Was Ukraine Left at NATO’s Altar?

History is replete with stories of heroes or heroines abandoned by fair-weather friends at the threshold of a major achievement or victory. The free world, NATO, the United States, “old” Europe and surprisingly even the former captive nations failed to make history. They failed to open the door to NATO membership for Ukraine or commit to a solid timetable and strong endorsement of Ukraine’s accession to NATO that would truly symbolize its unquestionable support for the largest country in Europe that is facing an existential battle against its arch enemy russia.

The standard range of excuses was offered about why the salubrious group of defenders of democracy couldn’t yet invite Ukraine to join NATO including it wasn’t ready, it’s fighting a war with Russia and the silliest reason by far was that it’s not doing enough to stop corruption. If you would pick up any daily newspaper in any American city you’d find enough stories about lifestyle and government corruption to fill a college graduate course in how not to run a government.

Nonetheless, with platitudes, promises and compassion the NATO members turned down Ukraine. However, its leaders pointed out that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but they stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation and a definite date, infuriating Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The NATO leaders said in a declaration: “Ukraine’s future is in NATO.” But they offered no timeline for the process.

“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” the declaration said, without specifying the conditions Ukraine needs to meet.

NATO did drop a requirement for Ukraine to fulfil what is called a Membership Action Plan (MAP), effectively removing a hurdle on Kyiv’s way into the alliance.

While the world waits, Ukrainians continue shedding their blood – soldiers on the front lines and civilians in their apartments or pizzerias – in defense of Ukraine and Europe against the scourge of russia.

As he arrived in Vilnius Zelenskyy assured thousands of Lithuanian well-wishers, many waving Ukrainian flags, that “NATO will make Ukraine safer, Ukraine will make NATO stronger.”

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy said before arriving in the Lithuanian capital as a special guest. He expressed disappointment that Ukraine was not invited to join NATO.

“I travelled here today with belief in a decision, with belief in partners, with belief in a strong NATO...

“I would wish for this belief to become a certainty - certainty in decisions that all of us deserve and which our every soldier expects, our every citizen, our every mother, our every child. And is this too big of a wish?” he asked.

The NATO declaration also offered a seemingly double-sided stroke of support: “We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the government and people of Ukraine in the heroic defense of their nation, their land, and our shared values.” In strong language towards Moscow, it added: “The Russian Federation is the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

The alliance also had recognized Ukraine’s army was increasingly “interoperable” and more “politically integrated” with NATO forces and it would continue to support reforms to Ukraine’s democracy and security sector. NATO leaders also highlighted the creation of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, meeting tomorrow for the first time, which will give Kyiv the right to summon meetings of the whole alliance.

But the decision to give no sense of timescale will be seen as a setback for Ukraine.

Even though such detail was always unlikely, Zelenskyy’s decision to say the absence of a timetable was “absurd” only emphasized his and all Ukrainians obvious frustration.

It’s rather strange. If you can separate friends from foes, the reasons for supporting the allies, then why are you curtsying to russia, the enemy?

Lithuania’s past leaders, including former presidents Valdas Adamkus and Dalia Grybauskaitė, sent a letter imploring NATO leaders to invite Ukraine to join the alliance during the Vilnius summit, the LRT public broadcaster reported on July 10.

“Gathering in Vilnius for the NATO summit, you have the opportunity to make a historic decision and invite Ukraine to NATO, without delaying and without waiting for the end of the war,” said the statement, also signed by the first head of the restored Lithuanian state Vytautas Landsbergis and signatories of the Act of March 11, declaring the country’s independence in 1990.

“Ukraine and its people, with their lives sacrificed for the freedom of us all, deserve that we all defend every centimeter of Ukrainian land. Your decision can stop russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

On the eve of the summit Grybauskaitė noted “The accession process must start, because waiting for a post-war situation allows putin to never ever finish this war. If we really care about the security of NATO territory, Ukraine inevitably needs to be part of it.

“It’s not just the war against Ukraine, it’s the quest against our entire civilization. If Ukraine does not achieve a definitive victory on the battlefield, the West will end up in limbo. The aggressive actions against it will last for decades to come,” she added poignantly.

Sadly their pleas fell on deaf ears.

