Original Link Here: https://telegra.ph/The-Hard-Facts-about-Ukraine-and-Donbass-03-31
It is now more than a month since Russia has started special military operation in Ukraine aimed at the defense of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. It has been dramatic, traumatic period for many Ukrainians. The sad truth is that the suffering of the predominantly Russian people of the South-East of Ukraine started much earlier – eight years ago, in 2014. The story – and we are talking about 4 million people, which is almost the population of Ireland – is unknown in the West. It does not fit into the narrative, propagated in Europe, it is being suppressed in the media. There are a lot of hard facts that need to be addressed to make a fair judgement of what has been going on in Ukraine. Following are important markers to consider.
February 22-23, 2014 – violent overthrow of government in Kiev with full acquiescence of the West (https://bit.ly/3IVfQoU). The power is seized by an amalgamation of Neo-Nazi and right-wing groups and parties (“Right Sector”, “Svoboda”, etc) and other radicals, led by Dmitriy Yarosh, Alexander Turchinov, Arseniy Yatsenyk, Oleg Tyagnibok, who is an open anti-Semite (according to Israeli journalists https://bit.ly/3Dy9rz5) and blatant neo-Nazi, Oleg Lyashko and Arsen Avakov, criminal who was persecuted in Ukraine. Plans are announced for “derussification” and “decommunisation” of Ukraine.
BBC report on neo-Nazis in Ukraine
March 2014 – people in Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, Mariupol and other major cities in South-eastern Ukraine start to vocally oppose the unconstitutional coup and its extremist agenda, leading to violent clashes between neo-Nazi paramilitary battalions “Azov”, “Trizub”, “Aidar” and protesters. This led to the proclamation of independence by Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and their secession from Ukraine.
April 13, 2014 – The leader of Kiev junta Turchinov announces the so-called “counter-terrorist operation” against the people of Donbass. This day marks the beginning of the war for the people of Donetsk, where, according to OHCHR estimates, the total number of conflict-related casualties from 14 April 2014 to 15 February 2020 was 41,000–44,000: 13,000-13,200 killed (at least 3,350 civilians); and 29,000-31,000 injured (approximately 7,000–9,000 civilians) (according to UNHCR https://bit.ly/3J0QwOl) . These estimates do not take into account the fact that more than 400 thousand refugees fled Donbass to Russia from 2014 (TASS, https://bit.ly/3NE5uxg). The cynicism and open hostility of the Kiev regime against the inhumane suffering of the people in Donbass can be summarized by words of the President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, elected in May, 2014: “Their children will hole up in the basements – this is how we win the war!”
Infamous speech by then President of Ukraine Poroshenko
May 2, 2014 – Perhaps one of the most visual display of methods and intentions of the new Ukrainian political elite – infamous Odessa massacre, where 38 people, who opposed the Kiev regime, were burned alive by neo-Nazis in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa (coverage from RTE https://bit.ly/3tUOmf7). What was not covered in Western and Irish media is the fact that this massacre was orchestrated by the Kiev regime, giving orders to far-right groups to destroy any opposition with brute force, as an “exemplary execution” designed to intimidate (https://bit.ly/3iSUQVs).
BBC news report on neo-Nazis in UkraineBBC news report on neo-Nazis in Ukraine
April 2014 – February 2015 – despite serious disproportion in manpower and armament, people’s militia of Donbass has successfully repelled the forces of Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi battalions, inflicting serious casualties on them and encircling them in Debaltsevo and Ilovaysk. These acts of heroism by the people of Donbass forced the Ukrainian regime to sit down and talk, resulting in signing of the Minks Agreements. The sad thing about those agreements is that none of 13 provisions fixed in the Minsk Agreements between Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics signed in February 2015 and endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2202 were implemented by Kiev, with the tacit support from its Western sponsors.
