Latest news with #Danil
LeMonde
24-05-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Ukraine: 'We Russian soldiers came to the conclusion that desertion was the only solution'
Once Russian soldiers in Ukraine, the two men fled the battlefield. Ilia Veitsler, 22, and Danil Arkhipov, 24, are among the few dozen Russian deserters who have found refuge in Europe. "If Putin wins this war, he will have carte blanche for further offensives. He must be stopped! That's also why I deserted," said Danil, with a determined tone, but also a haunted gaze, speaking over coffee in Paris. "On the front lines, I understood that this invasion of Ukraine was a crime against humanity, against a brother nation, so I refused to participate in it," said Ilia, with the same composure, speaking alongside his wife in the Eastern French city of Metz, where they now live after fleeing across Europe. Despite the risks, Ilia and Danil spoke openly, without hiding their identities. Sharing their stories publicly was a form of psychological release. They are wanted by Moscow, and they also hoped that publicizing their experiences would guarantee them some form of safety. "The Kremlin's special services agents in Europe are less likely to target a well-known deserter than a hidden one," the two men argued.
South China Morning Post
09-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
City for sale? Residents in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur fear the squeeze of development
It used to be a short walk across a bridge over the Klang river from Danil Roslan's home to the glitzy KLCC twin towers in the heart of Malaysia 's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Advertisement But that route was blocked by a sprawling elevated highway in 2000, suddenly turning the road in front of Danil's home in Kampung Baru into a dead end, severing pedestrian access for one of the city's oldest communities to the heart of the capital. Then, local authorities developed the area just across the road into a food street aimed at pulling in tourists, shattering the once quiet life enjoyed for generations in the city's last traditional Malay village. 'The area has been gentrified. Not a lot of Malays are left there,' said videographer Danil, 36, wryly suggesting that the outcome had effectively buried the community like 'previous civilisations'. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim 's administration is making another hard push to reshape Kuala Lumpur, reviving industrial and commercial zones, boosting the economic potential of transit areas, increasing green spaces and even tinkering with the city's social fabric. Advertisement The focus is on redeveloping older sections while building new commercial and residential districts to expand the city limits – at a cost of hundreds of billions of ringgit.
