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James Heappey in Warsaw also hailed what he described as "the functional defeat" of the Russian navy in the Black Sea saying "it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine". Said "every bit as important" as breakthrough on land in Kharkiv oblast last year.

As I walked around Kyiv on a beautiful, sunny morning in early September, I noticed the scaffolding in the city’s squares. Statues had been covered up to protect them from bomb damage. Later, I saw a statue with no protection around it– a graffiti-covered memorial to a Red Army general whose name nobody remembered. I was told that this statue had been covered by protective scaffolding before the war. The protection was removed when the war broke out. There was some hope that Russian bombs might solve the problem of what to do with this relic of Soviet rule.

You cannot understand the war in Ukraine without knowing its history. This was made very clear to me in a conversation I had with Olesia Briazgunova, who works for one of Ukraine’s two national trade union centers, the KVPU (Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine). I suggested that I saw some similarities between the situation in Ukraine today and the Spanish Civil War.

Olesia stopped me right there and asked if there had been genocide in Spain. I said there hadn’t been. She said, “Well there’s genocide here — and the Russians have been trying to wipe out the Ukrainian nation for a very long time.” I thought of Stalin’s terror-famine of the early 1930s, which Ukrainians call the Holodomor, and which they rightly consider an act of deliberate genocide. She had a point.

History surrounds you in Kyiv. You hear it in conversations, you see it in the street names, and you breathe it in the air. The Solidarity Center, which is the AFL-CIO’s global workers’ rights project, is located on a street once named after Stalin’s Communist International. The street was renamed in honor of Symon Petliura, a leader of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and a deeply controversial figure in the country’s history.

In addition to renaming streets with Soviet connections, the city seems to be removing much of its Russian history, too. At one point I was directed by Google Maps to Pushkin street. But Pushkin street no longer exists.

When I interviewed Georgiy Trukhanov, the leader of the 1.2 million member teachers union in Ukraine, about their relationship with the teachers union in Russia, he told me that those Russian teachers were partially guilty here. “Guilty of what?” I asked. All the Russian soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine, all of them, studied in Russian schools, he said. They were taught to be what they have become — killers and rapists.

The war has united Ukrainian society as never before. The unions are fully signed up. The FPU president, Grygorii Osovyi, told me that 20% of Ukrainian trade union members are now serving in the armed forces. Georgiy Trukhanov told me that teachers could not be drafted as they are considered essential workers — so thousands of them have volunteered.

I spoke with many union leaders about the situation in what Ukrainians call the “temporarily occupied territories.” Russian occupiers have essentially banned the Ukrainian language from classrooms. Many workers have fled those territories, and unions are doing an amazing job of helping them, collecting aid, providing accommodation, and much more. Union offices I visited were full of boxes of aid, including plastic sheeting to replace windows destroyed by Russian artillery. Mykhailo Volynets, a former miner and head of the KVPU, told me that there was an urgent need for bandages.

Amid the horrors of the war, there are occasional bits of very positive news. An LGBTQI activist explained to me how Putin had weaponized homophobia in Russia, including spreading rumors that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders were gay. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, there has been a huge shift in public opinion regarding LGBTQI people, many of whom are serving at the front. This is a part of the world where homophobia has run rampant, and even turned violent, as we have seen in countries like Georgia. But in Ukraine, the war has helped change attitudes in a positive way.

I spoke with Ukrainian socialists, with young workers who organize couriers, with aviation workers and railway workers. I was interviewed by women members of the nuclear power workers union — who are staying at their posts at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, now under Russian occupation.

The message I got from everyone could not have been clearer: The Ukrainian labor movement and Left stand fully against the Russian invasion. They want and expect solidarity from the labor movement and Left in other countries. They enormously appreciate everything from solidarity gestures such as the visits of leading trade unionists, including the American Federation of Teachers’ president Randi Weingarten, and donations from unions ranging from generators to much-needed bandages.

Despite the differences, I still see this conflict as the Spanish Civil War of our time. The many young men and women who have come to Ukraine to join the fight are inspiring in the way that the International Brigades were some 90 years ago. The Spanish Republic was defeated in large part because many democracies failed to come to its aid, while the fascists were fully backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Will the same thing happen in Ukraine?

Putin’s regime is a fascist one, and the war on Ukraine is an illegal, imperialist war. Ukraine is not a perfect society, and its government is not a perfect government. Nor was the Spanish Republic. But in the fight against fascism, we need to ask ourselves, to paraphrase the old song, which side are we on?

25 September 2023Human Rights Russian forces in Ukraine faced new allegations of war crimes on Monday as UN-appointed independent rights experts published the findings of their latest report into Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that they have documented attacks with explosive weapons on residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and medical institutions, as well as torture and sexual and gender-based violence.

Rape allegations Commission Chair Erik Møse provided harrowing details on the findings to the Council, noting that in the Kherson region, “Russian soldiers raped and committed sexual violence against women of ages ranging from 19 to 83 years”, often together with threats or commission of other violations.

“Frequently, family members were kept in an adjacent room, thereby forced to hear the violations taking place,” Mr. Møse said.

‘Widespread’ torture The Commission said that its investigations in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia indicate the “widespread and systematic” use of torture by Russian armed forces against persons accused of being informants of the Ukrainian military, which in some cases led to death.

Mr. Møse quoted a victim of torture as saying, “Every time I answered that I didn’t know or didn’t remember something, they gave me electric shocks… I don’t know how long it lasted. It felt like an eternity.”

Probe into child transfers a ‘priority’ The Commissioners also indicated that they have continued to investigate individual situations of alleged transfers of unaccompanied children by Russian authorities to the Russian Federation.

“This item remains very high on our priority list,” Mr. Møse assured the Council.

Possible ‘incitement to genocide’ The Commission expressed concern about allegations of genocide in Ukraine, warning that “some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian state and other media may constitute incitement to genocide”

Mr. Møse said that the Commission was “continuing its investigations on such issues”.

Call for accountability The UN-appointed independent rights investigators emphasized the need for accountability and expressed regret about the fact that all of their communications addressed to the Russian Federation “remain unanswered”.

In their report, the Commissioners also urged the Ukrainian authorities to “expeditiously and thoroughly” investigate the few cases of violations by its own forces.

No equivalence Replying to questions from reporters in Geneva on Monday, the UN-appointed independent rights investigators strongly refuted any suggestions of an equivalence in the violations committed by both sides.

Mr. Møse stressed that on the Russian side, the Commission had found a “wide spectrum” and “large number of violations”. On the Ukrainian side, there were “a few examples” related to indiscriminate attacks as well as “ill-treatment of Russians in Ukrainian captivity”, he said.

More in-depth investigations The latest update reflects the Commission’s ongoing investigations during its second mandate, which started in April this year.

Mr. Møse said that it was now undertaking “more in-depth investigations” regarding unlawful attacks with explosive weapons, attacks affecting civilians, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and attacks on energy infrastructure.

