Tag: Sloviansk

Jailed as collaborators: the stories of Ukrainians who ended up in prison

Ms. Cat

Jailed as collaborators: the stories of Ukrainians who ended up in prison

Most of the high-level turncoats managed to flee to Russia, meaning it is mostly lower-level collaborators who are in jail. As Russia continues to strike Ukraine, causing death and misery, there is scant sympathy for these people, as evidenced by one male prisoner with a 12-year sentence who agreed to be photographed but declined to share his name. He had been assaulted by his cellmates while in pre-trial detention. They tattooed the word “Orc” – a pejorative term for Russian soldiers widely used in Ukraine – on his forehead.

…

Holomb admitted her guilt, she said, because she felt she had no choice. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison. She is currently with her two-year-old daughter in prison, but after her third birthday the child will be taken away. “Everyone was in shock at the sentence. My mum hired a lawyer, we filed an appeal but it was too late,” she said.

Holomb has now signed a request asking to be swapped in a prisoner exchange and sent to Russia, as she thinks it is her best chance of being freed. She has never set foot in the country before.

Many of those the Guardian interviewed insisted their innocent activity had been misinterpreted and they had then been pressured into signing confessions. Valentyn Moroi, a 52-year-old from Sloviansk, said he had merely taken photographs of the warehouse where he worked, to prove everything was secure, and sent them to his boss, who was in Russia. The SBU had taken this as evidence he was sending classified information to Russian intelligence, he claimed.

To Be Updated: USAID is sponsoring YouTube channels

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How Democracy Can Win: The Right Way to Counter Autocracy

The most important step the United States can take to counter foreign influence campaigns and disinformation is to help our partners promote media and digital literacy, communicate credibly with their publics, and engage in “pre-bunking”—that is, seeking to inoculate their societies against disinformation before it can spread. In Indonesia, for example, USAID has worked with local partners to develop sophisticated online courses and games that help new social media users identify disinformation and reduce the likelihood that they will share misleading posts and articles.

The United States has also helped Ukraine in its fight against the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation. For decades, USAID has worked to enhance the media environment in the country, encouraging reforms that allow greater access to public information and supporting the emergence of strong local media organizations, including the public broadcaster Suspilne. After Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, our work expanded to help the country’s local journalists produce Russian-language programming that could reach into Kremlin-occupied territories, such as Dialogues With Donbas, a YouTube channel that featured honest conversations with Ukrainians about life behind Russian lines. We also helped support the production of the online comedy show Newspalm, which regularly racks up tens of thousands of views as it skewers Putin’s lies. And even before Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, we worked with the government of Ukraine to stand up the Center for Strategic Communications, which uses memes [memetic warfare], well-produced digital videos, and social media and Telegram posts to poke holes in Kremlin propaganda.

I still need to look into Newspalm. I’ll update if I find anything. As I don’t know Ukrainian, or Russian, I’m using Google translate for the following information. Note, this is all speculation!

Speculation:

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U.S. ups the ante: are we indeed headed into WWIII and what can save us?

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Gilbert Doctorow, 9/9/22

The UK and Commonwealth may be mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday. I am in mourning as well, but for a very different reason: the gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein air base in Germany yesterday reshuffled the deck on Western military and financial assistance to Ukraine, raising contributions to the ongoing holy crusade against Russia from still more nations and adding new, still more advanced precision strike weapons to the mix of deliveries to Kiev. It was an open summons to the Kremlin to escalate in turn, as were the test firing the same day of a new intercontinental rocket, the Minuteman III, from Vandenberg air base in California and the unannounced visit to Kiev yesterday of not only Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was featured in Western media accounts, but also other top officials of the Biden administration. The most notorious member of this delegation was surely Blinken’s deputy, Victoria Nuland, who had stage managed the February 2014 coup that put in power in Kiev the Russia-hating regime that Zelensky now heads.

Gilbert Doctorow: U.S. ups the ante: are we indeed headed into WWIII and what can save us?

Related:

A Former US Marine Corps Officer’s Analysis of the Ukraine War (archived, in case the original is removed)

H/T: Natylie’s Place: Understanding Russia

Oliver Boyd-Barrett: Approaching War with China

Ms. Cat

By Prof. Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Substack, 7/29/22

Donbass and Kherson Developments

Drawing on Dima’s reports to the Military Summary Channel, it appears to Mercouris (Mercouris July 29 2022) that the Russian renewed offensive is now in full force, more intensely overwhelming than it has ever been, quite contrary to a recent BBC report.

Oliver Boyd-Barrett: Approaching War with China
U.S. military bases surrounding China.

Ukraine Fired USA supplied Ammunition On Bridge To Kherson & Nikolaiv / Odessa Front

Ms. Cat

Jul 24, 2022 This week Ukraine has purportedly(Russia Forces Claim) fired USA Made HIMARS Rockets on the Antonov Bridge that To Kherson & Nikolaiv / Odessa Front. In this report I am on the bridge showing you the facts and hearing from the current(Russian placed) governor of the Kherson Region. It should be noted that Ukraine says it was not HIMARS but the USA supplied 155 mm Excalibur. Both were given to Ukraine by the USA.

Another note, This bridge connects Kherson and the Nikolaevo-Odessa direction with the overland route to the Crimea.

Ukraine Fired USA supplied Ammunition On Bridge To Kherson & Nikolaiv / Odessa Front – Patrick Lancaster

Related (with obvious Western slant):

Ukraine’s counteroffensive: HIMARS missiles pave Ukraine’s counteroffensive on Kherson

The war in Ukraine, the Antonov Bridge destroyed in the HIMARS attack:

The Ukrainians, however, have their own plans and intend to retake the city. On the western side of the Dnieper there are several, maybe even several thousand, Russian soldiers, and the army is connected by only two bridges – the Antonov Bridge and the bridge in Nowa Kachovka (there is also a dam on which you can cross).

Death trap for the USA

Ms. Cat1 Comment

Comment by Greanville Post: New York Times citing US officials on 24/7/2022 [sic] reported that US & European allies will not be able to maintain current level of support for Kiev for a prolonged period of time. Despite the fact that President Biden has vowed to stand with Ukraine for “as long as it takes”, no one expects more billions of support for Ukraine when the currently authorised aid package of $54 billion in military & other assistance runs out by second quarter of 2023.

Death trap for the USA