School children are targets in the war in Eastern Ukraine 2018

10 Comments / 10 Comments

1. @Adam

   There are Nazis fighting on both sides of the war

   Hearing news of this is not surprising when you think about the nation as a whole, its history and the international as well as national (meaning Ukraine) tolerance for such violent rhetoric and open acceptance of political violence as a legitimate source of political power. This strengthens the question all the more of why would anyone send one dollar or one bullet to support such a regime as exists in Kiev. Certainly the fact that these vile reprobates are everywhere mixed into this unpleasant morass of banality serves no good reason to subsidize or support such Cretans. If both sides are as content as Kiev is with their prism of unacceptable political philosophies, NATO should refrain from arming either side in this toxic wasteland of hatred and fascistic normality. Zelensky’s calls for war against Russia which began just a few weeks after Biden took the White House, has served his people poorly, and he deserves no billions in aid while he supports or tolerates what we should all see as a contemptible breach of political theology, in both his govt and his armed forces. For myself, at least, I see no possible grounds upon which supporting such a regime as tolerable, certainly not because the other side is claimed to be built of a similar toxic stock. Should we begin to consider choosing to fund or arm challenging elements within ISIS for a similar rationale that both sides are possibly as inconsistent with the values and beliefs of ourselves?

   I think this is even more reason to seek out diplomatic assistance as the limit of any involvement in this vile nation, which is the only tool in the shed that seems to never be chosen, even while such unacceptable, but too commonly exercised calls for unilateral regime change seem to be a tolerable substitute for rational route of ending the violence. I have said more than once that I have no dog in this fight, and Bellingcat’s report, if accurate, would only support me in this conclusion all the more. It is curious that if his claims of equality between these two sides is true, where are the insignia of Nazi’s supporting Donest and Laganst? I think we should have seen them if they existed, as it has been 8yrs now. Still, it is quite a believable claim, as I say.

   FYI, my strong disgust for the Kiev govt and its Nazi elements has never, not for a moment, led me to support sending a single dollar or bullet to the Dombas forces. As impossible as it would be for either side to do so, I should scorn them each of any connection til they were to purge their ranks and parliament of such contemptuous players as the vile Karas or the loathsome Yarosh.

2. @ADAM- No reason why I should not. I agree with most of your posts and you have become a most meticulous researcher, and eschew anything but proven sources.

   As for Ukraine, yes, our people have suffered majorly there for hundreds of years, but how would ever a Jewish President and Prime Minister both, be elected there, if today it was not a very different country, a completely turned about ethos.

   Yes there are extreme Jew hating elements there, but they are also in every western country, including our Jewish State.. And, under no conceivable circumstances could I ever see Ukraine, comparatively weak militarily and vastly inferior numerically, attack Russia.

   I am totally against a major world power imposing it’s military might on a much weaker, peaceful, neighbour state, whatever the reason. Vehicles exist to settle differences between nations.

3. Another article in Bellingcat describes how the Donbass “republics” have been dominated by neo-Nazis and antsemites since they were first formed in 2014. Their radio stations have been broadcasting antisemitic and white racist filth ever since 2014. All of the leading positions in the two Donbass republics, Luhansk and Donetsk have been filled by individuals with Nazi pasts, either in Ukraine or in Russia.

   How then can Putin claim his objective is to rid Ukraine of Nazis, when the people who are running his two Ukrainian puppet states are Nazis! Also, while he tolerates Nazi organizations within Russia, provided they support the war against Ukraine (which they do.)

   There are Nazis fighting on both sides of the war, although most of the soldiers on both sides are not Nazis. While the presence of neo-Nazis on both Russia and Ukraine is a matter of legitimate concern, as is the presence of neo-Nazis in the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and many other countries. But it is not relevant to the rights and wrongs of the Russo-Ukraine war.

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4. @Adam

   Zelensky’s having issued instructions to his soldiers to respect the Geneva Convention’s regulations concerning treatment of prisoner’s of war certainly does not indicate that he condones war crimes by his own forces.

