Ukraine. Russia is far more authoritarian than Ukraine, a western ally. We should help Ukraine as much as we can, rather than making oil deals with Putin and helping him fight the war and kidnap Ukrainian children.


4 posted on 10/09/2026 6:44:40 PM PDT by heye2monn (as )
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To: ansel12

Courchevel 1850, Courchevel, Savoie, France.


5 posted on 10/09/2026 7:08:25 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: ansel12

Courchevel 1850, Courchevel, Savoie, France.


6 posted on 10/09/2026 7:08:25 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: FlyingEagle

I don’t know what that means, where is the link and photos, the article?


7 posted on 10/09/2026 7:10:24 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

Palace des Neiges

Snow Palace in English

How appropriate for the Nose Candy Dictator.


8 posted on 10/09/2026 7:11:13 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: FlyingEagle

It is weird that you can only post some foreign words and not explain what you are claiming, but.....

Is it this?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC90LeAxCwX/


9 posted on 10/09/2026 7:19:49 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle

Is that one this?

Claims about the Courchevel luxury hotel are similarly false.

While Zelensky has ties to Film Heritage Inc, neither the company nor Zelensky purchased the hotel. Monaco-based conglomerate Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), a publicly traded firm that operates Monte Carlo casinos and other properties, has owned the five-star resort since 2023.

An October 2023 statement announced the acquisition (archived here), and SBM told AFP on December 2, 2024 that social media posts claiming it sold the hotel to Film Heritage Inc are “fake news.”

SBM said in a September 2024 financial report that it was planning a renovation for a December 2026 reopening and that the property was acquired as part of its international expansion plans (archived here).

Website created in November 2024
The online video claims to show the Palace des Neiges’s “official website,” which contains a copyright notice from Film Heritage Inc, suggesting the company had bought the property. However, the webpage shown in the clip is not authentic.

The fake website, hotelpalacedesneiges.com, is almost identical to the hotel’s actual site, palacedesneiges.com — except for the domain and the copyright message at the bottom of the page, which replaced the hotel’s logo. The counterfeit site has since gone offline, and SBM has begun redirecting visitors to a redesigned page.


10 posted on 10/09/2026 7:24:09 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle

False, False, False, all of the mansions are false, France, Florida, Egypt, the yachts are false, the Paris shopping spree false, the 4 million dollar car false.

The claim: Volodymyr Zelenskyy purchased hotel worth 88 million euros at French ski resort
A Nov. 29 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a man speaking in French about a supposed new purchase by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Zelensky has purchased €88 million hotel in Courchevel ski resort in France,” reads text in the video, which was originally shared by another Instagram user before it was deleted. “Courchevel is known to be wildly popular with billionaires, Hollywood celebrities and British royals. In case you were wondering how your tax dollars are being spent.”

Part of the post’s caption says, “There are also tons of reports that his wife purchased a 5 million dollar @bugatti and he owns a 30 million dollar mansion in Florida.”

The post was liked more than 100 times in 10 days. Other versions of the claim were shared on Threads and X.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: False
Zelenskyy has not purchased the hotel. A spokesperson for the hotel’s owner said it’s in the process of being renovated and will reopen in 2026.

Claim about French hotel purchase is baseless
The man in the video refers to the hotel Zelenskyy supposedly bought as Le Palace des Neiges in Courchevel, France. The building in the background matches the appearance of Le Palace des Neiges on Google Maps street view.

He claims the previous owners of the hotel sold it to a company owned by Zelenskyy called Film Heritage Inc. As evidence, the video shows a screenshot of what appears to be the hotel’s website with a Film Heritage Inc. copyright label at the bottom of the page.

Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, reportedly owned Film Heritage Inc. but transferred their shares in 2019 to Serhiy Shefir, who later became the presidential chief assistant, according to the Pandora Papers. The papers are a compilation of nearly 12 million confidential records published in 2021 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

However, Zelenska’s public financial disclosures show she continues to be “the sole beneficial owner” of Film Heritage.

But Zelenskyy, his wife or Film Heritage Inc. did not buy the Le Palace des Neiges. The hotel was acquired by the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer group in October 2023, according to Cristin Sylvie, a spokesperson for the company.

“The SBM group is currently renovating the hotel, with a view to (open) in December 2026, as owner and operator,” Sylvie said.

Her statement matches the information on the group’s website, its September 2024 financial disclosure and an October 2023 announcement it published after the hotel’s acquisition.


11 posted on 10/09/2026 7:27:51 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle

Do you also have photos of him doing cocaine?


12 posted on 10/09/2026 7:28:45 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

You love him so much. Y’all should go on a date.


13 posted on 10/09/2026 7:46:49 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: FlyingEagle

ROTFL! Do your parents know that you are on the internet?


14 posted on 10/09/2026 8:10:01 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

Have you ever been to Ukraine?

I started working Ukraine projects in about 2000 on a deal not far from Lviv.

