Kherson And Mariupol ~ What Has The UN Actually Done To Save The Ukrainians?
Guterres finally meets with Zelenskyy
We await the evacuation of Mariupol still, as Guterres arrives in Ukraine and visits some of the towns that have been destroyed (Borodyanka, Bucha, and Irpin). This is a true test of how useful/useless the UN is. The very least the UN can do is facilitate a humanitarian corridor for those in Mariupol. It is expected of them, and needs to happen.
Today, he finally meets Zelenskyy—a visit that many thought should have been first on the list. While Guterres can do the media press conferences, what actively is being done except to state the obvious? Yes, we know was is absurd and evil and is based on acquiring power, so what will the UN do about it? So far, it has been revealed that the talks have discussed human rights violations including deporting Ukrainians to Russia against their will, and also the refusal of humanitarian aid to those trapped in Mariupol.
He does state that discussions alone will not end the war, and it will end when Russia chooses to end it or if they are defeated. That is also something we all already knew, as he gives Anderson Cooper an interview. One can’t help but feel that this action is two months late…
Guterres says:
(The Russian invasion)… is a violation" of both Ukrainian territory and the UN charter.
Then further admits that the UN Security Council has failed. The Russians knew how to ‘work the system’ and that is why the UN needed to realign the core principles, and build in safeguards into the charter.
"Let me be very clear: the security council failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war, and this is a source of great disappointment, frustration and anger. But the men and women of the United Nations are working every day for the people of Ukraine, side by side, with so many brave Ukrainian organisations.”
Day 64 (28 April)
Russia claims that occupied (or liberated in their eyes) Kherson will begin to use the rouble from 1 May after a sham referendum.
Russia claims that any country interfering with the special military operation in Ukraine is risking the security of Europe. That is a threat, to tell all countries to stop sending weapons to Ukraine.
NATO has pledged to standby Ukraine, and to provide NATO standard weapons.
The first British man to be killed in Ukraine has been named as Scott Sibley, and another British man is missing.
Biden has made a speech, declaring that the US is not attacking Russia but is aiding Ukraine in defending itself. Regardless of this, in Putin’s mind that still means that the US is declaring war against Russia by proxy.
Biden has also stated that funds are low and that he must request more funds from Congress to help aid Ukraine. $33 billion to be exact, which won’t go down well with some poverty stricken Americans, but war is expensive which is why aggressors plan and budget before they attack.
“You will never succeed in dominating Ukraine,” says Biden to Putin. Well, Putin shouldn’t expect a Christmas card this year or an invite to the White House either. Biden continues, that the US is prepared to react as and when necessary against Russia.
The chances of Russian troops killing Ukrainians is high, given that they must transport them, and feed them which is time consuming and costly. They have already begun to destroy the evidence and the only way that these crimes can be discovered is for those to search for the missing. However, if an entire family is wiped out, who will know or search for them?
Civilians are being captured and held as prisoners to use as leverage for exchanges. A Red Cross volunteer who was captured while on an evacuation run was released in a prisoner exchange. He confirmed that people were being sent to Russia against their will, imprisoned, and tortured as he was. Originally he had been transferred to Belarus, which confirms that the country is assisting Russia directly, and his paperwork stated he was born in the ‘Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic’, or Soviet Ukraine, which was the name for Ukraine before it was dissolved on 24 August 1991. From this, we can deduce that the Russia considers Ukraine still be part of the old USSR, and the aim to to reform the USSR.
Kyiv is being attacked again (as anticipated). Reports so far state that Shevchenkivskyi has been hit.
Russia claims that the West are ‘encouraging’ Ukraine to fight the special military operation which is in aid of peacekeeping. The UK in particular has been blamed with comments from some ministers that have been misinterpreted.
The statue under the Friendship arch has been dismantled amongst cheers. It will be a long time before the Russian wounds can be healed.
I can't help but think that part of the feet dragging by the West is because no other country has actually experienced any adverse conditions or attacks, which, unfortunately, leads to a lack of urgency for actually physically helping Ukraine to hit back at Putin being conveyed to everyone outside of Ukraine. Seems like if Putin had ordered a few bombs or air attacks on other countries, the picture would be very different.
"It will be a long time before the Russian wounds will be healed." This reminds me of an abusive partner that cannot allow a partner who has escaped, survive!