Ukraine

Oz Katerji
@OzKaterji
Good news from the streets of Kyiv, many of the shops have fresh fruit and veg on the shelves, there has been a restock! After a few tough days, there are currently no long queues for food here in the city centre.

It is this sort of simple thing that will lift their hearts I think

How are they getting fresh supplies I wonder? Fantastic that they are. I dread switching the news on each morning.

I have copied what is below, in italics across from my Facebook page. I know the family concerned, both the Krystyna and her husband, who posted it, and Krystyna's parents.

While I knew that her father had come here as a young child, either during or immediately after the war, and about his early life here, living many years in a Polish 'camp', I knew nothing more.

I think the post is so hugely educational regarding the Polish, Ukranian and Russian 'relationship' (sorry, that's not quite the right word but the best I could thing of right now) that I decided to paste it across onto here.

The only change I have made to it was to remove Krystyna's surname.

Please do read the first half of it at least ...

" I feel incredibly angry about what's going on in Ukraine.

Most of you know that Krystyna's family are of Polish descent. In fact, her family were from Lviv/Lwow which is (now) in Eastern Ukraine.

In September 1939, Germany invaded from the West but Soviet forces invaded from the East, the Russians taking control of the city from the 22nd September 1939.

The Soviet Government invaded on the pretence of being "liberators".

A puppet government was installed and those who presented a risk to Sovietization were arrested. These included university professors, Army veterans, smallholders, and civil servants.

Krystyna's Grandfather was a civil servant, so her Grandparents and their young children were transported to Siberia in cattle trucks. 1.2 million people suffered the same fate. By July 1941, when they were released to "help" fight the Germans, almost half had died.

This is all "after" the initial conflict, like we are witnessing via social media. This is also just part of the 6 year long story of hardship. Followed by PTSD and survivors’ guilt.

Thousands were never allowed to return to their homeland, those that did disappeared on the orders of the soviets.

Now, I see history repeating itself.

When you see pictures of the Polish people doing so much to help their neighbours, maybe you can understand why. Their grandparents have, "Been there, Done that and Got the T-shirt"

We see pictures of Russian soldiers with lists; wonder about the fate of those Ukrainians. The same fate is being afforded to those brave enough to protest in Russia

I hope that the British government sees fit to welcome the refugees, as the EU have committed to.

I hope that somehow Putin and his crones are stopped and never are allowed to treat another nation or its people like this.

But most of all, I am grateful that due to luck, and when and where I was born, it's not me or my family experiencing such terrible things.

Stand strong, do what you can! "

tickingbird

How are they getting fresh supplies I wonder? Fantastic that they are. I dread switching the news on each morning.

I don't supposed that the Russians have every single road into the city covered. And, from the videos coming out of Ukraine you can see that, in a rather surreal fashion, 'normal' life is being carried on despite the invasion. It must be dangerous to be travelling about, but people are still doing it.

Mamie

mokryna I thought Matt Frei did an excellent job in shutting her up. His reporting has been exceptional I think.

True he did a very good job mamie but she brainwashes others, infecting those who do not have free communications to the outside world, to the lies. Now we hear that the Russian children will have to listen to their teachers teaching from a government booklet of their ‘nazi’ neighbours.

I don’t think the convoy outside Kyiv is bogged down, they are just waiting for the para Olympics to end so as to not upset the Chinese.

OldnProud. Very educational and moving. There are certainly parallels to what’s happening now.

I’m watching War of the Dictators on I player. Eye opening to say the least. Apart from the slaughter of Jews and other civilians, the horrors suffered by the German soldiers freezing to death in Russia is very thought provoking and highlights the horror of wars. It’s worth a watch if you haven’t seen it. Echoes from the past reflected in the present conflict. The Generals weren’t happy with Hitler but couldn’t stop his war machine.

