Bob Homans April 5
20220406
Bob writes in his email cover: I want to bring to your attention the article from the newspaper RIA
Novosti. It starts half way down the 2nd page.
Chilling.
Ukraine – 4/5 Sitrep
Compiled by: Robert Homans
April 5, 2022
4/5 Sitrep – (I have 1 comment, that I labeled as “RH”)
On my second business trip to the former Soviet Union in May of 1990, I met the board of UKRCoopSpilka. UKRCoopSpilka – Ukrainian Cooperative Union, was the state organization whose business was to collect food surpluses produced by villagers on their household garden plots. Villagers were paid with consumer goods, given a credit or in the worst case in cash. Terms for this exchange were set by the state.
I expected the meeting would involve drinking, as all my meetings with state officials at the time did. I was not disappointed as my guide, led me into their office building and to the board room. I walked in and there milling about were 30 to 40 well-aged plump Soviet Bureaucrats (SB), in non-descript dark suits with short little ties that hugged the belly bulge without descending to the waistline.
The SBs weren’t the attraction, the attraction was the long table, with places for all. Covered with servings of every possible cold cut imaginable, cheeses spilling off piled plates, salted and marinated platters of vegetables, fresh salads, processed vegetables, fresh and salted salmon, other fish, piles of black and red caviar, deviled eggs, and egg halves. Everything was garnished with table grapes, mandarins, melons, watermelons, bananas, pineapples, and kiwis.
The place settings completed the presentation. Each place had three fine bone China plates, from large to small, embossed with the company logo and hammer and sickle. There was an even more impressive array of solid silver cutlery, capped off with plates of white and black bread on one side and on the other with fresh baked buns. At the head of each place was the coup de grace. A cut crystal shot glass, two crystal wine glasses, a crystal glass, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of cognac, a bottle of red and of white wine, a beer, and a bottle of sparkling water.
At the time the Soviet Union was having a hard time providing basic foodstuffs to the population. Widespread malnutrition of the time was perhaps the principal reason the Soviet Union imploded.
So dazzled by the ostentation I barely felt a thing throughout the introduction to each SB in the room. I didn’t even notice that pressed against the wall was a server, dressed in a severe black and white form, for each plate. We finally sat down, and the servers immediately filled our wine and beer glasses, and their only question was vodka or cognac.
Everything then proceeded as expected. The welcoming toast from the head SB, my toast in reply to the SB, and then the third toast. The third toast was usually reserved for women and was given fairly early at these events as it was pretty much the last toast that required coherent speech. The head SB, our host, selected the SB director for ideology to give the toast.
The SB stood and began. He started a long away from toasting women and never got there. First, he bemoaned the state of affairs, then he bemoaned the laxity of the party and the Komsomol, and then, now warmed up, began cursing the devil responsible for all - Gorbachev. To this point in his toast given standing, and I was required to do the same, there were lots of side conversations and I noticed sips. The din went to half din on the Gorbachev bit, to full quiet when he pronounced the final solution.
“What we need, what we need is discipline. We need Stalinist discipline, rule with an iron fist. We need to organize genocide to restore discipline. I raise this toast to Stalin, genocide and discipline.” He toasted and by custom everybody did the same and then began apologizing to me.
Every Ukrainian citizen regardless of nationality over thirty knows the substance of the toast. They know that genocide is the standard governing methodology of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation. Every citizen under thirty knows that since 2014, occupied Crimea and Donbas were transformed through terror. That there is no free speech and thought there. They know that all that the Russian Federation brought is economic and political desolation.
Commentators and analysts who are surprised by Ukrainian resistance have forgotten the lessons taught by the Soviet Union and ignored the reality of Russian occupation. Instead of focusing on territorial back and forth I suggest the debate should focus on Russia’s and Putin’s goal for Ukraine. The goal was clearly laid out in yesterday’s article in RIA Novosti, an official Russian newspaper, not much different from Pravda or Izvestia of the Soviet era.
