Brothers and sisters!
Here is the summary of March 12.
The bad news:
1. Stand-up comic and jokester (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has clearly left this plane of reality, and it doesn’t look like he’s coming back. His statement today about the “unlawful secession of Ukraine from the USSR” sounded like something for a psychiatrist. I, personally, have no idea which virtual world Mr. Putin is inhabiting, but it certainly isn’t this one.
And it wouldn’t be so bad, if he weren’t someone whose word will decide whether Ukraine, which has already suffered enough, will be torn to shreds even further. We clearly see that hoping for common sense from the Kremlin is pointless. Common sense has deserted them long ago. On the other hand, this reeks of swastika and the Fourth Reich dreams.
2. Russian occupiers and collaborators turned their attention to the children of the Ukrainian servicemen in Crimea. At this time, their schools are scaring them with the prospect of not issuing them graduation certificates. But we are also getting reports of students being directly threatened with violence unless their fathers immediately betray the Oath of Allegiance to the people of Ukraine.
I don’t know what kind of person it takes to start waging war on young students. Today Putin’s lapdogs are threatening children. Tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the first concentration camps springing up in Crimea. It all follows the logic of the process – see my first point above.
3. Ukrainian military units seized by Russian occupants are being looted. Military property and any personal possessions of our servicemen that the “Russian brothers” take a liking to are loaded onto trucks and driven away. In short, the story of toilet theft in Abkhazia seems to be repeating, but only within our military units so far. It looks like some sticky-fingered Russian soldiers will never change their ways.
Meanwhile, the occupiers are growing bolder by the day. Yesterday, they were still trying to “make friends” and suggested to go on “joint patrols” of Ukrainian military units. Today, gentlemen in unmarked military uniforms are introducing themselves as commanders, chambering the rounds on their AKs (this happened at least twice today), and demanding that our commanders vacate the territory, because (to quote them) “we’re running the place now”.
The good news:
1. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking for the European Union, promises that next week will bring Ukraine the EU association agreement, and sanctions to Putin. According to her, the sanctions should cover specific persons in Russia, and involve asset freezes and cancellation of EU visas. The fact that the threat of sanctions to Russia is delivered by the leader of Germany, an old friend and partner of Russia, is a good sign. The only question is, what impact those words will have on the mysterious persona by the name of Putin.
2. In the light of the accumulation of Russian troops near our southeastern borders, the Russian Ministry of Defense allowed a Ukrainian plane to carry out a survey flight over the territory of the Russian Federation, at the request of Kyiv. By the way, the information about such accumulation of troops that has been reported by Information Resistance for a number of days, is now officially confirmed by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Does this mean that in a few hours, the Kremlin will withdraw the gathered troops from the border and finally forget about its invasion plans? Personally, I highly doubt it. Moscow will either play for time – at least until the March 16 referendum (after which the invasion is still probable), or simply “forget” about its promise. While the current goodwill of the Russian MoD is just a smoke screen for the most despicable plans. I pray I’m mistaken.
3. I don’t know how good this piece of news is on a global scale, but it is definitely a ray of light for some people, who were feeling abandoned in recent days. Work is under way to receive refugees from Crimea – first of all, the military families. Community activists and state authorities are working together to organize channels and options for their travel and settlement in different oblasts [regions] of Ukraine (at least the state authorities are working on something).
We, on our part, will help these relocation efforts by providing every piece of relevant information we can – as long as there is an official stance on this subject, and official information. I’ve already promised this to the people who approached us. This is our shared pain and our shared problem.
Let us hope that the new day will help us get rid of this pain that is uniting us today. We can stand together even without it.