“This may also clarify whether torture and attacks on energy infrastructure amount to crimes against humanity,” the Commissioners said.

The Commission The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was established by the Human Rights Council on 4 March 2022 to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by Russia.

Its three members are Chair Erik Møse, Pablo de Greiff and Vrinda Grover. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

The mandate of the Commission of Inquiry was extended by the Council last April for a further period of one year. Its next report to the General Assembly is due in October.

Deportation, Treatment of Ukraine’s Children by Russian Federations Takes Centre Stage by Many Delegates at Security Council Briefing Delegate Questions Moscow’s Position in International Community once Conflict Ends The United Nations remains committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity amidst indefensible attacks on civilians and infrastructure, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as speakers took stock of the war’s impact on Ukraine’s children on the thirty-second anniversary of that country’s independence.

Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, noting that today marks 18 months since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said that “the numbers alone tell a horrific story”. Citing confirmed numbers of at least 9,444 civilians killed — including 545 children — and nearly 17,000 injured, she added that “the real figures are likely much higher”. And, since Moscow’s 17 July withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the fighting has only escalated.

Detailing Russian Federation attacks against Ukraine’s ports, cultural heritage and civilian infrastructure, she expressed regret that the UN still does not have the necessary access to verify allegations of violations against children in the territory of Ukraine under Moscow’s control or in the Russian Federation itself. Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are “indefensible”, she stressed, underlining the UN’s “unwavering” commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

Kateryna Rashevska, legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights, then reported that Russian Federation agents have taken at least 19,546 children to that country from Ukraine since 18 February 2022. Among other violations, Russian Federation citizenship is imposed on them, and they are forbidden to speak and learn the Ukrainian language or preserve their Ukrainian identity. “Leaving Ukrainian children in Russia means continuing to violate their rights,” she stressed, urging the Council “to assist in the return of Ukrainian children”.

Also briefing the Council was Mykola Kuleba, Chief Executive Officer of Save Ukraine, who said that, when the Russian Federation began “its war of genocide against our country” in 2014, more than 1 million Ukrainian children ended up on the occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas and were further deported to Moscow. Stolen and turned into weapons, thousands of them now fight against their motherland. “You have the power to help these children,” he underscored, urging the Council to act to reunify families.

In the ensuing debate, many speakers spotlighted the impact of violence on the civilian population, urging a cessation of hostilities and a resumption of dialogue. Others spotlighted the conflict’s global ramifications and called for the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The treatment of children, however, took centre stage.

The representative of the Russian Federation said that Kyiv’s tragedy began when “the West chose Ukraine as a pawn to fight against and to weaken Russia”. Citing the war initiated by the “Kyiv regime” against its own Russian-speaking citizens in 2014, he stressed that his country was “compelled to come to the defence of women, children and the elderly, who were being destroyed by Ukraine after that country and the West unequivocally refused to comply with the Minsk agreements”.

Ukraine’s representative, however, stressed that the Russian Federation has pursued a policy of mass abduction and forceful indoctrination of Ukrainian children since 2014. “Russia’s aggression is about Ukraine’s future, and there is no future without children,” he observed, calling for relevant UN agencies and officials to properly monitor and report on the mass abduction of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation and Belarus.

Albania’s representative joined others in stating that Moscow “has failed to convince the world that its re-education camps and forced adoptions are, as portrayed, humanitarian actions”. He recalled that, based on hard evidence regarding the unlawful deportation of children, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the Russian Federation’s President and Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

The representative of Japan, similarly, stressed that no matter how much Moscow tried to mislead the world, “we are united in our voice that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is nothing but a flagrant violation of the UN Charter”. As families are being torn apart by unlawful deportations, he urged a just, lasting peace for Ukraine and spotlighted a recent conference towards that end held in Saudi Arabia featuring the participation of more than 40 countries.

The representative of the United Arab Emirates also expressed alarm over reports of child abductions and forced transfers in Ukraine, urging the parties to the conflict to facilitate the reunification of such children with their families and for States to cooperate with the Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He also called for a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution in accordance with international law.

Along those lines, Mozambique’s representative — recalling Africa’s experience in conflict mediation and resolution — underlined the indispensable nature of dialogue and diplomacy. The representative of Ghana also underscored that embracing dialogue and diplomacy remain Moscow’s best option for resolving its stated security concerns. China’s representative stressed that the “security of all States is indivisible”, adding that the Ukraine crisis demonstrates that provoking bloc confrontations and seeking absolute security “do not work”.

The representative of Ecuador, meanwhile, questioned whether the Russian Federation’s authorities have thought about the country’s position in the international community once the conflict ends. He underscored that States are not measured today by their nuclear power, the territory they snatch from their neighbours or the fear they instil. Rather, they are measured by their cosmopolitan culture, democratic institutions, tolerance, artistic creativity, technological progress and respect for law and human rights.

MAINTENANCE OF PEACE AND SECURITY OF UKRAINE

Briefings

ROSEMARY DICARLO, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, noting that today marks 18 months since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said that “the numbers alone tell a horrific story”. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has confirmed at least 9,444 civilians killed — including 545 children — and nearly 17,000 injured. “The real figures are likely much higher,” she added, noting that some estimates put the total number of civilians and military personnel killed on both sides at 500,000. There is no end in sight to this war — launched in violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law — and, since the Russian Federation’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on 17 July, the fighting has only escalated.

Detailing “brutal and relentless Russian attacks” that have damaged grain-export infrastructure in Ukraine’s Black Sea and Danube ports, she stressed that attacks targeting grain facilities threaten to reverse the progress made in bolstering food security over the past year. “This could be catastrophic for the 345 million people already acutely food insecure around the world,” she emphasized. She also spotlighted the Russian Federation’s 19 August missile attack on a theatre in Chernihiv that took the lives of seven people — including a six-year-old girl — and injured more than 100 others. In recent weeks, dozens of civilians have also been killed in attacks on Kherson, Odesa, Donetsk, Lviv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and other regions of Ukraine. In some instances, sequential strikes have killed and injured not only civilians but first responders who rushed to help.

Attacks against Ukrainian culture and heritage have also escalated, she reported, noting that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has verified damage to 284 cultural sites since the beginning of the war. Another recent UN assessment — on the impact on the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam — concluded that the breach caused a far-reaching environmental disaster, the scale of which may not be clear for decades. She also stressed that the war has had a devastating impact on women, who represent the majority of the 6.2 million people forced to move to other countries because of the violence. Civil-society organizations led by Ukrainian women were among the first to respond to the full-scale invasion and, to support these efforts, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) has allocated over $14.6 million to finance over 120 civil-society organizations that support females both inside Ukraine and displaced in the Republic of Moldova.

