Jerome Starkey
@jeromestarkey
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Lost my heart (& mind) in Kabul, lost my right to abode in Kenya. Banned from Putin’s Russia. Cover defence & Ukraine for @TheSun.
UK, Ukraine
Joined January 2009
British Paras jumping into Normandy are greeted by French customs 🤣. Plus ca change. #dday80
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Video: British paras jumping into Normandy are greeted by French customs
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🚨 A SUBMARINE captain has been sacked for making a sex tape while in command of Trident 2 nuclear missiles.
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🇺🇦 More Leleka drone pics of the Russian "tank graveyard" 10 miles inside Russia - showing dozens more damaged vehicles & guns
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UK counter terror cops are investigating the sudden death of Daily Telegraph journalist David Knowles, 32, who died suddenly in Gibraltar on Sunday. Royal Gibrltar Police said UK detectives brought "existing capability & experience of dealing with international enquiries.".
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Watch. Read. Shudder. This is the battle for Bakhmut: Storming half-dug, shallow trenches. Men killing men at close quarters. It is awful. We met Stas, 22, days after he was wounded. “We’re fighting to you don’t have to.”.
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A massive Red Cross aid depot was destroyed by a Russian cruise missile strike near Odesa, southern Ukraine. Thousands of tonnes of food up in flames. At least one person killed.
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British soldiers sparked a wildfire which has burned nearly 10,000 acres of a pristine nature conservancy in Kenya.
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🚨 SAS Colonel Commandant MCS tells @TheSun: . “For the first time in my experience, the serving generation don’t believe their CoC can guarantee they won’t face a lifetime of hounding. “They don’t believe the MoD is able to stand up for them.
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The ex-Nato chief leading Britain’s defence review says it is time to take the gloves off with Russia. Lord Robertson said Vladimir Putin could only be forced to retreat from Ukraine by “an absence of Western caution”.
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🚨 All six Royal Navy hunter-killer subs are stuck in port – including one that hasn’t sailed for 2yrs and 2 that haven’t sailed for >14 months. Why? Bcs the Navy had nowhere to fix them – 1 broken shiplift at Faslane & an unfinished dry dock in Devonport
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I fear this is a sign of things to come. A strangely harrowing sight of two grand pianos smashed up in Kabul’s state recording studios. When I visited Taliban guards insisted this is how they found them. Their spokesman @Zabehulah_M33 said music is un-Islamic #Afghanistan
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🚨 In lighter news…. TWO soldiers were caught shagging in the cockpit of Apache gunship…. *Headline suggestions please (below).
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🇺🇦 🇬🇧 Chaos in Westminster will NOT undermine Britain’s support for Ukraine, says Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. Zelensky and his aides know “Britain is full square behind them”.
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Operation Ark - A convoy of 173 cats and dogs and 69 evacuees has been blocked at the gates of Kabul airport. Ex Royal Marine Pen Farthing said the pets risk baking to death of the ten hour stand off with the Taliban doesn’t end soon
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🚨 HMS Diamond shot down seven (a third) of the 21 drones and missiles fired directly at the warship and nearby merchant shipping in the last night. She fired Sea Viper missiles and guns – likely the ship’s 30mm DS-30B anti-aircraft cannon.
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Britain and the US have clearly shown how allies could intercept Russian missiles (and Iranian drones) fired at Ukraine, without necessarily leaving Nato airspace. The US and Britain did not declare war on Iran last night, they protected Israel. Why not the same for Ukraine?.
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Ukrainian spy drones find massive ‘tank graveyard’ ten miles inside Russia underlining shocking scale of Putin’s losses.
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This was different…. Inside the secret war for Ukraine’s river islands where Brit volunteers help keep Russian mortars at bay.
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The pivotal moment will come when our armed forces use Western-provided multiple launch rocket systems to destroy Russia’s artillery, turning the tide in Ukraine’s favor along the entire frontline – @DmytroKuleba
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BREAKING - British troops in Mali have killed two suspected Islamic State terrorists in a fierce close-quarters gun battle. QDG and Royal Anglian peacekeepers surprised two men on a motorbike armed with a belt-fed PKM and an AK47. A chase and a firefight ensued. No Brits hurt.
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ROYAL Air Force jets will swoop into civilian air fields in the first “no-notice dispersal drill” for over 30 years, to prepare for a surprise attack from Russia, the Chief of the Air Staff has revealed. 1/6.
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🚨 SUN SCOOP - A Trident missile misfired & crashed into the ocean yards from the British nuclear submarine that launched it. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps & First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key were both on board HMS Vanguard at the time.
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The main British base in Kenya has been plunged into a total lockdown amid fears infected troops, who arrived last week, may have brought the UK covid strain to Kenya. Local staff, including chefs, have been banned from entering the BATUK camp in Nanyuki for their own safety.
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Poachers turned gamekeepers. This is the guard room at my hotel in Kabul.
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@TheKnotUnites No. The Canadians didn’t jump. Plane issues. The Americans took off from France, so we’re already inside the country.
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I'll be remembering David Barnsdale (because I was there) and the words of his friend Simon Kerr, which stay with me: “He was a really brilliant bloke. Top notch. Just write that and you won’t go wrong.".