   Either you misread my words or I mis-stated them. I did not mean to suggest Zelensky was condoning war crimes, only that he was acknowledging them, and this is a significant defeat for Ukraine and Zelensky, both, in this information war/drama. So, he wasn’t condoning these acts, but he wasn’t ignorant of them either.

   The fact that a press conference was held to instruct his soldiers to not shoot or abuse prisoners of war was not meant for his soldiers. It was a response to the fact that there is video of his soldiers breaking norms of war in full view of the public, so there can be no denying these acts are simply Russian disinfo.

   Regarding Putin drawing from the Syrian and Chechyan hordes as it were, a similar association was celebrated by the Ukrainians with word that anti-Russian mercenary volunteers would be drawn into the conflict. It is an unpleasant thing for any nation to utilize, and I found these uncivilized tactics quite in line with the fact that Ukraine has literal 21st Century Nazi’s in their army, standing as its elite force, something to be aspired towards or emulated. Quite an unsettling image, one I never thought any civilized nation would aspire towards.

   Zelensky is far from being a model democratic leader. That was also true of all thepresidents of Ukraine since the country became independent in 1991. This is hardly surprising because Ukraine has never had a democratic government in the past.

   I don’t agree with comparing Zelensky with the past leaders of Ukraine, for that is a miserable comparison that should not warranted cast on him, IMHO. I think Zelensky, like Porshenko, had a sizeable problem he could not solve with the Far Right groups controlling so much military power while committed to Minsk 1, 2 or 3, none of which he could do anything beyond accept the positive aspects while ignoring the negative aspects. He did actually, at the end of 2019, try to enact the demilitarized zone at the front by pulling a handful of troops back, but was threatened by troops, Nazi political leaders, and even non-Nazi opposition Member of Parlaiment. He is a corrupt individual, but I do not believe he is a leader of any of the Mafia groups, just a very well paid member of one, unless he has taken over Kolimoisky’s old position or some other, but I don’t believe this is the case.

   Regarding blaming Zelensky for Russia invading, I would say that Zelensky goaded and threatened Putin over the last year, nearly since the day Trump left office. Now you and others have claimed Putin is a Nazi, a butcher, a insane personality, and a totalitarian. If you threatened a man so described as this, and he did invade, would you not feel that you had led your people to the situation they are currently suffering? Especially when the root of every taunt was NATO membership, and this was the very issue that Putin stated was his key objection. Leaders should lead well or be criticized for leading poorly. I think Zelensky had a poor hand to deal and he handled it very badly, half hoping that his dramatics could coerce the west to fight his battle for him, a battle he could never win outside of his own propaganda chorus which is all he will have left if he does not come to terms amenable to this Nazi, butcher, insane totalitarian.

5. @Edgar. Edgar, I appreciate your support, both for myself and for Ukraine.

6. @ADAM-

   I totally agree with you, and I have been writing similar condemnations against Russia. The reasons given for the unprovoked Russian invasion of a much weaker neighbour state are puerile in the extreme, and not to be believed. It is simply a war of aggression to expand its own “area of influence”.

   They are even trying to sell the idea that the Trump Russia-gate impeachment was designed to make Trump dislike Putin.. Can you believe. such nonsense. I suppose the immediately after, Ukraine phone call impeachment was for a similar purpose.

   Incredible. Grown people believe this poppycock………and are propagating it.

7. Zelensky’s having issued instructions to his soldiers to respect the Geneva Convention’s regulations concerning treatment of prisoner’s of war certainly does not indicate that he condones war crimes by his own forces.

   I have not read or heard from any source that Putin has issued similar instructions and guidelines to the Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

   He has announced plans to bring in Syrian forces aligned with Russia to reinforce the Russian forces. The Syrian fighters are known to have committed appalling atrocities against the civilian populations of rebel-held areas.

