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Investigations

An illustration of a man talking to a woman on an online dating site.
Investigations

Investigation: The romance scam tricking men into ‘rescuing’ Ukrainian women from Russian occupation

by Linda Hourani

Stefan, a 48-year-old Austrian national whose name has been changed at his request, had been looking for a Ukrainian partner. Having previously dated a Ukrainian woman, he said he was drawn to what he viewed as the importance of family in Ukrainian culture. He met "Alona Panchenko," who claimed to be from the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on the international dating website Christian Cupid. Soon after they matched, she suggested moving their conversation to email.

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Just hours after being bombed, we asked people in Kyiv about Witkoff's praise of Putin

On Oct. 21, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff gushingly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for being a "humanitarian." Just a few hours later, Kyiv once again came under a fresh barrage of devastating Russian missiles, killing at least one person and injuring over 20. "We thought this was a war and the destruction of Ukraine, but it turns out to be an act of humanity," Nataliia Stativko, a former journalist, told the Kyiv Independent on a street devastated by one of the missiles. . "Now

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