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This is uncanny: Abandoned and snagged on a rosebush outside the British embassy in Afghanistan I found a flag of the Royal Anglian regiment. Their direct forebears, the 44th Essex Regt of foot, made the legendary last stand at Gandamack on the 1st retreat from Kabul in 1842
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🚨 Workers deliberately bodged repairs to a HMS Vanguard’s nuclear reactor chamber – sheared heads off bolts then glued back together. ☢️ Def Sec Ben Wallace summoned Babcock bosses after @TheSun raised alarm
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David presented the @Telegraph's wildly successful Ukraine: The Latest podcast. Full statement here
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Mercenaries get a bad rap — but if it was my brother, sister, mother, father in a town overrun by Islamic State nut jobs, I think I’d be very, very grateful for DAG in Mozambique.
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A £100 million F-35B Lightning jet crashed off the front of HMS Queen Elizabeth because crew failed to remove a rain cover, defence accident investigators have confirmed:.
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🚨 12 British soldiers were injured in a highway pile-up in Estonia, c.20 miles from the Russian border. Eight of the most seriously wounded were air lifted back to Britain where 3 remain in hospital. 5 Estonian civlians were also hospitalised. Scene pic: Ilja Smirnov
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Army’s outgoing CGS hails troops for standing strong despite record cuts…. “You are the most productive army in Europe, deployed in more places globally than any other, and delivering the same operational outputs as when we were 25,000 stronger.”.
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🚨 A body has been found. Tragically, officials in Kramatorsk have confirmed that a missing British national has been found dead in the rubble of a Russian missile strike.
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Kharkiv cruise missile strike – two people killed, 18 injured, a whole city block destroyed on Saturday, 16 April. Day 52 of the war
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Have British diplomats abandoned UK citizens in Khartoum? . Staggering accounts of Foreign Office incompetence, as Brits were told NOT to join a UN convoy to safety even as diplomats allegedly saved themselves on the same lifeline out.
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The “Walter Mitty” story of Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley – who wore a Falklands medal without serving there – is extraordinary. This is a chronology of what we knew when (from my limited point of view @TheSun)…and I’ll add developments as they occur.
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We should all feel ashamed at how this is ending. Britain is a smaller place today.
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🚨 Amazing pictures & video of the Challenger 2 tanks in Ukraine. We spent a day with Ukraine's Challenger Squadron & the crew revealed the pros and cons of using them in battle against Russia.
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Lots of talk today about Britain’s Army chief General Sir Patrick Sanders being sacked / resigning in protest over plans to further gut the Army by CDS Admiral Tony Radakin…(1/10).
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I had an extraordinary day in Kyiv – which culminated with an hour long, wide ranging (& story rich) interview with @ZelenskyyUa. He said Russia had tried to assassinate him 5 or 6 times. He said 1st time scary, then not so bad – like Covid.
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Hundreds have ignored the stay away order at Kabul airport. This is a four year old British boy, Tawid, looking up at a Taliban guard outside the Baron Hotel, where British troops are frantically processing evacuees desperate to flee Afghanistan
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HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban. Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
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A Ukrainian drone flight over Russian soil revealed a “tank graveyard” in Golovchino. 💥 Dozens of wrecked Russian tanks and artillery pictured dumped in field showing scale of Putin's battlefield losses.
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Challenger 2 update: Defence sources say it hit a mine which ignited the rear fuel tank (M-Kill). Crew evacuated. While waiting to recover it, it was struck by a Lancet loitering munition. (k-kill). Immobilised tank was unusually vulnerable because as “switched off & on fire”.
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TWITTER (@X) have locked the British Army’s account (@BritishArmy) bcs they could not prove they were 13-years-old 🙄🤣
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One doctor told us she had learned to love rain because the drones can't fly, the tanks can't move (as much) and so fewer soldiers get hurt.
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This is what it looks like for the ‘lucky ones’ - but there’s nothing that lucky about fleeing, leaving everything behind
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🚨 A BRITISH man is missing, feared buried under rubble, after a Russian missile hit a hotel used by journalists in Ukraine’s eastern Kramatorsk. He was part of a six-strong team from Reuters. A Ukrainian and a US national were also injured.
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RT @Draz_DJ: “@clusterstock: That time Reuters converted rapper 50 Cent into Chinese yuan http://t.co/pXO0Da9APb
http://t.co/L0zS65y3O3”.
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This was a welcome moment of comedy gold in Ukraine - amidst the non-stop avalanche of horror
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HMS Diamond will lead an historic gun salute for Prince Philip tomorrow - 41 shots in 40 minutes from midday. Orders have gone to all HM Ships at sea, as well as:.Tower of London.Cardiff Castle.Edinburgh Castle.Hillsborough Castle, Belfast.Gibraltar.HMNB Devonport & Portsmouth.
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💥An RAF Typhoon has shot down a hostile drone over Syria in the first air-to-air combat engagement since the Falklands almost *40* years ago.
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Britain’s support is bigger than “just one person…not me, not the Prime Minister. It's the whole effort”. “The whole of the political system is supportive of what we are doing in Ukraine. “I don't expect that to finish at all.”.
