Versuche der russischen Zensur, die einheimischen Föderalisten zum Schweigen zu bringen, gehen nach hinten los

Demokratie ist Selbstbestimmung

Demokratie ist Selbstbestimmung

03.08.14 | Halya Coynash | Charkiwer Menschenrechtsgruppe (Übersetzung)

Die Föderalisierung, auf die der Kreml in der Ukraine so aggressiv drängt, ist näher an Moskau eindeutig ein Schimpfwort. Ein Wort, das Bürgeraktivisten und diejenigen, die über ihre friedlichen Protestpläne zu berichten wagen, in Schwierigkeiten bringen kann. Auf der anderen Seite erweisen sich die aktuellen fieberhaften Anstrengungen  der russischen Generalstaatsanwaltschaft, alle Erwähnung von einheimischen Aufrufen für eine echte Föderalisierung zu blockieren, urkomisch als kontraproduktiv. Continue reading

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Semyonchenko: The money arrived from Kyiv and today, at last, we became mercenaries.

By Semyon Semyonchenko, Commander, Donbas Battalion
08.01.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Congratulate us. Today we at last became mercenaries. 🙂 A messenger arrived from Kyiv bringing salaries for the soldiers of the special forces battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard Donbas. On it [the pay] we are able to afford almost everything. A monthly salary of 989 Hryvnias [$82.64 USD approx.]. For each person! We bought 500 packages of kefir [yogurt] at the store in town; we sit and drink it, bitter and rather acidic. 🙂 It’s the the heavy fate of a Ukrainian mercenary. 🙂 Periodically, mortars are fired. But with kefir, this is no longer scary. Donbas parties today!!! 🙂

P.S. The money came truly just in time. The blue and yellow paint was used up. Tomorrow we’ll get out and purchase more. Look how beautifully it turns out…

Sign entering Popasna, Ukraine

Sign entering Popasna, Ukraine

Source: Semyon Semyonchenko FB

 

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Lysychansk: do you know what it is to turn gray at five and a half years old?

By Khrystyna Bondarenko, Editor-in-Chief at 5.ua
Channel 5  07.27.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

And do you know what it is to turn gray at five and a half years old?

Yes, terrorist-assholes, Sasha [diminutive from Oleksandr] turned gray after you shot him in the back and shouted, “look what a speedy kid.” The boy did not speak for seven days. Today is only the second day since he started talking again: about the parrot Kesha, who turned deaf, and about guinea pig Dasha, who started biting him hard. [They] did not have time to take the animals with them to the basement and the little boy was very worried about them. 

The guys from the National Guard now live in Sasha’s apartment. And at the neighbors’ [apartment], too. Unlike most of the locals, who, by the way, first take the bread from our soldiers, and then curse them, stepping a meter way, Sasha’s parents decided to set up a National Guard headquarters in their yard and apartment. And now, there is a machine gun next to the bathroom door by the bathrobes. But they don’t mind this, not at all. Nor do they care that instead of flowerpots, there are now sandbags on the windowsills. And several soldiers sleep on a sofa bed. And they generally don’t care how their abode looks now–most importantly, they still have it. Many [people] are left with broken walls and wall carpets pitted with gunfire instead of their old apartments. Terrorists set up their positions directly in the yards, specifically making people their targets.

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…And Sasha was rescued from his gray hair by his new best friend–a soldier in the National Guard. It is thanks to him that the little boy started speaking again. He was the one who offered to replace the [boy’s] stylish gray haircut with a shaved head.

Liberated Lysychansk–Sasha sings along with soldiers:

But another problem has arisen–when Sasha sits on your lap, you notice the short hairs on his clothing–his hair has started to fall out. Sasha’s mom is pregnant. She hardly cries anymore. She has gotten used to [the situation]…

Many of their acquaintances joined the rebels. And having joined them, many of those [acquaintances] shot at their own.

Lysychansk is gradually coming back to life. But it is very painful. People here are still fighting over bread. You can’t even imagine what a horrible sight it is. Separatists robbed all the stores in town.

Lysychansk fight for bread:

Incidentally, Sasha now says, “Glory to Ukraine” on goodbye. He holds his mom by the hand–proudly just like a man–and then, looking into the camera, he says so reassuringly, “It’s not scary, don’t be afraid, now we will be alright.”

P.S.: We are working on a film about people who are learning to live without war. Short stories are only a part of this project.