May 15, 2015 – President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko enacts Law no. 2538-1 “On the Legal Status and Honoring of the Memory of the Fighters for the Independence of Ukraine in the 20th Century”, stating that Stepan Bandera and Roman Shuhevich, Nazi collaborators during the WWII, as well as their terrorist far-right organization OUN-UPA are proclaimed “Heroes of Ukraine” (https://bit.ly/3JWnNfd). These “heroes” organized mass slaughter of Jews, Poles, Russians and Belorussians in Nazi-occupied territory of the Soviet Union and Poland during the WWII. Legal penalties introduced for criticizing the abovementioned persons and organizations, effectively suppressing the freedom of speech. Later, on September 25, 2017, the same Poroshenko signed a new law on education placing strict limits on the rights of ethnic minorities to be taught in their own language, effectively making Russians a “minority” (https://bit.ly/3JX9WoR). At the end of his term, on April 25, 2019, another law was passed – on the status of Ukrainian language, which openly discriminates the Russian speakers of Ukraine.
February 2015 – February 2022 – total economic and humanitarian blockade of Donbass region, coupled with regular shelling by Ukrainian army and attempts to destroy the people of the region by force, resulting in the stalemate.
Report by the OHCHR: https://bit.ly/35siR2t.pdf
May 20, 2019 – Vladimir Zelensky inaugurated as the President of Ukraine. The main topic of his electoral agenda was peace: some even called him the “President of peace”. The bitter reality came rather soon, when he abandoned his electoral promises and turned to violent course of reintegration of Donbass into Ukraine by force. The “Right Sector” and Nazi battalions became de-facto “shadow” political decision-making force in Ukraine.
Neo-Nazi march in Kiev, January 1, 2020
January 22, 2022 – the covert preparation by the Kiev regime of an offensive operation in the Donbass in March 2022. The order, brought to the command of the National Guard of Ukraine, was outlined in classified documents of the command of the National Guard of Ukraine and was acquired by the Russian servicemen during special military operation. These documents explain the plan for preparing one of the shock groups for offensive operations in the so-called “Joint Forces Operation” zone in Donbass (https://bit.ly/3wTe05N)
February 17, 2022 – Speech by President Zelenskiy during the Munich Security conference, where he openly proclaimed that Ukraine plans to revise the provisions of the 1994 Budapest memorandum and seek to obtain nuclear weapons.
February 24, 2022 – address by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, where he stated that all diplomatic and political efforts to secure peace in Donbass, used during last 8 years, have been exhausted. In order to prevent the genocide and to deny Kiev regime any ability to inflict any further suffering on the people of Donbass decision is made to start a special military operation in Ukraine.
Speech by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin
February-March, 2022 – the tragedy of the people of Donbass is far from being over. Beside infamous images and fakes about Mariupol, where neo-Nazis have been using civilians as human shields, there are still facts of shelling of Donbass by the Ukrainian army. On March 15, 2022, twenty people were killed by the Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile in Donetsk. The images of the aftermath were later used by many Western outlets as the proof of “Russian aggression against civilians”, cynically abusing the suffering of the people of Donetsk.
The aftermath of the bombing of Donetsk by Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile, used by Italian newspaper “La Stampa” as an image from Lvov
This is mainly the Ukrainian side of the Donbass story. It would be, of course, incomplete without due account to the political, economic and military input by the Western governments, which over the years has nurtured the Kiev regime, closing eyes to its ultranationalist, radical nature, with sole purpose of creating hostile and aggressive entity on the border of Russia. Between 2014 and 2021 the EU supported Ukraine through five consecutive Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) operations that totaled EUR 5 billion of loans (https://bit.ly/3LALsCl). Moreover, according to the US Embassy in Ukraine, during this period the total spending of the US only on military assistance to Ukraine amounts to 2.7 billion US dollars.
The above sketchy outline of the events is for many angry and frustrated people in Ireland, who speak out against the war. Perhaps it will give them a reason to give a chance to an idea that people of Donbass also deserve better and peaceful life now and in the future, while racism, neo-Nazism and hatred should be resolutely rejected.