   Russia-allied Chechen fighters are already fighting in Ukraine, especially in the Mariupul area. They are known to have commited heinous atrocities in suppressing the rebellion by their fellow Chechens. And many Ukrainians claim they are now committing terrible atrocities in and around Mariupol.

   Zelensky is far from being a model democratic leader. That was also true of all thepresidents of Ukraine since the country became independent in 1991. This is hardly surprising because Ukraine has never had a democratic government in the past.
   But blaming him because a far more powerful neighbor state is conducting a brutal invasion of his country, without any moral or legal justification whatsoever. This strikes me as obscene. Equally obscene, in my opinion, is supporting Putin’d “peace terms,” which would destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, and reduce it to a vassal state with half of its territory confiscated by the invader. How can any civilized person with a sense of morality and justice possibly condone this atrocity? I still don’t get it. “ Oh judgment, thous hast fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.”

8. From Bellingcat.

   There are many neo-Nazis in the Russian forces. Why do commentators focus exclusively on neo-Nazis in the Ukraine forces?

   Male State: The Russian Online Hate Group Backing Putin’s War
   They were banned and designated as extremist by a Russian court in October 2021. But Male State — the online gang of racists, homophobes and misogynists Bellingcat investigated last year — has retained a significant following and managed to become a vocal and vile online booster of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

   While Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has stated that one of the main aims of his country’s military action is the “denazification” of Ukraine, vile anti-semitic posts and calls for Ukraine’s leaders to be executed are a regular feature on Male State channels.

   As we detailed in our previous investigation, Male State’s tens of thousands of members fight against everything they perceive as a threat to Russia. They wrap up their hate in an extreme right-wing ideology they describe as “national patriarchy”, all under the informal leadership of a college dropout named Vladislav Pozdnyakov.

   Although the movement is not explicitly neo-Nazi, posts previously made on Male State channels and chats identified by Bellingcat include references to terms used by neo-Nazis. These include the “1488” numerical code and the term ‘untermensch,’ (‘subhuman’), a word used by the Nazis to describe those they deemed inferior — and also by some in Male State chats to describe Ukrainians.” One Male State channel even posted a video with a clip of a fighter from Task Force Rusich, a neo-Nazi Russian military unit, giving a Nazi salute.

   A screenshot from a video posted on the Shvabra (‘Mop’) Telegram channel on March 4, 2022, showing a Task Force Rusich fighter giving a Nazi salute.

   In October 2021, Male State was designated an extremist organisation in Russia, and its activities in the country were banned. Although the Russian authorities might have encouraged ultra-conservative movements for its own political ends, “Male State was simply too radical,” the Russian human rights activist Alexander Verkhovsky told Bellingcat after the court’s ruling. “[They] explicitly incited violence and other crimes,” Verkhovsky said.

   Despite stating at the time that they would appeal the ruling, as of March 2022 Male State remains officially banned in Russia.

   But none of this appears to have been any great obstacle to the group and its operations. Despite some of its associated channels occasionally being banned on Telegram, Male State still relies on the Russian social media platform that has long been accused of providing a home for hate speech.

   Now, Male State — or ‘Male Legion’ (Muzhskoi Legion) as the group’s official Telegram channel has been called since the court’s ruling — has turned its attention to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, becoming some of Putin’s most loyal online soldiers. They parrot disinformation about civilian casualties of Russian attacks and praise possible war crimes. They use dehumanising hate speech against Ukrainians and antisemitic slurs against Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. They even demand the murder of Ukraine’s leaders, soldiers and other public figures, including summary executions.

   What is Male State?

   Male State was founded in 2016 by Pozdnyakov on Russia social media network VKontakte (VK). There, they focused on trolling, harassing and threatening anybody they deemed an opponent to their ‘national patriarchy’, particularly women. These efforts led to Pozdyakov being convicted of inciting hatred against women in 2018.

   After being banned from VK in 2020, Pozdnyakov and Male State took their activities to Telegram where, despite occasional bans of some of the channels they operate, they continue to grow in subscribers and propagandise openly. Pozdnyakov, according to a February 14 post on his Telegram channel, currently lives not in Russia but in Podgorica, Montenegro.