Photos: Yan Dobronosov
Source: Khrystyna Bondarenko FB

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KONSTANTIN MASHOVETS: An analysis of events

By Lt. Col. Konstantin Mashovets, blogger, Ministry of Defence
07.22.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

The latest analysis from [Ukrainian] Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Mashovets:

[Balzac’s] shagreen, it shrinks…

1. Of course Girkin can tell as many tales as he wishes of hordes of Serbian “Chetniks” burning with desire to die under Ukrainian forces’ heavy machine gun and mortar fire. However, this is unlikely to change the fact that his operational rear is simply falling to pieces (this “paper commander” has been warned that his rear units will be on fire if he decides “to fight till death,” and this is what is actually happening). After all, Girkin is actually not capable of stopping the Ukrainian forces advancing around Horlivka to Yenakiieve and cutting off “crazy Lyosha’s” (Oleksii Mozgovyi’s brigade) route to Luhansk behind his back–Girkin simply does not have the necessary forces. If he wasn’t squabbling with Vostok [battalion] and wasn’t throwing it all into a grueling battle of encounter, he could have maintained operational communication with Luhanda [a neologism combining the words “Luhansk” and “Uganda,” referring to Luhansk People’s Republic]. But now he will have to work his way South, through the sparsely populated steppes, where they are expecting [him] already…

2. Apparently, my words yesterday about starting positions and areas not [being used] for a “reverse attack” anymore, but for a simple breakthrough “for the sake of saving the idea,” have turned out to be largely prophetic. The Alchevsk-Stakhanov-Bryanka triangle is gradually turning into a starting area for the terrorist breakthrough out of the Donetsk sack (first and foremost the remainder of Vostok and of [Oleksii] Mozgovyi’s “Fedayeens,” and then his crony, “the Honorable” Bezler). Yesterday, “comrade Mozgovyi” broke in here, tired and worn out, having lost the majority of his “armored troops” during the breakthrough from the Lysychansk loop through Pervomaisk (he has no more than three armored vehicles left). This maneuvre did not come easy to him; the losses of his consolidated (or rather rag-tag) brigade cannot even be defined as “significant,” but rather “fatal.”

3. Just as I anticipated, it was the flanks that became the overall “misfortune” for the terrorists. The classical operation by Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka-Dzerzhynsk-Kostyantynivka is a convincing illustration of that. The “terrible and frightening“ Bezler was simply skirted around the flanks and forced to quickly break away from the leading units of an advancing Ukrainian team. Somewhat stunned, Bes [Bezler’s call sign] was forced to swiftly retreat to his lair, [the city of] Horlivka, which the Ukrainian troops managed to hem in from three sides as a result of such successful MANEUVERING actions. Whereas only three days ago, he tried “to cut off” the Artemivsk formation of Ukrainian forces which was aiming at Popasna, intending to derail all activities on “educating comrade Mozgovyi…”

4. This morning, the terrorists in Luhansk made a titanic attempt to stop the collapse of the centralized and organized resistance in the Luhansk defense node. [They carried out] several chaotic fire strikes (primarily in the south-eastern part and in the strip from Rozkishne to Ternove, in the general direction of Chervonopartyzansk), [tried to]  shrink the expansions of the territory around the airport controlled by Ukrainian forces, and [made] a few strange and unfocused attacking convulsions. [All of these actions] did not change the general operational situation–Ukrainian forces in this sector continued to squeeze the terrorists’ defense from three sides. They [terrorists] really have only one corridor left, towards Izvaryne, through Krasnodon and Sukhodillya, and even [this corridor is] at times quite noticeably fired at by Ukrainain artillery and aviation. By the way, this morning’s wails about the “armored armada that broke through Krasnodon” were precisely aimed at “misleading and winning some time” to more or less adequately prepare for resistance to counterattacks on the Ukrainian military formation, which was entrenched in the southeastern outskirts of Luhansk and restricted the terrorists’ maneuvers. I think that they will continue to fuss around in this area for another two or three days, then the savviest of them will make a run for the border through Krasnodon, while the rest will be exterminated…

5. Today in the South, one of the commanders of the tactical team almost undermined “the entire operational plan” of the ATO command. In a complete surprise to the separatists and their own commanders in the area of Marynivka and Saurivka, where terrorists bit into the ground and continue to hold the border access points with artillery strikes from an adjacent site (the last “way out” for Girkin & Co.), a consolidated tactical group from a regiment of Ukrainian troops, [that was] transporting injured soldiers, broke through combat formations of illegal armed groups at the flank and joined the positions of Ukrainian troops, deployed to the north-west of Amvrosiivka. In general, in the Sverdlovsk–Dmytrivka–Dolzhansky triangle, apparently the terrorists don’t have any chances left ANYMORE. The narrow strip [that leads] to the [Russian] border, which was cleared by Girkin’s incredible efforts a week ago, remains the “only bright spot” for them.

Girkin dreams of being like General Anton Denikin. I don’t know how much he actually resembles Denikin physically, but the most interesting thing is that in his “military practice” Girkin is making the same mistakes that the “Commander-in-Chief of the South of Russia” made during the [Russian] Civil War.