But Zelenskyy did score wins elsewhere. French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would start supplying long-range cruise missiles, following a similar announcement by Britain. These will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supplies deep behind the front lines. Germany announced new aid worth 700 million euros, including two Patriot air defense missile launchers, and more tanks and fighting vehicles.

Tomorrow, Zelenskyy will meet with President Biden so hopefully they could come to a decision that will keep the alliance from shooting itself in the foot.

Let Ukraine finally Join NATO

In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in Washington, DC, in order to secure peace in post-war Europe, to promote cooperation among its victorious members and to guard their freedom. Today, NATO is a security alliance consisting of 31 countries from North America and Europe. It is designed to protect European allies against missile threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

For decades, NATO served as an effective bulwark against soviet russia expansion. That russia has emerged as an aggressor state, leading to a destabilization of the European continent, is proof of NATO’s continued importance for both the United States and Europe as a safeguard against continued russian expansionism. In addition to the full-blown military invasion of Ukraine, the repeated serious russian provocations directed against neighboring NATO and non-NATO nations in the region and beyond endanger not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of European allies, but the future viability of all trans-Atlantic security structures. It also disbalances the post-World War II geopolitical structure.

While russia was not openly labeled as the country that violates regional and global peace and threatens the members’ freedom, for all intents and purposes for the past seven decades and more it actually has endangered peace, security, cooperation and development throughout the region and planet.

Initially, “old” Europe and the United States and Canada became members of NATO. Then after the fall of the iron curtain, the dividing line between the righteous and dishonorable countries, the former captive nations, “new” Europe, were invited to join NATO.

Thus the stage was set for a geopolitical conundrum for the leadership of the free world.

Ukraine, since declaring independence in 1991, has been an on again, off again candidate for membership. A host of definitions and encouraging labels were devised for the process of allowing Ukraine to accede to NATO while not upsetting russia. None of them made sense considering the fact that Ukraine’s neighbors to the west were accepted as NATO members and they have been Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since their accession.

Now that russia is fulfilling its age-old mission to invade and subjugate Ukraine and imprison or annihilate the Ukrainian nation, the issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO is once again top of mind. The russian war is killing Ukrainian men, women and children, destroying the infrastructure and ruining the environment.

The NATO members will gather in Vilnius, Lithuania, for a two-day meeting beginning tomorrow and Ukraine will be the key point on the Agenda. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, after threatening not to attend if the discussion will not be meaningful, will actually be present perhaps signaling that it won’t be a waste of time.

Undeniably, Ukraine is the most popular country on earth today. It has become the repository of the world’s latest armaments to defeat russia. And putin made it so by shedding blood across the Ukrainian landscape; by missiles strike against residential homes and pizzerias; by blowing up a dam and flooding arable land.

The loudest supporters of Ukraine’s accession to NATO are the former captive nations of russian subjugation. They know the pain of the kremlin’s captivity and they know that if Ukraine falls, they will soon fall afterward. And then “old” Europe.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, considered by her contemporaries the Margaret Thatcher of her day, on July 4 said that NATO membership “is the only security guarantee” for Ukraine and said it is important that NATO member countries agree during their summit in Vilnius on “practical steps” on how Ukraine gets into the alliance.

It is important that during the summit members “go beyond the Bucharest wording,” Kallas said, referring to the 2008 summit declaration that offered Ukraine an opportunity to join the alliance without a concrete timetable.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will support Ukraine for as long as necessary. “We are sending a message to putin that he will not win the war,” he clarified.  

“I think all the allies realize that Ukraine is in the middle of a war, and this is not a good time to invite it to join. But all allies understand that the door remains open, and we have demonstrated that with Finland and Sweden. All the allies realize that Ukraine will become a member, and it is up to the allies to decide when Ukraine is invited to join NATO. But most importantly, the allies understand that the most important thing now is to support Ukraine. If we don’t do that, Ukraine will no longer exist as an independent country. And if it doesn’t exist as an independent country, the question of its membership becomes meaningless,” Stoltenberg.

And so on and so forth. The Lithuanians and Poles support Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has called on NATO member states to give Kyiv a clear roadmap to joining the defense alliance. “Ukraine is waiting for an unambiguous signal regarding a clear prospect of membership in NATO,” Duda said.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is also urging NATO to give Ukraine a “clear path” to becoming a member of the alliance to deter further aggression by Russia and other “bad actors” who seek to destabilize Europe. In a letter prior to the NATO summit AJC CEO Ted Deutch and AJC President Michael Tichnor described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as posing a threat to democracy and the international order.