   The ban initially led to some users unsubscribing from several Male State channels (there are currently at least six core Male State channels on Telegram). Nevertheless, the movement retains a significant following – at the time of writing, ‘Male Legion’ had 62,000 subscribers (a significant increase since the Russian court ruling) and Pozdnyakov’s personal channel had 83,000 subscribers.

   In the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on a daily basis since, Male State has become a vocal, profane and chauvinistic defender of Putin’s war. With many adorning their avatars with the ubiquitous “Z” that has become a symbol of support for Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, Male State’s channels and many of its members leave no doubt as to where they stand.

   Left: The avatar of the ‘Male Legion’ Telegram channel; it changed its name from Male State (Muzhskoye gosudarstvo) in October 2021 immediately after the Russian court’s ruling. Right: The avatar of Shvabra (‘Mop’), a Telegram channel created February 11, 2022 and explicitly described by the Male Legion channel as “our second channel.”
   “Victory is with us, [Ukrainians] are beneath us,” the Male Legion Telegram channel stated in the days after the invasion, using a derogatory anti-Ukrainian slur that is common across all Male State’s channels. “The sky is above us, onward Russian brothers.”

   ‘The Ukrainian Question’

   Two days after the invasion began, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published an article that appeared to be, according to several observers, a premature victory lap. In this February 26 article the author refers to the “solution of the Ukrainian question”.

   Shvabra (‘Mop’), a Male State channel with more than 10,000 subscribers created two weeks before the invasion, claimed on February 25 that a strike on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky — who is Jewish — and his associates in Kyiv could be seen as a “solution of the Ukrainian question”. This language clearly evokes the same euphemistic terms used by the Nazis in their efforts to destroy Europe’s Jewish population.

   Shvabra went further days later, commenting on Vladimir Putin’s March 5 statement questioning Ukrainian statehood: “is this the final solution of the Ukrainian question?”, the words “final solution” an allusion to the Holocaust. Commenters in Pozdnyakov’s own Telegram chat haven’t been shy about using the term either; “the time has come for a final and irreversible solution to the Ukrainian question,” wrote one on March 1.

   As we described in our 2021 investigation, Male State has long made use of openly anti-semitic slurs and imagery. Despite Putin’s pledges to ‘denazify’ Ukraine, Male State continues to use antisemitic language to describe Zelensky and his government. They have referred to Zelenskyy as a “clown kike” who has in their view divided Russians and Ukrainians. They have posted crude antisemitic caricatures that are often also used by neo-Nazis. They have highlighted the Jewish heritage of Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow’s (‘Ekho Mosvky’) a radio station that closed this month in the wake of Putin’s increasing censorship of domestic media. Pozdnyakov subsequently called the station “Echo of Matzo” on his own Telegram channel, referring to the unleavened bread observant Jews eat during Passover.

   It’s All Fake but they Deserve it Anyway

   “Beautiful,” Male Legion posted on March 1 with an image of Russian forces shelling the Kyiv television tower — an act that took the lives of five civilians, including that of a journalist. “We’re fucking rinsing the [Ukrainians]”, read another comment, using a derogatory anti-Ukrainian slur. Despite this, Pozdnyakov claimed on his channel that, after grisly footage of the victims of the strike emerged in the hours after the attack, that it was all “fake.”

   That wasn’t the only act of civilian harm that Pozdnyakov cheered. The same evening, the Male State founder posted a video of Russian bombardment of Kharkiv showing blasts of Russian artillery fire lighting up the night sky. “The disco of the century,” Pozdnyakov wrote. These attacks, which according to local officials killed or wounded dozens of civilians, were cheered on by Pozdnyakov.

