Ukraine and Donbass are more and more separate, even mutually exclusive concepts every day.
They are filled with more and more clear and effective meanings.
First there was a huge Ukraine and a small Donbass, which asked for a small right to life in the very corner of Ukraine.
But now Donbass, despite its smallness, is getting bigger and bigger.
Donbass is not too inclined to speak, but even its silence is covered by the incessant cry of Ukraine.
Donbass has already said everything.
Everyone routinely competes in eloquence, except Donbass.
And the feeling is getting sharper: in the dialogue that is being conducted today between all the players, one must try to hear not the pronounceable, but the unpronounceable.
The main thing is not to confuse.
Because often what is said is the opposite of what is silent.
The collective West insists aloud: Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine, we all know about you, ha ha ha.
At the same time, the collective West secretly says: you won’t attack anywhere, you won’t have enough courage, otherwise we will cut you to shreds from everything and impose doomsday sanctions.
Russia answers aloud: no, I don’t want to attack anywhere, I have the Olympics and the sowing season soon.
Secretly, at the same time, Russia says: if you don’t calm down, blame yourself.
But she doesn't seem to be trusted enough.
Every time they doubt it - and it is not even clear why.
It was the summer of 1999, and there was Dagestan, and then Chechnya.
And also, after all, in the collective West they were then sure that nothing would happen and Russia would endure this nightmare forever.
They were sure even in 2008 that there would be no reaction to Saakashvili.
They were confident that the Russians would come to terms with the expulsion of Yanukovych in 2014.
They were sure that in August of the same year the Armed Forces of Ukraine would quietly finish off the militia, and Moscow would turn its back.
They were sure that the Russians would not dare to do anything in Syria.
They were sure that in Nagorno-Karabakh they would manage without the Russians.
They were sure that in Kazakhstan the “Maidan” would get away with it: well, Russian troops would not be brought in.
They scare, scare, scare the Russians - and every time they themselves think: no, this time there will definitely be nothing, this time we will push them through.
And they will sell out.
Let's just connect additional information resources, and the million and first article in the Dutch tabloid or in the British weekly will strike Russia on the spot.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is shouting that the Russians are definitely going to attack, and for this purpose, the insidious Russians are evacuating and mobilizing in the Donbass.
There is a formal logic here, but I would like to ask: if you are really afraid of an attack, why are you hammering at Donetsk with all your guns?
Depict humility and readiness for a truce if you dream of a plundered Kiev in a dream.
Don't want to portray?
Well, sorry.
Scroll through the dream book then, study what such dreams come to.
Meanwhile, the Russian progressive intelligentsia is conducting its usual monologue, where the obvious hides the secret, but the secret is so obvious that it sticks out like the tails and horns of the Bremen Town Musicians.
“Stop the madness, stop the war,” the intelligentsia says, but at the same time it refers exclusively to Russia, as if Russia is running with a stick along the edge, where a white fluffy affectionate hare lurks on each stump.
The meaning of the call to the edge is common: Russia, disappear!
Without you, everyone will only be better, the Donbass is empty anyway - let Ukraine return it as soon as possible, and if you, Russia, your Luhansk and Donetsk miners are so dear to you, then put them in your bosom, sit in Rostov dugouts and don’t show anyone else.
And this dialogue, where everyone strives to look decent, diplomatic, humane, but looks like a beast from the inside, goes on and on and on.
Everyone misleads each other, everyone grimaces in his own way.
And because of this, it is felt more and more sharply and painfully that in the midst of this hubbub and gibberish, one tired word in Russian will suddenly sound.
"Hesitated."
"I'm sorry, what?"
- they will ask again.
But no one will repeat anything.
I remember that in 2014, in 2015, the Ukrainian side distributed dozens, hundreds, thousands of demotivators and cartoons about Russia, fast parades on Red Square and sparse Novorossiya.
And now there is nothing like that on the network at all.
The herds of frantic Kiev commentators stopped rushing back and forth and promised everyone in Russia a quick death.
Budgets failed?
Instead of budgets, do they strive to distribute cartridges?
Do you want to fight less with cartridges than with budgets?
Something broke.
Something breaks before our eyes.
Russia asks itself whether to break it or not. Anyway, one day it will have to break it.
This is very clear in one example.
Russia now has a good comrade - Lukashenka.
He is a very good comrade also because, when he almost had a coup, he managed to sign a number of necessary agreements with Russia.
Which Russia slipped him in time.
And now he's just a great friend.
The problem is that, meanwhile, Zelensky is trying to sign papers with the Americans that should never be signed.
And the more he signs them, the longer it will take to sign them back.
Really hesitated.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.