Also detailing incidents of sexual violence and the destruction of schools and hospitals, she expressed regret that the UN still does not have the necessary access to verify allegations of violations against children in the territory of Ukraine under Moscow’s control or in the Russian Federation itself. Further, she expressed concern over the possible impact on civilians of the shelling of Russian Federation border communities and drone attacks deep inside that country, including Moscow. Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are “indefensible” and strictly prohibited under international law, she underscored. Observing that “today’s grim milestone of 18 months of war coincides with the thirty-second anniversary of Ukraine’s independence”, she underlined the UN’s “unwavering” commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

KATERYNA RASHEVSKA, Legal expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights, reported that according to the Ukrainian National Information Bureau, since 18 February 2022, Russian Federation agents have taken at least 19,546 children to that country from Ukraine — 3,855 of them orphans and children deprived of parental care — amounting to “a violation of Article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime”, she stated. Moscow further refuses to transfer the list of evacuated children to the Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These considerations formed the basis of the decision of the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber II to issue arrest warrants against Russian Federation President Vladimir V. Putin and his Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. She further pointed to the imposition of Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children, as “the right to preserve one’s identity is a prerequisite for exercising all human rights.”

She emphasized that if Russian Federation officials intended to act for humanitarian reasons, then instead of legislation for the simplified imposition of citizenship, they would facilitate medical care and remove obstacles to education and social benefits. “But this is not the case,” she stressed. Ukrainian children are recognized exclusively as Russian citizens, and there is no dual citizenship agreement between Kyiv and Moscow. She affirmed that raising these children by Russian citizens, as well as political indoctrination, Russification, and militarization in the education system, is a violation of several articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ukrainian children are forbidden to speak and learn the Ukrainian language or preserve their Ukrainian identity. For six years, she recalled, Moscow has not implemented the International Court of Justice order to ensure the right to education in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages in Crimea.

She noted the transfer of at least 7,116 children to recreation camps in 2023 — some facilities being 9,000 kilometers away from their original homes. Due to the lack of access to these territories, confirming or denying the return of Ukrainian children home is impossible. She further cited additional checks at the border, long-term interrogations by representatives of Russian Federation law enforcement, the requirement to obtain Russian citizenship, forced nudity and polygraph examinations. She addressed the Council “with a clear call: to assist in the return of the Ukrainian children”. Although the relevant article to the Geneva Conventions was adopted by consensus, a General Assembly resolution is needed to define the obligations of each member of the international community in returning Ukrainian children — which should be a transparent process by appointing a third-party guarantor and concluding an international binding agreement. “Leaving Ukrainian children in Russia means continuing to violate their rights,” she stressed.

MYKOLA KULEBA, Chief Executive Officer of Save Ukraine, said he will be a “voice of Ukrainian children deprived of their fundamental and inalienable right to life and their right to maintain individuality, including citizenship, name and family ties”, adding: “Today I will speak in the name of the lost, the dead and the wounded Ukrainian children, deprived of these rights.” He recalled that Save Ukraine is the biggest non-governmental organization in his country that is rescuing children in Ukraine from the warzones and the occupied territories. It has been operating since 2014, when the Russian Federation started the “war of genocide against our country and our nation”, he reported, recalling that back then more than 1 million of Ukrainian children ended up on the occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas and were further deported to Moscow. “These are stolen Ukrainian children, who were turned into a weapon by the Russian Federation”, he stressed, pointing out that thousands of these children are now fighting against their motherland. He also noted that since 2014, Moscow has been conducting these actions “quietly, hiding its crimes from the world”.

Noting that the Russian Federation “covers its military objects with the Ukrainian children”, he said that Moscow’s military forces have placed their equipment next to an orphanage in Kherson. He further cited several messages of Ukrainian mothers and children pleading with his organization for help to return their children from the occupied territories, while underscoring that the Russian Federation “deprived all Ukrainian children of the happy childhood and the chance to a normal life, while maintaining 20 per cent of them as hostages”.

“You have the power to help these children,” he underscored, adding: “On the Independence Day of Ukraine, which the Russian Federation recognized in 1991, I stand on the most powerful world platform and ask for your help and assistance, while I am assured that you have all the means to resolve this important and painful issue.” “Our children are not a weapon, not a shield, they are merely small children, who have the right to a happy childhood and life,” he stressed, adding: “Let’s reunite families, let’s reunite nations, reunite all of us around Ukrainian children.”

Statements

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD (United States), Council President for August, speaking in her national capacity, underscored that “Ukraine’s very existence is under attack”. Ukrainians have courageously fought back to defend their country’s sovereignty, freedom and democracy, as well as to return Ukrainian children who have been ripped from their homes. Since February 2022, the Russian Federation forcibly transferred or deported thousands of Ukrainian children, including babies as young as 4 months. “We don’t even know the location of so many of the children who have been forcibly transferred,” she decried, detailing stories of parents who freed their children. “Russia’s campaign of cruelty continues to this day,” she said, refuting Moscow’s claims that transfers of children are part of their “humanitarian evacuations”. The International Criminal Court has alleged President Putin is responsible for war crimes, she said, also spotlighting reports that Belarusian leaders have supported moving Ukrainian children to camps in their country. Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on two entities and 11 individuals, including those reportedly responsible for the forcible transfers and deportation of Ukrainian children to camps. Additionally, she noted that her Government is taking steps to impose visa restrictions of three Russia-installed purported authorities for their involvement in human rights abuses of Ukrainian minors.

FERIT HOXHA (Albania) stressed that “we all have failed” when laws are not implemented, when commitments are not respected and when innocent people are hurt. Underscoring that there is no doubt regarding the aggressor in Ukraine, he said that the assault on that country’s present “is nothing short of an audacious bid to dismantle its future”. Credible reports have confirmed a well-prepared plan for the deportation of Ukraine’s children to the Russian Federation, and the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict listed the Russian Federation’s military forces among those who commit grave violations against children. He recalled that, based on hard evidence regarding the unlawful deportation of children, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on 17 March for the Russian Federation’s President and Commissioner for Children’s Rights. Against that backdrop, he stated that — while Moscow continues to brainwash domestic opinion — “it has failed to convince the world that its re-education camps and forced adoptions are, as portrayed, humanitarian actions”.

DOMINGOS FERNANDES (Mozambique), recalling Africa’s experience in conflict mediation and resolution, as embodied in its Silencing the Guns initiative, underscored the indispensable nature of dialogue and diplomacy. Yet regrettably, urgent appeals for peace have not found fertile ground. Citing the unfortunate collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the starving of resources to mitigate humanitarian emergencies in global hotspots, he emphasized that “we are reminded of the global ramifications of this conflict.” This disruption not only threatens individual nations but also erodes the framework of peaceful coexistence, destabilizes multilateral and collective security arrangements, and makes the fulfillment of multilateral commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals more difficult. “Now, more than ever, we are in dire need of a paradigm shift, that prioritizes dialogue in alignment with the UN Charter’s ideals and our shared values,” he stressed, advocating for a political and negotiated resolution of the ongoing armed conflict.