What follows is my poor translation of the opening of that article, with original emphasis left in place, and a precis of its tail.
The Translation of the RIA Novosti Article Starts Here -
"There must be total liquidation. Any organizations linked to the Nazism must be eliminated and banned. However, in addition to the leadership, a significant part of the masses, are passive Nazis, are also to blame, the accomplices of Nazism.”
“The masses supported the Nazi government and condoned it. A just punishment of this part of the population is possible only as an inevitable burden of a just war against the Nazi system, which is conducted as carefully and prudently as possible against civilians.”
“Further denazification of this mass of the population consists in re-education, which is achieved by ideological repression (suppression) of Nazi attitudes and strict censorship: not only in the political sphere, but necessarily also in the field of culture and education.”
“Denationalization will inevitably be deukrainization - a rejection of the large-scale artificial hyping of the ethnic component of self-identification of the population of the territories of historical Ruthenia and Novorossiya initiated by the Soviet authorities.”
“De-Banderaization alone will not be enough to denazify — the Bandera element is only a performer and a screen, a disguise for the European project of Nazi Ukraine, so the denazification of Ukraine is its inevitable de-Europeanization.”
“Of course, it should be some time in which people will recover from the shock of hostilities, make sure of Russia's long-term intentions – that "they will not be abandoned." “
Further, the writer describes what to do after winning the war.
Among other things – the "liquidation" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the formation of its authorities and police, the "installation" of the Russian information space, the seizure of history textbooks, mass investigative actions, the lustration of the previous government, the destruction of their monuments, as well as the "inclusion of a complex of anti-fascist and denazification norms in the constitution of the new people's republics." These measures are to be in place for the next 25 years.
Bucha was planned and implemented and is not a surprise. There will be other Buchas.
Great Britain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, US Department of State and Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs called for Russia’s expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Committee because of the Bucha massacre. The matter may be voted on this week at the UN.
Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs expelled 40 Russian diplomats yesterday. Lithuania closed the Russian consulate in Klaipeda and recalled its ambassador from Moscow. Poland and Austria expelled a number of Russian diplomats yesterday. Former Russian Prime Minister Medvedev promised equivalent counter measures.
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia announced yesterday that in the next 24 to 48 hours they will initiate a transportation blockade of Russia and Belarus.
Putin signed a presidential decree which requires travelers to Russia from countries that have implemented economic sanctions obtain visas.
The European Commission, most European States, and a number of other countries have called for harsher sanctions on Russia. The sanctions may include Russian energy exports which will threaten the Europe’s and most likely global economic security. Canada and the United States announced they will do whatever they can to ensure Europe’s energy security regardless of whether the new sanctions include Russia’s energy exports.
United States President Biden reminded his critics they were wrong in dismissing Biden’s statement that Putin was a war criminal and should no longer govern Russia.
Germany announced that Gasprom’s German Subsidiary is now the German government’s. They also announced it will be privatized and that the German government will help finance the privatization.
According to the United Nations Ukraine has the highest concentration of anti-personnel and equipment mines in the world.
The EU, France, Germany, United States and Canada will send investigators to assist the Ukrainian government effort to document the Bucha war crime. A few states are calling Bucha genocide and not a war crime.
Ukraine accused Georgia of providing Russia with safe transit for sanctioned dual-purpose goods that enable Russian manufacture, maintenance, and repair of military equipment. Georgia dismissed the charges and said it strictly abides by international sanctions. Georgia has not imposed any economic sanctions on Russia.
The United States indicated that it is actively implementing a recent 800 million USD military assistance package. The Pentagon said that cargo planes reached the EU on the weekend and that the munitions and weapons are already in Ukraine.
US nonmilitary aid in the form of temporary housing reached Zakarpattia yesterday and will house internally displaced persons.
Germany’s President, Steinmayer, admitted misreading Russian political intentions and that he did not expect Russia to engage in a self-destructive invasion. Steinmayer also said that he now understands that Germany was mistaken in supporting construction of Nord Stream II.
