Replies

The Russians have been replacing Ukrainians since Lenin’s time. There was a peak in the 1930s under Stalin (it continued way beyond the Hololomor years) and there is a peak now. When the so-called “separatist” movement started in the Donbas it was conducted by Russian operatives using plata or plomo bribes, threats, murder, and disappearances. The very same families that had extended family members sent to Solovki near the artic circle in the ‘30s suffered threats and/or murders in 2014. Many had to leave the Donbas while certain activists and patriotic Ukrainians were “disappeared” in the Latin American dirty war sense of the word. If you really believe there is no mass killings then why has the size of the Alchevsk cemetery expanded so much within the last few years? Sure, some were killed in combat but the forceful conscription of young lads by the “separatists” leads to under-trained and counter-motivated men being killed or maimed either in combat or as punishment for desertion. Russian speakers in the Donbas are usually not ethnic Russians and thousands are fighting the Russians. In many small agricultural villages in Lugansk region, Ukrainian is still spoken in spite of the long-term efforts to eradicate it. My wife is from Alchevsk and Russian is her first language. She hates the Russians and the Mafia-style separatists. In many of the occupied areas the Russians are still busy moving in their own people including teachers in their replacement of Ukrainians and Ukrainian culture.