“Welcoming Ukraine into NATO would send a strong signal also to other bad actors, ranging from Pyongyang to Tehran,” the letter states. “If Western nations demonstrate unity and resolve by accepting Ukraine, it would help deter these actors as well and convey a clear message that any aggression or destabilizing behavior will be met with a strong response.”

“While critics argue that Ukraine’s NATO membership could further escalate tensions with Russia, potentially leading to more conflict, history has shown that the lack of strong action in the face of aggression only emboldens aggressors,” they wrote, “By embracing Ukraine and reinforcing its security, NATO can help deter further Russian aggression and provide a stable framework for dialogue and de-escalation.”

But, apparently, russia’s war against Ukraine, russian boots on Ukrainian land and Article 5 are scaring the allies, the staunch supporters of Ukraine from ushering Ukraine into their midst and an equal among equal partner.

“Of course, we understand it cannot happen when the war is going on. But we have to have a clear pathway [for] how Ukraine gets there,” Estonia’s Kallas opined.

Enough with the caution. Russia is incapable of fighting Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

NATO membership for Ukraine would send a powerful political message to the world, to russia, about the free world’s support for Ukraine and belief in its integrity and future, far beyond the ever important HIMARs, tanks and cluster bombs. It would tell the world that now Ukraine is a worthy candidate for members in NATO and it deserves to be a member. But more so NATO deserves such a shining new member as Ukraine, the only country on earth that in seven decades as accrued the military prowess to fight and hold at bay the former second biggest army in the world. And if those reasons aren’t enough, 89% of Ukrainians support their country’s membership in NATO.

So, temporarily suspend Article 5, agree that the free world won’t send its boys to fight and die in Ukraine, Ukrainians are doing that already for the benefit of their country and the free world. But give Ukraine full membership. Tell all regions of the world that Ukraine is worthy of membership that will preserve the 32-year-old independent, sovereign and democratic country. Show impotent, decrepit russia that it can’t dictate who can become a NATO member and who can’t.

This is the only righteous course of action for the free world, NATO, the x-captive nations, and Ukraine.

US Cluster Munitions en route to Ukraine

The United States has finally decided today to provide strategically invaluable cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce tomorrow that the Pentagon will send thousands as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million to help Ukraine defend itself and even defeat Russia, according to the Associated Press and other news media.

The decision by the Biden Administration was revealed despite widespread concerns that the controversial bombs can cause civilian casualties. Ukrainian officials have been requesting these arms for months. The Pentagon said it will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended collateral damage.

US officials said Thursday, July 6, they expect greater package of military aid to Ukraine will be announced on Friday. The weapons will come from Pentagon stocks and will also include Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles and an array of ammunition, such as rounds for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System – HIMARS that have been successful in striking russian positions, officials said.

Long sought by Ukraine, cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or “bomblets,” that are dispersed over a large area and are intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once. Ukrainian officials have asked for the weapons to aid in pushing through lines of russian troops and make gains in the ongoing counteroffensive. Russian forces are already using cluster munitions on the battlefield and in populated civilian areas, U.S. officials have said. And as is typical of moscow, it will deny that weapon to its enemy.

Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who has been advocating that Washington send more weapons, was quoted as saying that Ukrainian forces have had to disable mines from much of the territory they are winning back from Russia. As part of that process, Ukrainians will also be able to catch any unexploded ordnance from cluster munitions. “We will have to de-mine anyway, but it’s better to have this capability,” Ustinova said. She credited Congress for pushing the Administration over several months to change its position on the munitions.

It should be noted that many of these unexploded munitions pollute fields that are key in growing agricultural products for domestic and foreign consumption.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the move was long overdue. “Now is the time for the U.S. and its allies to provide Ukraine with the systems it needs from cluster munitions to F-16s to ATACMS in order to aid their critical counteroffensive. Any further delay will cost the lives of countless Ukrainians and prolong this brutal war,” said McCaul.

The Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, would give Ukraine the ability to strike russian targets from as far as about 180 miles (300 kilometers).

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that the US has been thinking about providing the cluster munitions “for a long time.”

“The Ukrainians have asked for it, other European countries have provided some of that, the Russians are using it,” Milley said during a speech at the National Press Club.

