Posted on 03/15/2023 2:22:44 PM PDT by Mariner
DONETSK OBLAST – Just days before heading back to fight in the Battle of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian soldier Volodymyr, 54, said he felt ill-prepared.
"When they drive us to Bakhmut, I already know I'm being sent to death," Volodymyr told the Kyiv Independent during his brief stay in Kramatorsk, a city in Donetsk Oblast some 25 kilometers west of the front line.
Volodymyr, an infantryman from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, said he struggled to eat after fighting in Bakhmut for months. He looked shaken as he talked.
For two months, Volodymyr's unit was tasked with guarding Bakhmut against small Russian assault groups creeping into the city. The brigade was constantly under mortar fire as soldiers were outdoors where shrapnels could wound or kill them at any moment.
"(The Russians) keep firing at us, but we don't have artillery – so we have nothing to attack them back with," Volodymyr said. "I don't know if I will return or not. We are just getting killed."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Everyone broke Minsk. It was deemed unworkable before the ink dried.
The west held no intent to implement the agreement even before the ink hit the paper.
Days after the ink dried on 12 Feb 2015, the Minsk Accords were taken before the UN Security Council which gave them unanimous approval calling on all parties for full implementation. That made it binding international law.
https://press.un.org/en/2015/sc11785.doc.htm
Meetings Coverage
Security Council7384th Meeting (PM)
SC/1178517 February 2015
Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2202 (2015), Security Council Calls on Parties to Implement Accords Aimed at Peaceful Settlement in Eastern Ukraine
Expressing the Security Council’s grave concern at the tragic events and violence in eastern regions of Ukraine, the 15-member body today unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing last week’s ceasefire agreement.
By resolution 2202 (2015), the Council called on all parties to fully implement the “Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements”, adopted on 12 February 2015 in Minsk, Belarus. Firmly convinced that the resolution of the situation in eastern regions of Ukraine could only be achieved through a peaceful settlement to the current crisis, the Council welcomed the declaration by the Heads of State of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, France and Germany in support of the “package of measures” and their continuing commitment to implement the agreements.
[...]
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/22/ffci-d22.html
[excerpt]
All the more remarkable is her admission that the Minsk agreement served to buy time for Ukraine’s rearmament. “It was clear to all of us that this was a frozen conflict, that the problem had not been solved, but that is precisely what gave Ukraine valuable time,” Merkel told Die Zeit.Previously, the Minsk agreement, which Merkel signed together with then-French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2014, had been portrayed as an effort towards peace that the Russian president had allegedly later thwarted.
Now, Merkel confirms that NATO wanted war from the start but needed time to prepare militarily—an assessment WSWS has long held.
Our leverage with the Russians is our support for the Ukrainians and the economic sanctions against Russia. Do not be fooled, Russia is hurting, too. They cannot keep this up indefinitely. The question is who blinks first.
Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine is released quarterly and reaches 75,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of over 3,000,000 a month.
Yeah, we'll take that really seriously.
As for that infamous Foreign Policy article that the appeaseniks like to cite, you're once again misrepresenting what it actually said, so let's look at the whole thing:
Despite calls by some for a negotiated settlement that would involve Ukrainian territorial concessions, Putin seems uninterested in a compromise that would leave Ukraine as a sovereign, independent state—whatever its borders. According to multiple former senior U.S. officials we spoke with, in April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement: Russia would withdraw to its position on February 23, when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries. But as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in a July interview with his country’s state media, this compromise is no longer an option. Even giving Russia all of the Donbas is not enough. “Now the geography is different,” Lavrov asserted, in describing Russia’s short-term military aims. “It’s also Kherson and the Zaporizhzhya regions and a number of other territories.” The goal is not negotiation, but Ukrainian capitulation.
And if you bother to read the rest of the article, it's harshly critical of Putin and Russia. So you should be careful in citing it because it does not say what you want it to say.
