Tag: Inna Sovsun

As Ukraine’s LGBTQ soldiers fight on the front line, acceptance grows in the conservative country (not really)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Instagram.

As Ukraine’s LGBTQ soldiers fight on the front line, acceptance grows in the conservative country

“My fellow soldiers are really impressed with what I’ve done in Bakhmut, the massive scale of work that I did there, and after that they just don’t care about who I sleep with,” Honzyk, whose medical unit evacuates wounded soldiers and provides emergency first aid, said in a hip café in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, while on leave from the front line.

That doesn’t sound like what Ivan told the following publication, three days later:

Against Homophobia, For Women’s Rights: Ivan’s Lonely Struggle (original)

Ivan Honzyk came out as gay in March last year. His sexuality is a problem for others. In Russia, he keeps appearing on television for propaganda purposes. In Ukraine, many homosexuals have a hard time in the army. Many live in hiding, says Ivan Honzyk. Soldiers don’t want to meet him for fear of being mistaken for gay themselves.

Ukraine May See New ‘Maidan’

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukraine could be looking at another Maidan

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy’s assurances don’t assuage some veteran observers of the country either. “We have not seen significant enough efforts to address corruption — although perhaps with one important exception,” said a former senior U.S. diplomat who has considerable experience in Ukraine. “I think they really are trying to prevent diversion of any of the massive Western assistance they’re receiving. I believe they do understand the risks, if there were to be a major scandal.”

But the former diplomat said that what struck him in recent meetings with opposition politicians and civil society leaders in Kyiv was how, “on the one hand, they truly appreciate Zelenskyy’s strength as a war leader,” but are “deeply worried also about corruption and his authoritarian style.”

“In their minds, there is going to be a reckoning as soon as the war ends,” he said. “And I think that’s probably going to be true.”