Mariupol won’t be Kruty

(After I posted this blog this morning, news was reported about the discovery of mass graves with at least 20,000 bodies of Ukrainian men, women and children outside Mariupol. The huge grave was dug March 23-26, 2022. Eternal damnation on Russia, Russians and Putin.)

Kruty – a country railway station some about 80 miles northeast of Kyiv. It entered the storied, heroic pages of Ukrainian history because the Battle of Kruty took place there on January 29, 1918, a week after the government of Ukraine proclaimed the Fourth Universal, the nation’s proclamation of independence.

Russian Gen. Mikhail Artemyevich Muravyov was dispatched to put down this treasonous national act by Ukrainians. With the Ukrainian army fighting on the frontlines, the task of defending the capital and the country’s nascent independence was taken up by recruits and cadets. A collection of 300 dedicated Ukrainian patriots who stood their ground and fought to the last man. It seems as if fighting to the last ounce of blood is part of the Ukrainians’ genetic makeup – remember of cyborgs at the Donetsk airport.

Yuriy Butusov, the editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, in his Facebook page cited a message written last night by a friend in Mariupol who serves in the Azov Regiment.

Citing the lore of that famous Ukrainian town, Butusov’s friend wrote: “Thanks to them, Mariupol will never be a Russian victory. It will never be a victim and a place of Russian power, it is not Kruty. It will always be a city of Ukrainian victory and a symbol of Ukrainian invincible strength.”

Apparently he was not rejecting victory at all costs, even the cost of the defenders’ lives, he was rejecting the concept of defeat, conquest by the Russian invaders. Mariupol is another Ukrainian word in the centuries-long string of wars and battles that reaffirm Ukrainians’ aspiration to live freely, independently, sovereignly, democratically as far away from Russia as possible.

“The defenders of Mariupol have long since crossed the line of endurance and sacrifice – they have created new ones, and this is incredible in the 21st century,” Butusov wrote.

The port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov was home to 400,000 people before Russia’s invasion. It has been under siege by Russian troops and under constant shelling for more than 50 days. The city has been reduced to rubble, amid questionable claims by Russia that it now has near complete control. Thousands of civilians are believed to have died and tens of thousands remain trapped in the city.

Mariupol surely symbolizes the spirit and perseverance of the Ukrainian soldiers as 200 or so of them are holed up in the bunkers of the Azov Steel mill. It should be noted that they’re not only defending their positions and the city, which are key along the road to Crimea, but they also safeguarding some 1,000 civilians and children hunkering down with them, avoiding Russian bombs.

President Zelenskyy, among others, has reiterated the soldiers’ pledge not to surrender.

“They (the Russians) say they are ready to let all the military go if they surrender. But they are not going to surrender. They don't want to do so and this is why it is a complicated and tragic situation because the military don't want to surrender. And without it, Russians are not ready to let them go,” Zelenskyy said. “When you can make an agreement with Russians to let them go, unarmed, but after, what they will do is shoot them dead. That is why no one trusts Russia now.”

Indeed, the Russians on numerous occasions have backed away from their pledges, resulting in Ukrainian bloodshed. Allowing the civilians to use a so-called green corridor for safe passage is as dangerous as swimming with sharks.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine wanted to take away the wounded from Mariupol but Russian forces would not let them.

“We wanted to take away the wounded. We talked about it being a humanitarian mission. Give us the wounded back,” he said. “We even made plans for Turkey to be a mediator and get the wounded, civilians and the military. They don’t let them out because we understand Russia just wants to shoot them dead.”

Butusov’s friend continued: “I understand. We all understand everything and are ready for anything. In any case, we will not give up.”

For the free world, not giving up is an understandable concept. You stick to your guns. You don’t surrender like the Texans didn’t at the Alamo. However, knowing in advance that your fate is virtually doomed without a miracle is a frightening prediction.

“57 days of continuous fighting, air strikes and artillery shelling. Surrounded. In the basement, without water, without light, heat, without food. The enemy is 10 times bigger, the enemy has an absolute advantage in technology and ammunition, and he demolishes any shelter, any position. The nearest Ukrainian front is 100 km away (62 miles), across the steppes, and you can’t get out of here, you can’t take out the wounded. And they do not seek pity from the enemy. Every day, they skillfully find every opportunity to kill and destroy the occupiers, and inflict terrible losses on them.

“These people have long since crossed the line of endurance and sacrifice – they have created new ones, and this is incredible in the 21st century.”

Indeed, they have written new passages, lyrics, songs and anecdotes about their bravery, the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers. Enough with the epithets about the Azov battalion being a far right unit. That’s merely Russian propaganda to disparage Ukraine’s ongoing fight for freedom against Russia. The Azov unit’s soldiers are like all Ukrainians – defending the country, the nation and the little girl from Russian rapists.

