9 May ~ Victory Day Full Of More Diplomatic Talks And Propaganda
Russia tries to justify the special military operation as the alliances hold more discussions
The Victory Day parade went ahead with the expected hypocrisy when Putin declared the army was fighting Ukraine for the Motherland, and that Russia had no choice to invade as he claimed Ukraine was going to invade Russia and needed to protect Russia. I don’t know what fumes he has been inhaling, but there is zero evidence to suggest that Ukraine were interested in attacking Russia. Putin blames NATO for forcing him to invade Ukraine (by acting aggressively), again with no evidence and this propaganda has spread across Russia where the natives believe that the US and NATO are responsible for the war.
The day has been full of news of diplomats meeting each other to pledge support and to come up with other ideas of how to appear supportive, but to keep Ukraine out of the EU and NATO. Yes, Macron, I’m talking about you who says in one breath that France will support Ukraine but has been one of the last to offer any weapons, and in the next breath he states they cannot join the EU for decades, so let us start another alliance for outsiders to shut them up and appease them! He seems to have persuaded the highly criticized German Chancellor Scholz to back his absurd idea.
The invasion has brought Europe together whether they liked it or not (bar Hungary), yet Macron has his own agenda and is trying to create another faction as in Animal Farm, where the pigs ended up with more than one faction competing against each other. How can one trust the French when all Macron seems to do is call Putin? China is no better when they try to evade stating who they support, calling for an end to the conflict but we all know who they support without them having t state it as a fact, and that is Russia. Xi Jinping spoke to Olaf Scholz, stating that the war should not ‘expand or intensify’. With all these world leaders speaking to each other, nothing is actually getting done because the war is escalating very slowly, but Russia wants to press the buttons of NATO so that he can blame them for the war.
Thank goodness we have Patron the sniffer dog who has detected more than 200 mines and who has been helping to teach children about the danger of mines.
Day 75 (9 May)
A few days ago, Zelenskyy’s autographed khaki fleece was sold at auction for £90,000 where the proceeds will go towards helping Ukrainian humanitarian efforts.
The Russian TV schedule page was hacked and statements such as:
"Vladimir Putin has turned into a pitiful dictator and paranoiac"
“Russian authorities have banned journalists from talking about the negative”
"Russia threatens to destroy the whole world"
were posted. These have now been deleted but still exist in the archives. https://web.archive.org/web/20220509065825/https://lenta.ru/
NATO reaffirms support for Ukraine and the right for the country to defend itself.
Red liquid was thrown at the Russian ambassador in Poland (Sergei Andreev as he visited a cemetery in Warsaw to pay his respect to those who died in the Second World War. Honestly, what did he expect?
The European Council president, Charles Michel and the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal visited Odesa, where their meetings were interrupted by sirens due to attacks on the port city. The city is under a curfew, so attacks during the day are not a surprise and there have been reports of missiles in Odesa.
Putin has claimed in the Victory Day speech that Ukraine is planning on acquiring nuclear weapons as propaganda. In 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum agreeing to relinquish all nuclear weapons in exchange for protection from the US and UK if nuclear weapons were used against them.
Popasna fell to Russian forces on Sunday as fighting intensifies in the Donbas region.
Mariupol is under Russian control except for the Azovstal steelworks and Denis Pushilin, the separatist leader of eastern Ukraine’s self-declared Donetsk People's Republic held a ceremony in the city to commemorate Victory Day. The turn out was small, as expected since most civilians need permits to move around the city, where 90% of it is now destroyed.
Macron is trying to promote a new European political community as a place for those who are not in the EU, as an alternative to EU membership, The European Council already exists! It appears to be a way to halt the recent applications from Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova and to offer them something else. Macron met with Scholz in Berlin to show unity in Franco-German relations.
Ukraine has completed the second part of the EU membership application and a decision could be made in June if a candidate status is agreed. However, it looks like France will oppose this as well as Hungary. Macron seems to be on a mad power trip and isn’t working with everyone else, but is trying to create a path that he believes is better for France within the EU, rather than what is best for Ukraine. No one else is buying it and if he isn’t careful he may create tensions within Europe and NATO that will benefit Putin.
The Council of Europe Secretary General (Marija Pejčinović Burić) visited Irpin. All these visits do little except show that they support Ukraine, but they do not stop the deaths or actually help Ukraine.
On 10 May, the UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the alleged human rights violations that the Russians have been accused of during the invasion of Ukraine. With witness statements and actual evidence, this is a formality that will lead to what exactly? Each day there are more violations as they sit around to discuss whether they are violations. Pretty much an executed child or civilian that has been tortured is a human rights violation without having to delve deeply into the matter. The fact that the victims are dead speaks for itself.
In occupied Kherson, it is reported homes that have been abandoned due to people either being killed or because they have evacuated are being used to house Russian troops. This is a way of settling Russians into the region and taking control of the city.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue remotely, but there have been no face-to-face talks since 29 March.
Sadly, I see no way to stop the carnage without all out war. A statement I do not make lightly. And I dread how many more will die and how much greater the destruction will be, before the Big 3 finally recognize that. Thank you, EL.