Cluster bombs can be fired by artillery that the US has provided to Ukraine, and the Pentagon has a large stockpile of them.

The discussion of arbitrarily killing civilians or causing collateral damage by one ordinance or another is nonsense because russia has been using missiles, drones and conventional bombs that not only kill servicemen and women, but they’re also used against russia’s other feared military targets – ask the families of the four victims killed last night in Lviv or the 13 killed civilians, mostly young people, in a pizzeria in Kramatorsk.

Russian Murder of Ukrainian Civilians is Deliberate

In addition to deliberate russian acts of torture of Ukrainians in the past 17 months, United Nations investigators also found that at least 77 unarmed Ukrainian civilians were summarily executed – deliberately killed – by the invading cutthroats.

The figure is, unfortunately, likely to be much higher, because of areas still under occupation, and because the russians also carried out on-the-spot summary executions, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.

Russian forces carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians who were detained in connection with the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, summarily executing dozens of them, the United Nations human rights office reported last week. The UN interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses for a report detailing more than 900 cases of civilians, including children and elderly people, being arbitrarily detained in the war.

The vast majority of those interviewed said they were tortured and in some cases subjected to sexual violence during detention by russian terrorists, the head of the UN human rights office in Ukraine said. It added that Russian armed forces, law enforcement and penitentiary authorities have used torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees on a massive scale.

“Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping Ukrainian armed forces, compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities or intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views,” said Matilda Bogner.

Sexual violence especially against civilians has been denounced and forbidden by international law.

The figure was reported on June 27, 2023, in the latest report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), titled “Detention of civilians in the context of the Russian armed attack, 24 February 2022 – 23 May 2023.” Since this report concentrates on all aspects of civilian detention, the authors do not go into detail and simply express grave concern over the summary executions of some hostages. 

UN monitors documented the summary execution of 72 men and 5 women whom the russians had arbitrarily detained in Ukraine and are aware of another man who died in russian custody as the result of torture or inhumane conditions. The real number of extrajudicial executions carried out by russia since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine is undoubtedly much higher as the fate of many victims of enforced disappearances remains unknown, and the above figure does not include those whom the russians executed on the spot. News accounts of russian terrorists executing entire families – in some cases grandparents, parents and children – in their automobiles have been reported since the start of the invasion.

An earlier report from December 2022, however, gave more detail about Russia’s summary executions in those parts of the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions that had been occupied russia. By the end of October 2022, OHCHR had recorded the summary execution or fatal attacks on 441 civilians (341 men; 72 women; 20 boys and 8 girls). Fifty-seven of the 100 killings which the report concentrated on were assessed as summary executions (48 men; 7 women and 2 boys). Thirty victims had been killed in places of detention, with the other 27 summarily executed on the spot. The authors warned that in these three regions only, the total number of summary executions and lethal attacks against civilians by the russian military “is likely considerably higher.” This is without taking into account other parts of Ukraine already liberated from the invading forces, as well as those still under occupation. 

In February of this year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asserted that russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered “the most massive violations of human rights” in the world today.

The State Department Human Rights Country Report for Ukraine (and an array of other governments, international organizations and NGOs) lists mass and unlawful killings, including summary executions, forced disappearances, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, interrogations with no due process, arbitrary detention, and sexual violence, among other violations. Large numbers of political prisoners and detainees languish in appalling detention centers. There are severe restrictions on political rights and civil liberties, such as freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, religion, movement and, of course, the denial of the right of citizens to vote in free and fair elections, the report concluded.

Most of these rampant human rights abuses and democracy violations have been inflicted on Ukrainian citizens by the russian occupiers since 2014, when moscow seized Crimea and then Donetsk and Luhansk immediately upon the end of 2014 Winter Olympics. However, in the ensuing months the crimes have greatly expanded, intensified and acquired new shocking features and even more terrifying practices since February 2022.

Crimes against humanity, war crimes and atrocities that occurred in places like Bucha, Irpin, Izyum, Mariupol, Kherson and elsewhere shocked the civilized world. In addition, the indiscriminate, relentless drone and missile attacks against innocent civilians and the forcible transfer of Ukrainians including the abduction of Ukrainian children to russia, and the notorious filtration system that dehumanizes by security screenings of Ukrainians who are violently interrogated and detained in concentration camps.

