In the midst of all the destruction, it should have been a celebration. A moment to celebrate having driven the Russian invaders out of several villages on the outskirts of Kyiv.
But then the Ukrainian army discovered what Putin's beasts had been up to during their occupation of villages like Bucha.
And it's a real horror story
For that is genocide.
No words can describe the monstrosity.
"It's tears and pain. There are a lot of corpses in the city. I saw the bodies of young boys lying about a kilometer away. They have their hands tied and their heads shot. They put on a hood and a hat. This coincides with what I was told. population about 16-60. All young, healthy - were shot. "
It's beyond horror.
Nor is there much you can say about the Russian beasts who raped civilians and murdered them so callously while consuming huge quantities of vodka and beer.Desperately sad story from just outside Kyiv, about a woman called Iryna whose son was killed by Russian soldiers. We were the first outsiders she'd seen since the Russians left her village on Friday. Shot and edited by @leedurant. Produced by @producerkathy pic.twitter.com/vKE1tjL1kf
— Jeremy Bowen (@BowenBBC) April 3, 2022
And may their monstrous leader one day pay for his crimes against humanity.Ukrainian Javelin ATGM strike on a Russian vehicle. https://t.co/kZJx44o1bw pic.twitter.com/0wqtNHzxeo
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 4, 2022
"Glory to Ukraine (Слава Україні).
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that this was the slogan/battle cry of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) and of Stepan Bandura's Ukrainian Insurgent Army in WWII?
Bandura was a Ukrainian patriot. Pity about the massacres of tens of thousands of Poles and Jews.
The horrible reality of war perpetrated by evil people supported by journalistic propaganda under the guise of some altruistic good. Vaguely reminiscent of our own bomb crazed politicians supported by certain media outlets a few years ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921
RT
Hell is much too kind of fate for Putin and those who torture and murder innocent civilians. There are absolutely no excuses for the barbarity or the pathetic revisionist historians trying to equate what's happening now to what happened in WWII or 100, 200 or 300 fucking years ago.
ReplyDeleteI fear this is only the tip of the iceberg of the atrocities that will be discovered in the liberated towns the Russians occupied. These war crimes will be worn by Russia for generations even though I believe if most Russians knew what was really happening in Ukraine, they would overwhelmingly be against it.
This will further embolden Ukraine to fight to the very end and Russia will pay a heavy toll for what they have done. Glory to Ukraine. Don't give up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lNKjwYtaU
JD
There are no words for this kind of senseless inhumane butchery. Putin and his oligarchs are monsters of the most unspeakable kind. Abject criminal scum through and through, disgraces to the human race. He must pay for all this!
ReplyDeleteBut I only have little hope. Justice only rarely catch those mad tyrants, who end up dying in the comfort of stolen luxury and leaving behind the carnage they caused.
This tragedy is saddly neither new,nor unique and it won't be the last either. And although he is absolutely right, Biden calling out Putin for the war criminals he is is cringe inducing nonetheless. Millions of innocent people have suffered and are still suffering the same kind of brutal barbarism at the hand of the US and its allies as are the Ukrainian people.
Only to them, we are indifferent.
This f*cking world makes me sick!
This could be true but based upon the other staged events in Ukraine likely not. I am not going to go down the laundry list of why, like the JFK or the 911. Read for yourself.
ReplyDeleteTwo big points about this massacure. First it happened 3 days after the Mayor of the town was all smiles about the Russians leaving. Cell towers in place internet working and no one was talking about dead bodies. Second when the Russians tried to bring this issue to the security council for some kind of independent investigation, its was blocked by the British, why?
Biden calling out Putin for the war criminals
ReplyDeleteLet us remember that the USA has legislation authorizing military force to "rescue" any US citizen charged by the International Criminal Court and is not a signatory to the convention.
So the USA will go to war with Belgium to protect US citizens from charges of war crimes but wants Putin charged? Can one say "Hypocrisy"?
Forgot the +1. Sorry
ReplyDeleteSuch a vulgar piece of subhuman slime is the Butcher of Bucha, a barbarian orc who deserves to endure all the same atrocities dealt to innocent Ukrainian people -- and then some. The oligarchs propping him up, and the bought-off politicians in the West -- Trump especially but also his fellow mendacious, corrupt Rethugs and BloJo's fifth columnists -- should rot in a hole. Along with that savage despot in Hungary who "won" another rigged election, and the fascist IDU unCanadian prick in a sweater vest coordinating Orbán's Orwellian model of "illiberal democracy" to be spread like a cancer around the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is the result of unchecked greed and self-interest prioritized over humanity. Rasputin, the madman of Moscow, deserves to boil in hell, but so too do every single one of his enablers. The blood of innocents is on their hands and Zelensky is right to name and shame them -- and to call out Western governments and multinational conglomerates for letting this sickness fester within their own ranks as a matter of convenience and easy blood money. The sanctions are but a slap on the wrist. The head of the Hydra hiding like a coward in some bunker in St. Petersburg needs to be cut off like the rabid animal he is. His enablers, meanwhile, need to face complete, mandatory asset forfeiture and serious time behind bars. That especially includes the lying, sociopathic propagandist and white-nationalist Kremlin operative Rupert Murdoch, who Biden rightly called one of the most dangerous men in the world.