Source: Konstantin Mashovets FB

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Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – August 1, 2014

Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
08.01.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Brothers and sisters!

information_resistance_logo_engHere’s the Summary for August 1, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for July 31).

The bad news:

1. Russia doesn’t even intend to explain why it needed to amass troops and equipment near the border with Ukraine. As we know, Kyiv earlier turned to Moscow with a request that it provide a report under the Vienna Document on implementing confidence and security building measures. Russia was supposed to respond within two days, which would be no later than the evening of July 31. We received no answer. 

Actually, no one expected Putin to start calling a spade a spade–that is to say that he would be forced to admit that he dragged tanks and “Grads” to the border for three reasons: to deliver some [of them] to the terrorists, to use some of them to shell Ukraine, and some–to frighten Ukrainians with invasion.

But even if Moscow lied in its soul, yet gave a response, you could say that Putin did not completely spit on the basic agreement in the field of international security. However, he did in fact spit [on it]. God knows it’s not a big revelation–just another proof.

2. The Interior Ministry reported that in the liberated cities of Donbas, over 50% of the police officers broke the Oath during the occupation–in some instances, by failing to perform their professional duties, and often simply by joining the ranks of terrorists.

According to our data, the percentage of disloyalty is well above 50%. In this case, we have recorded numerous instances when the police on their “off duty time” went “to moonlight” to the same occupied Sloviansk from one of the nearby settlements. You bet–to be able to make 1,000 Hryvnias a day from terrorists is a very tempting [offer] for a depressed region.

The question is, who will replace all this rot after the cities are freed? The reliability of the majority of law enforcement across-the-board still raises doubts. On the other hand, to initiate total lustration would mean to push “the doubting” policemen into the embrace of insurgents.

The problem is not a simple one. Hopefully, the Interior Ministry leadership will find ways to solve it.

3. Terrorists are so touching. Donbas has long been convinced wholeheartedly about not having anything to do with their [terrorist] gang identity. But these genetic scum nevertheless all continue to present some kind of justification for their violence, killings and robberies under the guise of a schizophrenic “statehood.”

Here is one of those dead-end branches of fauna development named Girkin, who calls himself the Defense Minister of the DNR [Donetsk People’s Republic], who permitted “the mobilization of necessary financial resources” from the residents of Donetsk. As in, now the insurgents can loot “legitimately,” squeezing the population for vehicles, building materials, medical equipment, fuel, etc.

But that’s where the trick is. Girkin simultaneously introduced being responsible for the “illegal mobilization of funds” without the appropriate paper permit issued by his very own, beloved self.

In short, this is akin to taking a hat from a passer-by in an alley by showing permission from the gang leader. It’s funny and sad.

The good:

1. During the day, ATO forces freed the settlement of Krasnohorivka (Donetsk Oblast) and two settlements in the Savur-Mohyla area from the insurgents. We also received information about paratroopers taking control of the settlement of Kontarne (Shakhterskyi [district], Donetsk Oblast).

Nobody likes the slow pace of the ATO, everyone wants a quick win. This desire is understandable and legitimate. But we see that the operational pauses in the ATO do not mean that the command can sit idly. A redeployment of forces and preparatory acts for new victories are taking place. Yesterday’s “day of silence” was used to solve the problem of Sector D–the withdrawal of our divisions from shelled positions and ensuring their rotation.

The ATO continues. And there is no doubt that [our] major victories–just like the last and final one–are ahead.

2. President P. Poroshenko announced today that all European States support Ukraine in its present difficult situation.

Literally, he said: “I declare responsibly, as the Ukrainian President, who has also participated for the first time in a closed meeting of the EU Council at the level of Heads of State and Government, that there is no country that would not support Ukraine.”

We know that the pro-Russian lobby is quite significant in many EU countries. But we also believe that Europe will never give up its values. It is no coincidence that Ukraine believes in and adopted these values for itself.

3. What grief, what grief! Unidentified persons shot dead the Deputy Foreign Minister (the title sounds modest but tasteful) of the terrorist organization DNR, Aleksandr Proselkov, in Luhansk Oblast.

The governor of the DNR, Pavel Gubarev, said that Proselkov was delivering some “secret information” to him (it should have been related to the secret negotiations with the LNR [Luhansk People’s Republic] on a long-term loan to buy two bottles of Desna cognac for their meeting with the delegation of the Russian State Duma). As a result, Gubarev was left without the secret information. Our condolences.

The insurgents immediately began yelling that their accomplice was sewn up by a “professional killer.” However, to our knowledge, this gentleman was killed by his own people as a mistake–amongst the terrorists it has become [quite] fashionable to fire with drunken eyes at everything. At this time it happened to be Gubarev’s assistant. It happens. But it is impossible [for me] to squeeze out a tear.

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk FB

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