The latest iteration of russia’s war against Ukrainians who are subjected to arbitrary killings, torture, rape, starvation, forcible transfers, and other abuses is part of a centralized plan to break the will of Ukrainian citizens and have them submit to russia’s authority.

In a recent speech to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, U.S. Ambassador Michael Carpenter asserted: “Ukraine’s civilians in Russia-occupied territories have been unjustly detained under the flimsiest of justifications – if any at all – and under appalling conditions. These detained civilians have been sent to penal colonies or detention facilities in occupied territories or deep within Russia, many without charge, leaving their families no ability to track their whereabouts or to appeal their detention.”

Undeniably, this litany of crimes against humanity is aimed at creating a climate of fear and complete subjugation is part and parcel of russian fuhrer vladimir putin’s genocidal attempt to erase the Ukrainian nation, starting with the most vulnerable – the children of Ukraine.

In the words of Ambassador Carpenter, who was reacting to a recent OSCE report exposing russia’s war crimes against Ukraine’s children: “It is heart wrenching to think of Ukrainian children being stolen from their families and uprooted from their homes, and then subjected to systematic efforts to erase their Ukrainian identity and replace it with a Russian one. … As the report makes clear, ‘Not only has the Russian Federation manifestly violated the best interests of these children repeatedly, it has also denied their right to identity, their right to family, … as well as their right to thought, conscience and religion, right to health, and right to liberty and security.”

These children have been forced to sing the Russian national anthem and, at least in one instance, threatened to have their “lips sewn shut” if they uttered support for Ukraine. Or, as the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHRPG) put it: “In January, young people in the devastated city of Mariupol were forced to dance and entertain the invading forces – they were made ‘to thank the killers of their parents, relatives and their childhood [friends], to thank them and entertain them with shows. Parents were warned that anyone who was against, or who filmed it, faced [being imprisoned in] basements for the dissatisfied.’”

• Democratic and Republic incumbents and candidates to public office should reconsider their anti-Ukrainian positions in view of this survey.

Solid majorities of Americans support providing weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia and believe that such aid demonstrates to China and other U.S. rivals a will to protect U.S. interests and allies, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.

The two-day poll that was concluded on Tuesday charted a sharp rise in backing for arming Ukraine, with 65% of the respondents approving of the shipments compared with 46% in a May poll.

Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents favor supplying U.S. weapons to Ukraine, according to the latest poll.

The survey was conducted just days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private Wagner mercenary company, launched and then called off a mutiny over what he charged was the Russian defense ministry's mishandling of the war in Ukraine.

The findings appeared to provide firmer backing for President Joe Biden’s policy of doing “whatever it takes” to assist Ukraine in recapturing territory that Russia seized in an initial assault in 2014 and its full-scale invasion 16 months ago.

“This definitely reinforces Biden's decision to be all-in on this,” said William Taylor, a former US ambassador to Ukraine now with the US Institute of Peace. “The Republican leadership of the House and Senate will also take heart from this.”

In other findings, the survey said large majorities of Americans - 67% and 73% - are more likely to support a candidate in next year’s US presidential election who will continue military aid to Ukraine and one who backs the NATO alliance.

• Time to pick up the pace of free world’s military aid to Ukraine.

In an interview with The Washington Post, of June 30, 2023, commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny offered emphatic ideas of what must be done to ensure Ukraine’s victory over russian invaders. The Post wrote: “So it ‘pisses me off,’ Zaluzhny said, when he hears that Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive in the country’s east and south has started slower than expected — an opinion publicly expressed by Western officials and military analysts and also by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though Zaluzhny was not referring to Zelenskyy. His troops have gained some ground — even if it’s just 500 meters — every day, he said.

‘This is not a show,’ Zaluzhny said Wednesday in his office at Ukraine’s General Staff headquarters. ‘It’s not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood.’

‘Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all,’ he added. ‘But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants in the show, the observers, would like, but that is their problem.’”

• Earlier I wrote about 11 slices of death at the Kramatorsk pizzeria due to a russian missile strike. The toll has risen to 12. Rescuers retrieved another person’s body from the rubble at the site of moscow’s June 27 crime against humanity, when russian terrorists fired two soviet-era S-300 missiles at the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk. The number includes three children, two born in 2008 and one in 2011. Another 60 people were injured, including a child. The search and rescue operation is completed, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Viktoriya Amelina, a Ukrainian writer and member of the PEN Club, who was having dinner with Colombian journalists, became the 13th fatal victim, succumbing to her head wounds in the hospital.