SÉRGIO FRANÇA DANESE (Brazil) underlined that, as a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict in Ukraine continues to be elusive, it is essential to limit the impact of violence on the civilian population. The current dynamics of the conflict deprive millions of basic and dignified conditions for survival, a concern that grows deeper, especially with the coming winter. Accordingly, it is essential to increase the call from the international community for the cessation of hostilities, and for negotiations that bring a lasting solution. The resumption of dialogue can rebuild confidence where confidence and trust were shattered, and provide the means to resolve urgent issues, such as the situation of prisoners of war, humanitarian access, the security of nuclear facilities and the full resumption of transport of grain and fertilizers across the Black Sea, a claim made especially by developing countries, he emphasized.

ZHANG JUN (China) reiterated that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be safeguarded, that all parties’ legitimate security concerns should be considered and that all efforts towards peaceful settlement of the crisis should be supported. Further, the international community should encourage the parties to exercise calm and restraint, achieve consensus and explore ways to create conditions conducive to peace talks. “The security of all States is indivisible,” he underscored, noting that the Ukraine crisis demonstrates that provoking bloc confrontations and seeking absolute security “do not work”. Also underlining the need to manage spill-over effects, he said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative “should not be easily abandoned”. All parties should strive for the early resumption of grain and fertilizer exports from the Russian Federation and Ukraine through dialogue and consultation. He added that the delivery of humanitarian assistance must be ensured and that measures must be taken to guard against risks to nuclear safety and security.

FELIX OSEI BOATENG (Ghana), voicing deep concern over the presence of Russian Federation troops in Ukraine, underscored that ending the war and embracing dialogue and diplomacy remain Moscow’s best option for resolving its stated security concerns. Urging relevant United Nations agencies to provide mental health and psychosocial support, he cited statistics on the harrowing post-traumatic stress disorder that about a quarter of the Ukrainian population have been diagnosed with. He further condemned deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure, notably health-care facilities, schools, residential areas, and food systems. Calling for the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, he encouraged the parties to cooperate with the Secretary-General’s efforts to comprehensively address all bottlenecks. The purely military logic underpinning this war over the past 18 months will not deliver any durable settlement or sustainable peace, he stressed.

NATHALIE BROADHURST ESTIVAL (France) underscored that, with its deliberate bombardments targeting civilian populations and infrastructure, the Russian Federation has inflicted unspeakable suffering on the Ukrainian people. Moscow is responsible for murder, maiming, illegal transfers of children, sexual violence against children, and attacks against schools and hospitals. Condemning the Russian Federation’s illegal deportations of Ukrainian children, she called on that country to return to Ukraine all deported children. She further recalled that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for the Rights of the Child. The Court — which operates in full independence — found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Moscow’s highest leadership is responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children, she said, adding that acts of deportation of children constitute war crimes. Recalling on incident on 19 August, during which Russian Federation strikes caused the death of seven civilians and injured more than 150 people when a university and a theatre were targeted in Chernihiv, she urged Moscow to stop targeting the Ukrainian population and civilian infrastructure.

HERNÁN PÉREZ LOOSE (Ecuador) observed that today not only marks 18 months since the invasion, but also since diplomatic efforts by the international community and the Council “were blown to smithereens” by bombardments that began while Council members echoed the Secretary-General’s call for Moscow to “give peace a chance”. Wondering how many more refugees, deaths and orphans it will take for the Russian Federation to end its invasion, he questioned whether that country’s authorities have thought about the Russian Federation’s position in the international community once the conflict ends. History repeatedly teaches that “nations unable to reconcile their past with their present pay a high price”, he observed. States are not measured today by their nuclear power, the territory they snatch from their neighbours or the fear they instil. Rather, they are measured by their cosmopolitan culture, democratic institutions, tolerance, artistic creativity, technological progress and respect for law and human rights, he stressed.

EDWIGE KOUMBY MISSAMBO (Gabon) noted that fighting in recent weeks has intensified in the south of Ukraine, with an increase in attacks by drones, missiles and other long-range weapons. Citing indiscriminate attacks continuing to target civilian populations and infrastructure, she voiced concern over the plight of millions of men, women and children left to fend for themselves, deprived of international aid. She called on the warring parties not to use mines, cluster munitions or other guided weapons. She further expressed regret that the momentum of hope represented by the Black Sea Grain Initiative seems to have evaporated, swept away by the sombre prospect of a war of attrition. Welcoming the extraordinary international mobilization of the United Nations — including the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ winter response plan, and UNESCO’s initiative to train 15,000 school psychologists — she called on the parties to de-escalate and initiate dialogue to end the war.

JAMES KARIUKI (United Kingdom), recalling that 92 per cent of Ukrainians voted in favour of their independence in 1991, said that Kyiv’s “historic resistance” not only protects its freedom, but defends the United Nations Charter. “If Russia wins the war, it would give the green-light to a new era of international aggression where big countries can rewrite borders by force. None of us want that,” he said, adding that those present are “deeply indebted to the Ukrainian people for their immense sacrifice”. Turning to Ukrainian families, that suffered forced transfers and deportations, he said that Moscow uses fear of this tactic to suppress dissent among Ukrainians living under its temporary control. “Russia has not attempted to preserve the identities of the children it has forcibly deported,” he stressed, pointing out that Moscow has also failed to provide information about the children transferred to its territory and placed with foster families. “Just 386 children have so far been returned,” he reported.

VASSILY A. NEBENZIA (Russian Federation), recalling a military parade in Kyiv on 9 May 2010, with 2,500 military personnel from Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Belarus, said that “only four years later” the fighters from the neo-Nazi battalions of “Azov” and “Dnipro-1”, during a similar parade, openly killed those who went out on the streets “to honour the memory of their grandfathers.” As a result, 99 people were killed and 119 wounded. Moreover, on the holiday eve, around 50 peaceful protestors, who stood up in defence of the Russian language, were burned alive at the Trade Union building in Odesa. “How were Ukrainians able to overnight replace the heroes who liberated the country from fascism with fascist collaborators complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Poles, Russians and Ukrainians? How was an essentially Russian language country able to stoop to persecution of Russian language speakers?” he emphasized.

Noting that Ukraine’s population has reduced from 48.2 million in 2001 to “no more than 29 million people” today, he said that Kyiv’s tragedy began, when “the West chose Ukraine as a pawn to fight against and to weaken Russia”. Recalling the war initiated by the “Kyiv regime” against its own Russian-speaking citizens in the east in 2014, he said: “We were compelled to come to the defence of women, children and the elderly, who were being destroyed by Ukraine after that country and the West unequivocally refused to comply with the Minsk agreements.” Pointing out that everything linked to the Russian Federation was declared to be hostile even before the “special military operation”, he added: “Are you aware of any other country, where there is persecution on religious grounds taking place openly?” In this regard, he stated: “We have nothing to congratulate Ukraine on its Day of Independence,” adding: “Let the Ukrainian tragedy never again repeat itself.”