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Suggestions I heard included:. BLACK HAWK BLOWN.BLACK HAWK BROWN. And today, very zeitgeist…. BLACK HAWK TUAH.
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IT is a terrifying prospect that whoever wins the next election could end up becoming a wartime Prime Minister. Why is no one talking about defence?. Explainer in @TheSun.
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Today is a rare and reassuring day when we see real journalism make a real difference. A British Chief Constable has been sacked for gross misconduct after @TheSun revealed his war medal lies . This 🧵shows how we did it. Thanks to all who helped.
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More extraordinary footage of rescue ops in Palma, where a team of South African mercenaries have been scooping up survivors from an Islamic State massacre in northern Mozambique
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The Red Cross said none of its staff were harmed, but a lone night watchman was killed
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The £100 million wreck of an F-35 has been found and salvaged in the eastern Med as military police arrested a crewman on HMS Queen Elizabeth for leaking footage of the crash and eject.
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The cuts are coming. Here's what each service is set to loose, based on latest leaks & briefs:. ARMY:.10,000 troops.4 Battalions.767 Warriors.77 Challenger II tanks. NAVY:.13 Minehunters.4 Frigates. RAF:.24 Typhoons.14 Hercules.4 BAE-146 jets (Queen's flt).(Up to 90 F-35s).
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Ex-MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger says he cannot see a scenario where Putin can back down over Ukraine “in a way that satisfies the expectations he has created”. @BBCr4today.
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Great piece with a great team here in Kharkiv… every day a rocket bombardment. Almost every day a double-tap.
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Welcome to #Kenya - just been arrested at the airport on orders of security services. Good to be back #WhyILoveKenya
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🚨 ARMY chiefs are a whisker away from overturning a century-old ban on beards. Decision due at the Executive Committee of the Army Board, this month.
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💥Ukraine's invasion of Russia is a military masterstroke.
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🇺🇦 A friend of mine was killed last week. I wrote about it here:.
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🚨 When you tell the world your brother gave you his Falklands War medal to wear, when he emigrated Down Under…. Then he turns up in Australia wearing his Falklands medal🤔. Rick, in Oz, Senior Constable served in Falklands. Nick, in UK, Chief Constable… didn’t.
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So depressing and yet so credible – diplomats allegedly said they couldn’t register citizens stranded in a civil war because of GDPR data protection concerns.
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Oil giant @Total refused to give the choppers fuel - a policy not to engage with armed groups - even as the mercenaries delivered wave after wave of bloodied survivors from Palma to their vast Afungi camp
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Why now? It’s not as simple as when Kabul will fall. It’s worse than that. It is disgraceful. It is because the Taliban have given the West free pass - a “we won’t attack you before 9/11 pass” - as long as you leave us free to slaughter Afghans. So it was now, or risk fighting.
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EXCL - HIGH TIME – The crews of Royal Navy attack submarines have been awarded (&/or invited to apply for) a General Service Medal with a "Global Operations" clasp for covert missions around the world.
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A sad and historic moment: The first Challenger 2 tank ever lost in combat (K-KILL), seen here in Ukraine, . It 2-3 weeks after the 82nd Air Assault Brigade, which has 14 Challenger 2 tanks, was thrown into the counter-offensive near Robotyne.
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SCOOP 🚨 – Commander Claire Thompson is set to make history as the first female Captain of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, next year (via ⚓️ 🕵️♀️ @akefford).
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There is more about David here. Clearly an extraordinary young man:. "He was fluent in French, had studied 6 ancient languages. "Intensely musical, he played the viola, sang as a tenor. and loved summer tours to Europe with Ealing Youth Orchestra.".
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🇺🇦 “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride” – Zelensky’s epic riposte to American offers to get him out of #Ukraine.
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Pen Farthing was forced to leave without his Afghan staff because the Taliban refused to let them through Kabul airport gate,. #OperationArk is only half successful, so far.
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CRACK HAWK DOWN - At least 30 soldiers at Apache chopper base test positive for traces of drugs
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Amazing to see the Royal Marines doing amazing work at their new arctic base Camp Viking. It takes a helluva soldier to be able to fight in -20*C, some 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle. @Commando_Ops @RoyalMarines
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The remnants of both embassies will relocate to the airport in a crushing blow to Afghans who dared believe two decades of promises.
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I’ve sat on the fence when it comes to blood sports, but this is vile - Secret footage shows a captive fox dragged from underground as baying hounds & bugling huntsmen wait nearby for the thrill of a chase. #FoxHunting #AnimalRights #Hunting #Kimblewick.
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🚨 CHINA stole names & bank details of Britain’s ENTIRE armed forces, UK officials fear. Some 270,000 ppl, including regulars, reserves & veterans thought to have been affected by an epic payroll hack. SF not affected, defence source claims. Hack first reported by @SkyNews.
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This is heartbreaking news. Kim was a class act – fearless, modest and invariably funny. A brilliant journalist who matched his deadly serious scoops and first rate warzone dispatches with a keen sense of the absurd. To me he was a generous mentor and a brilliant friend. RIP.
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