11 Slices of Death

Who hasn’t been to a pizzeria? It’s a well-deserved respite at the end of day or week for the entire family. Adults love it and so do kids. We all have our favorite pizzeria, which is different from the one down the street or around the block. With an assortment of toppings or plain, the ubiquitous pizza is so popular that it can be considered America’s favorite food. It’s comfort food. It’s a safe place for family enjoyment.

It’s a culinary delight around the world, even Ukraine.

But thanks to russian terrorists, Ukrainians’ image of this food has dramatically changed. A pizzeria was the latest russian crime against humanity. It was thoroughly obliterated in the bombardment of a Ukrainian city, a non-military target frequented by civilians, a tactic russian war criminals have been using heavily in this 16-month-old war.

Russian cutthroats killed at least 11 people and injured 61 in a strike on a popular restaurant in Kramatorsk on Tuesday, June 27, thanks to the help of a Ukrainian traitor who provided exact coordinates that resulted in a direct hit on the eatery.

Three children, including twin sisters shown here along with mom and injured baby, are among the dead in the attack on the only major city in eastern Ukrainian controlled by Kyiv.

Rescuers have been digging through the rubble of the destroyed building, looking for people throughout Wednesday, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The shocking images broadcast by BBC this morning showed a mass heap of rubble and injured patrons and passersby.

The strike destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the center of the city of 158,000 residents, popular with journalists, aid workers, soldiers, families and teens. According to Ukrainian sources, the russians used S-300 missile systems to attack the city.

Ukrainian authorities have arrested a local man they accuse of helping Russia direct the missile strike.

Three Colombians, famous writer Hector Abad, politician Sergio Jaramillo and journalist Catalina Gomez were slightly injured while having dinner in the restaurant with the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, according to local information. Amelina was taken to a hospital with head injuries among other wounds. She is the founder of the New York Literary Festival in Donetsk region. She read Oleh Sentsov’s stories translated into English at the Frankfurt Book Fair and participated in numerous actions in support of his release from russian captivity.

The unanswered question of how long will the free world tolerate russia’s war crimes in Ukraine persists? You hear it from Ukrainians around the world. You now hear it in the hearts of the parents of the killed children. There is no excuse for hearing this question if you are human and feel the pain that has enveloped Ukrainians.

Don’t get used to that pain.

Wouldn’t it be grand if the U.S. pizza industry, independent and chain pizzerias and distributors issued a statement of support for the Ukrainian people that condemned russia for this latest war crime?

The March on Moscow that Wasn’t

After a day of vitriolic accusations, threats, denunciations and an actual military threat against moscow, the heart of mother russia, all of which culminated months of incendiary diatribe, is it possible that the two Russian arch nemeses kissed and made up?

I, for one, don’t believe it. Let bygones be bygones is not part of the russian mindset.

As Churchill famously observed about russia, it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. What is up, is down; what’s black is white; what’s hot is cold. But the historical constant and truth is that russia is evil, aggressive, vicious and deceitful as it obnoxiously disregards outsiders’ views about what it is thinking and doing. On any given Saturday putin will look you in the eye and tell convincingly it’s Monday.

Is it possible that prigozhin had an epiphany while his wagner cutthroats were heading to moscow, where everyone from putin to the lowly woman sweeping streets felt at least menaced by the possibility of an invasion? So the bellicose former hotdog peddler turned military commander ordered his troops to make an about face just a few dozen kilometers from an historic victory.

One of odd elements of this surreal development is that belarus’ strongman lukashenko, recognized as not being the sharpest knife in the drawer who doesn’t do anything without putin’s nod, hatched a plan that would de-escalate the tension. The gambit called for prigozhin’s army to turn around while the wagner boss and his entourage would be given safe haven in belarus and all charges against them would be dropped. Other wagnerites would be offered contracts in the Russian army.

According to the Associated Press, prigozhin, not known for being a humanitarian, acquiesced. Here’s a part of its story moved yesterday, June 24:

 “The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power fizzled out relatively peacefully Saturday after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow abruptly reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat.

