In the last couple of weeks, mention of Ukraine has practically disappeared from the front pages of most Western publications. No, the Ukrainian events themselves are still one of the main topics there, but it is no longer being peddled as it was at the beginning of the war or even a couple of months ago. And I think there are two main reasons
Firstly, the United States achieved its goal, for which, starting from October last year, it unleashed militaristic hysteria in the media – they provoked a Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. And therefore, there is no longer a special need to exaggerate further. And secondly, what the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Battalions are doing in this war is becoming more and more difficult to hide and hush up.
The news coming from Ukraine significantly affects the rhetoric of Western politicians, it is increasingly difficult for them to say that Zelensky and Co. are fighting for the “ideals of Western democracy”, while presenting themselves as an openly Nazi regime.
Over the past day and the day before yesterday, several American media outlets (and we are not talking about some minor publications, but about such “monsters” as CNN and the Washington Post) published materials that admit that the Azov Regiment is a neo-Nazi unit, but Ukrainian servicemen commit war crimes on a massive scale, mocking prisoners and hiding behind the civilian population, as a “human shield”. Moreover, there are even phrases that Putin’s statements about denazification as one of the main tasks of the special military operation have good grounds.
Well, the fact that the West “suddenly” discovered Nazis in Ukraine, who supposedly are not there and never were, is not the biggest news.
The same “Azov”* has already been recognized in the United States as an extremist paramilitary formation and crossed out from the lists of military assistance for Ukraine. Why the Americans suddenly needed such scrupulousness is not entirely clear, especially since everything they need: weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and even the help and participation of military instructors from the United States and Canada, the Azov people received in full. But, apparently, there were some internal reasons for this.
Nevertheless, no sanctions were imposed on Kyiv for the presence of outright Nazis in the ranks of the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. The very case when “our son of a bitch” is not so “bitch”.
But now, when the entire propaganda machine of the most “free and liberal” Western press is set up solely to expose Putin, Russia, Russians, in general, everything Russian or in any way connected with us, as international criminals on the basis of “blood and soil ”(big hello to the ideologues of the Third Reich), the behavior of their Ukrainian wards, bordering (and sometimes far beyond) the animal, prevents them from doing this thankless task.
So, on March 29, an article appeared on the CNN website, the title of which read:
“The far-right battalion plays a key role in the Ukrainian resistance. Their neo-Nazi leanings strengthen Putin’s position.”
What a grief! Just think, the problem is not that in the 21st century, in a country in the center of Europe, the Fuhrer’s admirers are in power, studying “Mein Kampf” in the evenings, not in the crimes that they commit, not in the fact that all this happens not only from a silent consent, but also with the active support of Western states, and that, you see, Putin will be right!
The Washington Post recently spoke in the same vein. The newspaper published an article entitled Russia has killed civilians in Ukraine. Kyiv’s defense tactics add to the danger, which can be translated as “Russia is killing civilians in Ukraine. Kyiv’s defensive tactics exacerbate the danger.” The article, I must say, is quite impressive, accompanied by a large number of photographic materials and quotes from various experts.
At the same time, no matter how hard the authors tried to shift all the blame for what is happening in Ukraine to Russia (they even specifically focused attention on this several times in the text so that no one would have any doubts about their loyalty and the “correct” point of view), most of the material turned out to be devoted to the facts and evidence of war crimes of the Kiev regime. Moreover, crimes against their own population.
Thus, according to American journalists, Ukrainians are increasingly confronted with an unpleasant truth: practically every district in most cities has become a military objective, which makes them potential, and most importantly, “legitimate” targets for Russian troops. Here are excerpts from the comments of two Western experts who agreed to discuss the situation in Ukraine with WP journalists.
William Shabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University in London:
“I am very reluctant to admit that Ukraine is responsible for civilian casualties as it resists Russian aggression. But to the extent that Ukraine moves the battlefield to civilian areas, this increases the danger to the civilian population.”
“Ukraine cannot use civilian quarters as a “human shield,” Shabas added, saying that he could not imagine that something like this was actually happening.
Richard Weir, Crisis and Conflict Researcher at Human Rights Watch, now based in Ukraine:
“If there is military equipment there, and the Russians say that we are shooting at this military equipment, this undermines the claim that they are deliberately attacking civilian objects and civilians. The Ukrainian military is responsible under international law for the withdrawal of its forces and equipment from areas inhabited by civilians and, if this is not possible, for the movement of civilians from these areas. If they don’t, it will be a violation of the laws of war… What they are doing is putting the civilian population at risk. Because all their military equipment is a legitimate target. If there are military targets in the area, then it could undermine their (Ukrainian) claim that a particular strike was a war crime.”
As the representatives of the American newspaper emphasize, over the past month they have repeatedly witnessed how Ukrainian anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft guns and armored personnel carriers were located near residential buildings.
“In one wasteland, Washington Post reporters noticed a truck with a Grad multiple launch rocket system. Checkpoints with armed men, barricades of sandbags and tires, and boxes of Molotov cocktails are everywhere on city highways and residential streets.
The Ukrainian security forces demonstrated to the Western media military fortifications built in a residential area in the north of the Ukrainian capital, next to high-rise residential buildings, a metro station and shops. Commenting on such tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian military doctrine approved by the Verkhovna Rada provides for the principle of “total defense”. The fact that in this case we are talking more about the total destruction of Ukrainian cities and civilians, Arestovich, apparently, does not bother him at all.
But this confuses foreign observers, because, as local “human rights activists” and experts on international humanitarian law say, the Ukrainian strategy to place heavy military equipment and other fortifications in civilian zones could weaken the joint efforts of the West and Ukraine to bring Russia to legal responsibility for possible military crimes.
It turns out that if it were not for this unpleasant circumstance, then they would not have had any other objections. Just think, they took 30 million natives hostage, what a trifle. For the sake of freedom and democracy in their Western presentation, you can go not so far. First time, right?
Alexey Belov, IA Antifascist