Ukraine Dispatch 19 | Terror ~ The War in Ukraine

Ukraine Dispatches
Volume 1 2022

Preamble

IT IS Day 41 of the War in Ukraine as I write.

Today, we are presented with evidence of shocking atrocities upon the Ukrainian civilian population, and clear evidence of a determined policy of ethnic cleansing, what we used to call extermination. I notice that whilst The Times of London reports on ethnic cleansing and holds back slightly, there is no such reticence by the journalists Ben Riley-Smith, Joe Barnes and Campbell MacDiarmid in Kyiv of the Daily Telegraph.

Between the two great high street newspapers, we obtain the full horror of what has been uncovered to date. But the articles, as well as the superb BBC World news 24/7 channel, bring home the question with a suddenness, a violence all of its own, and a demand that senses upon the reader that there WILL be a reckoning on the scale of the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, and the Balkan Wars Trials following the Bosnian Serbian Massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

In other words, the tentacles of this reckoning will reach to the furthest corners and recesses of every perpetrator’s hideout, even to the inner sanctum of the Kremlin itself.

For it is clear beyond doubt.

I admit, in all atrocities, being from the immediate post-war generation, I use World War II and the Holocaust as my compass point, therefore suggesting to myself that nothing will be as bad as that collective horror.

I am wrong.

As the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to liberate areas, they will come across ever-increasing acts of barbarism, brutality, rape, and genocide. The Daily Telegraph reports the following on its front page.

Part I

I will list them as bullet points:

• Mass graves with limbs and heads sticking out of the ground uncovered after Russian soldiers withdrew from Irpin and Bucha, two cities northwest of Kyiv, the Capital

• The Dead left on street corners or front gardens

• Ukrainians appeared to have had their arms bound and been executed, including children

• Others fleeing were beheaded

• In these two cities alone, the bodies of 410 civilians are now being forensically examined

• “Russia’s despicable acts against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine. We will not rest until justice is served.” Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom

• “Terrible and horrifying footage reaches from Ukraine. Civilians, including women, children and the elderly, shot dead in Bucha.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany

• The images reaching us from Bucha, a liberated town near Kyiv, are unbearable. In the streets, hundreds of murdered civilians. My compassion for the victims, my solidarity with the Ukrainians. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.” President Emmanuel Macron of France

• “I am appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors”, Ursula von der Leyen, European Union Commission President, and who called for an “independent investigation”.

• Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, affirmed his belief that war crimes had been committed, describing the images as “a punch to the gut”.

Reader, we should remember that the images seen by heads of state and premiers will be far more graphic than those released to us, the general public, of all nations.

In addition to the points listed, BBC News at 6pm GMT this evening, reported that in many cases the victims had been subjected to torture prior to death, including severance of hands and feet, and that these included children.

Part II

Russia’s foreign minister, Lavrov, deserving of no title or formal recognition of respect, he is the 21st Century’s infamous Nazi foreign minister, Ribbentrop! The man insists, today, that everything was in order when Russian troops withdrew, and that what we see is fake news and fabricated incidents. That reminds me of the complete denial of Nazi concentration camps and gas chambers in 1945, denials insistent even when forced to look upon the handiwork of their fallen regime, so say, in their name.

Part III

President Biden is absolutely correct in, once again, labelling “Putin is a war criminal; he is brutal.”

The world knows what it is dealing with. The world also knows that there are people who support Putin even from within the European Union. I think, especially, of Hungary. Yes, it stepped in to help. But how much of Orban’s visiting the newly arrived Ukrainian refugees was nothing more than grandstanding his pre-election agenda which, today, confirms a major victory for him as a fourth term prime minister? Fourth term? Is Hungary saying that it does not have a wealth of talent to choose from so it’s best to stick what they’ve already got? Is hungary and Orban just another example of an autocracy masquerading as a democracy, and Orban a frustrated lifetime head of state?

Part IV

Russian forces still fight in parts of Ukraine. What will be revealed when, as night follows day, they will be defeated and forced to withdraw from those battlegrounds too? What will be revealed when Mariupol is finally back in the hands of Ukraine?