The question is, can this downslide into fascist barbarism meet with the course correction that is so desperately needed, before more atrocities spread and democracy is dealt a final crushing blow? I try to remain optimistic, but with the GOP barbarians banging at the gates of the US midterms, Trump once again on the warpath leading up to 2024, and now Le Pen in a statistical dead head with Macron, it all leaves me shaking my head. Putin (piss be upon him) is the most vicious of the monsters, but the threat of "Putinism" is everywhere. Zelensky's call to arms must be heeded. This madness must be stopped once and for all.
@Steve
ReplyDelete"This could be true but"
Its difficult to sift through the propaganda but the murders are very likely true. Look at the surrounding destruction, revenge is what armatures as well as their leader does when they have suffered significant losses and then are forced to retreat. Also Bellingcat has pieced together a credible time line somewhat more convincing than the Russian propaganda machine.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/04/04/russias-bucha-facts-versus-the-evidence/
RT
More evidence based on satellite imagery. Like his army, Putin's propaganda machine is not as omnipotent he thought. Unfortunately its not over as a cornered rat that has prevailed in the past is extremely dangerous.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/news/60981238
RT
Hi jrkrideau...The slogan Glory to Ukraine has evolved from the time in the Second World War when Ukrainians were fighting for their right to exist, and has no far-right connotations today. So I'm not interested in re litigating the tragic history of Ukraine which at one point found itself fighting both the Nazis and the Soviets, and in that atmosphere atrocities did occur. What I am interested in is ending the modern day atrocities like the ones in the town of Bucha. I condemned the American atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will do the same for those that attempt genocide anywhere in the world...
ReplyDeleteHi RT...That latest Russian attempt to negate Ukraine's existence, is the kind of thing that leads to genocide. Ukraine has been the scene of some terrible historical attrocities, which must never be forgotten, so it deserves to be able to move on and build a better and more peaceful future for itself. I believe it was heading in that direction which is what makes the Russian invasion even more tragic. I am a great admirer of the Soviet Union's heroic war against the Nazis, so to see them acting like Nazis is for me extremely depressing...
ReplyDeleteHi JD....I also have no time for those who try to justify what is happening today by citing historical precedent. If we all did that we would be forever stuck in the bloody past, when what we need to do is move on and try to create a peace on earth where we can all live. And right now that means uniting to condemn the brutish Russian invasion, and try to pressure the monster Putin into giving up his genocidal campaign. For like you I fear what else he might be doing in other parts of Ukraine that are presently under the control of the Russians. Putin doesn't seem to understand that he may conquer Ukraine but he will never defeat it, and that in the end Russia will pay a brutal price for what it is doing, one that will take many years of peace to overcome. Putin is a little man, and it shows...
ReplyDeleteHi Carl....I also earnestly hope that Putin will face justice one day. From what I have read it is almost entirely his war, and its brutality reflects his bestial personality. But like you I doubt that will happen, since it seems that the war has made him even more popular in Russia. But there will be a reckoning, and the Russians who support him now will live to regret it. And yes, the Americans are hardly in a position to accuse anybody of war crimes after what they did in Iraq and Afghanistan. But don't despair, it may seem hard to believe but the world is inching towards a better future, and struggling for that better future is never a waste of time. At least that's what keeps me going, and I'm never going to change....
ReplyDeleteHi Steve...please stop it with your conspiracy theories. The notion that the killings in Bucha and other places were staged has been thoroughly debunked. https://www.bbc.com/news/60981238
ReplyDeleteTo deny the reality of genocide is as low as you can go. So don't do it...
@ Anonymous
ReplyDeletethe murders are very likely true.
Oh definitely they are true though a few people might have been accidentally killed by Ukrainian artillery fire as the Ukrainians bade farewell to the withdrawing Russians but it looks unlikely. What Steve and I are questioning is the story and timeline. The story stinks.
Steve
First it happened 3 days after the Mayor of the town was all smiles about the Russians leaving. Cell towers in place internet working and no one was talking about dead bodies. Second when the Russians tried to bring this issue to the security council for some kind of independent investigation, its was blocked by the British, why?
The mayor and the rest of the population did not notice a few dozen bodies strewn about the streets for two or three days? They did not even drag the bodies out of the roadway?
Here is an alternative narrative to Bellingcat's. I have no idea who the author(s) are so take it with lots of skepticism but the timeline is consistent with what we know. https://standpointzero.com/2022/04/04/the-bucha-massacre/
Here is a film of the Safari Unit of the Ukrainian National Police clearing the towns of Bucha and Hostomel after the Russians left. I believe they were the first Ukrainian unit into Bucha. I saw, possibly, two bodies, one of which was almost certainly a victim of the bombardment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnDKbCE4__8
Reports suggest that elements of the Azov Battalion were next in after the Safari troops. You might want to google them.
