Posted on 02/24/2023 7:11:58 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
Volodymyr Bieliaiev never wanted to leave his beloved Ukraine — even after Russian forces charged into his homeland on Feb. 24, 2022.
But when a rocket demolished his neighbor’s house — and a family friend begged him to save his wife and daughter while he went to the front lines — the 65-year-old doctor knew it was time to go.
It was just 20 days into what has become the biggest European invasion since the end of World War II.
Bieliaiev, who was only allowed to leave the country because of his age, packed up what he could of his life and fled his home in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine.
Kyiv announced martial law and issued a travel ban for physically-fit Ukrainian men aged 18-60 after Russia invaded.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
RE: Ukraine refugees in NYC describe harrowing escape from war — and how they want to go home
How about those so-called “refugees” from South America, what harrowing war stories do they have to tell us, and why do they not want to go home?
So why did he leave? Zelenskyy is dragging teenage kids off the streets for the front line, and this guy is living in NYC telling Americans we should invest even more into this corrupt s'hole?
“He’s in the situation of an insecure autocrat who’s afraid to make peace without victory,” he said. “It’s very dangerous for autocrats to lose wars, because they tend to lose power in coups or be assassinated.” What do you think? Post a comment.
Still, Stone said he expects the war “may go on for a number of years” because of the Russian leader’s defiance.
But for the Ukrainians who have already endured years of unimaginable horror, no price is too high.
“Victory will come,” Svitlana Prokopenko said. “Only victory.”
I figure if a Ukrainian went to Chicago, they would want to return to Ukraine because it’s safer there.
Volodymyr Bieliaiev never wanted to leave his beloved Ukraine
What an utterly hilarious phrase, it reads like a deliberate parody. Was this clod given a booklet of approved cliches to tell the stupid Americans before he left for the Big Bx’
Had Blinkin on ABC GMA this morning. He said everyone is fleeing Russia, not a mention of one soul fleeing Ukraine. This guy is an anomaly.
Ukraine needs doctors desperately, and this guy should go back to Ukraine and serve his country, instead of posing for the media in NYC.
These articles are all written in the same simplistic style, with the same simplistic talking points, as if from some AI bot. While their stories are real, the hackneyed treatment of them reeks of propaganda.
No one asks their background. Their politics. What do they think about NATO? What about Maidan? The Right Sektor? How about Minsk Accords? Azov and the war in Donbas? Did they have relatives in Russia? How did we get here?
Also, the article claims they all say they want to return, yet from 1991 up to when the war started, Ukraine was exporting 300K - 500K people every year. People who willingly left - never to return.
Its simply that Putin refuses to recognize Ukraine as an independent country.
We can believe nothing from our media.
Germany has about 1 million Ukraine refugees. A recent survey of them indicates only 15% would return home within 6 months of the war’s end. Another 40% said they would consider returning after a few years of earning more money to take to Ukraine. The remainder indicated no interest in returning to Ukraine. At all.
Popular support in Germany for continuing arms shipments to Ukraine has now fallen under 50%.
Believe nothing from our MSM. Believe nothing from RT. Dig deep for articles in neutral sources. India newspapers, Qatari, those. You can’t just pick a place because they may not fund their own reportage and just pick up stories from the wires. But India and Qatar fund reporters.
That’s interesting. Blinkin on ABC GMA this morning only mentioned Ruskies fleeing. Wonder why he did not provide numbers for both belligerents?
They were probably safer in Ukraine.
Most 65 y/o's would just be a liability to the defense. Even Steven at best. And if I'm reading the excerpt correctly, he escorted his wife & daughter, and his neighbor's wife & daughter out. 4 more liabilities.
Alive, he can be a strong asset after the war.
Now, that said, I would hope he could get involved in online training of medics (to the extent that can be done) or something like that. And trying to garner support.
A) Neutral Indian reporters are few and far between. Many rehash Russian propaganda nearly verbatim.
B) Those Germans who do not support arms for Ukraine are a motley assortment of squishes (somewhat understandable), near Commies (almost every issue - makes our left in the USA look like Reagan by comparison), and a group who somehow thinks Germany and Russia should try again on being some sort of strategic partner* against the rest of Europe. Plus a large group who see Poland and other European countries as a threat (mainly of “encirclement”, but also as future economic rivals).
*Well, hey, in 1992 I thought a general Russia / West partnership was possible. By 2000 I was thoroughly disabused of any such silly notions.
The more I study Europe, and particularly Germany (partially due to family ties and descent), the more I realize that the thin veneer most Americans see of European success and cooperation is just that. It has generally progressed economically, but under the hood, Europe, and Germany, is a mell of a hess. NATO is about much more than it’s original stated purpose of containing the USSR...
So you favor 16 y/o kids being dragged off the street by Zelenskyy?
The reality is that Ukraine is a relatively poor country and corruption was rampant, with no real end in sight. That was one of the drivers toward Ukrainians wanting to get into the EU: Despite its negatives, EU countries generally are on upward paths (esp. next door Poland), and EU rules DO tend to root out the more blatant corruption. And in fact, most EU countries leadership does (sometimes fitfully) get around to doing what the majority of their citizens want. To most Ukies, that certainly looks better than being a vassal state of Russia. But with progress toward the goal of getting into the EU taking decades - yeah, it's not hard to see why "go-getters" would leave for greener pastures.
NOW you have great numbers of the much larger group who decided to stay, forced out. These are mostly not the group you speak of, so between natural inclination and hope that if Russia is pushed back, ties to Europe will be much stronger, sure, they will want to return when practical.
I can relate in a way: I'm older than this fellow, and despite much economic incentive to leave my area, I stayed "home". There are family reasons for that, familiarity, and just plain liking the people around me. At the same time, I live in a supremely dangerous earthquake zone. If "New Madrid" does a repeat of 1811-12, getting relief in could be extraordinarily difficult, and despite my efforts to somewhat "prep", I can well see needing to evacuate (probably by military helicopter?) for some months, maybe longer. I would want to return... when practical to at least not be a liability to others.
The situations are not remotely comparable. Probably never could be, because if cities in Russia start getting leveled, it’ll likely go nuclear.
That’s generally interesting.
I don’t have a great feel for Germany, other than friends online who have their own agenda. As best I can tell, Germany’s reunification generated a merger of attitudes that were hugely far apart. Neither side changed their minds. They just get different number of seats.
All reporters everywhere parrot somebody’s MOD daily briefing. A few, very few, but not zero, go out and embed with one side or the other. I don’t think they ever have agenda, there there is some Stockholm Syndrome that unfolds since they live and die based on the guys around them.
What I have been doing it watching some Australian videos of life in Russia. More than anything else, this is what Americans have wrong. They grocery stores are full. There are military age men walking the aisles. The prices are much lower than the US, even with a market ruble conversion (which is not applicable since that currency market exists in a hostile country) their food is about 2/3 in price of ours, and visually looks better.
This is the big difference. Americans do not have any feel for this. Russia is hugely advanced. They are not backwards and stupid. It’s very clear in the vids, and the vid channel is almost always more than a year old. It wasn’t propaganda created Feb 2022.
I am reminded of a few years ago the mail order bride firms were sending men over to parties to meet women. Ukraine women and Russian women. A Russian woman after the gathering was interviewed and I remember her being confused.
“This is not Ukraine. We are not poor? Why did they think I was poor? Who told them this? Our conversations could have been much more friendly if they didn’t start each one talking about the TV in their flat.”
This is a HUGE problem. America does not realize they are not afraid of American weapons. It’s very dangerous.
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