Ukraine 3

[Hoodat]

The farce of the ‘referendum’ in the Donbas

Agata Wierzbowska-Miazga Tadeusz Iwański Piotr Żochowski  |  2014-05-14

On 11 May pro-Russian separatists organised a ‘referendum’ on the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the results of which (89.07% and 96.2% respectively ‘in favour’) were falsified, and whose voting processes did not meet democratic standards. On 12 May the Donetsk and Lugansk separatists adopted a resolution on the sovereignty of the ‘Donetsk People's Republic’ and the ‘Lugansk Republic People’s’, and started talks about unification and the creation of a so-called entity of Novorossiya (a term from Russian imperial ideology in the late eighteenth century, defining the southern and eastern regions of today's Ukraine as a part of Russia). The Ukrainian central authorities did not take any measures to prevent the separatists holding the vote, and the anti-terrorist operation which has been ongoing for several weeks with army and Interior Ministry forces has once again proven to be very limited.

The destabilisation of eastern Ukraine, which has been continuing for more than two months, and the government’s inept attempts to resolve the situation, have had the effect of deepening social discontent and boosting anti-government sentiments both among the public and the local elites, including the representatives of the regional state administration. Moscow has effectively recognised the results of the separatist referenda; from the Russian point of view, the voting and the results have been successful propaganda exercises which will strengthen separatist activities in other districts of Ukraine.

How the 'referenda' proceeded

The separatists reported that turnout at the ‘referenda’ was 75% in the Donetsk region and 81% in the Lugansk region. Both the turnout and the results should be regarded as preposterous, and the plebiscite itself as incompatible with Ukrainian law, which does not provide for local referendums. The separatists possessed only rudimentary lists of voters (the central authorities denied them access to the register of voters); there were widespread instances of casting votes for other persons, and there were no observers. There was no security for the ballots; they had already been handed out on the streets several days earlier. The separatists failed to create a sufficient number of voting points, and in many places in both districts the 'referendum' did not take place at all.

The separatists reported that 1540 polling stations were opened in the Donetsk region (during the parliamentary elections in 2012, 2444 polling stations operated), but this number seems to have been strongly and repeatedly overstated. They did not provide any numbers for people participating in the vote, but merely gave a significant overestimate of the turnout. Given that 3.35 million people are entitled to vote in the Donetsk region, and 1.8 million in the Lugansk region (based on the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine’s figures), with such a small number of polling stations it would have been physically impossible for 75% and 81% of those eligible to vote. The polling stations were mainly set up in the cities, but even there their numbers was insufficient. In extreme cases, such as in Mariupol, only four polling stations were opened (there were 218 in the elections in 2012), with 345,000 people eligible to vote. The authorities in Kyiv called the referendum “an illegal act of effrontery”, organised and funded by the Kremlin. Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov surprisingly stated that turnout in the Donetsk region had been below 32%, and in the Lugansk region about 24%; in so doing, he indirectly acknowledged the legitimacy of the process itself. These estimates, however, have not been supported by any research exit polls on the ground, and thus cannot be relied on.

The increase in anti-government sentiment in the Donbas

One success for the separatists is that the local population now mainly blame the situation in the eastern regions on the authorities in Kyiv. In the public perception, the military actions, problems with supplies and transport in the region, the anarchic state of life, the deterioration of security on the streets and roads, and the acts of terror that are the result of separatist activities, are the responsibility of the government in Kyiv and the anti-terrorist operation it is conducting. By exploiting the errors Kyiv has committed in the region, Russian mass propaganda is reinforcing the sense among the local population that the central government is the enemy, and that the separatists are an alternative which offers an opportunity for positive change. The effectiveness of the separatists is also bolstered by the lack of a well thought-out campaign by Kyiv which would clarify the objectives of the military operation.