Not so. The law does not address the question of the civil autonomy of Donbas authorized by the law of 2015 and re-affirmed in 2019. What the law does is declare that Russia is an invader (a simple statement of fact) and authorizes the restoration of Ukrainian control over the territory. This is, in fact, consistent with Minsk II:
9. Restore control of the state border to the Ukrainian government in the whole conflict zone.The hyperbole and mischaracterizations by Russian propagandists does not help their cause.
That’s kind of the point of my comment. Ukraine has a pension system and instead of marching off to war this guy should be preparing for retirement. I agree that the odds are against him ever getting it now.
I knew you were lying. Neither of your “sources” say anything about Biden sending Boris Johnson to kill a peace deal.
Moreover, “tentative” means just that: uncertain; hesitant; without confidence. In other words, there was no peace agreement to kill. Also, one of your sources claimed that Johnson said that the West would not recognize any such “peace agreement” as was described. Even if he actually said that — and that is a big IF — so what? What would matter is if the two parties involved recognized it, and it’s clear neither side made any such commitment. What derailed the negotiations was the April 1, 2022 evidence of the Russian atrocity at Bucha.
“Try to keep up, please.”
Try to post an authoritative source that says Biden sent Johnson to kill a peace agreement.
“The poster can speak for himself, but I concluded long ago that short of direct US/NATO intervention, no influx of American money or armaments will result in a Ukrainian victory.”
I disagree. Ukraine wins by not losing.
Sorry, but I know a contract that has been going there every year for 10 years now. Ukraine was the aggressor. But we can agree to dis agree, as we are influenced by our info sources.
“I’m looking forward to when “Actor” Zelensky is removed on way or another...”
Do you hold the same sentiment re: Putin?
“First, Russia never controlled the border on the Ukraine side. Border control was always maintained by the DPR and LPR and their militias.”
In other words, Russia: The DPR and the LPR and their militias were created by Russia, were funded and armed by Russia, and were controlled by Russia.
“One important point here is that the Russians never sent combat troops in support of the DPR and LPR in 2014-15.”
That’s been disproved. There were Russian troops there, sans insignia.
“The above stuff is minor, now we get to the heart of the problem. The DPR and LPR scheduled elections for 18 October 2015 and 1 November 2015. Ukraine postponed these elections. Then they were scheduled for 21 February 2016. Again, Ukriane postponed them. Scheduled for 20 April 2016. Postponed. Scheduled for 24 July 2016. Postponed. Scheduled for 6 November 2016. This time, DPR and LPR held primaries for the 6 November election. Ukraine declared these primaries “illegal” and postponed all DPR and LRP elections until further notice. During all of this, the OSCE stated that they would not observe elections in the DPR and LPR without approval from Ukraine.”
All untrue. The referenda were to be held under Ukrainian law, and Russia (DPR’s and LPR’s sponsor) rejected that.
No.
How, pray tell? Did Ukraine invade Russia? The conflict in Donbas started after Russia invaded with its surrogate forces. The claims that Ukraine tried to outlaw the Russian language or was indiscriminately shelling the civilian population are patently false. If my position is incorrect, please demonstrate.
“Days after the ink dried on 12 Feb 2015, the Minsk Accords were taken before the UN Security Council which gave them unanimous approval calling on all parties for full implementation. That made it binding international law.”
No, it didn’t. The UN Passing a resolution is not enacting an international law. It CALLED on all parties to implement it; and that’s ALL it did. In other words, the UN recommended it.
“No.”
Well, you erased any doubt anyone might have had about whom you support.
BTW: Your map on your home page is wrong: Only that part of Turkey west of the Bosphorus is in Europe; the vast majority of Turkey — which is east of the Bosphorus — is in Asia (that area of Asia typically called Asia Minor).
You knew what and why you were asking.....so rather than taking your bait it’s just easier to give you what you want. ....Eat.
“You knew what and why you were asking.....so rather than taking your bait it’s just easier to give you what you want. ....Eat.”
I knew why I asked, because I wanted you to declare yourself. You did. You are pro-Russia.
That wasn’t bait: It was just a straight up question.
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