ISHIKANE KIMIHIRO (Japan) said families are being torn apart by unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainians, including children. Countless critical civilian infrastructure, including power plants and dams, have been destroyed. Europe's largest nuclear power plant is illegally occupied, posing a risk of nuclear disaster. Moreover, Ukraine's grain exports have been hampered, grain prices have risen and vulnerable populations have lost access to food. “The world is being held hostage,” he said, adding: “The damage is too great to list here.” No matter how much Moscow tries to mislead the world, “we are united in our voice that Russia's aggression against Ukraine is nothing but a flagrant violation of the UN Charter”. He pointed to a recent conference on peace for Ukraine which was held in Saudi Arabia, with the participation of more than 40 countries, including Japan. “We continue to seek a just and lasting peace for Ukraine together,” he said.

FRANCESCA GATT (Malta), underscoring that the weaponization of food is unconscionable, voiced regret that the Russian Federation disregarded a UN proposal ending a lifeline for millions facing hunger. “The threat of famine, with people slowly starving to death, is a red line for international peace and security,” she asserted, calling for the restoration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a means to re-balance the global food market and contribute to Ukraine’s export of grains to the countries that need it the most. Moreover, threats regarding the potential targeting of civilian vessels navigating in the Black Sea waters are unacceptable, she emphasized, highlighting an incident last week, during which a Moscow’s warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship. She also sounded alarm over the recent attacks on the Kherson region — especially in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donbas and Kharkiv — noting that missile and drone strikes have destroyed vital infrastructure, health facilities, religious and residential buildings.

SAOD ALMAZROUEI (United Arab Emirates) expressed alarm about reports of child abductions and forced transfers in Ukraine, stressing the need for parties to the conflict, without exception, to protect children and respect their rights in accordance with the specific framework stipulated in the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. He further urged the parties to facilitate reunification with their families and for States to cooperate with the Central Tracing Agency of the ICRC and the provision of information on children separated from their families. Last week, his country announced an aid package for the educational sector as the new academic year commences, in addition to humanitarian programmes responding to the needs of civilians in Ukraine and refugees in neighbouring countries. He reiterated the call for a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

RICCARDA CHRISTIANA CHANDA (Switzerland) said Ukraine’s Independence Day is supposed to be a festive day. Yet, it also marks a year and a half of the Russian Federation’s military aggression. Highlighting the disastrous consequences of the war, she said that almost 10,000 civilians have been killed in the last 18 months. She condemned the fact that waves of attacks continue to hit the country's cities and areas where civilians gather. In recent days, Moscow’s strikes have again claimed the lives of civilians, including children. Indeed, children are particularly affected by the consequences of this war, she said, adding that nearly two out of three children in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes. Of particular concern are credible reports of deportations of children to the Russian Federation and forced transfers of children within the occupied territories. Added to this are the immense humanitarian needs: 17.6 million persons — almost half of Ukraine's current population — require humanitarian assistance and protection.

SERGIY KYSLYTSYA (Ukraine), noting the thirty-second anniversary of his country’s independence, said that it has always been a matter of national pride that such independence was restored peacefully and that Ukraine has developed, democratically, into a peace-loving nation, reliable partner and friendly neighbour. However, the only role that the Russian Federation assigns to Ukraine, he emphasized, is that “of a lawless colony, where the local population either bows to forceful Russification or faces deportation and repression”. He went on to recall that the first judgment in Nuremberg referred to numerous Nazi crimes against children. He also recalled that it contains a quote by Heinrich Himmler regarding Nazi forced-adoption practices “that sounds terribly relevant today”: “What the nations can offer in the way of good blood of our type, we will take. If necessary, by kidnapping their children and raising them here with us.”

Against that backdrop, he stressed that the Russian Federation has pursued a policy of mass abduction and forceful indoctrination of Ukrainian children since 2014. Ukraine has strong grounds to believe that several hundred thousand Ukrainian children were forcibly, unlawfully taken by the Russian Federation and subsequently exposed to aggressive brainwashing to erase their Ukrainian identity. He underscored that Moscow’s crimes against children — like those of the Nazis during the Second World War — are one of the most horrible markers of the war. “Russia’s aggression is about Ukraine’s future, and there is no future without children,” he observed, repeating a call for relevant UN agencies and officials to properly monitor and report on the mass abduction of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation and Belarus. Noting that the first verdict of the International Criminal Court — like that in Nuremberg — was related to crimes against children, he said that this “makes us believe that every Russian criminal eventually will be brought to justice”.

RYTIS PAULAUSKA (Lithuania), also speaking for Estonia and Latvia, said that 541 children have been killed and 1,139 injured, while many more were forced to flee their homes. Reporting that at least 3,281 education institutions have been impacted by fighting, 54 per cent of them in the eastern front-line areas, he pointed out that psychological effects of this trauma on children will have far reaching consequences on the future of Ukraine. Moreover, he underscored the importance of the situation related to Ukrainian children being forcefully deported to the Russian Federation and Belarus, subjected to “pro-Russia re-education” and military training, while also having been turned into Russian Federation citizens and illegally adopted. In this regard, he welcomed the recently adopted joint preventive plan of Ukraine and the United Nations to prevent and stop violations of children’s rights in Moscow’s armed aggression.

Reporting that more than 4 million refugees sought shelter in European Union countries, including 100,000 in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, he said that his country has accepted over 8,000 pupils from Ukraine. While Moscow continues to destroy civilian infrastructure, its military strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have led to power outages, affecting that country’s agricultural sector, interrupting its water networks and denying access to essential services. The destruction of Kakhovka Dam on 6 June caused an unprecedented ecological catastrophe, he said, noting that 200,000 people in flood-affected areas rely on water distribution due to water contamination or drop of water levels in the reservoirs. “Russia’s war of aggression, enabled by Belarus, is a manifest violation of the UN Charter,” he emphasized, underscoring the importance of supporting Ukraine in establishing a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression.

THOMAS PETER ZAHNEISEN (Germany) expressed sadness that as the international community congratulates Ukraine on its Independence Day, the Russian Federation attacks everything that independence stands for: security, freedom and peace for all Ukrainians. Russian Federation armed forces and its affiliates continue to commit grave violations of children’s rights, he noted — just on Sunday, 20 August, seven people including a 6-year-old girl were killed and 156 wounded after a Russian missile attack on the central square of the historic Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. Recalling “shocking reports” of attempts by the Russian Federation to erase the identity of abducted children — forcing them to speak Russian, change their names and threatening them with adoption by Russian families — he stressed that these “are war crimes and they must be treated as such”. He urged Moscow to immediately cease all such atrocities, withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and “end this senseless war.”