Dissatisfaction with the policy of the central government has also been demonstrated by the local power and business elites. The Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine, which still retain influence in the Donbas, have demanded the immediate termination of the anti-terrorist operation and the start of negotiations with the separatists. The oligarch Rinat Akhmetov made a similar statement through his press service; on 11 May he called for the cessation of hostilities and began forming patrols in Mariupol made up of employees belonging to his Metinvest holding. In turn Serhiy Taruta, the governor of the Donetsk region, called on the authorities in Kyiv to call off the military operations and hold a nationwide referendum on devolution on 15 June, the same day as a potential second round of the presidential elections could be held.  .  .

https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2014-05-14/farce-referendum-donbas

[Hoodat]

Let's say Cuba invades Florida and then holds a referendum on whether or not Florida wants to be part of Cuba.  They immediately hold a referendum and then announce record turnout and 89% support (the exact same number that Cuba ordered).  You would consider that election to be legit, @Right_in_Virginia ?

[Right_in_Virginia]

I provided links to back it up.  Where are yours?

I have provided links and videos for the past eight months ---- which you ignore --- and yet label me a liar.

This thread deserves to be more than a repository for propaganda from the Kiev International and open fire on anyone who presents a different POV.  This subject deserves the tough questions and a thorough investigation of the unrevised events leading to the confict blossoming into another European based world war.

But, for all intents and purposes this is your thread @Hoodat  and you live to shut down rational adult disussion.  Personally, I think this is  and have had enough of it.

[Hoodat]

I have provided links and videos for the past eight months ----

None of which had a single thing to do with the 2014 referendum.

---- which you ignore ---

I don't ignore them.  I pretty much challenge everything you post here.  Especially the non-rational propaganda that makes up 95% of what you post.

--- and yet label me a liar.

I said you post lies.  I didn't label you a liar.

This thread deserves to be more than a repository for propaganda from the Kiev International and open fire on anyone who presents a different POV.

I will donate $100 to this forum right now if you can show me a post here that came from the Kiev International.

. . . and open fire on anyone who presents a different POV.

I never considered asking someone to back up what they post as "opening fire".  But clearly you are sensitive to having your posts challenged.  Any time lies are posted, expect them to be challenged.

This subject deserves the tough questions and a thorough investigation of the unrevised events leading to the confict blossoming into another European based world war.

So what tough questions do you have?  What is your take on the atrocities that are being committed against Ukrainian civilians?  Why do you think people continue to lay blame on the Azov Battalion even though they have been defunct since 2015?  Do you think the fact of Viktor Yanukovych being a Russian puppet had anything to do with the Revolution of Dignity?  And do you think there is any connection between Russian troops and military hardware infiltrating into Ukraine in Feb 2014 and the violence that ensued shortly after?

See, you have been asked questions for months now.  And you are the one who ignores them.  I never ever back away from any question you ask of me.  Yet my questions to you go unanswered again and again and again.

But, for all intents and purposes this is your thread @Hoodat  and you live to shut down rational adult disussion.

The irony of that statement coming from you is hysterical.

Personally, I think this is  and have had enough of it.

You're just pissed because Russia is faltering on the battlefield.  But you still show up to post the same tired lies about Ukraine being responsible for Russia's invasion and atrocities against Ukrainian civilians.

[240B]

Apparently, Kherson is in process of surrendering. So is being reported.

[Hoodat]

.

[Kamaji]

Russia 'plans false flag attack on hydroelectric dam to flood Kherson' in latest attack on energy plants as Ukraine brings in four-hour blackouts to tackle electricity shortages

By MAILONLINE REPORTER
20 October 2022

Russia is laying the groundwork to destroy a key Ukrainian dam which would flood Kherson and cover its troops' retreat from the city, a think-tank has concluded. General Sergei Surovikin, Russia's new supreme commander in Ukraine, has spoken to Russian media in recent days about what he called a 'devastating strike' on the Nova Kakhovka dam (pictured) which he said was being plotted by Kyiv 's troops.

Surovikin, who has also been preparing the Russian public for a retreat from the region, said the blast would flood Kherson and cause widespread damage. This is likely setting up for a 'false-flag attack' that would cover Russia 's retreat and prove a distraction from its latest battlefield humiliation, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War have concluded. Breaching the dam would also be another blow to Ukraine's battered energy grid, with people told to brace for rolling four-hour blackouts from today after a third of the country's power plants were blown up in a little over a week.

Ukraine has already struck the dam several times with long-range rockets, because a key roadway runs over it which Russia was using to supply its troops. But Kyiv's attacks stopped once the roadway was unusable. Blackouts will occur across Ukraine from 7am local time today, the country's national grid operator said, and continue each day until 10pm. The power cuts will also affect heating, with people told to stock up on 'warm socks and blankets and hugs for family and friends' as winter approaches and temperatures dip below freezing overnight. Russia has been using hundreds of missiles and suicide drones to attack Ukraine's infrastructure in an apparent attempt to break civilian will to continue the war. Such attacks are a war crime, under international law.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-11335967/Russia-plans-false-flag-attack-hydroelectric-dam-flood-Kherson.html

[Hoodat]

Blowing that dam could open up a lot more front.  The lake area upstream of the dam could disappear, making it much easier to cross.

[Hoodat]

Devastation on Ukraine’s eastern front, where the notorious Wagner group is making gains

Sebastian Shukla, Frederik Pleitgen and Rich Harlow - CNN  |  October 20, 2022  |  5:47 AM EDT

Bakhmut, Ukraine (CNN) — The weather in Bakhmut deceives the senses, sunny and warm – almost peaceful.

But a deafening boom of outgoing artillery from the critical eastern Ukrainian town shook that notion out of the system, as Ukrainian soldiers on Wednesday launched offensives to try to reclaim positions from Russian forces.

Three men could be seen making a run for it out of town, one with a microwave strapped to his back.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has been going on for eight months. It’s only when you descend into the city of Bakhmut that you really get a sense of the devastation and destitution that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has wrought.


A vantage point gives a view over the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Our guide is a Ukrainian military medic, who goes by the nom-de-guerre “Katrusya.” In tinted sunglasses and fatigues, she slings our convoy into the center of the city at breakneck speed.

Flashing through the windows is a near ghost town.

“For the past two months, Russians have been trying to break into the city defenses and have not been successful,” she tells us between cigarettes.

She took us to see a building that had just been shelled. Our car hadn’t even come to a complete halt as another artillery shell hit close by. We scrambled for cover as more artillery rained down nearby for around 20 minutes.


Katrusya is a combat medic in Bakhmut. She lost her husband in the fighting a month ago.

The attacks are normal, says Katrusya, as she leans on a wall – a picture of composure – as we take shelter from the incoming shells.

“The artillery attacks fly every day so it’s never quiet here. Other parts of the city take hits many times a day,” she says.

A handful of residents are still on the streets of Bakhmut. Buildings have no windows; the streets are pockmarked with craters and industrial garbage bins have merged into small pools of trash.

Those who remain seem to live in a parallel universe. They’re out on their bikes, running errands, and elderly women drag their shopping trolleys behind them, though which shops are open seems a mystery.

Sergey is one of those Bakhmut inhabitants still walking the streets. Asked if he is worried about the shelling he replies, “Afraid of what, mate? Everything is going to be okay.”

He then stares out into the distance, almost as if he doesn’t really believe his own words.  .  .

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/19/europe/ukraine-war-bakhmut-struggle-intl/index.html

[Hoodat]

Divided loyalties in Ukraine city as Russia presses assault

AFP  |  19/10/2022 - 07:32

Patriotic messages stating the fact that "Bakhmut is Ukraine" are scrawled on monuments all around this frontline city.

But not everybody agrees that it should be so.

The subject is up for debate at the local market, where the city's few remaining residents stock up on food and clothes for the winter to the sounds of artillery.

One shopper, Yulia, said she believed Ukrainian forces bombed cities that were about to be captured by Russia -- repeating a conspiracy theory popular on social media.

"I don't understand why Ukraine is destroying cities," said the 46-year-old, who declined to give her surname saying that she was afraid of reprisals for her views.

"I've heard that Ukraine is doing this to itself to ensure that Russia does not get anything," said Yulia, leaving the market as the bombing came closer and closer.

She recognised that Russia was responsible for the assault on her country but said it was up to the Ukrainians now to lay down their arms in order to bring peace.


Smoke rises outside Bakhmut, where the conflict has exposed divided loyalties Dimitar DILKOFF AFP

Bakhmut is located in eastern Ukraine's industrial Donbas region, where Russia-backed rebels started a conflict in 2014 and loyalties are often very divided.

Social media groups created by local residents in Bakhmut, which had 70,000 residents before the war, contain posts that criticise the Ukrainian army's actions but stop short of actively supporting Russia.

'Wrong side of the line'

In the nearby city of Kramatorsk, the main Telegram group used by local residents -- "I Love Kramatorsk" -- messages praising Russian strikes on Kyiv can get hundreds of likes as well as dozens of negative comments.

Selling cakes from a stall, Lesya, 46, said that before the war began she had a flourishing textile business with 16 employees -- some of whom were "separatists".


Some inhabitants of Donbas accept or support the idea of Moscow gaining control in the hope of ending the conflict or because of family ties in Russia Dimitar DILKOFF AFP

"Some of them escaped to Russia thinking they will be able to come back here afterwards" if Bakhmut falls, she said, adding that they had been "drugged" by Russian state propaganda.

"Me, I'm a normal Ukrainian with a son in the Ukrainian army," said Lesya.

"But for them I'm a Banderovka" -- a reference to Ukrainian nationalist hero Stepan Bandera, who fought alongside the Nazis against the Soviet Union in World War II.

Some inhabitants of Donbas accept or support the idea of Moscow gaining control in the hope of ending the conflict or because of family ties in Russia or because they identify with President Vladimir Putin's rhetoric about a "Russian world".  .  .

https://www.rfi.fr/en/international-news/20221019-divided-loyalties-in-ukraine-city-as-russia-presses-assault

[Smokin Joe]

Blowing that dam could open up a lot more front.  The lake area upstream of the dam could disappear, making it much easier to cross.

Not until it freezes. Dams are sediment traps, and the bottom is likely silty and very soft--too much so for vehicles, armor or troops.

[Hoodat]

Why Russia — losing everywhere else in Ukraine — is still trying to capture Bakhmut

PETER WEBER  |  OCTOBER 19, 2022

The war in Ukraine hasn't exactly been going Russia's way for the past six weeks. After making slow but steady advances in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region over the summer, Russian forces lost ground quickly in a Ukrainian counteroffensive first in northeastern Kharkiv province, then in southern Kherson, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch a deeply unpopular and shambolic mobilization effort to generate new forces.

Even as Russian troops are trying to regroup behind new defensive lines in Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Kherson provinces, however, private mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group plus troops from the separatist Donetsk People's Republic have been slowly battling their way toward the city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk province, between Moscow's losses in Kharkiv and Kherson.

"There once may have been a logic to Russia's focus on capturing Bakhmut," the next step westward after Moscow took nearby Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, BBC News reports. But that was in the summer, and now "Russia has largely been forced to change from being an offensive to a defensive army." Presumably, the forces trying to break through entrenched Ukrainian lines into Bakhmut could be better used elsewhere. So why is Russia still so intent on capturing Bakhmut?

BAKHMUT IS THE KEY TO THE REST OF DONETSK

Bakhmut, with a prewar population of about 70,000, is a hub of roads and railway lines in a war where control of supply routes has been of critical importance. "Russia likely views seizing Bakhmut as a preliminary to advancing on the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk urban area, which is the most significant population center of Donetsk Oblast held by Ukraine," Britain's Ministry of Defense assesses.

https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status/1580486447634604032

https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1017551/why-russia-losing-ground-everywhere-else-is-still-trying-to-capture


From the map above, Bakhmut looks like the Bastogne of Ukraine.

[Elderberry]

Zelenskiy calls on West to warn Russia not to blow up dam

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-curbs-power-usage-after-russian-attacks-destroy-some-energy-plants-2022-10-19/

•   Blowing up dam could flood large area in southern Ukraine

•   Ukrainian forces advancing near dam on west bank of Dnipro

•   Washington says Iranian troops flew drones in attacks on Ukraine

FRONT LINE NORTH OF KHERSON, Ukraine, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the West to warn Russia not to blow up a huge dam that would flood a swath of southern Ukraine, as his forces prepare to push Moscow's troops from Kherson in one of the war's most important battles.

In a television address, Zelenskiy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir that dominates much of southern Ukraine, and were planning to blow it up.

"Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he said.

Russia accused Kyiv earlier this week of rocketing the dam and planning to destroy it, in what Ukrainian officials called a sign that Moscow might blow it up and blame Kyiv. Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.

The vast Dnipro bisects Ukraine and is several km wide in places. Bursting the dam could send a wall of water flooding settlements below it, towards the city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces hope to recapture in a major advance.

It would also wreck the canal system that irrigates much of southern Ukraine, including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.

The alarm has echoes of a World War Two disaster at another huge dam further upriver, which Ukrainian historians say was dynamited by Soviet sappers as their troops retreated, causing floods that swept away villages and killed thousands of people.

Zelenskiy called on world leaders to make clear that blowing up the dam would be treated "exactly the same as the use of weapons of mass destruction", with similar consequences to those threatened if Russia uses nuclear or chemical weapons.

More at link.

[Hoodat]

The alarm has echoes of a World War Two disaster at another huge dam further upriver, which Ukrainian historians say was dynamited by Soviet sappers as their troops retreated, causing floods that swept away villages and killed thousands of people.

Yep.  The Russians sacrificed thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian civilians by blowing these dams without warning.  They didn't give civilians the chance to seek higher ground.  Russian contempt for Ukraine has been going on for a very long time.

[Kamaji]

Yep.  The Russians sacrificed thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian civilians by blowing these dams without warning.  They didn't give civilians the chance to seek higher ground.  Russian contempt for Ukraine has been going on for a very long time.

Orcs are always orcs.

[sneakypete]

Zelenskiy calls on West to warn Russia not to blow up dam

 

Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.

@Elderberry

Gee,if I could just figure out which side would benefit from the dam being destroyed and which side would be hurted!

WARNING! There MIGHT be some slight traces of sarcasm in the above post.
 

[sneakypete]

Yep.  The Russians sacrificed thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian civilians by blowing these dams without warning.  They didn't give civilians the chance to seek higher ground.  Russian contempt for Ukraine has been going on for a very long time.

@Hoodat

Soviet contempt for the lives of ALL living creatures EXCEPT FOR THE SOVIET LEADERSHIP has been a fact of life since 1917.

[Hoodat]

Ukraine’s forces press their momentum on Kherson’s frontline

As they target a makeshift Russian HQ on the west bank of the Dnieper with drones and missiles, a recon unit of the Ukrainian army believe they are closing in on a prize city

Daniel Boffey, Kherson oblast  |  21 OCT 2022



With a deafening roar the rockets erupted from the launcher on the back of the Mitsubishi. The pickup truck was parked by a field of blackened dead sunflowers on territory that had been seized back from Russian forces in the Kherson region in south Ukraine just two weeks ago.

Barely 30 seconds later, the two 122mm missiles, arcing through the heavy grey sky, devastated a makeshift Russian headquarters that had been a base for about 100 soldiers in an abandoned school in the village of Dudchany, five miles south-west.

Ukraine’s forces now have every intention of taking Dudchany back within the next few weeks as they attempt to push west towards the city of Kherson, the eponymous regional capital, and the first city to fall to Russia after Vladimir Putin’s February invasion.

This is the frontline in the great advance by Ukrainian forces on the Kherson oblast. In recent days, Sergey Surovikin, the newly appointed commander of Putin’s forces, who made his reputation as ‘General Armageddon’ in Syria, has admitted that there are “difficult decisions to make” in the region. The Russian-appointed civil authorities have ordered an evacuation from the parts of Kherson city that lie north of the Dnieper.

Ukrainian soldiers believe the momentum is with them. “We have a window,” says Max, 38.

Max commands a unit of 30 men, soon to be 54  .  .  .

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/21/we-have-a-window-ukraines-forces-press-their-momentum-on-khersons-frontline

[Hoodat]

Ukrainian forces pile pressure on Russian-held Kherson

SABRA AYRES and HANNA ARHIROVA - AP  |  October 21, 2022, 11:04 AM

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian forces piled pressure on Russian positions in occupied Kherson, targeting resupply routes across a major river while inching closer Friday to making a full-scale assault on one of the first urban areas Russia captured after invading the country.

As many as 2,000 Russian draftees have poured into the Kherson region - one of four provinces illegally annexed by Moscow - “to replenish losses and strengthen units on the front line," according to the Ukrainian army's general staff.

The deputy head of the Kremlin-installed regional administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said Ukrainian shelling of a Dnieper River crossing killed at four civilians late Thursday. Vadim Ilmiyev, the top health official, said 13 others were wounded in the attack.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern operational command, confirmed the Antonivskyi Bridge was struck but only after the start of a 10 p.m. local curfew to avoid civilian casualties.

“We do not attack civilians and settlements," Humeniuk told Ukrainian television.

Stremousov said the attack occurred some 40 minutes after the curfew's start. Among the dead and wounded were journalists from the Russia-created TV channel Tamvria, he said.

Earlier Ukrainian strikes had made the bridge inoperable, prompting Russian authorities to set up ferry crossings and pontoon bridges to transport supplies to Russian troops in Kherson, which sits on the Dnieper's western bank. Ukraine's military has regularly targeted those crossings with rockets.  .  .

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ukrainian-forces-pile-pressure-russian-held-kherson-91854998

[Hoodat]

Monument to Victims of Stalin's Famine Removed in Mariupol

AFP  |  one day ago


The Holodomor monument in Mariupol being removed.

The Moscow-installed authorities of the port city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a devastating siege earlier in the year, took down a monument to Ukrainian victims of Stalin's famine on Wednesday.

Kyiv has been calling the 1930s man-made hunger under Josef Stalin a "genocide," while Moscow has been downplaying it as an episode of famine all over the Soviet Union.

The state-run RIA Novosti news agency published a video of a truck uprooting the monument in Mariupol.

"We are not taking out a memorial, we are getting rid of a symbol of the political disinformation of the population, particularly of our youth," local youth organization spokeswoman Evgenya Krotova told RIA Novosti.

Local university professor Olga Shmatshkova said it was best not to "remind people over and over about the scariest (times)."

"Let's make our motherland cleaner and more beautiful, we will still keep the memories of our problems in our souls," she told RIA Novosti.

https://twitter.com/PjotrSauer/status/1582678714810511361

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/10/20/monument-to-victims-of-stalins-famine-removed-in-mariupol-a79141

[Kamaji]

Monument to Victims of Stalin's Famine Removed in Mariupol

AFP  |  one day ago


The Holodomor monument in Mariupol being removed.

The Moscow-installed authorities of the port city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a devastating siege earlier in the year, took down a monument to Ukrainian victims of Stalin's famine on Wednesday.

Kyiv has been calling the 1930s man-made hunger under Josef Stalin a "genocide," while Moscow has been downplaying it as an episode of famine all over the Soviet Union.

The state-run RIA Novosti news agency published a video of a truck uprooting the monument in Mariupol.

"We are not taking out a memorial, we are getting rid of a symbol of the political disinformation of the population, particularly of our youth," local youth organization spokeswoman Evgenya Krotova told RIA Novosti.

Local university professor Olga Shmatshkova said it was best not to "remind people over and over about the scariest (times)."

"Let's make our motherland cleaner and more beautiful, we will still keep the memories of our problems in our souls," she told RIA Novosti.

https://twitter.com/PjotrSauer/status/1582678714810511361

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/10/20/monument-to-victims-of-stalins-famine-removed-in-mariupol-a79141

Cultural cleansing.  Again, something that orcs do.

