Will Putin pull the Nuclear Trigger?

Edited by NickAu, 14 November 2023 - 10:24 PM.

so try again at defining an assault weapon.

In the context of civilian ownership, military imagery designed for the sociopath.

. . . The ar15 isn't an assault weapon . . .  

US Army Publication FSTC-CW-07-03-70:

"Assault rifles are short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachinegun [sic] and rifle cartridges. Assault rifles have mild recoil characteristics and, because of this, are capable of delivering effective full-automatic fire at ranges up to 300 meters."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle

Although wide discussion is encouraged, please try not to wander too far.

Please stay on topic, or give a valid reason for an off-topic post.

I do not want this thread closed by the moderators, because someone wants to use it as their "Soap Box."

As we speak, Ukrainians are giving their limbs and lives, defending Western Democracy, while we enjoy the comforts and benefits that democracy has given us.

If you are expressing your opinion, please say so.  Valid opinions are welcome.

If you are stating something as fact, please supply a reference or documentation so that we may have a reasonable debate.

Cheers!

Naught.

The Darkest Days of Ukrainian History -  World War II and the Holocaust.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth large parts of Ukraine, as part of a series of expansionist wars, against the Austrians and Turks.
As a result, the border lands, known as Galicia, between Poland and Ukraine melded into a mixture of Austrians, Ukrainians, Poles, and other Slavic people.

After the First World War, the Polish and Ukrainian border lands were taken over by Poland.  

In 1939, a secret protocol that divided Central and Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union, was hidden in the Nazi/Soviet non-aggression pact.
When Hitler invaded Poland, in 1939, Stalin had the Soviet Army occupy Eastern Poland, including the region of Galicia.

The Soviets were attacked by Nazi Germany in 1941.

Ukrainians had no love for Stalin and the Soviet.  Because of their treatment under Stalin, many Ukrainians initially regarded the Wehrmacht soldiers as liberators from Soviet rule.

Almost three years of Nazi occupation soon changed the minds of most Ukrainians.

While some Ukrainians continued to side with Germany, others formed an anti-German partisan group.

Some groups of Ukrainian nationalists formed the "Ukrainian Insurgent Army", that fought both Soviets, and the Nazis.

The largest military group, that contained Ukrainians recruited by the Nazis, were the "14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galizien)"  About 13,000 men formed the division. The largest source of recruits were mostly Ukrainian Greek Catholics.  They believed that Ukraine's' best hope for independence lay with the Germans defeating the Soviets.  

The SS-Galizien conduct was no different from any other German unit on the Eastern Front.  Although there is some evidence that they saw themselves as a Military unit, and not a Political one, there were war crimes committed by members of the Division.

Both the Nazis and the Soviets commonly executed prisoners of war.  The Soviets, and to some extent the Germans, regarded any of their own soldiers who surrender to the enemy as traitors and deserters.  

Evidence shows that some units in the SS-Galizien worked with the SS-Sonderbattalion, and also took part in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising.

They took part in the destruction of several Polish villages, including the Huta Pieniacka Massacre.  There is also evidence that members took part in many other atrocities, as well.

Two of the subunits have been identified by The Institute of History of Ukraine as the 4th and 5th SS-Galizien Police Regiments, (Military Police.)

The institute noted that the police regiments were not under 14th division command, but rather under German police command.

 "According to the witness' testimonies, and in the light of the collected documentation, there is no doubt that the 4th battalion 'Galizien' of the 14th division of SS committed the crime"

As a result, the Division itself was found guilty of war crimes.  However, no individual Ukrainian enlisted men of the 14th were ever prosecuted for any war crimes.

The SS-Galizen were not alone when it came to war crimes.


The Nazi's caught the Soviets off guard, in June 1941.  In their hasty retreat, the Soviets applied a "Scorched Earth" policy, in an attempt to leave nothing behind that was useful to the Germans.