“The dramatic if brief revolt shifted the landscape for the Kremlin and the 16-month-old war in Ukraine and prompted Russia to pull soldiers back from the battlefield to defend the capital, a stunning recognition of the threat posed by Wagner Group soldiers under the command of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“Under the deal announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighboring Belarus and charges of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped. The government said it also would not prosecute fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry.”

The AP is a credible news service but the story itself is hooey. After mutually threatening each other with death and destruction, denouncing one another for betraying mother russia, and one blaming the other for failing to defeat Ukraine, is the free world to believe that putin and prigozhin are long lost, back slapping buddies?

Indeed there is something simmering far below the surface. The gnawing question is what’s hiding behind the “signature or brains” conversation between prigozhin and aleksandr “Fredo” lukashenko. Extra hotdog wagons? Will putin really forgive and forget prigozhin’s crimes and insults? After all, in 23 years russia’s dictator has killed many opponents in russia and beyond for comparatively smaller crimes. Will prigozhin’s ex-con mercenaries abandon attempts to rescue their leader, who loudly declared just a few hours earlier that they will never surrender?

None of this makes sense in a country consisting of an ersatz nation, where leaders have been known to murder their way to power and remain there the same way.

All of this bodes ill for the future of russia. After 16 months of the latest iteration of russia’s war against Ukraine, many officials, scholars and pundits have been asking how it will end. Is it possible that a defeated russia will be ripe for decolonization and dismemberment? The possibility of an armed insurrection was discounted.

Prigozhin’s rebellion demonstrated that despite tyranny, ruthlessness, and a strong fist, russia and putin are not unbeatable. Cracks in the Kremlin have appeared. The emperor is naked, russia is weaker than thought and any ambitious local or national capo can take a poke at it.

And it should be understood that in russia no one reaches the corner office without a network of backers. Including prigozhin. Yes, he was a hotdog peddler, then a restaurateur, then a government caterer, putin’s best friend ever, organizer of the wagner killers, and finally a viable threat to putin’s hegemony. He does have his supporters who may have egged him on, offering support and encouragement, and bankrolling his army of convicts, which couldn’t have been done on hotdog sales. Consequently, how will they react to prigozhin’s sudden surrender, which leaves them exposed in a country that is known for bloody revenge? Remember how Don Corleone eliminated his enemies and traitors?

Indeed, Ukrainians the world over were watching with glee events unfold in russia. The ubiquitous joke was “pass the popcorn, please.” Russia’s headaches could provide Ukraine with a respite in the war, allowing the Armed Forces of Ukraine to continue forcibly advancing against russian positions in the east and perhaps driving the terrorists out of Ukraine.

However, sadly, as the saying goes, a dead wasp can bite again. On the morning of prigozhin’s march on moscow, russian rockets hit a 20-plus story apartment building in Kyiv, killing three people and wounding a dozen.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed out that prigozhin revealed that russia is not only weak but leaderless since putin is not to be found. Reports said that he left moscow in a hurry for his bunker in the Urals.

On Sunday, June 25, Zelenskyy made this video statement that was visible on many platforms:

“Today is a day when there should definitely be no silence. And leadership is definitely needed.

“Today the world saw that the masters of russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Just complete chaos. Complete lack of any predictability. And this is on russian territory, which is full of weapons.

“The world should not be afraid. We know what protects us. Only our unity. Ukraine will definitely be able to protect Europe from any russian forces – and it does not matter who commands them. We will protect. The security of the eastern flank of Europe depends only on our defense. And that is why every manifestation of support for our defense is support for your defense, everyone in the free world.

“I will say in Russian. The man from the kremlin is obviously very afraid and probably hiding somewhere, not showing himself. I am sure that he is no longer in moscow. He calls somewhere, asks for something there... He knows what he is afraid of, because he himself created this threat. All evil, all losses, all hatred - he spreads it himself. And the longer he can run between his bunkers, the more you will lose everything... everything connected with russia.

“What will we, Ukrainians, do? We will defend our country. We will defend our freedom. We will not be silent and we will not be inactive. We know how to win - and it will happen. Our victory in this war will be clear.

“And what will you do?

“The longer your troops stay on Ukrainian soil, the more destruction they will bring to russia. The longer this person is in the kremlin, the more disasters there will be.”