Hi jrkrideau...On this one I agree with you. It is hypocritical for the Americans to want to refer anyone to a court they have not joined, for the reason that they don't want to find themselves on trial for some of the atrocities they have committed. But nevertheless Putin id now a war criminal, so that is where he belongs....
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie...I know how you feel. When I wrote this post I wondered whether I should include the graphic photos of the murdered civilians. But I finally decided that not to show them would only serve the interests of those who slaughtered them. They were too bestial and too dumb to understand that they were damaging their own rotten cause, and they should not get away with it. But sadly I agree with you, Putinism isn't just a Russian problem, it's everywhere these days. However, I also believe that democracy is more resilient that those fascists imagine, and that it will in the end prevail. During the Harper years I used to wonder whether we would ever emerge from the darkness we found ourselves in, but we did, and we're a better country for it. I hope that the GOP and the traitor Trump will meet the same fate, and that his collaboration with Putin will cost him everything, at last. And needless to say we have our own would be fascists in Canada, and I look forward to defeating them and burying Harper's foul legacy once and for all...
ReplyDelete@ Simon
ReplyDelete"The slogan Glory to Ukraine has evolved from the time in the Second World War when Ukrainians were fighting for their right to exist."
Yes, I believe it did, if not before WWII, when there was an active Ukrainian independence movement especially in the then Polish Galicia region in what is now the Western part of Ukraine, centered around Lviv I believe. The unfortunate thing was that some of leaders of the movement were people such as Stepan Bandura and Roman Shukhevych.
Both of them, quite reasonably in 1939 or 1940, allied themselves with Germany as a counterweight to Poland and the USSR but they proved to be just as xenophobic as the Nazis and appear to have purged thousands of Poles and Jews from what they considered to be Ukrainian lands. BTW, my remark earlier that Bandura was a Ukrainian patriot was sincere. He was. That did not mean he was someone you would want as a son-in-law.
That members of the the Azov Battalion, Right Sector and the Aidar Battalion, among others, proudly sport tattoos of the Swastika and the SS Wolfsangel, or wear Black Sun medallions as it appears many female members of the Azov Battalion do also use "Glory to Ukraine" as their slogan is not particularly reassuring.
Both the Azov Battalion and the Aidar Battalion are now official Ukrainian militia units under, IIRC, the Ministry of the Interior (or some equivalent title).
If they believe we should deal with past atrocities first, then before anything else, we must convene a posthumous trial for Cain, son of Adam. Considering nobody had murdered anyone before that, the first murder is certainly an atrocity.
ReplyDelete"But don't despair, it may seem hard to believe but the world is inching towards a better future, and struggling for that better future is never a waste of time. At least that's what keeps me going, and I'm never going to change...."
ReplyDeleteThose are words to live by.
Very much needed. Thanks Simon.
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.327R8KF
ReplyDeleteThis ain't rock n roll, this is genocide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTIsnYPG4lU
JD
Hi Carl...I'm glad I was able to cheer you up. There is nothing I enjoy more than cheering up progressives, and it's why I created this blog back in the dark days of the Harper regime. Thanks to the Covid horror I'm a much older and sadder person than I was then. But I intend to keep on trying to do that for as long as I can...
ReplyDeleteHi JD...Thanks for that great Bowie tune, I need it. The war in Ukraine has depressed me enough, and now to have some of my readers questioning whether the mass murder in Bucha was real is about as much as I can bear. Honestly, what is happening to people?
ReplyDeleteHi jrkrideau....I'm sure there are some dodgy soldiers on the Ukrainian side, as there are on the Russian side. When you start a war like the one in Ukraine you've got to expect that. Here for an example is a Russian officer decorating a soldier with a death head or Totenkopf badge on his arm.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/-LJHk-Q5M7w
But as far as I can determine, the Russians are responsible for the war crimes against civilians. And they should get out of Ukraine and stop shaming their country. What we need now is peace above all...
Hi Anon@1:29 PM….Yes, I’m afraid you’re right. If Cain had treated his brother better, we wouldn’t be in this bloody mess. Swear out a warrant for his arrest immediately…
ReplyDelete@ Simon 2:47
ReplyDeleteGood response Simon. Wise words during a dark time. Little did we know Harper was a harbinger of what was to follow and unfortunately it does not seem to be over so don't give up!
RT
Hi RT...Than you. I'm trying to say calm during this turbulent time, which isn't easy since I hate bullies with a passion. But I tell myself that many Russians are also suffering from the madness of their evil dictator, so what we need to encourage is a peace process. However, I fear that Putin is about to unleash something bestial, so I'm praying that the Ukrainians will be able to withstand what's coming....
ReplyDeleteI will go on record as saying Russia will sign a peace treaty with Ukraine on Russian terms and that will be a better outcome than the alternative.
ReplyDeleteThe media is doing a fantastic pysh ops on western citizens.
In India the world largest democracy they are pro Russian.
In China I do not care, because they are the biggest winners in this losers battle.