What is happening with Russia and Ukraine now?

United Nations voted on "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance"

115 voted yes, 55 abstained (Mainly EU countries) and 3 voted no (USA, Ukraine, Canada).

 

State of emergency in Ukraine as Russia cuts off coal.

 

Protesters storming an administration bulding in Vinnica (Central Ukraine) chanting "Poroh [Poroshenko] - Dickhead" (~9:00):

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They demand a resignation of the city governor, re-election of the deputies of the oblast council and lustration of the ministers.

 

Finally some good news from the region. A quote from an OSCE report:

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TL;DR: UA, LPR, DPR and RF have agreed to do joint patrols in Ukraine. OSCE approves.

I assume Crimea was never bombed by UA since RF Black Fleet marines are actually there. And since RF can now send peacekeepers to LPR and DPR I hope there will be an unconditional ceasefire this time.

 

USA does not recognize Crimea as a part of Russia.

Obama has imposed sanctions against Crimea.

Obama sanctioned Ukraine?

Meanwhile: Tenth humanitarian convoy with relief aid from RF to DPR and LPR has been formed. There is 0 coverage in the western media other than the initial shitstorm about the first one.

 

Press-conference that was earlier shown on a live stream (2h 10m) by UA president Poroshenko:

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Main points made during the conference (A few of them contradict each other):

• Ukraine has one of the most advanced militaries on the continent.
• Sovereignty of the country must be restored in 2015.
• Poroshenko is not interested in being a president for a second term.
• Anticorruption Bureau law will be changed in accordance with EU propositions.
• Ceasefire is in place and is respected...
• ...but he later said that hundreds of "Russian murderers" have recently been "punished" in Ilovaisk in retaliation for the battle of Ilovaisk and "were left to rot" or "sent home in coffins".
• There is no military solution to the current crisis as Ukraine forces are incapable of maintaining an offence at this point...
• ...however the ATO will continue.
• Agreements with the International Monetary Fund and new loans will ensure trust of the UA investors and stop devaluation of the currency.
• Ukraine will not buy coal from terrorists...
• ...but he later said that agreements with LPR and DPR about coal deliveries have been made.
• Ukraine will not allow any businesses that support terrorists to exist.
• There is no blockade of Crimea. Current measures (Electricity, water and gas cut offs on the peninsula) are preventative measures against saboteurs.

 

Protest near the parliament in Kiev:

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Faschist march with torches in Kiev on the 1st of january, to commemorate Bandera's birthday. "Heil Ukraine!" and "Hang the Russians!".

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Thanks for keeping us updated, though I just wanted to point out that they aren't shouting "heil" but the Slavic слава/sława/slava, which means "glory". So, in fact, it's "glory to Ukraine" and they're not using the German "heil". What comes after is "glory to heroes"; as far as I'm aware, this is a common nationalist howl in Ukraine that is common in the military too and the far right love it. Also, I didn't watch the entirety of any of the videos so they may indeed be saying "hang the Russians", but "Москалей на ножи" actually means "Muscovites on knives" (as in, to stick the Muscovites on knives) - Москал being the pejorative name for Muscovites, though it is basically used as an ethnic slur for Russians in its neighboring Slavic countries (definitely in Ukraine and Poland, possibly in Belarus as well). I know that "hang the Russians" carries an almost identically racist message and I understand if you translated it thus because it sounds better this way in English, I'm just nitpicking.

And once again I want to highlight that most of these people aren't neo-Nazis. I know you didn't say that they were Komo, I'm just repeating myself here because I get the impression that this is what people will think upon reading this. There are other types of fascism out there after all and it did not really begin with Hitler in Germany, but Mussolini in Italy. Anyway, this doesn't change the fact that anyone praising Bandera or his band of fuckwit mass murderers is an idiot and a prick. Thanks again for keeping us updated, Komo.

 

Not quite. "Слава Украине" was a UPA greeting shaped after the nazi salute.

Слава Украине! - Героям слава!
Slava Ukraine! - Heroyam Slava!
Heil Hitler! - Sieg Heil!

Слава/Glory is likened to the German Heil even in the games these forums were built around.

There are plenty of variations that can be heard, "Москалей на ножи" (Muscovites on knives/Cut the Russians) and "Москаляку на гиляку" (Moscovites on [tree] branch/Hang the Russians) being among them. The message remains the same though.