Poland’s Deputy Premier said that Russian culture must be removed from world stages while the Russian invasion is underway. “Now is not the time for Russian ballet, Chekov and Pushkin.”
Russians demonstrating in Athens in support of their government were attacked by Ukrainians and the sides were separated by police.
NATIONAL
Ukraine’s Intelligence Agency reported that it had arrested a group of Russian informants and broke up two bot (robot) farms mass sending misleading SMS.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense bulletins over the last twenty-four hours reported:
· Existing hospitals and health care institutions in Belarus and Russia near Ukraine’s borders can no longer accept additional wounded and are overcrowded.
· The 20th mechanized rifle division, and 8th Southern Russian army suffered no less than 40% losses and returned to their bases for rearming and restocking.
· Ukrainian forces captured a working Russian artillery radar station.
· The next most likely major Russian front is Kharkiv and Izium to cut off Ukrainian forces in Donbas.
· Ukrainian forces are encountering resistance from Russian forces as they are advancing through Kherson Oblast. Russians are building defensive trenches around Nova Kakhovka.
Ukrainian soldiers manning Snake Island in the Black Sea, that had been taken captive by the Russian navy, described their captivity to the press. They said that they were kept in tents with no heating and that most had frostbite. They exercised under the supervision of guard dogs and that they were under constant moral pressure.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digitization reported that Russian hackers are sending viruses to Ukrainian civil servants through emails. The most often cited subject of the emails is “Reports of Russian War Crimes”.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture reported that the country has enough food reserves for two years. The ministry advised farmers to sow sunflower, rapeseed and soy as prices are good and will ensure farm income. Most importantly these crops place the least demand on logistics. The Minister forecast that spring sown area because of the war will fall by 20.5% to 13,44 million hectares from 16,92 million hectares in 2021.
The International Red Cross which had been given an audience by Putin over a week ago reported it still does not have timing on opening an office in Rostov to support Ukrainian’s deported to Russia.
Press release of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General: From the start of the war 18 journalists have been killed, 74 criminal charges laid regarding obstruction and attacks on Journalists, 8 journalists are believed to be kidnapped, 13 are hospitalized with injuries and wounds, 3 are missing and their whereabouts is unknown, and 15 have been psychologically terrorized. 19 of the criminal charges are for criminal acts affecting international journalists.
NORTHERN UKRAINE
Bila Cherkva, a community 80 kilometers south of Kyiv was hit by a rocket this morning. There is no damage report. This is the first recorded attack on the city. RH - Bila Cherkva is where members of my stepdaughter’s partner live. It is the site of a major plant that manufactures tires.
Another mass grave has been uncovered in Motyzhyn, a small village near Hostomel. Approximately twelve bodies have been recovered so far.
The mayor of Kyiv asked people who fled the city to wait to the end of the week before returning to give sappers time to complete their work. The metro system returned to 80% operations and will be 100% by the weekend.
The New York Times did further analysis of satellite photographs taken by Maxar. The analysis reveals that dead bodies started appearing in the streets of Bucha starting with its occupation by Russian forces. The bodies were found in the same position on April 2nd when Ukraine recaptured Bucha.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Venediktova, said yesterday that situation in Borodianka will prove to be worse than in Bucha. She did not release any other information.
British intelligence indicates that Ukrainian counter attacks broke Russians lines of communication with their forces laying siege to Kyiv and Chernihiv. All that the Russians could do is retreat.
The governor of Chernihiv Oblast said Ukrainian forces discovered 300 civilians that had been kept in a basement by Russian forces without communication, a bare minimum of food and water, and a bucket for a toilet. Over the four weeks of captivity some died, and the Russians did not allow removal of the dead. The captivity occurred in Iahodnom, Chernihiv Oblast.
Ukrainian forces have driven the last Russians out of Sumy Oblast. During their sweep searching for remnants, they discovered a man with his hands tied behind his back shot in the back of his head near Konotop. At a campsite further out of Konotop they found three bodies with signs that they had been tortured before execution.