Political prisoners were shot.  Useful people, such as factory workers, were evacuated, along with entire factories.  Buildings and infrastructure were destroyed.  Mines were flooded.  Any crops or food reserves that could not be moved were burned or destroyed.  Approximately 4 million people were moved east of the Ural Mountains.

By the end of November, almost all of Ukraine was under Nazi control.

During the German occupation of Ukraine, the Nazi's created the Reichskommissariat Ukraine.

It was the civilian occupational government, in Nazi occupied Ukraine.  It also included areas of modern-day Belarus and Poland.
It was under the authority of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

The occupation government was quick to establish control over Ukraine.
It has at its disposal the OUN, (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.)

The Ukrainian nationalist organization began in 1929 in Vienna, Austria.  Its ideology was heavily influenced by Italian Fascism and German Nazism.  

Split into two divisions, the OUN-M were moderates, composed mostly of older expatriate Ukrainians.  They were mainly a politically motivated group.  The OUN-M wanted to rid Ukraine of Soviets.

The OUN-B was mainly composed of young radical right-wing groups.  It had a policy of violence, terrorism, and assassination.  Its main purpose was the establishment of an ethnically clean and totalitarian Ukrainian state.

Members of the OUN took an active part in the Holocaust in Ukraine and Poland.

Through the use of propaganda and the living memory of Soviet rule, with the help of the OUN, the Reichskommissariat, were able to recruit large numbers of Ukrainians.

It is hard to establish an exact number of collaborators.  Based on German records, a conservative estimate would be between 200,000 to 300,000.  This included civilian administration, Military, and Para Military groups.

An example of conflicting numbers would be the Ukrainian Liberation Army (UVV) and the Ukrainian National Army (UNA).  These were essentially the same people, but reorganization and redeployment due to German losses and retreats, list them as two separate armies.

Towards the end of the war, high rates of defections and desertions occurred in Ukrainian German military units.

Some UVV battalions deployed to France defected, and joined the French Resistance's Maquis guerrillas. Known as the Ivan Bohun and Taras Shenvchenko battalions, they were later transferred to the French Foreign Legion in 1944.

"Some of the UW battalions posted to France even joined the Maquis as its Ivan Bakun and Taras Shevchenko battalions, being transferred to the Foreign Legion's 13e DBLE and RMLE in 1944 (they had reportedly worn Ukrainian national colours superimposed on their French tricolour brassards)."

Abbott, Paul (2012). Ukrainian Armies 1914-55. Osprey Publishing Limited

It did not take long for Ukrainians to realize that there is no such thing as the lesser of two evils.

Behind the German Army was the Einsatzgruppen C.  

The Reichskommissariat created its own Police Force, during the occupation, using collaborators and anti-Soviet recruits.

In addition, there were multiple local Para-Military groups created in every city, town, and village in occupied Ukraine.  It was easy for the Germans to find anti-Soviet volunteers.
They went by various names and designations, but all were known collectively as the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police,

The Ukrainian Auxiliary Police worked under the direction of Einsatzgruppen C.

At the Dnipro massacre, the Einsatzgruppen field commander noted that because of UAP cooperation, everything ran "smoothly in every way"

Alexander Statiev, an Historian at the Canadian University of Waterloo states that:

"Ukrainian Auxiliary Police were the major perpetrator of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union".

The auxiliary police participated in Nazi killing operations right from the beginning of German occupation.
The local auxiliary police units were responsible for the registration of Jews.  They took part in raids and helped load convoys to execution sites.

It is probable that at least some 300 UAP from Kyiv helped organize and conduct the massacre in Babi Yar.

In many cases where local Einsatzgruppen commandants ordered the execution of Jews, the UAP were used.

Conservative estimates are, that under the Einsatzgruppen, 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered during World War 2.

The Einsatzgruppen would have found it impossible to carry out Hitlers orders, in Ukraine, without the help of the UAP.