“They showed what combat capability is. And it is worth mentioning that Azov is the only Ukrainian military unit that fully operates according to NATO standards in combat management and training, they operate under the US Combat Charter and MDMP (military decision-making process) combat management standards. Azov is the only military unit where the appeals and customs of Ukrainian nationalism of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and other communist armies in World War Two) model operate, and not the old Soviet-style translated procedures. By order of the Ukrainian command, they are fighting and dying in absolutely unfavorable conditions, faithful to the oath to the Ukrainian people.

“Thanks to them, Mariupol will never be a Russian victory. It will never be a victim and a place of Russian power, it is not Kruty. It will always be a city of Ukrainian victory and a symbol of Ukrainian invincible strength.

“Russia has many weapons, but Ukraine has something that Russians are not capable of – to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their people, to fight for honor, to fight when there is no strength, and only the will allows you to fight no matter what. Mariupol – this word now weighs a lot, explains a lot.

Because its defenders created a new modern epic. Because they create the history of our world. Because they are Ukrainians.”

The fall of Mariupol, the site of a merciless seven-week-old siege that has reduced much of the city to a smoking ruin, would be Moscow’s biggest victory of the war. But don’t count on it.

#ArmUkraineNow

Mama, Why … Why Me?

It hurts. It sounds ridiculous to say that. It hurts me, the reader, the writer. But imagine how much it hurts the little girl who has no idea of what and why the Russian soldiers did to her. It hurts the unfortunate little ones who survived the rape and weren’t killed only to be raped again. Perhaps the luckier ones were killed and discarded with or without their mothers in a common grave.

Nonetheless, it hurts the reader and eye witness alike. A deep, gnawing, angry hurt that suppresses tears.

It hurts us, who are far away from this brutality, because many refused to believe that Russia will invade Ukraine. The hurt returned after the invasion when we saw the images of the invaders’ cruelty committed against Ukrainian civilians but especially their littlest daughters.

How can one human being commit such crimes against another human being, against a defenseless child?

No one has a logical, comforting answer but the violence did happen and the girl who survived turned to her mother and asked “Mama, why? Why me? What did I do?”

Stories of Russian savagery exist in every town that Russian soldiers occupied and not only in the accounts of eye witnesses. Many Russian invaders created selfies of themselves and their comrades raping and sodomizing Ukrainian children. The stories hurt.

I found these stories on a Ukrainian-language website called “To be a Mother” – https://tobemom.site/?fbclid=IwAR2XRb8eykw73XKaJOpQIcPIDRC2Tyv_e1Lq9dhzj5YBZhaBbihLQ_uolio

These few accounts are not for the weak of heart.

• Mom, why did those “uncles” punish me? Didn’t I behave well?” – this question was asked by 6-year-old girl, who was raped by two Russian soldiers in front of her mother in Irpin.

Irpin:

• A 9-year-old girl was raped by 11 (at least 11 sperm samples were found) soldiers, then they cut the letter “Z” on her chest and ripped her stomach open. Her parents were killed in front of her.

• Mother, father, 3 daughters 5, 8, 17 years old. Russians occupied in their home. The father was shot dead the same day. They raped the children in front of the mother, she was raped too. Girls aged 5 and 8 died from rape and injuries. The 17-year-old daughter and mother survived, but they are in critical condition in a hospital.

• Mother, father, 11-year-old daughter and their dog. The father was shot. The dog was cut apart for 4 hours in front of the child and mother. During the first week, the mother was raped in front of her child.

Bucha:

• Mother, father, 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. Kadyrovites entered their private house. The father’s hands were tied, he was brought to his knees and shot in front of his wife and children. The next day, the boy’s genitals were cut off, he bled to death. The mother and daughter were raped for two weeks.

• Mother, father, grandparents and 2-year-old girl. All were found dead in their home. Father with their hands tied and shot. The child suffered a cut throat, the mother with torn genitals and slaughtered.

• 14 year-old girl was raped by 5 Russian occupiers. She’s pregnant now.

• 11 year-old boy was raped in front of his mother. She was tied to a chair to watch.

Yes, it hurts. The accounts are unimaginable, grotesque, almost fantastic, imaginary, incredible. How can this happen in the 21^st century, in Europe? How can this continue happening without global cries of outrage?

Yes, it hurts. And the Russian rapists will continue creating hurt until the hurt forces the free world to get involved and stop the Russians from raping and killing children.

If you have a daughter, hug her in memory of the little Ukrainian girls who will never again feel their mothers’ warm embraces and in tribute to the Ukrainian mothers who will never again hug their little girls.

Ukraine: The World is being Caught Watching a Crime

The free world should stop hiding behind Article 5 and take off its NATO insignia and actively help Ukraine – not support but join the ranks of the defenders – defend not only itself but all of the countries that hold membership in the alliance and the assorted kindred spirits. Many national leaders and pundits have admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will not have regional repercussions. Today Russia is not expected to halt its belligerence with Ukraine as a renewed captive nations in its evil empire. Its aggression threatens the former captive nations and countries beyond. It is a valid question to wonder why the free world acquiesced to Winston Churchill’s prodding and united to defeat Nazi Germany eight decades ago.

The level of Russian brutality – genocide – in Ukraine is without comparison. Moscow has achieved its own sole place in the premier league of war criminals. It must be stopped. Women and girls aged so young it makes your blood boil are publically raped, killed and thrown in a common grave like trash by Russian soldiers, repeating the bestiality of their predecessors in Germany after the Second World War. Civilians of all ages are indiscriminately killed by the Russian invaders. Finally, the countryside and municipalities have been destroyed. Future invaders will be evaluated on the basis of the Bucha horrors. Enough! Short of allied soldiers, Ukraine urgently needs every possible defensive and offensive weapon in the free world’s arsenal today, not tomorrow.

Seven years ago, on May 13, 2015, at the start of the Russo-Ukraine War, I wrote an article about the war – a war that has now become a War of Ukrainian Independence – and the lack of active support for Ukraine. In it I cited the tragedy of Kitty Genovese, who was raped and killed while people watched the crime take place.

***

The international community’s reaction to what is happening to Ukraine is incomprehensible. World leaders – the usual motley group of North American, European and Asia ones – have been incapable of doing anything to stop Russia from continuing to ravage Ukraine for the sake of its imperial expansion and to protect Ukraine from Russia’s bloody military advances.

How can this be taking place in the 21st century? Hasn’t anyone read history? Isn’t the conclusion obvious?

As I think about my own questions, my thoughts drift to an event that had its place in the borough of Queens in New York City 51 years ago. A young woman was killed in full view of her neighbors who actually witnessed from the comfort of their high-rise apartment windows what was happening and couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything to stop the assailant or protect the unfortunate woman.

Here is an excerpt from Martin Gansberg’s article in The New York Times of March 27, 1964.

For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.

Twice their chatter and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out, and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead…

Twenty-eight-year-old Catherine Genovese, who was called Kitty by almost everyone in the neighborhood, was returning home from her job as manager of a bar in Hollis…

The entrance to the apartment is in the rear of the building because the front is rented to retail stores. At night the quiet neighborhood is shrouded in the slumbering darkness that marks most residential areas.

Miss Genovese noticed a man at the far end of the lot, near a seven-story apartment house at 82-40 Austin Street. She halted. Then, nervously, she headed up Austin Street toward Lefferts Boulevard, where there is a call box to the 102nd Police Precinct in nearby Richmond Hill.

She got as far as a street light in front of a bookstore before the man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-story apartment house at 82-67 Austin Street, which faces the bookstore. Windows slid open and voices punctuated the early-morning stillness.

Miss Genovese screamed: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”…

The assailant stabbed her again.

“I'm dying!” she shrieked. “I’m dying!”…

Gansberg concluded his article by writing: “It was 4:25 A.M. when the ambulance arrived to take the body of Miss Genovese. It drove off. “Then,” a solemn police detective said, “the people came out.”

Kitty’s neighbors offered a variety of excuses why they allowed her to be killed in their voyeuristic presence.

“I didn’t want to get involved.”

“We thought it was a lovers’ quarrel.”

“I didn't want my husband to get involved.”

“We went to the window to see what was happening … but the light from our bedroom made it difficult to see the street … I put out the light and we were able to see better.” Asked why they didn’t call the police, the wife shrugged and replied: “I don't know.”

“I was tired."

“I went back to bed."

On a personal level, the murder of Kitty Genovese and the callous disregard for her life by her neighbors was devastating and inhuman.

On a national level, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate killing of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers (and rape of women and girls) along with the callous disregard for what is happening there by countries near and far is also devastating and inhuman. The UN says more than 6,000 civilians have died because of Russia’s war with Ukraine. (That number has since then spiked to astronomical levels.)

On a global scale, thanks to all sorts of technological advances, Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine is being witnessed by the same callous, immovable, unconcerned, indifferent neighbors who witnessed Kitty’s murder five decades ago. Their apathetic explanations are identical to those who saw Kitty killed in cold blood.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was undeclared and unexpected, the subsequent occupation of Crimea and Donbas, and Moscow’s advances westward did not occur without some sort of spy in the sky warnings. Especially in the past several weeks Ukrainian and NATO military and political sources have been daily cautioning that Russia is amassing tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine in preparation for a significant escalation of hostilities. Do something before it’s too late, they plead.

Moscow’s occupation of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk has also scared the other Eastern European former captive nations into reviewing its defense capabilities and seeking military help from NATO.

Last month Viktor Muzhenko, Ukraine’s army chief of staff, listed for the first time some of the specific Russian military units fighting in Ukraine alongside Moscow’s terrorists in eastern Ukraine.

“Regular Russian army troops are still in Ukraine,” Muzhenko said for all the world to hear. “We have details of all the Russian units, where they are deployed, their numbers and their weapons.”

Muzhenko named among them the Russian army’s 15th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 331st Airborne Regiment and the 98th Airborne Division.

Just like murdered Russian journalist Boris Nemtsov, the Ukrainian official said Kyiv has proof that Russian regular troops had fought in three clashes in the east in February, including a fierce battle for the railroad town of Debaltseve, which is now controlled by Russian mercenaries.

Russian-backed militants have dramatically also increased their activity in the Donbas conflict zone, head of the Information Resistance group and military blogger Dmytro Tymchuk wrote on his Facebook page. According to Tymchuk, the militants fired artillery and 120mm mortars, and tried to attack the Ukrainian units, including using armored vehicles. A sharp growth of militant activity has been recorded in the Luhansk, Donetsk and in coastal areas, he said.

The Russian terrorists in the Donbas region in early April were to have almost 700 tanks and 1,100 armored combat vehicles, according to the report of deputy commander of the ATO Valentyn Fedichev from the information center of the Donetsk regional military and civil administration in Kramatorsk, reported Express TV.

“According to the Minsk agreements, the 9,000 servicemen of the Russian regular armed forces must leave the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and all military equipment that has been illegally transferred by Russia to the territory of a sovereign state, and this is almost 700 tanks, more than 1,100 armored combat vehicles, nearly 600 artillery systems, more than 380 MLRS and 110 air defense systems, must be withdrawn," Fedichev said.

They didn’t while, according to him, on April 7, 40 items of military equipment, including 10 tanks, arrived in Luhansk. On April 6, two companies of Russian troops arrived in the area of Debaltseve in Donetsk region.

"In [Russia’s] Rostov region training is being conducted on combat operations performance in the city. More than 1,500 troops of the special forces of the Russian Federation Armed Forces are involved in the exercises," Fedichev said.
US military sources have corroborated Ukrainian’s justified fears.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former head of US and NATO forces in Europe, warned at an exclusive briefing with the Atlantic Council that a renewed Russian offensive in Ukraine was imminent and would most probably take place between Orthodox Easter on April 12 and Russia’s celebrations of VE Day on May 8. While both dates have come and gone, Russia’s escalation is still held at bay for reasons which may be simple as the army isn’t ready to attack.

“Ukrainian forces expect attack within the next sixty days,” Clark recently wrote for the Atlantic Council. “This assessment is based on geographic imperatives, the ongoing pattern of Russian activity, and an analysis of Russian actions, statements, and Putin’s psychology to date.”

Clark was joined by the top US commander for NATO who urged that America needs better intelligence on the ground in Ukraine, and added that it appears Russian forces have used a recent lull in fighting to reposition for another offensive.

Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander of NATO forces in Europe, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has expressed concern about Russia’s aggression, said the situation in Ukraine is volatile and fragile and urged Congress to bolster U.S. intelligence capabilities to better understand Putin’s intent in the region.

“Russian military operations over the past year in Ukraine, and the region more broadly, have underscored that there are critical gaps in our collection and analysis,” Breedlove said. “Some Russian military exercises have caught us by surprise and our textured feel for Russian involvement on the ground in Ukraine has been quite limited.”

This movement of invaders is obviously directed by Russians, Breedlove assured. “We do see a very distinct Russian set of command and control in the eastern part of Ukraine,” he said. "Command-and-control, air defense, support to artillery, all of these things increased ... making a more coherent, organized force out of the separatists.”

In one 48-hour period in April, as Ukrainian forces faced 20 attacks by Russian-led militants and spotted 30 enemy drones probing their positions, the Frankurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted an unnamed NATO official saying that Russia has sent additional military manpower and arms to Donbas.

“We have noticed again support for the separatists, with weapons, troops and training. Russia is still sending troops and arms from one side of the open border with Ukraine to the other,” the NATO official told the German news publication.

The press center of Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorist Operation headquarters has been regularly reporting that Russian-backed militants have been violating the terms of the Minsk agreement, attacking Ukrainian forces with weapons they were supposed to have withdrawn from the front line. Russia began violating the truce before the ink dried on the agreements. (Ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya, permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, acerbically said Russia’s promises aren’t worth a New York City pretzel hole.)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reported a sizeable Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine that he said would enable pro-Moscow separatists to launch a new offensive with little warning. Stoltenberg said Russia has substantially stepped up supplies to the rebels, as well as providing them with advanced training and equipment like drones, despite a cease-fire.

Stoltenberg said the Russian moves undermine the cease-fire declared in eastern Ukraine and violate the Minsk agreements entered into by Moscow. He said more than 1,000 pieces of Russian military equipment have been moved over the past month, including tanks, artillery and air defense units.

Stoltenberg said this “gives reason for great concern” and would enable the separatists to go on the offensive again with little warning.

The list of officials exposing Russia’s impending military escalation against Ukraine includes John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine. He said recent military moves by Russia show that President Putin's “minimal goal is to destabilize the current government” in Ukraine. The maximum goal would probably be to re-subjugate the former captive nations.

Herbst, who now directs the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, said from Kyiv that “Putin is ramping up pressure on Ukraine by adding troops on the eastern border and in Crimea and by increasing the violations across the ceasefire line and in order to do that, he can’t simply sit behind the ceasefire line.  He needs to move forward to cause additional instability in the country.”

Ukraine has repeatedly urged its neighbors and allies to send it weapons and accused rebels of persistent ceasefire violations as NATO warned about an increase in Russian troop movement both near and across the border.

“The Ukrainian army needs weapons to defend Ukraine,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliamentarians. “And our western partners must hear: Now the Ukrainian army is struggling not just for itself, but we are fighting for peace and stability in the EU.”

But Ukraine’s nearest neighbors have turned a deaf ear. EU leaders have told Ukraine they are worried about ceasefire violations in the east of the country but will not send armed peacekeepers there. “We can only talk about a civilian mission, not military,” European Council President Donald Tusk said.

President Obama, at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Washington, demonstrated understanding the global threat posed by Russia’s belligerence.  Obama said the acts of Russian aggression against Ukraine are a threat to the world that must be confronted in a global context,

“We oppose the Russian aggression against Ukraine, provide assistance to civilians under threat of the Islamic State extremist group, fight against the Ebola virus and promote global health, and now we’re offering assistance to the people of Nepal,” Obama said.
Despite these words and as increased Russian fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine continues to claim innocent lives and disrupt regional peace and stability, members of the U.S. Congress once again are pressing Obama to request lethal military aid for Ukraine to combat Russian-backed rebels. The president already has ignored a resolution urging lethal US aid for Ukraine that the House passed by 348 to 48 votes. Consequently, the US President joins the neighbors who pulled down the window shades as the knife plunged into the innocent passerby.

“There is no doubt that it is important to provide humanitarian assistance to the population that is affected by the fighting. However, this aid only treats the symptoms of a larger problem,” read the statement by Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Sander Levin (D-MI), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). “The Ukrainian government is in dire need of defensive weapons, which are necessary to protect its borders and sovereignty.”

Pro-Russian separatists appear to be making preparations for a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told lawmakers. “It does appear that clearly, Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk agreement,” Carter told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko said the threat of a large-scale offensive from the side of Russian-backed militants has been growing, and the strength of the enemy’s troops is estimated at 40,000 men, while another 50,000 servicemen are deployed along the border with Ukraine.

Even with this imminent threat, Poroshenko said that Ukrainians ready to defend country and that the morale of the Ukrainian armed forces is currently at its best, as has been the case in recent history.

“We keep getting more evidence and information proving that the aggressor will commence a military offensive in the second half of May. I don’t want to frighten anyone, and you should know that the country is capable of protecting its citizens,” he said.

Poroshenko emphasized that the war will be over when Donbas and Crimea are returned to Ukraine. Nothing more, nothing less. That is the line in the sand, which must be recognized by friends and foes.

In the meantime, Ukrainian servicemen step up the pace of digging trenches on a beach in the port city of Mariupol, about eight miles from Shyrokyne, on the Azov Sea, where the next Russian onslaught is anticipated.

***

The global neighborhood must consider what it will do when they hear: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”… “I'm dying!”

Putin’s Illusions of Victory Parade in a Potemkin Village

Vladimir Putin’s excessive obsession with defeating Ukraine and imprisoning it in his new evil empire has in his mind shattered the boundary between reality and fantasy and opened the way to his own Twilight Zone, Wonder Land and Neverland.

As people – some even in Russia – have observed, he’s crazy.

Or he is composing an elaborate manuscript to deceive and convince his gullible Russian subjects and auslanders that despite evidence to the contrary, Ukraine actually surrendered and Russian won the war it launched on February 24, 2022. You see, Russians, or at least the vast majority of them, religiously believe Putin’s propaganda about beating those infernal Ukrainians because they do not get their news from any other source but the official state TV channels and programs.

Nonetheless, Putin’s three-day-war-with-Ukraine wish list includes appearing in all his grandeur in Kyiv, on Khreshchatyk, reviewing the victorious Russian military machine as it proudly marches along Ukraine’s famous boulevard. And then accepting Ukraine’s surrender instrument that will be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This is to take place on May 9, which is a grand holiday in Russia, filled with parades and speeches because a day earlier the World War Two allies and Russia accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender. Moscow still makes a big deal of this day even though we, in America, hardly pay attention to it. Map 9 is called Victory Day.

Dream on, Vova. Your hope has sunk like the ill-fated Russian navy ship.

But Mad Putin still wants a parade so that he can participate like Hitler and Mussolini did at their assemblies.

According to the video link to a Russian-language YouTube post provided with this blogpost, Putin’s entourage is secretly abuzz building a replica of Kyiv and Khreshchatyk in the Moscow oblast where the parade could be held on May 9, about a month away. This latter-day Potemkin village will include a reviewing stand where the Russian fuhrer will cheer his troops.

But that would only be half of the ruse. What’s a victory parade without soldiers of the defeated nation? Russia’s clothing manufacturers are sewing Ukrainian military uniforms and headgear that will be appropriately worn and torn and donned on faux Ukrainian servicemen captured in battle to give the impression of here are the pathetic losers. The North Vietnamese displayed captured American soldiers for its audience.

The charade will conclude with a surrender ceremony in a room that will look like the Ukrainian President’s office, where an actor resembling Zelenskyy — how ironic, an actor playing an actor turned president — will give Ukraine away to Russia.