SILVIO GONZATO, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, said that throughout the bloc Ukrainians have gathered with European Union citizens to mark the country’s independence, and that “its neighbour, Russia, continues to attempt to destroy by force”. In this regard, he emphasized the need for peace and the importance of holding Moscow’s political and military leadership accountable, while also calling for addressing the global consequences of this aggression. Welcoming the recent National Security Advisers’ meeting in Jeddah — at Ukraine’s initiative — he said the European Union will support Kyiv “as long as it takes”, also reaffirming the bloc’s support for Ukraine’s Peace Formula. He noted that the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has started its support operations in The Hague and welcomed the establishment of the Council of Europe’s Register of Damage [of Damage caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine]. Turning to the forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children, he reaffirmed the Union’s support for the International Criminal Court’s mandate.

While condemning Moscow’s unilateral termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, he recalled that the deal has enabled the export of 33 million tons of grain and foodstuffs from Ukraine to 45 different countries, which played an instrumental role in reducing global food prices by over 23 per cent since the invasion. “Russia did not stop at pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Just hours after withdrawing, it started destroying Ukraine’s grain storage facilities and port infrastructure, not only in the Black Sea itself but also in the Danube,” he stressed, pointing out that the European Union will continue strengthening its “EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes” as alternative agricultural exports routes. Moreover, the bloc has provided €18 billion to address food insecurity until 2024, he reported.

KRZYSZTOF MARIA SZCZERSKI (Poland) said the dramatic developments since the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 have demonstrated that Ukraine’s independence needs to be defended in the most literal sense — on the battlefield. The key principles and objectives set out in Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula should constitute a basis for ending Moscow’s unlawful war of aggression, he emphasized, adding that all perpetrators should be tried before appropriate courts. Voicing particular concern over the fate of children in this armed conflict, he spotlighted a dedicated group of friends, co-created in Kyiv by his Government. Echoing the words of Poland President Andrzej Duda, he underscored that “the de-occupation of Crimea and the restoration of Ukraine’s full territorial integrity are necessary preconditions, not just for the security of the Azov-Black Sea region but also for the stability of the whole global security architecture”.

MAURIZIO MASSARI (Italy), aligning himself with the European Union, noted that global concerns on systemic food security spiked after Moscow’s decision to unjustifiably withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and called on it to swiftly reconsider its resumption. He strongly condemned the Russian Federation’s continuous inhumane and brutal attacks on civilian infrastructure, as well as the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. “No amount of disinformation spread by the Russian Federation can deny the truth of the matter, nor shield individuals from accountability for these crimes,” he stressed. Collectively, the UN will hold those responsible to account in accordance with international law, also taking into consideration those who are facilitating the illegal war. Voicing strong support for President Zelenskyy’s Peace Plan, he stressed that Moscow can end the war immediately by ceasing its attacks and withdrawing its forces from the territory of Ukraine.

Congress and Ukraine Aid — Reasons to Be Cheerful By Catherine Sendak October 3, 2023

Despite the pyrotechnics of congressional disputes over funding, there are solid grounds for hope over renewed Ukraine aid.

Almost 20 months into the largest European war since the end of World War II, hundreds of thousands of casualties, millions of displaced families, dangers to energy and food security, the emergence of a totalitarian villain’s club bent on remaking a world order that better serves their ambitions, and yet internal politics are the subject of partisan squabbling in the most powerful country in the world.

The idea, widely accepted last year, that Ukraine is fighting for itself and also for the rest of us is now disputed. Aid was cut from the government financing deal agreed on September 30.

And yet. Despite the grin that will certainly have spread across Vladimir Putin’s face and despite some despair among Ukraine’s supporters, I think we’ll be alright. Grounds for optimism include the undisputed fact that both houses of Congress contain significant majorities for Ukraine aid.

As President Biden said on October 2: “There’s an overwhelming number of Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate who support Ukraine. Let’s vote on it.”

The US has a short-term funding gap following the so-called continuing resolution (CR), which enables the federal government to keep going for 45 days.

Ukraine aid was stripped out, but there will now be efforts to restore it. The government has approximately $5.5bn of Ukraine funding remaining, and that is expected to last some months.

Congress needs to do two things.

First, lead the US efforts and ensure strong resourcing for Ukraine support for the remainder of 2023 and all of 2024, and quickly.

And second, carry the message to the American public, partners and allies, and Russia and other competitors and adversaries, of the critical nature of US leadership and support to Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

For the first, legislators need to take up this issue as soon as possible. And it cannot be limited to the $6bn in aid proposed in the most recent and ultimately unsuccessful budget package, or even the $24bn requested by the administration this summer.

The funds need to provide certainty to assist long-term planning and the oversight that Congress rightly insists upon. This cannot be done without consistent resources, budgeting, and planning.

This aid package should cover the rest of this year and, ideally, all of 2024. It should take into consideration 12-16 months of planning and support encompassing all aspects, including military, economic, and humanitarian assistance. Only by aiming for a long-term package can we ensure that Ukraine aid is ringfenced from the US election cycle and the (worrying) fact that the line between foreign policy and domestic issues continues to blur.

Secondly, the US and its democratic allies must provide leadership on tough and sometimes unpopular issues.

The US needs elected officials to constantly make the case about why this fight is not about a single country in Eastern Europe but to make the case that Ukrainian defeat would puncture the European continent’s security and so place US interests at risk.

US national security is entwined with European security. Leadership on both sides of the aisle and both sides of Capitol Hill understand this and repeatedly exhibit staunch support of continued aid to Ukraine. This included an unusual joint Senate letter by majority leader Chuck Schumer and minority leader Mitch McConnell, the same day as the continuing resolution passage, calling for a quick return to work on resources for the Ukrainian fight.

Yet internal strife in the House Republican party looks to be top of the to-do list when the House returns to session this week. There are signs that this could become quite nasty and may involve efforts to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy. This would be a distraction.

But I choose to be hopeful. Over my years in government service, I have seen reason replace absurdity, pragmatism replace anger, and good governance replace politicking. I remain a believer in the system. The majority of Congress wants to get the work done, ensure Ukrainian support, and exhibit clear leadership on these critical national security needs. I believe in the institution of the US Congress; now it’s time for the institution to believe in itself.

Catherine Sendak is the Director of the Transatlantic Defense and Security program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). From 2018 to 2021, she was the Principal Director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Sendak also spent over a dozen years on Capitol Hill on both the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

Senator Mitch McConnell – CEPA Forum 2023 video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztkkJN2vj5I

BAKHMUT SOUTH / 2000 UTC 3 OCT/ UKR forces reported to surround key RU position in an under track culvert near Andriivka. RU milbloggers report heavy losses.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced the preparation of a new package of military aid to Ukraine. In total, according to Valtonen, Finland allocated two billion euros to Ukraine. 🇫🇮 has contributed almost 2 bn euros to 🇺🇦. Our next defence materiel package is under preparation. 🇺🇦 is our largest development partner. Finland and the EU will support #Ukraine for as long as needed. Freedom will prevail. Many thanks for hosting us in Kyiv, @DmytroKuleba

Switzerland is ready to provide Ukraine with 100 million Swiss francs for humanitarian demining

Ukraine is also actively working on the implementation of new joint projects with the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining in a number of directions.