Over the last twenty-four hours Kharkiv and communities on the approaches to Kharkiv remain under constant artillery, rocket, mortar, and missile attacks. Regardless of the constant pressure Ukrainian forces counter attacked pushing the Russians back by 4 to 5 kilometers on two approaches to the city.
Russia’s other front in Kharkiv is Izium. The situation there is worse than in Kharkiv as Russians have part of the city under their control. In addition to skirmishes outside of Izium street to street and building to building fighting is ongoing.
DONBAS
Ukraine’s administration in Luhansk and Donetsk oblast is seeking to evacuate all remaining civilians from all communities along the front with Russian forces. Russian forces are expected to throw as much effort as they can muster to fully occupy the two Oblasts and Ukrainian forces are ready to do all they can to prevent this.
Ukrainian intelligence sources from within Russia report that Russia plans to arm and send students from the junior army league to Donbas to battle.
Russian forces artillery partially destroyed another Russian Orthodox Church in Rubizhno wounding both priests that served there.
Ukrainian forces beat back another 8 mass attacks along the front in Donbas. Regardless Russians continue shelling communities and Ukrainian military positions along the front. Reports also indicate that they are starting to amass soldiers and equipment on their side of the front.
Encircled Mariupol continues to resist Russian occupation. According to the mayor approximately 130,000 civilians remain. Evacuees that arrived yesterday in Zaporiszhia said Russian soldiers shot to kill civilians for speaking Ukrainian or for display of Ukrainian symbolism. Russian forces tired of waiting for the Ukrainian municipal administration to capitulate elected their own mayor. A former councilor of the Opposition Party for the Right to Life, is now Mayor II Constantine Ivashchenko.
Regardless of the election and the new mayors pledge to be subservient to Moscow the city remains under constant shelling. Ukrainian territorial defense forces and national guard continue to resist. In street battles they destroyed two Russian tanks, an armored personnel carrier and many soldiers.
The new mayor, and his Russian voters once again did not allow humanitarian aid to enter Mariupol.
SOUTHERN UKRAINE
Russian forces occupied and mined, after forcing patients and staff on the street, the county hospital of Polohe, Zaporizhia Oblast.
Ukrainian forces are continuing to attack gradually retreating Russians in Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts.
Food, medicine and fuel is on the verge of ending in occupied Kherson. Russians are not allowing aid to reach the city. According to the City Council all three hundred thousand citizens want to return to Ukraine.
The new Russian mayor of Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, informed municipal staff they will have to take a two thirds pay cut because Russia cannot afford their high Ukrainian salaries.
A local Mykolaiv grain trader, PAEK, said yesterday that their elevator was damaged by Russian artillery and they will cease operations to the end of the war.
Mykolaiv remains under sporadic attacks. The city mayor said that as a result of the attacks 10 were killed and 46 injured. Minor damage to two hospitals, preventive car center, 11 kindergartens, 12 schools, and two further education centers.
Odesa targeted again by rocket and missile fire. The Russians hit and set on fire a fuel reservoir and damaged the idle Odesa crude oil refinery.
CENTRAL UKRAINE I
Russia dropped two cluster bombs on the Velukomyhailivka, Dnipro Oblast, and a women died picking up a cassett.
WESTERN UKRAINE I
Russian forces retreated from Zhytoomir. Now comes the sweep and cleaning operation by Ukrainian forces.
A rocket reached Volyn Oblast and failed to explode on impact. Ukrainian forces downed two rockets aimed at Rivno. All three rockets came from Belarus.
Comparing Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to Russian invasion of Ukraine using Wikipedia and Ukraine Ministry of Defense Daily Bulletins. Soviet and Russian military losses not including captured equipment.
SOURCES
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQBD3wxTrZ6XUU7IdXeHUfjVCydekezQCCGuwYnT6qPd1r7n1aVbFIewa6ng6Lis