   A March 1 post from Male State founder Vladislav Pozdnyakov describing Russian attacks on Kharkiv — attacks that killed and wounded dozens of civilians — as “the disco of the century”.
   Male State has also denied that Russian military actions have harmed civilians in any way despite significant evidence to the contrary. According to Ukrainian authorities, a missile attack on the regional administration building in the centre of Kharkiv the morning of March 1 killed at least seven people and injured 24 others. The Shvabra channel claimed that “no civilians” were killed. The building had, they claimed, been used by the Azov Regiment – a far-right military unit integrated with Ukraine’s National Guard – as a recruiting station. This, in the view of the Shvabra channel, made it a legitimate military target.

   Pozdnyakov even told his followers on March 4 that all Ukrainian claims of civilian buildings being hit with Russian strikes were fake, taken either from old news clips or from ‘false flag’ attacks Ukrainians themselves had staged to discredit Russia.

   Male Legion, in a since-deleted post, also claimed that a viral video of a teenager surviving Russian shelling of a school in Chernihiv was fake and suggested she was a paid actor. Male Legion did not answer Bellingcat’s question about why they deleted the post, replying to our request for comment with the message: “Go fuck yourself.”

   ‘Preferably With a Noose Around Your Neck’

   In his February 24 speech announcing his invasion of Ukraine, Putin announced that. “we will…bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.”

   Echoing Putin’s language, Male State has filled their feeds with pleas for military tribunals. But they have also gone further in calling for executions of Ukrainian public figures. Among the many statements made by the Shvabra channel was a false claim that any members of private military companies encountered by Russian troops “can be killed on the spot without trial or investigation”. They also wished for journalist Dmitriy Gordon and Ukrainian far-right figure Sergei Korotkikh to be summarily executed on the streets of Kyiv. Posts also demanded that the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi be executed after a military tribunal for stating that Molotov cocktails should be renamed ‘Bandera smoothies’ after Ukrainian nationalist icon Stepan Bandera.

   “It’s a shame…” stated a post on Shvabra on the first day after the invasion and referring to Zelensky, “that the last time we’ll see you…will be at a Russian military tribunal, preferably with a noose around your neck.”

   A post from the Shvabra Telegram channel wishing for the execution of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy

   Pozdnyakov himself boasted on March 1 that the mayor of the city of Chernihiv, in response to reportedly offering a bounty for Russian equipment and soldiers, was “an excellent candidate for the scaffold.” Pozdnyakov had earlier declared, on February 26, that the reason for Russian politicians’ statements about reinstating the death penalty was “the execution of the war criminals from the Zelensky junta.” These words echoed Russian state media use of the term “junta” to describe Ukraine’s democratically elected government.

   “It’ll all be over in less than three days,” Pozdnyakov boasted on February 24, the day Russia invaded. Of course, that hasn’t transpired. Russia’s armed forces continue to face fierce resistance from Ukrainians, reportedly taking heavy casualties from a country they apparently expected would see them as liberators.

   But Male State’s focus, of course, is always Russia itself. As Putin undertakes increasingly dictatorial efforts to stamp out domestic criticism and discussion of his faltering war effort‚ Male State has urged followers to archive and share information on so-called domestic “enemies of Russia”, even setting up a Kollaborant (‘Collaborator’) Telegram channel that, to Pozdnyakov’s dismay, was shut down after less than a week by Telegram after amassing more than 30,000 subscribers.

   “Give the nationalists of Russia a full carte blanche,” Pozdyankov stated hours after the invasion began on February 24, “and we’ll quickly put things in order.”

   Pozdnyakov, however, did not have much to say to Bellingcat. The Male State founder ignored our questions about why his channel contained so much antisemitic and violent content. “We are fighting against Ukrainian Nazism. Do you support it?” Pozdnyakov replied via Telegram. He then sent a video of a pro-Russian protest he said was from Podgorica, Montenegro.