Sad to say that eventually the world had to go to war to stop him!

oldnproud, that post from Krystina sent shivers down my back. My Polish grandparents and their children were forced from their home near Lviv, their small farm was stolen and they were taken in cattle trucks to be slave labour in russia. Treated very harshly. My uncle was shot by kgb and my dad became a refugee after spending the whole war in the Polish army working with the British. He dare not go back to Poland at the end of the war, he would also have been shot. He said goodbye to his mum when he was 20 and never saw her again

Germany to now deliver an additional “2 700 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine”.

Germany and EU have realised there’s simply no middle way left now.

Zelensky is right. Russia won’t stop at Ukraine.

That is so sad karma. My mum was also dispossessed and lost everything, she left in a hurry as the Russians were taking the town. She never saw her mum again, she was 20 too. Never able to return as her little town was destroyed and after the war was behind the iron curtain.
When I see those poor frightened women and their children I think of her.

Ukrainians have attracted praise for their valiant fight against the Russian invasion, but the former head of MI6 warns it's only a matter of time before the country is defeated.

Sir Richard Dearlove fears the conflict is nearing a "devastating denouement," despite what he described as a staggering effort by Ukraine to withstand Vladimir Putin's onslaught.

"I don't think that they can continue much longer because the Russians will just use heavy weaponry, which of course will create carnage in the civilian population."

My father left his family in the Ukraine at the age of 14, never to go back. He was sent letters from the Russian government threatening him that his family would suffer if he didn’t return.

I feel awful knowing that as soon as we defend their airspace which would help protect civilians, we will officially be at war which is what Putin wants. Then he can point his nuclear warheads at the West and lay siege to us all.

We are choosing to throw them a loaded gun but we aren’t getting involved in the fracas as this would escalate the situation and possibly millions would be killed, not thousands. Innocents are sadly always the collateral damage of power struggles between megalomaniacs.

But isn’t it beyond awful to watch this unfold?

To be honest Urmstongran I am not watching the news at the moment.

Other than donate to charities there is absolutely nothing I can do.

?

Oz Katerji
@OzKaterji
·
5m
This is genuinely meaningless. Ukraine needs military and humanitarian support or Russia will roll tanks into Kyiv, kill the President, crush Ukrainian democracy and install a client dictatorship. It's up to you all to decide how you feel about that.
Quote Tweet

Jeremy Corbyn
@jeremycorbyn
· 18h
When the troops have gone, the bitterness stays and the refugees are still displaced.

The poor pay for the rich’s game — be of strength and determination in standing for peace for the people of Ukraine and Russia.

Putin is broadcasting live on tv but I can’t see it on UK TV

Whitewavemark2

Zelensky is right. Russia won’t stop at Ukraine.

If you don't stop the bully bullying doesn't he eventually attack you? I can see why we are holding back but I wonder if it will do any good.

On a slightly different area, I think Poland have been amazing in their organisation and kindness receiving those those fleeing the Russians.

mokryna

Putin is broadcasting live on tv but I can’t see it on UK TV

It's on Sky now Mokryna

No doubt you would have preferred Jeremy Corbin to be in power ? He was planning on reducing the army and the police, and his cohorts Abbot and McDonnell, are being threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party, for their support of Putin. !

“In January 1940, Churchill said of the Finnish resistance to Stalin: ‘Finland-superb, nay, sublime. In the jaws of peril, Finland shows what free men can do. The service rendered by Finland to mankind is magnificent.’
Today he would apply those same words to Ukraine” #Zelensky

Nanpol

No doubt you would have preferred Jeremy Corbin to be in power ? He was planning on reducing the army and the police, and his cohorts Abbot and McDonnell, are being threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party, for their support of Putin. !

If you are talking to me you have totally misunderstood my post.

Nanpol

No doubt you would have preferred Jeremy Corbin to be in power ? He was planning on reducing the army and the police, and his cohorts Abbot and McDonnell, are being threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party, for their support of Putin. !

Where do you get thAt from ???

Nanpol

No doubt you would have preferred Jeremy Corbin to be in power ? He was planning on reducing the army and the police, and his cohorts Abbot and McDonnell, are being threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party, for their support of Putin. !

What the !!!!