[240B]

[Hoodat]

Ethnic Cleansing? Fear? Damage Control? Why Russia Really Wants To Get Ukrainians Out Of Kherson

Todd Prince  |  October 21, 2022  |  15:11 GMT


Civilians evacuated from the Russian-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine arrive at a railway station in the town of Dzhankoi, on the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, on October 20.

As Ukrainian forces advanced toward Kherson, the only regional capital seized by Russia following its February invasion, hundreds of residents carrying basic belongings in bags could be seen boarding boats on October 19 to leave the city.

The Russia-installed authorities in Kherson have said they want to “evacuate” as many as 60,000 people from the city and the region ahead of its possible liberation by Ukrainian forces, describing it as a “humanitarian” effort and -- without evidence -- spreading fear of reprisals by Kyiv against its own citizens.

Ukrainian officials and Western experts say that Russia -- which continues to bombard civilian objects, including energy infrastructure and apartment buildings -- has ulterior motives that range from altering the region’s ethnic composition to concerns about partisan subversion.

While some of those fleeing are doing so voluntarily -- from locals who threw their support behind the invasion to Russian officials and workers who were later sent to Kherson -- others are being spooked and some possibly forced to leave, Ukrainian offices have said.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian occupation administration in Kherson, said in an October 20 post on Telegram that about 15,000 people have already been moved out of the region, a number that could not be independently verified.

Buses sent to collect people from villages outside the city of Kherson were largely empty as frightened residents tried to hide, Oleh Baturin, a Kherson-based journalist, told Current Time on October 20. He said officials were “insistent” but did not hear of people being forced to relocate.

The Kremlin’s decision to move such a large number of individuals is more about hurting Ukraine than it is about helping Russia or the people it is uprooting, analysts said.

“Russia does not appear to reap any economic benefits from resettling tens of thousands of unwilling Ukrainians in Russia, suggesting that the purpose of such removals is both to damage Ukraine’s long-term economic recovery as it retakes its territory and, more importantly, to support Russia’s ethnic cleansing campaign, which is attempting to eradicate the Ukrainian ethnicity and culture,” the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said in an October 19 report.  .  .

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-kherson-evacuation-motives-analysis/32094994.html

[Hoodat]

https://twitter.com/EmineDzheppar/status/1583488590847569921

[Smokin Joe]

Ukraine’s forces press their momentum on Kherson’s frontline

As they target a makeshift Russian HQ on the west bank of the Dnieper with drones and missiles, a recon unit of the Ukrainian army believe they are closing in on a prize city

Daniel Boffey, Kherson oblast  |  21 OCT 2022



With a deafening roar the rockets erupted from the launcher on the back of the Mitsubishi. The pickup truck was parked by a field of blackened dead sunflowers on territory that had been seized back from Russian forces in the Kherson region in south Ukraine just two weeks ago.

Barely 30 seconds later, the two 122mm missiles, arcing through the heavy grey sky, devastated a makeshift Russian headquarters that had been a base for about 100 soldiers in an abandoned school in the village of Dudchany, five miles south-west.

Ukraine’s forces now have every intention of taking Dudchany back within the next few weeks as they attempt to push west towards the city of Kherson, the eponymous regional capital, and the first city to fall to Russia after Vladimir Putin’s February invasion.

This is the frontline in the great advance by Ukrainian forces on the Kherson oblast. In recent days, Sergey Surovikin, the newly appointed commander of Putin’s forces, who made his reputation as ‘General Armageddon’ in Syria, has admitted that there are “difficult decisions to make” in the region. The Russian-appointed civil authorities have ordered an evacuation from the parts of Kherson city that lie north of the Dnieper.

Ukrainian soldiers believe the momentum is with them. “We have a window,” says Max, 38.

Max commands a unit of 30 men, soon to be 54  .  .  .

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/21/we-have-a-window-ukraines-forces-press-their-momentum-on-khersons-frontline

That's taking 'technicals' to a new level.