Russia is in a historical turmoil, which should please the free world regardless of unfounded fears of whose finger will appear on the nuclear button. In russia, that is an ever-present possibility.

Here are a few of my conclusions: Don putin will sooner or later have his expected revenge against prigozhin while he’s vacationing in belarus thanks to “Fredo” lukashenko; prigozhin and lukashenko have already set the wheels in motion to eliminate putin; and what will the oligarchs in both camps do when they fully comprehend that the federal system that they’ve been supporting is a rotten tree stump that is further threatened by the ill-fated, never ending war in Ukraine.

According to social media posts in the evil empire, the name of nikolai platonovich patrushev has surfaced as another game changer. He is a russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of russia since 2008. He previously served as the director of the Federal Security Service from 1999 to 2008.

That’s the end of round one with putin winning on points. But the fight isn’t over.

UN: Widespread russian Torture in Ukraine is Deliberate

News and images of russian torture of Ukrainian servicemen and women as well as civilians have shocked the civilized world since moscow invaded Ukraine on February 22, 2022.

The first reports came a couple of weeks after russians cross the Ukrainian border, from Bucha and Irpin. Then came Azovstal. The coldblooded murder of a Ukrainian POW who declared “Glory to Ukraine.” And the beheading of Ukrainian soldiers. And then there’s psychological torture of knowing that your life as a Ukrainian isn’t worth spit in the minds of russian cutthroats and it could end in a second. You could be standing in a breadline, then you’re dead. You can be riding with your family in a car when the invaders riddled the vehicle with rifle fire killing all inhabitants – adults and children. You could be running with your mother to evade missiles when it hits the ground killing 11-year-old Liza. Or you could be captured with your siblings then raped and killed. You could be hiding beneath your home when the russians discovered you and threw grenades into the basement.

Yes, there is physical torture as well as psychological torture and russians are adept at inflicting both on purpose, systematically, deliberately and with authorization. Their cruelty against Ukrainians even exceeds the Nazis’ brutality.

The United Nations has finally declared it to be so. Furthermore, it said, there are no excuses or explanations for torture during wars, which are tantamount with war crimes. The perpetrators cannot point fingers at commanding officers, saying they made us do it.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Alice Jill Edwards yesterday expressed alarm at reports and testimonies which appear to indicate that russian military forces in Ukraine are consistently and intentionally inflicting severe physical and psychological pain and suffering on Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war. This torture is being carried out to extract intelligence or to force confessions from detained individuals, or because of their former membership or support of the Ukrainian armed forces, Edwards said in a rather rare, accusatory letter to russian officials.

“The alleged practices include electric shocks, beatings, hooding, mock executions and other threats of death,” Edwards wrote. “If established, they would constitute individual violations and may also amount to a pattern of State-endorsed torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

According to the UN statement, the allegations relate to the detention of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war held in grossly inadequate conditions in facilities run by russian military forces inside Ukraine. In the letter, sent jointly with other independent UN experts, Edwards said that the consistency and methods of the alleged torture suggests “a level of coordination, planning and organization, as well as the direct authorization, deliberate policy or official tolerance from superior authorities.”

“Torture is a war crime, and the systematic or widespread practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity,” she noted. “Obeying a superior order or policy direction cannot be invoked as justification for torture, and any individual involved should be promptly investigated and prosecuted by independent authorities.”

Reports indicate that as a result of torture, ill-treatment and poor conditions of detention many Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war have suffered physical and psychological traumas, hallucinations, damage to internal organs, fractures and cracks in bones, extreme weight loss, sensory impairment as well as motor losses, strokes or the exacerbation of chronic diseases. Most individuals reportedly did not have access to adequate medical assistance during their detention.

“The longer the war goes on, the more reports are emerging of torture and other inhuman treatment,” Edwards said. “Such cruelty inflames hostility and damages future hopes of peace and reconciliation between neighbors. I strongly urge relevant authorities to ensure that civilians and prisoners of war are protected and treated humanely at all times,” she said.

Based on russia’s conduct in its latest war against Ukraine, the sole purpose of which in the words of putin and all political and military officials is to conquer the country and annihilate the nation, the only way to stop this historically exorbitant level of torture is to defeat russia and bring the perpetrators – all of them from putin to the miserable private on the front line to justice.