Silicon Bites Ep270 | News Update - Day 1,363 - 2025-11-17 | A railway track in eastern Poland, that you’ve probably never heard of, has been the target of apparent Russia hybrid terror operations. This track would have remained a matter of limited awareness to the world at large, but somebody blew it up. Over the weekend, an explosion ripped through the Warsaw–Lublin line near the village of Mika — a line that doesn’t just carry commuters and freight, but weapons and aid headed to Ukraine’s front. Poland’s prime minister is calling it “an unprecedented act of sabotage”. Investigators say it’s almost certainly the work of “foreign state services”. And if you’re thinking Russia, you are likely not alone.This isn’t a one-off. It follows Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace, arson attacks, cyber-operations, and a steadily escalating hybrid war aimed at the logistics lifeline that keeps Ukraine fighting and Europe secure. Today’s episode is about that shadow war – and what it means when the supply routes to Ukraine get blown apart, even though it’s not Ukrainian territory and infrastructure, and how Russia is launching an unprecedented informational campaign to muddy the waters and try to turn Poles against supporting Ukraine.----------SOURCES: The Guardian – “Poland railway blast was unprecedented act of sabotage, says Donald Tusk” (17 Nov 2025)Reuters – “Poland faced one confirmed, one highly probable railway sabotage act” (17 Nov 2025)AP News – “Polish prime minister says rail line explosion was ‘sabotage’” (17 Nov 2025)The Washington Post – “Rail explosion in Poland was ‘sabotage,’ prime minister says” (17 Nov 2025)Kyiv Independent – “‘Act of sabotage’ — Explosion hits Polish railway track used for Ukraine aid shipments, Warsaw says” (17 Nov 2025)The Guardian (live blog) – “Foreign state services behind Polish rail sabotage, says minister – Europe live” (17 Nov 2025)Sky News – “Railway bombing an ‘unprecedented act of sabotage’, Poland’s PM says” (17 Nov 2025)The Guardian – “Russia accused of trying to hack border security cameras to disrupt Ukraine aid” (21 May 2025)The Washington Post – “Russia recruited operatives online to target weapons crossing Poland” (18 Aug 2023)AP / Reuters / local outlets – coverage of Marywilska 44 arson and attribution to Russian intelligence (May 2025)Al Jazeera, Euronews, Notes from Poland and others on recent arrests and sabotage plots in Poland (Oct 2025)NATO, UN, and media reporting on Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace (Sept 2025)Meduza and Euronews on earlier Russian missile and drone violations of Polish and Baltic airspace.----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

2025-11-17 | Silicon Wafers 058 | DAILY UPDATES | We’re going straight to the heart of Putin’s war machine: fuel. Overnight on 15 November 2025, Ukrainian drones hit one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries in Ryazan, around 200 kilometres south-east of Moscow – and, as Kyiv’s generals quietly noted, that wasn’t the only target. This was part of a coordinated strike package that also hit a Nebo-U radar system in occupied Crimea, a military train near Tokmak, and Russian troop concentrations near the front. (The Kyiv Independent)You may think it’s “just another drone attack.” But it’s also one more turn of the screw in a campaign that is slowly transforming Russia into a petro-state that can’t reliably refine its own petrol. Stikes like the one on Ryazan matters because they are reshaping both the Russian economy and the strategic map of the war.Ukraine’s General Staff put out a terse statement on 15 November, saying: “Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ryazan and hit several other military targets.” (The Kyiv Independent) Those “other targets” included:- A Nebo-U long-range radar station in occupied Crimea,- A military train near Tokmak in occupied Zaporizhzhia,- And a concentration of Russian personnel near Vovchansk in Kharkiv region. (Ukrinform)----------SOURCES: Kyiv Independent – “Ukraine strikes Ryazan oil refinery, hits multiple other Russian military targets, General Staff says” (15 Nov 2025)Ukrinform – “Ukraine’s Defense Forces strike Ryazan Oil Refinery, military train, several clusters of Russian personnel” (15 Nov 2025)Kyiv Post – “Ukraine Strikes Deep: Ryazan Oil Refinery Ablaze, Nebo-U Radar Destroyed, Echelon Hit” (15 Nov 2025)The Guardian – “Ukraine war briefing: Drones hit Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery” (16 Nov 2025)Reuters – “Ukrainian drones hit big Russian oil refinery at Ryazan, sources say” (24 Jan 2025)----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Olesya Ostrovska-Lyuta is a Ukrainian cultural manager and curator of contemporary art. She is the director of the state enterprise Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex under the State Management of Affairs. In 2014, she served as the first Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine. In 2019, she was awarded the Women in Arts Award. Ostrovska-Lyuta was also a member of numerous professional organisations. Among them are the board of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), the jury of the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award established by the Polish Institute in Ukraine, the jury of the Molodist International Film Festival, the boards of the "I3" award program, and the Dynamic Museum project at the Ukrainian Development Foundation.----------LINKS:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olesya_Ostrovska-Lyutahttps://www.cecartslink.org/participant/olesia-ostrovska-liuta/https://conference.lvivmediaforum.com/speakers/olesia-ostrovska-liutaLVIV MEDIA FORUM:The NGO Lviv Media Forum strengthens media, institutions, and public figures capable of fostering healthy public dialogue in Ukraine and beyond. Our goal is an effective and democratic society united by healthy communication. The organization was founded in 2013 to bring together media professionals from Ukraine and around the world in Lviv for the annual LMF conference. Over the years, we have grown into an ecosystem of people, organizations, and projects that support the media, develop comprehensive solutions for them, and promote the best media practices in Ukraine and globally. We are moving from supporting and developing media and journalists to a broader strategic focus: empowering communication actors, including media, civil society organizations, government bodies, and more. https://lvivmediaforum.com/enhttps://conference.lvivmediaforum.com/----------Your support is massively appreciated! SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon CurtainNEXT EVENTS - LVIV, KYIV AND ODESA THIS MAY AND JUNE.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur first live events this year in Lviv and Kyiv were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. We may add more venues to the program, depending on the success of the fundraising campaign. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------