There is a great irony behind Ukrainians cooperating with the Germans in order to have their country returned to them.
Surviving German documents show that Hitler intended that after the war, Ukraine would be purged of all Slavic and Russian people, and would become a new Germanic State.
Hitler, like Stalin, was determined to erase Ukraine.

In 1945, Stalin regained control of Ukraine.  Stalin picked up where he left off.  Purges, deportation, and suppression of Ukrainian language, arts and culture resumed with even more vigor.

Yours,
 
Naught


https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Ukraine/World-War-II-and-its-aftermath

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaboration_with_Nazi_Germany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Ukrainian_Nationalists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Waffen_Grenadier_Division_of_the_SS_(1st_Galician)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_National_Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Liberation_Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderdienst

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history_of_Ukraine#World_War_II

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Einsatzgruppen

https://www.britannica.com/place/Babi-Yar-massacre-site-Ukraine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Auxiliary_Police

https://www.britannica.com/event/Holocaust/The-Einsatzgruppen-and-their-fellow-mobile-killers

https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-Nazi-occupation-of-Soviet-Ukraine

https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1947-2/ukraine-after-the-war/

http://history.org.ua/en

The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands Statiev Alexander Cambridge University Press 2010

Ukrainian Armies 1914-55. Paul Abbott (2012). Osprey Publishing Limited

Ukraine, From the End of World War II Until the End of the Soviet Union

At the end of World War 2, Ukraine was in turmoil.

An estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were murdered by the Nazis.  At least another 800,000 were displaced across the Ural Mountains, to the east.  In the first two days of the Babyn Yar massacre, alone, nearly 34,000 Jews were killed.

By 1943, it became apparent that the Ukrainians were going to suffer just as badly, if not worse, under Hitler, as they had done under Stalin.
The collective farms continued, with crops being given over to the German war effort.
An estimated 2.2 million people were sent to Germany as slave labour.
Education and culture were repressed.  Schooling was restricted to elementary grades.

The result was that Ukrainian political activity, at first based on cooperation with the Germans, began to move underground.  Organized resistance against the Germans began to grow.
The OUN groups. that had openly co-operated with the Nazis, were subjected repressive measures.  Any members who questioned German orders were arrested.  Many of the OUN military leaders were executed, and their units placed under direct German command.  This drove large numbers of the OUN underground, as they began to alter their ideology to a more democratic and inclusive policy.

Communist Party cells also formed an underground resistance, and partisan units openly operated in the northern forests.

By 1942, Nationalist groups of partisans began to form what became to be known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or the Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia, (UPA). As well as guerrilla warfare against the Germans, the Soviet partisans and the UPA fought each other.

At the end of the war, Soviet and Allied diplomacy resulted in a permanent redrawing of Ukraine’s borders.
Poland ceded Volhynia and Galicia in return for territories on its Western border.  The result created a clearly defined ethnic and political Polish-Ukrainian border, for the first time in almost 300 years.
Northern Bukovina and Transcarpathia were recognized as part of Ukraine.

As part of the agreement between the Soviets and the Allies, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR were created, as separate Republics, while still remaining a part of the Soviet Union.  This allowed the Ukrainian SSR to become one of founding members of the United Nations.

It was a deal made with the United States to ensure balance in the General Assembly to offset the large number of Western members.
As a result, in 1945 Ukraine became a signatory of peace treaties with Germany and its allies.

An estimated 5 to 7 million Ukrainians died during World War 2.
After the return of evacuees and the forced labourers from Germany, Ukraine’s estimated population was about 5 million less than before the war.
Due to the number of cities, towns, villages that had been destroyed, 10 million people were left homeless.
Only about 15 to 20 percent of the industrial and agricultural equipment was left useable. The railroads were heavily damaged, and barely operational.

Total losses were estimated 40% of Ukraine’s wealth.