And the Russian people who may have been losing faith in their greatness will be imbued with a new dose of fabrications about their lasting supremacy. At the same time the few remaining earthlings who still favor Putin will also be given the opportunity to share in this ersatz joy.

This production will probably be filmed for posterity and submitted for a Russian Oscar in the documentary category. But be careful, Putin, Zelenskyy may appear to punch you in the face.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2uOXLksubkU

Remember Bucha; President Zelenskyy Demands that UN Punish Russia

A few days after the world learned of the unspeakable atrocities committed against the civilian population of Bucha by withdrawing Russian soldiers, President Zelenskyy came to the United Nations Security Council to denounce Russia, one of the founding members of the UN, and demand its expulsion from this body.

If the United Nations can’t punish an aggressor and violator of the UN Charter like the murderous predator Russia in order to protect the international community from premeditated ruination at the hands of global outlaws, Zelenskyy asserted on Tuesday, April 5, then the international organization should be dissolved.

“And now we need decisions from the Security Council. For peace in Ukraine. If you do not know how to adopt this decision, you can do two things,” Zelenskyy challenged the UN’s highest executive organ.

“Remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war from blocking decisions about its own aggression, its own war. And then do everything that can establish peace.

“Or show how you can reformat and really work for peace.

“Or if your current format is unalterable and there is simply no way out, then the only option would be to dissolve yourself altogether.”

Zelenskyy hellfire and brimstone appearance at the UN was anticipated ever since he visited Bucha and experienced for himself the emotional pain of seeing old and young Ukrainians butchered by Russian invaders. Photos and video clips of murders and devastation have appeared in news media since the weekend.

He surely saw one blackened body that had arms raised in supplication, the face contorted in a horrible scream. He saw a blackened body of a woman on the street, faced won. The skull of another had a bullet hole in the left temple. The small blackened foot of a child could be seen in the jumble of charred bodies piled together. The six burned and blackened corpses were just the latest gruesome scene to be seared into Zelenskyy memory.

The President of Ukraine saw the pile of bodies just off a residential street, near a colorful and empty playground, visible to passersby as they warily went outdoors to collect aid. In a house nearby, the twisted and bloody body of a young man who had been shot to death lay in the basement entrance. At least four other bodies lay strewn in the street, one with the eye gouged out, apparently by a bullet. Another body that of a male was in a storm drain.

These images must have prompted Zelenskyy to declare prior to speaking to the UN Security Council that it would be impossible to continue negotiating with the Russians after accusing Moscow of genocide.

“It might happen that there will be no negotiations,” Zelenskyy said on Ukrainian state TV on Tuesday. Zelenskyy said it would be understandable to not speak to Putin after accusing Russian troops of carrying out war crimes in Ukraine. “It would be easy to say I’m not going to talk to you -- and it would be understandable, after what you have done, that’s why.”

In his video appearance at the UN, Zelenskyy recounted, “It is difficult to find a war crime that the occupiers have not committed there. The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our state. They executed women outside the houses when approaching and simply calling someone alive. They killed whole families - adults and children. And they tried to burn their bodies.”

He continued, “I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the deceased every day. Every day, in the morning. The memory of the killed civilians. Who were shot in the back of the head or in the eye after being tortured. Who were shot just on the streets. Who were thrown into the well, so that they die there in suffering. Who were killed in apartments, houses, blown up by grenades. Who were crushed by tanks in civilian cars in the middle of the road. For fun. Whose limbs were cut off, whose throat was cut. Who were raped and killed in front of their own children. Their tongues were torn out only because they did not hear from them what they wanted to hear.”

He added that the “Russian militaries are openly looting the cities and villages they have captured. This is looting of the highest scale. They steal everything from food to gold earrings they just rip out with blood.” But he didn’t mention the 11 Russian heroes who raped and sodomized a 9-year-old girl after killing her parents. This group carved a “Z” on her chest and took group selfies for their mothers. He didn’t mention that open air markets in Belarus are selling crucifixes ripped off dead Ukrainian children.

Zelenskyy reminded the Security Council members that these heinous crimes were committed by a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. This unpunished behavior “destroys the internal unity of states. Destroys state borders. Promotes hatred at the state level and seeks to export it to other countries through its system of propaganda and political corruption.”

Accusing the United Nations of inaction, Zelenskyy questioned where is the security that the Security Council is expected to provide.

“I would like to remind you of the first article of the first chapter of the UN Charter. What is the purpose of our organization? To maintain peace. And to force to peace. Now the UN Charter is being violated literally from the first article. And if so, what is the point of all other articles,” Zelenskyy stated.

“Today, it is as a result of Russia’s actions on the territory of my state, on the territory of Ukraine, that the most heinous war crimes of all time since the end of World War II are being committed. Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities to ashes with artillery and air strikes.”

The Ukrainian President said the massacre in Bucha is just one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing in Ukraine for 41 days and there are other victimized towns: Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Okhtyrka, Borodyanka and dozens of other Ukrainian communities.