I went a half dozen times to Kiev and also to Crimea after Orange Revolution trying to do an oil/gas development. It was way too corrupt for us to work there. And dangerous, all those crooks were always packing and displaying their pistols. Scary. US Embassy helped me a lot but at the end of a big effort the USA company owners said too risky and corrupt. I can see why Hunter Biden did so well there and why Biden was so connected, and why Ukrainians were in the middle of the Trump impeachment.

The culture of Crimea is Russian, they speak only Russian. Russians own all the real estate there.

In those days Viktor Yanukovych was president and had been poisoned by the Russians which nearly killed him. The woman with the wheel on her head Yulia Tymoshenko was prime minister and was in charge of the energy / nat gas business with Russia which was always a fight. A bunch of Tussian oligarchs controlled the industries in the east of the country where everyone spoke Russian. In those days there were four cultures: quasi-European in Lviv area, uniquely Ukraine in Kiev area, quasi Russian in Odessa to Crimea area, and including Kazakhs in Crimea, and almost pure Russian in the east. The COA was working hard to get a foothold in everything. IMF was active. The Eau dream had started. The Russians still had their Rusty Fleet and dubs in Sevastopol - I saw it. I drove all over Crimea. I could not get access to good data for oil and gas investment. Every company that had invested there had nightmare experiences. Every single one. Nobody was making money.

When I was working there Zelinsky was a nobody. He was an entertainer then. He is a creation of the CIA. Victoria Nuland and Ibama put him in office after the Maiden Revolution which was a complete CiA color revolution. Because after Yushrnko the Russians put their stooge Porochenko in charge. Long before that we had given up.

I did successful business in Russia. We had an oilfield in Komi republic in partnership with a UK-Swiss marketing co. We did very well there as operator and the sold our interest to our partner when there were no more locations to drill. Russia was tough but they had laws and rules and followed. Them.

Ukraine was like Russia but with no rules or laws.

I have worked in more than 40 countries all over the world in oil and gas. Ukraine is absolutely the most corrupt country I ever tried to deal with. Everyone I met there is a crook.

USA has zero strategic interests in the Ukraine and we should get out, run away. Zelinsky is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg, has suspended and semblance of democracy. He is a Dictator now and USA should get out. It is not that I don’t know anything. I know. We are wasting our time and money. On Grifters.


15 posted on 10/09/2026 8:54:07 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: FlyingEagle

You made up the French mansions and hotel and you don’t have the photos of him doing the cocaine?


16 posted on 10/09/2026 9:05:56 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle

“Russians own all the real estate there.”

When the Soviet Union fell I was pissed that Clinton didn’t do more to open up business relationships with them. Later found out it was mainly due to them being so corrupt only a few wanted to work with them.

I met an oil and gas guy that worked Russia. He said they never bribed, etc. So it limited their involvement, but at least they knew the projects wouldn’t leave them broke or dead.

A bunch of Americans stayed in the same hotel. He said there was one loud and brash Texan that boasted how he was going to own all the real estate in Russia. They told him to shut up or he was going to get killed. Well he didn’t, and he did end up getting killed.


17 posted on 10/09/2026 9:15:03 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant - Never Fearful)
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To: FlyingEagle

Ukraine is less corrupt than Russia and has been for a while now.

In 2014-2015 Ukraine was rated as more corrupt than Russia but since then Ukraine has improved and Russia has gotten worse, and since you have posted so much fake info on Zelensky you obviously don’t know much about him, you seem to be one of those guys who sucks up the internet hoaxes.


18 posted on 10/09/2026 9:24:06 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: FlyingEagle; ansel12

Flying Eagle, do you have any real proof that Zelensky owns ,as you said “mansions in France”?

Like real proof? Has he been there anytime, is there a financial trail?


19 posted on 10/09/2026 9:42:50 PM PDT by Cronos (Ken you come to Christ)
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To: Cronos

Y’all are so gullible. Or else Ukraine bots. You cannot discern the truth from the evidence all around you. That is why you are being fleeced by Zelinsky and Ukraine and thousands die.

https://www.maxh.com.cy/news-in-english/zelensky-sells-a-villa-in-italy-for-45-million-euros-media

https://www.rferl.org/amp/ukraine-oksana-zelenska-president-elect-buryak-flat-favorable-price/29917885.html

https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-pandora-papers/pandora-papers-reveal-offshore-holdings-of-ukrainian-president-and-his-inner-circle

A few links. There is a ton of vehement propaganda out there that the Hodges grifter owns nothing. Of course it is all in shell companies and he spends millions of your dollars covering up his grift. He is completely surrounded by fraudsters. It is everyone in Ukraine. And the drugs are everywhere too. Cocaine is falling out of his nose. He behaves like a string out coke addict too.

Don’t believe your lying eyes.


20 posted on 10/09/2026 11:26:24 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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