What of the thousands of citizens who have been forcibly ‘evacuated’ from Mariupol to locations deep within Russia?

Part V

What will the Russian People say? More to the point, do, when their ‘special military operation’ turns into a full-blown war with NATO?

I have no doubt that this scenario becomes increasingly likely.

One has only to look at the activity in the skies to obtain a measure of linkage between NATO and the Ukraine Armed Forces. Whilst the British Government may have eschewed being a guarantor for Ukraine, when the UK’s deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, made his spineless statement in the Commons last Thursday, he clearly had not anticipated the iron will of the British People later that night.

Part VI

Here, in Britain, we have a weekly political debate forum called Question Time (QT). Last Thursday it came from Bath in Southwest England.

The UK MP and leader of the Scottish National Party in the Commons, Ian Blackford, was one of the panellists. Recently, QT has also seen Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Mr Vadym Prystaiko, and Ukraine’s MP Ms Lesia Vasylenko.

Part VII

Mr Blackford made several very insightful observations that beautifully summed up the nature and character of the greater British People. And these insightful comments registered with the public. Mr Blackford expressed what I, too, felt sitting at home.

But what really surprised me, was a very gentle audience clap with one audience member’s tentative surmise ~ “might helping Ukraine eventually involve ‘boots on the ground’?”

The audience ripple was noticeable, and the government should take note.

We may have our internal differences within these islands, we would not be normal if we didn’t. But put a great cause before the People, and we move together as one, or, speaking from my military background, we immediately close ranks and in our defensive posture, the onlooker is aware not of defence, but of offence.

Don’t mess with us.

Part VIII

It also made me realise that even though I would prefer our four nations to remain the United Kingdom, I actually do not have anything to worry about. I have long held the view that if Scotland chooses independence, then we enter into a new relationship. Whilst detractors might yearn for the break-up of the United Kingdom entirely for vindictive and destructive purposes, they are the tiniest minority. The rest of us within these Islands see the wider picture, and as so eloquently stated by Mr Blackford.

And here’s the thing. My confidence comes from the fact that I have always been a fierce critic of Mr Blackford. But over the last year, and as I have watched the horror of Russia looming up like the great gangling bear that it is, morphing into a dreadful, cruel and menacing totalitarian state where all opposition - formal and informal - is ruthlessly crushed, and devouring the peaceful sovereign nation of Ukraine, it has made me listen afresh to all arguments, to widen perspective.

Part IX

We, the British People, take very seriously our ballot boxes. And despite the Conservative landslide victory in 2019 that saw the total collapse of Labour, even to the extent that it could not be an effective Opposition Party for many months, we are equally able to turn the tables.

Why?

Because rather more of us than freely admit, are ‘floating voters’. And as I learned in my school ‘British Constitution classes’, ‘Ken, it is the floating voter who decides elections. Never forget that, and you won’t go far wrong, and you’ll serve your country well.’

Well, that was in 1969, and I took heed of that advice.

My record? In my lifetime, I’ve voted conservative, labour, social democrat, liberal democrat, and then when I saw Labour drifting out of control under Mr Jeremy Corbyn, I joined the Conservative Party. I’m still a member, but I’m also, even more so now, a floating voter. I guard that jealously. It is my birth right.

Part X

Government is faced with the May by-elections. I suspect that there will be something of ‘a riot’, and the government has brought it upon itself. They’ll hold firm, for sure. And notwithstanding the infamous and disgraceful ‘Partygate’, the incumbent prime minister has proved himself better as regards supporting Ukraine.

We need to do more. A great deal more. Let us supply Ukraine with offensive weapons. Let us not run the usual rabbit warren so beloved of French presidents, especially when they’re faced with a general election.

Let us remember the sage advice of Ian Blackford MP, and let us remember the calm, quiet and very deliberate resolve of the British People in their quiet reaction in favour of military intervention in Ukraine.

Ukraine today is not only defending itself but is defending us too.

Putin will not stop, unless and until he has been completely militarily defeated. He has all the failings of Adolf Hitler … we call it by one name. A Megalomaniac.

4 April 2022
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© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022