If this behavior continues unchecked, he said, it will result in countries taking arms to resolve problems rather than turning to international law.

“The power of the UN Charter must be restored immediately. The UN system must be reformed immediately so that the right of veto is not a right to kill. So that there is a fair representation of all regions of the world in the Security Council,” he said. “The aggressor must be forced to peace immediately. Determination is needed.”

Zelenskyy demanded that the Russian military and those who gave them orders be immediately brought to justice for war crimes in Ukraine. “Everyone who gave criminal orders and fulfilled them by killing people will face a tribunal similar to the Nuremberg trials.”

Turning to Russia, he reminded the member-state that the likes of Ribbentrop and Eichmann were eventually captured and executed.

“Prevent aggression and force aggressors to peace. Have the determination and ability to punish if the principles of peace are violated,” he said of the need to prevent wars and bloodshed while ensuring peace.

The Russian massacre of civilians and the rape of girls in Bucha have left a deep wound in the Ukrainian national psyche that will surely fester for generations. Much of the grief is vented in the Ukrainian and Russian languages through personal reflections, essays, videos, poems and even comedy. In one of poems, a woman expresses the story of a girl who apologizes to her mother for having to leave her life, her body after being viciously raped and left without her natural ability to be a mother sometime in the future.

Another eye witness wrote that what people now see in Ukrainian towns Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel reminds of the pictures of wars in the former Yugoslavia: the completely ruined Croatian town of Vukovar; Bosnian villages, with blown-up roofs, executed men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, mass rapes, and mass graves. However, it is not necessary to compare Russian atrocities of today to previous violent crimes against humanity. Russia alone occupies an honored spot in the premier league of murderers.

Russian invaders came to plunder and kill for joy. They kill people, their cattle, and their pets and destroy everything they cannot take with them. For them, men and women of all ages are just their prey to be hunted, pillaged, tortured, and raped.

A soldier wrote verses to his mother telling her that on the frontline he learned to pray. I talked with God and came to believe that without sincere prayers, we will not achieve victory, he wrote.

The newsreels documented wherever the professional or amateur cameraman went the Ukrainian people’s reborn hatred for Russia, Russians and Putin.

You can read the full text of President Zelenskyy address here: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/vistup-prezidenta-ukrayini-na-zasidanni-radi-bezpeki-oon-74121

#RememberBucha

#StandWithUkraine

#ThereWillAlwaysBeUkraine

Ukraine not Losing the War vs. Russia Compared with Winning It

Yes, the White House is supporting Ukraine with lethal weapons and humanitarian dollars so Kyiv can wage a modern defensive war against its age-old enemy, Russia, which invaded it and triggered the first full-blown war in Europe in a generation. The images of leveled cities once filled with life and dead civilians are emotionally unbearable.

And President Biden even utters supportive sentiments about Ukraine and the future of the free world much to the chagrin of his advisers. But the sympathetic words are no compensation for the latest lethal weapons and iron dome systems that Ukraine is not entitled to.

However, is the United States genuinely in favor of Ukraine’s unequivocal victory over Russian invaders or is it hoping for a conclusion that is based on a negotiated settlement with its ersatz peace. This course would not benefit anyone, most of all Ukrainians who are again earnestly fighting for their existence against the same invader.

Ukraine’s military and civilian skills and determination to win against Russia have shocked all observers. To be honest, Ukraine’s loss today would be mourned by the free world and NATO in articles and books for years to come. Leading up to Russia’s fateful crossing of Ukraine’s border and for the first couple of days of the escalated Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-22, Washington was ready to silently accept Ukraine’s defeat because all of its expectations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ineptitude were being fulfilled. As history has shown, the White House was even willing to receive Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s self-exile. And then came Zelenskyy’s dramatic declaration that he doesn’t want a lift, he wants arms so his country can win the war that Russia started against Ukraine.

The White House then realized that its strategic partner is not like the others have been. Ukraine, Ukrainians and its leadership are not hiding behind America’s apron, letting it do its fighting, which, sadly, it hasn’t and it won’t. Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the people decided to fight with more passion and resolve to expel Russia from its country than have been seen in other nations.

Retired Gen. Jack Keane wondered on Fox News why the United States isn’t doing more to support Ukraine than parsing words about its plans, which are then watered down by a White House official.

“The mission is really to help the Ukrainians defeat the Russians and drive them out of the country. And there really is an opportunity to do that,” Keane opined. “And the Biden Administration for some reason doesn’t even want to use the words ‘We want the Ukrainians to win against the Russians.’”

Clips of the White House assistant press secretary tripping over her words about a Ukrainian victory was proof of this noncommittal posture.

Keane believes it is clear Biden does not want Putin to lose Russia’s war against Ukraine and its civilians, in fear of the Russian butcher becoming even more enraged and taking drastic action that directly affects NATO or the United States or even lashing out against the former captive nations.