9. While we all suffer the condescending needy demands of Zelensky to aid him in a war that came about due to no small measure from his own misjudgement in swaying NATO to aid him after threatening Russia over the past year, a number of videos have been surfacing recently in which the Ukrainians are seen beating and shooting what appear to be bound, unarmed and defenseless prisoners. Here is a link to some of them:
   https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/ukraine-to-probe-after-videos-show-alleged-russian-pows-shot/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

   This is scandalous, though not terribly surprising given the barbarity that these same troops have demonstrated towards their own citizens over the past 8yrs. As has already begun, these reports are dressed up as Russian disinformation, but if that is so, I would like to see the geocoding proof to this effect. Furthermore, I am alarmed that the Ukrainian govt is issuing a public reminder to their own troops of the stipulations of the Geneva Convention. Usually such things are shouted between warring parties, not between a govt and their own militia. This fact that the Ukrainians found this statement necessary does seem significant, from many reasons.

10. This was the tragedy that Zelensky was elected to end. The question is why did he not do so. He ran on a peace platform with a majority in the Rada(parlaiment) – the first time this was achieved in post-Soviet Ukrainian history. So how could he fail to succeed? It is a real question. Most will cite the neo Nazi’s in the govt, but the reality is that Ukraine is a tragedy caught within another tragedy and the neo Nazi’s are clearly part of the answer but not in the way some might believe, not necessarily.

    The first casualties in any war are the moderates and this was certainly the case in Ukraine. Porchenko’s plan to end the conflict in Ukraine, with Minsk 1 and then Minsk 2, were never implemented, in spite of his ernest desire to do so. Why? There were two reasons, one political and the other practical.

    When Porchenko came to power in the aftermath of an American Coup, he was constrained by the reality that the forces that brought him to power limited his choices at exercising power. He was able to call for new parliamentary elections, but the result was less than stellar. His support for peace in a nation so recently brought to war was a liability to him. The ardent nationalist fervor led to Porchenko’s inability to gain control of the Rada. Due to the continued popularity of the Far Right groups and the limited voting in war torn areas of Eastern Ukraine, any movement towards implementing the Minks agreement would be blocked in the Rada, but it was more complicated than even this.

    The nation had an armed force of some 80K men, but due to prior administrations siphoning off the funds and auctioning what equipment was purchased to the local warlords, the Ukrainian army could only field a force of some 6K troops. To offset this imbalance, a number of volunteer battalions were assembled. Collectively they numbered in excess of 10K troops. Impressed with their ready ability to make gains on the battlefield, and perhaps always envisioned, these battalions were absorbed as is into the govt forces and received financial support and govt sanction for the atrocities they committed.

    The consequence of the sizeable force of hardened veterans is that it posed as a threat towards the govt that should the govt fail to act according to the popular desires of the battalions, Porchenko could face a second Maidan coup.

    Hence the pressure on Porchenko was based on legislative and practical obstacles.

    Flash forward to Zelensky’s election of 2019. Zelensky wins massive victories in both his presidential and parliamentary elections and significantly limits the power of the Far Right in the parliament. His platform was based on peace and implementing the Minsk accords. He had eliminated the block emanating from the Rada, but not that facing him from the battalions. In open defiance to his election, Dmitri Yarosh, one of the leaders of Right Sector, a Far Right Political party that sprang to life with the Maidan, openly threatened to assassinate Zelensky if he made peace with Russia. This was reinforced when Zelensky visited Zolote, an area at the front lines in Dombas, where he ordered a couple dozen troops to pull back as part of a mutual disengagement and disarmament of the area. For his efforts, he was threatened by both combat leaders and a member of the Rada, the latter spoke of his mortality and threatened to kill him with a grenade. A few months later, the troops were back in Zolote, and the Far Right activists were now conducting police patrols across the country under the state’s sanction and Zelensky appointed Yarosh as advisor to the military command. So the military block on Zelensky remained so long as the Azov and their fellow battalions remained.

    The upside remains that if Russia has significantly crippled or erased these Far Right forces, Zelensky could have the freedom to actually negotiate a settlement without fear of his own Maidan coup. With his recent radical seizure of both power and media, and without the presence of the Volunteer Battalions to threaten and harass him, he could make the hard choices that could not have been successfully made prior to Putin’s incursion.