ARussian propagandist has called for the reinstatement of the Russian Empire, saying that's the country's ultimate goal.

As Russia continues its military offensive against Ukraine, Russian propagandist Sergey Mardan alluded to a misconception that Russia wishes to restore the USSR, which collapsed in 1991, and instead suggested the country could rewind the clock back beyond the days of the Russian Empire.

His comments come as President Vladimir Putin announced a new Russian holiday, the "Day of Unification," on September 30, to mark the illegal annexation of the Dontesk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Putin declared them to be new Russian territory a year ago, following referendums not acknowledged under international law and he entrenched the move in the Russian constitution. He made a similar move after the illegal annexation of Crimea, which is celebrated in Russia on March 18.

Speaking on his show, Mardan Live, he mentioned the new state holiday, saying it will be "celebrated with trepidation," claiming that Russia is now "discovering its purpose," while admitting this is "yet to be defined." He defined the holiday as a cause for celebration as it marks Russia's supposed journey to restoring itself into an empire.

The Russian empire, otherwise known as Imperial Russia, was the final period of the Russian monarchy lasting from 1721 until its dissolution in 1917. The empire expanded over much of northern Eurasia, encompassing almost one-sixth of Earth's landmass. Modern day countries within in the territory included Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland and Georgia.

According to a translation by Russian Media Monitor, Mardan said Russia's "ideology is being born right now." He continued: "They call it the restoration of the Soviet Union. They say 'Putin wants to restore the USSR'. For any Russian person, for any person of Russian culture it sounds bizarre. For anyone who understands the retrospective of our national consciousness for the last 1,000 years. For us, the restoration of the USSR sounds a bit funny. What Soviet Union? Wake up!"

He goes on to say Russia is capable of rewinding the clock 800 years to restore the Russian Empire. "We can rewind it by 800 years more," Mardan continued. "You finally realize what this is all about is the restoration of a Russian nation, the restoration of the Russian Empire! This is what the celebration on September 30 is all about."

He added that Russia's existence since the dissolution of the USSR has been a time of "timelessness, blackness, and hopelessness," but the new holiday brings hopefulness to Russia. "A frightening holiday, but not for us. For us, it is a bright, long-awaited holiday, the one that is hard won. It was hard won for over 30 years," he proclaimed. "Pointless existence is the worst existential horror. There are some nations whose existence is pointless. They have no purpose, they've lost it."

Mardan also compared Russia's existence since the end of the Soviet Union to that of a drug user, saying: "We have lived like druggers with torn up veins," but he described the supposed transformation as "something wonderful, something frightening."

A new US intelligence report says the Kremlin spent $300 million since 2014 to try and influence several European countries using front companies and think tanks.

Russia has covertly spent more than $300 million in recent years trying to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, including Europe.

According to the US State Department, a new American intelligence assessment of Russia's global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow targeted elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro, among other countries, including Ukraine.

Some of the tactics Russia allegedly used included using front organisations to funnel money to preferred causes or politicians, including think tanks in Europe.

Putin was spending huge sums “in an attempt to manipulate democracies from the inside,” said a US official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

State Department spokesman Ned Price called Russia's covert funding an “assault on sovereignty.”

“It is an effort to chip away at the ability of people around the world to choose the governments that they see best fit to represent them, to represent their interests, and to represent their values,” he added.

American diplomats have been tasked with talking to the governments of some of the countries allegedly targeted by the Kremlin for malign influence operations, and although no information has been given about any politicians or parties who specifically benefited from Russian funding, classified information has been given to some specific countries, the State Department said.

The US also has a long history of covertly funding political groups and individual politicians, and been responsible for efforts to topple or undermine foreign governments, including democracies.

Mark Porter, Cannes, 18/08/22

Throughout the six months of conflict, Vladimir Putin has insisted that Ukraine is run by neo-Nazis. For his part, Ukraine’s (Jewish) president Zelenskyaccuses Russian troops of repeating Nazi war crimes. It is a reminder of just how deeply rooted this conflict is, not just in the Cold War, but in 1939-45, the war which is key to Russia’s sense of identity.

Putin said when announcing the “special operation” in February.that one of Russia’s goals was to “denazify” Ukraine. In the six gruesome months since then, the Kremlin has continuously pushed the narrative that Russians are “destroying neo-Nazis”.

All Ukrainian soldiers as far-right radicals, the story goes. There is no mention of the thousands of innocent civilians killed, or of the millions made destitute and driven into exile. Nor, sigificantly, is there any mention of the self-styled ultra-right/ neo-Nazi Russian nationalists who are at the forefront of Russia’s worst atrocities.

The independent Russian and English language news website, Meduza, banished from Moscow and working on in Latvia, tells the story of how Russia’s neo-Nazis were drawn into Putin’s war. Meduza still has a network of amazingly brave journalists, who daily risk their lives to report on the truth about Putin’s toxic dictatorship.

Their detailed investigation follows the blood-soaked paths trodden by Russian mercenaries through the mayhem and rubble in Ukraine.

These include members of the Russian Imperial Legion, the swastika-wearing Rusich task force, and the sinister Wagner Group — a murderous private army financed by Kremlin-linked oligarchs and led by Putin crony, known as his “chef”, Evgeny Prigozhin. Many of them participated in wholesale massacres in Syria – some 48,000 Russian troops were involved in “eliminating terrorists” there, according to Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu. The far-right, heavy metal band Russkyi Styag (Russian Warrior) band performs on the front line in Ukraine when not fighting.

Meduza‘s detailed investigation follows the footsteps of several leading fascist soldiers of fortune, some of whom have seen the light. It is a tale of turbo-charged hooliganism fuelled by falsely glamorous narratives of Valhalla, oppression, and imperialist glory. These are tales full of sound and fury (see: Macbeth, ActV Scene 5).

Signifying …what next?

On the surface Ukraine is a mightily complex brew, but it is well worth reading writers and geopolitical experts of the calibre of Peter Pomerantsev. Pomerantsev’s prose rapidly clears the battleground smoke.

Writing in The Economist‘s 1843 magazine, Pomerantsev, himself born in Kyiv, says: “It’s easy to see why Ukraine confuses people.

“To the uninformed outsider, it confounds all ideas of what makes a nation. Most people are casually bilingual. It contains many histories simultaneously: the Russian, Soviet, and Austro-Hungarian empires, Poland, Romania, and of course Ukraine itself. This lattice of historical narratives has made many in the West feel as though the country is not quite real.”