“They don’t want him to lose. And they want a deal. And it’s such a lost opportunity,” Keane said, adding that he has seen pressure from the US toward Zelenskyy to cut a deal with Putin, even after the ground-war tide began turning in Kyiv’s favor. Truthfully, no negotiated deal would benefit Ukraine. Moscow has previously demonstrated its deceit in abiding with bilateral or multilateral accords.

“Where is the passion arising out of you watching thousands of people being killed and literally murdered by this barbarism that’s on display by the Russian army? Let’s go out there and destroy that barbarism once and for all,” Keane said. “And Zelenskyy has the will to do it.”

And his troops have got the skill and the aid Zelenskyy is demanding will give him the means to do it and also give them the moral support.

Sounds like a repeat of the Allies’ refusal to grant General Patton permission to take Prague ahead of the Soviet army at the end of World War 2.

Keane is convinced that President Biden and his national security team have really been more interested, from the beginning of this war, in simply ending it as opposed to Ukraine’s winning it.

Ironically, Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s Armed Forces have provided NATO and Europe an opportunity to crush the Russian Army, Keane observed, “And it’s the best deterrence we could possibly have against the Russian Army conducting an attack against NATO.”

Keane said, and there are others who agree with him, that Ukraine will earn a better political solution based on how much damage is done to Putin and his ability to launch his next invasion against Lithuania, Latvia or Poland based on what Ukrainians are doing to him and his invasion of Ukraine.

Choosing this immoral quick alternative to victory will only cause more damage to Ukraine and Ukrainians and severely tarnish the impeccable image that the Ukrainian President now possesses.

As the late Sen. Barry Goldwater asked rhetorically in an earlier generation, “Why not victory?”

President Biden’s Historic Speech in Warsaw Hits Moscow’s Raw Nerve

President Biden’s visit to Poland and his fiery, historic speech about the free world’s relationship with the former captive nations and the future of Russian aggression raised the bar of all comparable addresses since the end of World War Two.

And it had a resounding, desirable effect in the corner office in Moscow by hitting the Kremlin’s raw nerve. Vladimir Putin’s responses were almost immediate with Ukraine exclusively feeling his anger.

A few minutes before Biden appeared on stage in Warsaw in front of a crowd of Poles and Ukrainians, we had tweeted “In Warsaw, @POTUS speech here should echo President Reagan’s ‘Mr. Gorbachev take down this wall.’ President Biden must say ‘Putin, leave Ukraine.’ That will be historic.”

Well, President Biden surpassed that hope. The American President called for the Russian dictator’s ouster.

Biden began his biting diatribe against the Russian despot earlier in the day, when asked by as reporter about the virtually obliterated Ukrainian city of Mariupol and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The President immediately replied that Putin is “a butcher.” That invective must have enraged Putin who already had heard Biden call him a war criminal, which launched an avalanche of other American and free world leaders picking up the chant that Putin is a war criminal. This accusation was brought to The Hague.

Soon after that comment circulated the globe, we were told by a friend in Lviv, a veteran airborne officer, who was out for a stroll with his dog that he saw three Caliber rockets hit a target in Lviv that was about one and a half kilometers northeast from the city’s center. It turned out to be a fuel depot. Five people were injured. Television news programs showed smoke billowing in the distance.

Putin’s selection of Lviv is more significant than the pundits alluded. First of all, after thus far focusing on the northeast and southeast of Ukraine, Moscow turned its attention to Lviv, not an insignificant Ukrainian city. Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine but many call Lviv the heart and soul of the country.

Secondly, Lviv is 43 miles from the Polish border and 245 miles from Warsaw, where Biden was meeting with Polish officials and reaffirming American support for Poland and the x-captive nations that are NATO members. These topics pour salt on Russia’s wounds.

Was this rocket attack on Lviv a signal to the free world that it is not safe from Putin’s rage and the short distance to a NATO member should not be any comfort to them? Was it meant to scare the American President? Doesn’t seem like it worked.

While in Warsaw, Biden met with Ukrainian refugees who related to him the harrowing experiences they faced in war-torn Ukraine and their desire to return home as soon as possible. Overwhelmed with emotion, the President told of his chance encounters with Ukrainian children, who, according to his words, asked him to pray for their fathers, grandfathers and brothers who remained in Ukraine. Though he didn’t say it but the conclusion was obvious – to fight for Ukraine.

And then came the 27-minute evening speech, which was filled with hellfire and brimstone condemnations of Putin, his dictatorship and his invasion of Ukraine. Echoing the words of the sainted Polish Pope John Paul II, Biden urged the audience assembled at the Royal Castle in the country’s capital to never be afraid when facing an adversary.

Most significantly, Biden said Ukraine will never be included among Russia’s victories and he assured the people of Ukraine that America stands with it.

His final words struck the hearts of all the peoples of the former captive nations and will certainly be etched in stone just like President Reagan’s admonition to Gorbachev. Referring to Putin, Biden declared: “This man cannot remain in power.”

I then learned from my contact in Lviv that during Biden’s speech two more missiles hit targets in Lviv.

Surely, the only way for peace and stability to return to Ukraine and the former captive nations, indeed the world, is to remove Putin from power.