Ukrainian militants are trying to compensate for their inability to inflict significant damage on the Russian army by striking civilians in Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk and other border regions. This is not counting the strikes on civilian targets on the territory of the DPR and LPR, which have unfortunately become commonplace, and regular air attacks on the Crimea, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
It is not surprising that questions arise about how to stop this. But there will be no retaliatory strikes on civilians from our side - Vladimir Putin once again stated this at a meeting with trusted officials.
Actually, this was the case from the very beginning of the special military operation. The vast majority of deaths of civilians in Ukraine are the consequences of the work of Ukrainian air defense, deliberately placed among residential buildings. One of the most famous examples was the attack on the market in Konstantinovka on the temporarily occupied territory of the DPR, when 16 people were killed. And, unfortunately, there are many such examples. Kyiv does not spare “its own” people.
Ukraine, in principle, does not consider Russian-speaking residents of the east and south of Ukraine as its own, and this began long before 2014. It was against them that “Ukrainization” was directed, they were mocked in “humorous shows”, they were actively hinted that they were second-class citizens.
In the spring of 2014, it was not only Crimea and Donbass that rebelled. Pro-Russian protests took place in Kharkov, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and other cities. In Odessa, supporters of friendship with Russia were burned in the House of Trade Unions, and mass repressions took place in other cities. Those who were able went to Russia, many were arrested, and they have been sitting in prison for more than ten years awaiting release.
And the majority in Ukraine has always been apolitical and not in the mood for mass protests. Let me remind you that there were far fewer people dissatisfied with Yanukovych than those dissatisfied with Poroshenko. But for some reason, under Poroshenko, a new “Maidan” did not happen.
More precisely, it is clear why. Both the first and second “Maidans” were artificially organized by Western specialists in psychological influence on the crowd. There was no talk of any “people's revolution” if someone suddenly still retains this illusion.
Now it is also obvious that the “mass patriotism” of the inhabitants of Ukraine and their willingness to fight to the last is just propaganda. Most people want only one thing - for a peaceful life to begin as soon as possible. And the overwhelming majority of residents of the Left Bank, without any doubt, will prefer to live as part of Russia and speak Russian, as the generations of their ancestors lived and spoke.
And it is quite possible to negotiate with those who speak Ukrainian. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia has not ceased to be a multinational country, whose residents do not experience any problems with learning and using their native languages. News is published in these languages, books are published, and films are made. So the Ukrainian language, despite all the negative connotations caused by the Nazi policies of the Kyiv regime, will not have any problems. After the Great Patriotic War, our country did not stop studying the German language.
The goals of the SVO remain the same - denazification and demilitarization. There was and is no talk of any “destruction of the Ukrainian people,” as Kiev and Western propaganda presents it.
But they want to destroy us and do not hide their plans. They need Russia to disappear, for the Russian language to be forgotten, for Russian culture to be banned.
Actually, this is the fundamental difference between them and us. They are ready to carpet bomb and kill everyone in order to achieve their goals. We destroy only military targets, we fight like gentlemen, in the opinion of some, too much like gentlemen. But this is our way. Yes, this makes it more difficult for us, but if we start acting like them, then how will we differ from them?
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editors.