In spite of the recognition of Ukraine as an independent republic within the Soviet Union, Stalin's reign of totalitarian controls and terror, and the "Russification" Ukraine took up were it left off during the war.  In some cases it was worse than before.

Stalin quickly re-established control over recovered territories.  Totalitarian control and the secret police were reimposed.
Ukraine is rich in agricultural and mineral wealth.  The 1950 industrial capacity exceeded pre-war levels.  Agricultural recovery was slow, however, partially due to continued collectivisation.  A famine in 1946 was a result of drought. It claimed nearly one million casualties.

Purges in party ranks were somewhat reduced. However, others considered "Disloyal" were treated far worse.
Both real and accused Nazi collaborators, regardless of proof, were commended.  Former German prisoners of war and repatriated enslaved workers were considered traitors.  Ukrainian "Nationalists” and others suspected of anti Soviet leanings were sent to concentration camps in the far north and Siberia.

"Russification" in Ukraine was an effort to stamp out language, art, and culture.  Ukrainian writers, artists, and scholars, were now accused of Ukrainian nationalism and subjected to persecution and repression.  The campaign also destroyed the remains of the Jewish community that had been decimated by the Holocaust.

The Russification of Ukraine was not without violence.  The UPA continued to conduct military operations against Soviet troops into the 1950s.  Armed resistance had underground support.  Mostly from the rural population, who were embittered by collectivization, and still bore a grudge over the events in the 1930s.

Also accused of Ukrainian nationalism was the Greek Catholic Church. In April 1945 the entire hierarchy of the church, in Galicia were arrested.  All the clergy were sentenced to long imprisonment.  Archbishop Yosyf Slipy was the only survivor.  He was released from the Gulag in 1963 and exiled to Rome.
However, the Greek Catholic Church continued an underground existence through the entire Soviet rule.

Approximately half a million people were deported to gulags, as a result of the suppression of Ukraine.

In May of 1944, Stalin ordered the entire population of the Crimean Tatars deported to Central Asia.  This was Stalin’s punishment for allegedly collaborating with the Nazis.

Prior to 1941, Crimea was an autonomous republic, without a titled nationality.  In 1945, Stalin decreed that it  was an oblast (province) within the Russian SFSR.

The process of de-Tatarization of Crimea was to remove the memory of the Tartars.  This included the name change of the vast majority of places on the map.  They were given Russian or Slavic names, more appropriate for a communist state.
Over 230,000 people, 1/5th of the population of the Crimean Peninsula, were deported, mainly to Uzbekistan. In addition, another 36,000 ethnic Greeks, Bulgarians, and Armenians were also deported.
By September of 1944, the ethnic cleansing of Crimea was complete.

In 1967, the Crimean Tatars were declared to have been rehabilitated, but they were still banned from returning until the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1991.

Nearly 8,000 Crimean Tatars died during transportation, and tens of thousands perished, because of the harsh exile conditions.  As a result, over 80,000 homes were left empty, with whatever the Tartars could not carry, abandoned behind.  In addition, about 360,000 acres of land became available to the Soviet, for repopulation.

The peninsula was resettled with other peoples, mainly Russians and "Loyal" Ukrainians.

The Crimean Peninsula, from which the Tatars and ethnic Turks had been deported en masse, was transferred from the Russian SFSR. to Ukraine.  

After Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev came to power.  Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev had very little animosity against Ukrainians, as long as they remained loyal to the Soviet State.
By 1953 mass terror had abated, and repression came to be applied more discriminatingly.  Actual evidence was required before an accusation was acted upon.

In 1955 an amnesty was given to large numbers of concentration camp inmates.  Hundreds of thousands returned to Ukraine.
However, the amnesty did not include political prisoners or Anti-Soviets, who remained in the Gulags.  That, and of course, the Crimeans, who were still considered a threat.

During the policy changes that followed Khrushchev’s "Secret Speech" in 1956, Ukrainians began to see even more easing of freedoms.  Ukrainian language and culture were no longer suppressed.