If someone assumes the entire people are nazis, they are not that bright. All I'm saying is this is allowed and endorsed by the government of Ukraine and everyone is laughing up the "threat to ethnic Russians".

EDIT: Oh look, BBC actually noticed.

 

I know, like I said - it's a common nationalist howl that became popular among the far right in general. UPA were in a way the forefathers of Ukrainian ethnic nationalism. As for the similarity to the German "Sieg Heil", that's true as well, but it's still not the same. The word слава/sława means glory/fame in the Slavic languages despite of the fact that some nationalists took a liking to it. What I'm saying is that the noun, even though used by some in a similar manner to the German "heil", doesn't have far right origins as it's much older and is still used in most if not all Slavic languages in a different context. For example, I bet that the Russian language has the adjective "славный" or something similar, meaning "glorious" or "famous", doesn't it? In fact, aside from the theory revolving around слово/słowo/slovo, another theory regarding the origin of the ethnonym "Slavs" in the Slavic languages (Słowianie, Slaveni, Slované, Словени, Славяне, and so on) is that it is derived from slava instead.

Last but not least, I want to mention that UPA were a fairly large force and so was their parent OUN. Although they saw Poland and Russia as being the main obstacles in the creation of an independent Ukrainian nation state, Nazi Germany were still their enemies and UPA's collaboration with the Nazis was fairly short-lived and viewed only as means to creating Ukraine as a country. However, their genocide of Poles and other minorities in Volhynia may have been inspired by Nazi methods. Anyway, it's important to remember that OUN and UPA were not truly unitary factions and the extent to which they carried out massacres or collaborated with the Hitlerite invaders varied greatly between the local branches of these organizations. Nevertheless, what they all had in common was the nationalist far right politics and they were scum - ethnic cleansing usually occurs when these two are combined with a real military force.

Ok, that's fair enough.

I get you. For any Pole with a basic understanding of his or her country's history, "Bandera" and "UPA" bring only this to mind. Ironically, our leading politicians are choosing to ignore the fact that banners carried at Maidan and other nationalist rallies in Ukraine were the same flags under which thousands of Polish families were brutally murdered. Actually, it seems as though some of them are trying their best to divert attention from this fact.

 

Checks out, according to the comment section on the article about this event.

 

Ukraine to hold three waves of military mobilization in 2015. The first wave is supposed to enlist 50000 people and starts on the 20th of January.

 

Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk gave an interview on a german ARD channel where he said that USSR invaded Germany and Ukraine in WW2 (Source in German) and blames Russia for trying to rewrite history of that time period. I would assume he referred to GDR, but I'm not so sure anymore after all that was said and done.

Commenters seem generally pissed.

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Miloš Zeman, a president of the Czech Republic has sent an open letter to Ukraine Nationalists.

 

Arseniy Yatsenyuk interview for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German).

A rather boring interview discussing UA membership in NATO, sanctions and financial aid from EU, aside from the part where a reporter mentions that Human Rights Watch accused UA army of firing on civilians indiscriminately and using cluster ammunitions, after which Arseniy interrupted the interviewer and said that UA army can't be blamed without solid proof and that Russian terrorists are attacking themselves.

 

Kazakhstan Republic has sent 300 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukraine's south-east through Kiev. Hopefully it will actually be delivered.

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At least 3.7 million people, including world leaders, marched in an anti-terrorism rally in Paris on Sunday, the French Mission to the United Nations said, calling the massive gathering the largest in France's history. UA president Petro Poroshenko has attended.

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Meanwhile in Kharkiv yesterday:

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A newspaper office was attacked by masked ultras, who torched the building with molotovs. Newspaper owner said that they have recently received threats for "separatism".



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Meanwhile in Donetsk today:

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New Year party "Vatnik Goda" award ("Vatnik of the year", vatnik is a derogatory term for russians) in the "Bar Hot" club in Kiev, held on the 28th of December, 2014. Main dish is a child-shaped cake with a russian flag:

Screencap:

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Videos:

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Side dishes include:

- Black burgers with bird meat and fries "Trade Unions House"
- "Infant blood" cocktails
- "Separatist liver" cutlets
- "Volhynia massacre" meat platter

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You can't make this shit up :derp: