To the many commenters here who are insisting that what the Russians are saying is only due to propaganda – yes, Russians are definitely subjected to propaganda – I suggest being very careful about dismissing their sentiments solely in that light.
Ukraine has always been a very divided country since it gained independence in 1991. This is due to the western parts of the country having been under the Polish and Austro-Hungarian imperial rule and the southeastern part of the country under the Russian imperial rule. The Ukrainians in the southeastern area, especially what is known as the Donbas region, consist of mostly ethnic Russians who speak Russian and have cultural affinities with Russia. Due to these divisions, since 1991, Ukraine had been doing a clumsy balancing act of Presidents and Prime Ministers from different parts of Ukraine having and alternating power as well as having official neutrality in terms of membership in any alliance – NATO or Russian.
In 2014, an illegal overthrow of the corrupt but democratically elected leader (all leaders of post-1991 Ukraine have been corrupt) occurred with evidence that it was facilitated by Washington. Washington has had its own geopolitical interests that it has pursued in the region with respect to its rivalry with Russia. Unfortunately, that included exploiting the divisions within Ukraine with little regard for what was actually in the long-term interests of Ukrainians.
What started out as a protest in late 2013 on the Maidan in support of closer relations with the EU was eventually hijacked by ultra-nationalist forces who used violence to achieve the overthrow of the government. And, yes, some can genuinely be called Neo-Nazis. You don’t have to take my word for it – here are three Ukrainian (not Russian) academics who’ve studied this and will tell you themselves:
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii133/articles/volodymyr-ishchenko-towards-the-abyss
https://natyliesbaldwin.com/2016/08/review-analysis-of-the-donbas-rift-by-serhiy-kudelia/
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2658245
These forces have gained disproportionate influence in Ukraine, though their actual numbers in proportion to the population are small, due to their willingness to use violence. The use of militias with these kinds of sadistic fanatics were part of Kiev’s terrorist operation against the Donbas rebels who did not accept the illegal overthrow of the president they elected and who were genuinely alarmed by the anti-Russian rhetoric coming out of the hijacked Maidan protests and aftermath. Many Ukrainian conscripts were not inclined to kill their fellow Ukrainians in 2014, so these militias were increasingly used. These militias have threatened Zelensky if he pursues the peace he campaigned for the presidency on, saying that Zelensky “will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk - if he betrays Ukraine and those people who died in the Revolution and the War."
Since 2014, the UN estimates that about 14,000 Ukrainians were killed – with around 80% on the rebel side of the line – and many have been civilians killed by shelling. The majority of the deaths were in 2014-2015 but shelling and deaths were still occurring through 2022. These deaths included women and children being blown apart. The western media largely didn’t report on this so most of you were probably unaware of it.
But I can assure you that Russians saw these images. You know the way most of you feel when you see the images of Ukrainians outside of Donbas being killed since February? Well, Russians felt that same way when seeing fellow ethnic Russians being shelled by the Kiev government. So keep that in mind when thinking that this is all strictly due to Russian propaganda or that the west doesn’t ever engage in any propaganda itself. Ask yourself why NYT, CNN, et al. didn’t report the Donbas Ukrainians being killed – were they not worthy victims?
If Americans and other westerners really care about this war, then they have a responsibility to do a little more digging into the background of it. If we don’t understand how we got here, we’re not going to understand how to get out of it. You may not like that fact, but it’s a fact nonetheless. If people can’t be bothered to do this, then they’re simply engaging in empty sloganeering. That might make people feel better, but it’s not going to do a damn thing for Ukraine.