In the 1950s, however, due to Russian backlash from Khrushchev’s policies, Russification re-emerged.
Ukrainian-language instruction was replaced with Russian, in schools, by 1961.

This was based on Communist Party theoreticians theory of the “fusion of nations”.  The desire was the disappearance of all national languages in Soviet society.  Everyone would speak Russian.

Once again, small clandestine groups began to form in the late 1950s.  Some groups were uncovered by the secret police and imprisoned between 1958 and 1964.  Despite these setbacks, the Ukrainian language continued to survive.

In 1964, Khrushchev was deposed as the Soviet leader.  It was not, however, before some key figures, Ukrainians, had entered into prominence in Soviet politics.

In the final years of Khrushchev’s rule, two men rose up in Soviet politics.  Petro Shelest and Volodymyr Shcherbytsky had been part of Ukraine’s political landscape for 30 years. They served as successive Chairmen of Ukraine.  Under their rule, two things occurred, that seemed to conflict with each other.
The centralized control of Ukraine, along with the rest of the Soviet, became stronger, including the Warsaw Pact.
The social reforms in Ukraine progressed.  Ukrainian history and culture, includig art and literature, began to resurface.

This seemed possible because of an influential member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.  He was born and raised in Kamianske, in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, of Ukraine.  His name was Leonid Brezhnev, and he became first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in 1964.

Make no mistake, Brezhnev was a devout Communist.  It was because if him that central control was returned to Moscow, during Khrushchev's reign.  Brezhnev, however, left most internal matters of the Soviet to others, including his two trusted Ukrainian Chairmen, Shelest and Shcherbytsky.
Whether Brezhnev ignored their relaxation of cultural reforms in Ukraine, or just did not care, is debatable.

Brezhnev was primarily concerned with foreign and military affairs.  It was under his leadership that the Czechoslovakian revolt was crushed in 1968.
Brezhnev doctrine asserted the right of Soviet intervention where “the essential common interests of other socialist countries are threatened by one of their number.”

At the same time, Brezhnev increased and modernized the Soviet military-industrial complex.
That included strategic nuclear weapons, the space program, a nuclear powered navy, and the largest army in the world.
Brezhnev's support of “wars of national liberation” and military aid to left-wing governments in developing countries was costly.
His policies of building up of his defence and aerospace industries left the economy unable to compete in other areas.
Soviet agriculture, consumer-goods, and health-care declined throughout the 1970s and early ’80s.  The end result was a decline in the standard of living.

Brezhnev's downfall began with the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and the suppression of Poland’s Solidarity union in 1981. Internal dissent within the Soviet Union, itself, was beginning to grow.
Muscovites wanted Levi's, not Leonid.

By the time of his death, Brezhnev was blamed for a depressed Soviet economy, a decline in living standards, and wide spread corruption in the bureaucracy.

Thanks to one of their own, a poor Ukrainian seemed to be better off then his Muskovite counter part.  At least the Ukrainians were used to it.


Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev served as the final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the breakup in 1991.
Gorbachev was born in Privolnoye, in the Russian SFSR.  He was from a poor peasant family, and was of both Russian and Ukrainian decent.  His father was Russian, and his mother was Ukrainian.
Although Gorbachev believed in Soviet state and Marxist–Leninist ideals, he believed that only significant reform would ensure the survival of the USSR.

His foreign policy led to withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, summit talks with Ronald Reagan, and the end of the Cold War.
The domestic policy of Glasnost,  ("openness"), allowed for freedom of speech and press, while Perestroika ("restructuring") sought to decentralize the economy and improve its efficiency.
His formation of the elected Congress of People's Deputies brought an end to the one-party state.

After Gorbachev declined to intervene when the Warsaw Pact countries abandoned Russia in 1989, Marxist–Leninist hardliners to launched an unsuccessful "August Coup" against Gorbachev in 1991.
In the end, despite his efforts to save it, the Soviet Union dissolved.

After his resignation, he launched the "Gorbachev Foundation".  He was a very vocal critic of Russian presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.

Most important, for Ukraine, Gorbachev made the way clear for Ukraine to finally become, once again, a truly independent and self governing democratic state.

Cheers!

Naught


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history_of_Ukraine

https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Ukraine/World-War-II-and-its-aftermath

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Crimea

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/26/russia.theobserver

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxprcdm/revision/7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josyf_Slipyj

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonid-Ilich-Brezhnev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev



 

From Independence to War with Russia

On the 19^th of August 1991, an attempted coup in Moscow sent waves of unrest through the Soviet Union. As a result, Ukraine made its third bid within 75 years, for independence.

The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was passed by the Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Ukrainian on the 24th of August 1991.

Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine

In view of the mortal danger surrounding Ukraine in connection with the state coup in the USSR on August 19, 1991,

Continuing the thousand-year tradition of state development in Ukraine,

Proceeding from the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international legal documents, and

Implementing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine,

the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic solemnly

declares the Independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state – UKRAINE.

The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.

From this day forward, only the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are valid on the territory of Ukraine.

This act becomes effective at the moment of its approval.

— VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE, August 24, 1991

It re-established Ukraine's independence from Moscow.

A referendum was held on the 1^st of December.

Voters were asked, "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?"

Polls showed varying support in different areas of Ukraine, ranging from 63% to 88% for the "Yes" vote.

The actual vote, on December 1^st was conclusive.

Nationally, over 84% of the electorate turned out to vote. Of those, more than 92% voted "Yes".

What’s more, 55% of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine voted yes for independence.

This was in spite of the ongoing “Russification” of Ukraine's population by the Soviet Union since the early part of the 20^th century.

Crimea and its largest city, Sevastopol, were divided into two separate voting districts.

Sevastopol voted 57% in favour, but with only a 36% turnout. The rest of Crimea was not much different. 54% said yes, but, again, with only a 37% participation.

This was not surprising, considering Stalin’s habit of deporting entire towns and villages, then repopulating them with Russians.

Crimea was the most heavily affected region, due to Stalin’s revenge.

As a result, in 1989, there were over 1.6 million Russians living in Crimea, as compared to only about 625 thousand Ukrainians.

On 2 December, Canada and Poland became the first two countries to recognize Ukraine as a fully independent nation, outside the Soviet Union.

Late in the evening of the same day, Boris Yeltsin announced the results during a new telecast.

The Russian parliament accepted Ukraine's independence on the 12^th of December.

Ukrainian independence led to the way for the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Leonid Kravchuk became the president of Ukraine. The presidential election was a separate ballot during the referendum.

At first, Ukraine was unsure of its nuclear arsenal. The initial decision was made to keep the nuclear weapons left over from the Soviet Union. The belief was based on the “Mutual Assured Destruction” policy. Russia would not attack Ukraine, because of fear of a nuclear war.

The U.S. and the U.K., however, convinced Ukraine to give up its nuclear arsenal, in exchange for increased foreign aid and security. In 1994, the U.S., the U.K., and Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum would be guaranteeing Ukraine's sovereignty and security.

In 1994, Leonid Kuchma wins the presidential election over Leonid Kravchuk. The vote is declared free and fair by observers. However, in 1999, Kuchma’s re-election is riddled with irregularities.

In 1997, Ukraine and Russia signed “The Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet”. The treaty divided the former Soviet naval assets in the Black Sea Fleet between the two countries.

In exchange for monetary concessions, Ukraine granted a lease on naval facilities in Sevastopol to Russia. The initial lease was for 10 years, with an option to renew every five years.

In an even more controversial election in 2004, a Pro-Russian candidate is declared president. Viktor Yanukovich wants to rebuild ties with Moscow.

However. Allegations of vote-rigging trigger the Orange Revolution.