To validate his invasions, Putin called the Ukrainian “operation” an act of “denazification”. The slur is absurd but also strategic, argues Pomerantsev, who was heading a large research team in Ukraine until the February 24 invasion.

“For the past few years I’ve been trying to unlock the secret of Ukrainian identity by talking to Ukrainians. Through my research project, Arena, based originally at the LSE and now at Johns Hopkins University, I’ve worked with Ukrainian journalists and sociologists to find ways of strengthening democracy. My team has interviewed thousands of adults across the country. Our fieldwork shows that the response to Russia’s invasion has deep roots in Ukrainian history.”

“It is well known that some prominent Ukrainian nationalists sided with the Nazis in the second world war because they thought Hitler would grant Ukraine independence; a number of them were comfortable with the Nazis’ anti-Semitism. When Hitler betrayed them, many turned on the Germans and fought against both them and the Soviet Union.

“In Soviet post-war propaganda, Ukrainian nationalists were caricatured as the fascist enemy of the good Soviet citizen. Anyone who grew up steeped in that milieu is receptive to this framing,” writes Pomerantsev.

“Putin and his supporters have tried to split the country between a supposed pro-Soviet east and pro-nationalist west. However, our polling found this split to be a mirage. There were at least four distinct groups. The Ukrainians who were most pro-Soviet were older, often pensioners, and less educated, living largely in rural areas in the south and east of the country. A tiny proportion of the population, less than 5%, approved of Stalin (the equivalent figure in Russia is 70%). The memory of the Holodomor, Stalin’s man-made famine which killed roughly 4m Ukrainians in 1932-33, still burns.

“Ukrainian myths of national identity coalesce around a collective: the Cossacks, bands of self-governing warriors who roamed the steppe. A recent successful film told the story of how Ukrainian Jews and Crimean Tatars created underground networks to help each other in the second world war, to fight first the Nazis and then the KGB.

“One of the most popular Christmas films in Ukraine is Home Alone, which has a narrative that resonates with Ukraine’s story: a small country abandoned by the world’s parents, always attacked by bigger powers, and having to improvise self-defence with anything that comes to hand.”

Pomerantsev writes: “In this war, Ukrainians are showing that they can resist one of their most frequent and violent abusers, the Kremlin. Among the friends I speak to there’s a sense that they are fighting not just against this invasion, but for all the other times Ukraine has been violated. Putin himself referred to the invasion as a rape: “You sleep my beauty, you’re going to have to put up with it anyway,” he told a stunned press pack during a session with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. In Lviv today you see posters of a woman in Ukrainian folk costume pushing a gun into Putin’s mouth: ‘I’m not your beauty,’ she says.”

DW Media Forum, 26/08/22 Timothy Snyder on reporting post-colonial Ukraine (video) Meduza 15/07/22 – Dying to Kill Deutsche Welle 13/06/22 – How the War in Ukraine is Dividing Russian Nationalists Washington Post 23/03/22 Ivan Ilyn – the man who crafted Russian fascism Economist 1843 magazine – How the Ukrainians came together in adversity

Utkin, the Nazi-tattooed commander who gave Wagner its name Moscow (AFP) – A rare photo of the Wagner group's military commander shows a man with a shaved head, a cold stare and the Nazi SS symbol tattooed on both sides of his neck.

Issued on: 25/08/2023

Dmitry Utkin, a veteran of Russia's military intelligence division, the GRU, was reportedly beside Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin on the plane that crashed on Wednesday north of Moscow, killing all on board.

Little is known publicly of this former army officer, who Russian media -- including state-run outlets -- were calling the Wagner "commander" as far back as 2015-2016.

At that time, the Kremlin was denying links to the mercenary group, which was already operating in Ukraine and Syria, where Russian forces were shoring up dictator Bashar Al-Assad.

Then, in December 2016, Utkin was pictured alongside President Vladimir Putin at a Kremlin reception for Russian "heros" fighting in the Syrian civil war.

At around about the same time, Utkin's ex-wife, Elena Shcherbinina, gave an interview to Russian state-owned news site Gazeta.ru, saying she was unable to reach him.

She said Utkin was born in 1970 and served in the Russian army in the Chechen wars.

He left the army in 2012 and set up a private security company, according to the dossier.center website founded by anti-Kremlin oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Shcherbinina told Gazeta.ru her former husband had found leaving active combat difficult.

"It was very hard for him to adapt. It bothered him a lot not to be fighting. He wanted a military career as a combat officer, not to wear out the seats of his pants sitting in some HQ somewhere."

Wagner's murky origins It is unclear how Utkin met Prigozhin and how what would become the Wagner group was founded in around 2014.

But the mercenary outfit was given Utkin's call sign -- Wagner.

Adolf Hitler was a huge fan of German composer Richard Wagner and many observers see this nom de guerre as another indication of Utkin's Nazi sympathies.

Several Wagner mercenaries have insignia and tattoos inspired by the Third Reich.

The Wagner group was deployed in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in 2014, where Moscow was stirring up a separatist rebellion against Kyiv.

The Kremlin needed to have men it could trust on the front line and, at the same time, be able to deny that Russian soldiers were operating on Ukrainian soil.

Utkin, Prigozhin's right-hand man, was responsible for commanding Wagner's military operations.

Prigozhin, who had known Putin since the early 1990s, took care of finances and relations with the Russian state.

The entire mercenary operation was carried out with utmost secrecy.

It flourished and in under a decade, Prigozhin, Utkin and their mercenary outfit had become notorious worldwide.

• Dead 'because of traitors' -

They continued to operate in the shadows, while all the time being accused everywhere they went -- in the Central African Republic, in Libya, in Syria, in Ukraine -- of widespread abuses.

Initially, Russia's military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022 changed nothing.

But when the Russian army was forced to retreat in the east and south of Ukraine in autumn 2022, Prigozhin became a public figure.

After years of denial, he finally acknowledged that Wagner did exist and started recruiting tens of thousands of convicts from Russian prisons to fight on the front line.

Wagner mercenaries led the assault on Bakhmut, a bloody battle that has been ongoing for a year now and has forged the image of Wagner as the most efficient of the Russian military forces on the ground in Ukraine.

Utkin remained out of sight. He appeared in no videos and posted nothing on Telegram -- unlike Prigozhin, who regularly berated and insulted the Russian military top brass.

Utkin is believed to have taken part in the short-lived mutiny in June when Wagner seized control of the army command centre controlling Russia's military operations in Ukraine and marched on Moscow, demanding the sacking of the army chief of staff and the defence minister.

Many observers see the fatal plane crash as an assassination. Putin had, after all, called the mutineers traitors.

"Dmitry Valerievich Utkin was a Hero of Russia," the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone said on the night of the plane crash.

"He was awarded the Order of Courage four times and was known the world over by his call sign 'Wagner'. (He) died because of the work of traitors to Russia."