So called, because pro-Western former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, used the colour orange in the campaign.

Huge numbers of people turned out with orange shirts, hats and scarfs, in protest.

This resulted in Parliament conducting a re-run vote, and Yushchenko is elected president.

Yushchenko promised to lead Ukraine out of the Kremlin's orbit. He wants Ukraine to join the EU, and to become a member of NATO.

In 2008, NATO tells Ukraine it will join the alliance, when it meets NATO standards and conditions.

In the 2010 elections, Yanukovich runs for President, again. His pro Russian rhetoric is toned down. There is no clear winner, and so a run-off vote is called. Yanukovich wins by a 3.5% margin.

Yanukovich starts making deals with Russia. In a gas pricing deal, Ukraine receives discounts for Russian gas, in exchange for extending the Sevastopol lease to the Russians another 10 years.

Under Yushchenko, trade and association talks with the EU had progressed to the point where Ukraine and the EU were ready to sign. In November 2014, Yanukovich refused to sign the agreement. Instead, he announced the revival of economic ties with Moscow.

The results are both amazing, and tragic. Yanukovich’s decisions started 95 days of mass protest rallies in Kyiv.

The “Revolution of Dignity”, also known as the Maidan Revolution, began on the 21^st day of November 2014. The protest focused around Maidan Square, in Kyiv, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took part.

Yanukovich put in place Draconian laws, forbidding all public protests, as well as any criticism of his government. Arrest and detention without cause was used to prevent anyone from joining the protests.

Even bicycle, motorcycle, and construction helmets were banned in public, because protesters wore them to protect themselves from rubber bullets fired by the Berkut (Para Military Police.)

I strongly recommend that you watch the Netflix production of “Winter on Fire.” It is also available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w

Human Rights associations estimate that 125 people were killed, 65 people are missing (from Berkut custody?), and that there were 1,890 wounded during the protest.

Yanukovich managed to do something for Ukraine that Ukrainians had been struggling with since 1991.

The entire country of Ukraine came together, as one, regardless of racial, ethnic, religious, or political, differences. Ukrainians had finally discovered how, and why, democracy works.

Yanukovych fled to Moscow, fearing for his life. On February 24 the Ukrainian government charged Yanukovych with mass murder, and issued a warrant for his arrest, in connection with the deaths of the Maidan protesters.

In the early hours of the 28^th day of February, men in military uniforms bearing no insignia, but riding in vehicles with Russian Army markings, seize every airport, seaport, train station and border crossing in Crimea.

They also secure all government buildings in Simferopol and Sevastopol. They are, in fact, Russian troops from their base, at Sevastopol.

Furthermore, they raise the Russian flag at the Crimean Parliament. Moscow officially announces the annexation of Crimea on the 16^th of March 2014. It is put to a vote in the Crimean Parliament, with armed Russian troops present in the parliamentary chambers. Obviously, the motion is passed in support of Crimea joining the Russian Federation.

Kyiv, along with most western governments, claim the vote is illegitimate because it took place “at the barrel of a gun”.

And so, history repeats its self. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has begun, again.

Once more, the Ukrainians have to fight for their homes.

Yours,

Naught

For reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_of_Ukraine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Ukrainian_independence_referendum

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Act_of_Declaration_of_Independence_of_Ukraine

https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-Orange-Revolution-and-the-Yushchenko-presidency

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-turbulent-history-since-independence-1991-2022-02-24/

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-accused-of-reshaping-annexed-crimea-demographics-ukraine/29262130.html

https://iccrimea.org/population.html

https://www.globalresearch.ca/timeline-crimean-referendum/5773516

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/21/1082124528/ukraine-russia-putin-invasion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_Treaty_on_the_Status_and_Conditions_of_the_Black_Sea_Fleet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Ukrainian_presidential_election

https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-Maidan-protest-movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maidan_casualties

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w

Edited by Naught McNoone, 28 November 2023 - 05:14 PM.