Mychailo Wynnyckyj
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Thoughts from Kyiv – 2 April
Locusts. If we Ukrainians can be likened to “bees” protecting our hive – each with his/her own responsibilities, but with a singular ideal that unites and informally coordinates our activities – then the Russians are nothing but a swarm of locusts.
During the past two days, Ukrainian forces have liberated towns and villages to the northwest of Kyiv: Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, Ivankiv, Makariv and many others. The retreating Russian forces have left behind destroyed and looted houses. Videos from Bucha show dead bodies of civilians on the streets with their hands tied behind their backs – apparently summarily executed. Trashed houses are mined and boobytrapped with “gifts”, just waiting for their civilian owners to return.
A co-worker of mine was trapped in a Russian occupied a village near Borodyanka since February 26. During the first week of occupation she was still able to call or message us, but we lost contact in early March. Today she let us know that she is alive! She recounted how the Yanukovych-era “elders” of her village (in power prior to 2014) were the first to cooperate with the occupying forces. The collaborators left quickly together with the retreating Russians. If they hadn’t the locals would have killed them with their bare hands as soon as they could have.
The retreating Russians are taking everything. Their transport trucks are packed with refrigerators, television sets, ovens, clothing, shoes and slippers, cosmetics – everything that can be looted from the homes they had occupied for the past month. One photo of a Russian truck disabled by the advancing Ukrainian forces shows two wheels from passenger cars strapped on to the front grill together with a shovel, hoe and rake. Apparently gardening instruments are in short supply in Russia.
It would seem the retreating Russians are steeling everything they can get their hands on.
Intercepted telephone conversations between Russian soldiers and their wives and girlfriends back home indicate that the invaders’ looting is not spontaneous. The women are heard encouraging their men to bring back as much plunder as possible: the request for a perfume sample box and jewelry (“especially gold crosses and diamond earrings”) particularly sticks in my mind.
In the towns recently liberated by Ukrainian forces, the locals are ecstatic. Elderly ladies who remember World War II recall the Nazis as civilized in comparison with the Russians. The Germans may have considered Ukrainians “untermensch” (lower people) but they respected their humanity and their possessions. The Russians simply swarmed in and pillaged.
In the film “Independence Day”, the character President Whitmore (played by Bill Pullman) described the invading aliens appropriately: “They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next.”
We’re next!
At the beginning of this war I thought it inappropriate to refer to the Russian invaders as the “Horde” (after-all, the historical reference may be considered somewhat racist). Now I understand that this is a more than appropriate designation: they came to destroy; they raped, pillaged and murdered, and when forced to retreat they have left nothing but devastation, debris and destruction. This is not an army. These are marauders and bandits who have no sense of military honor, no morals, no scruples. They are locusts.
And don’t tell me it’s their regime; that simple Russians are not to blame for this! This is not Putin’s war. This is Russia’s war! Their soldiers came to feed themselves, to conquer for the purpose of enslavement, to destroy for the perverse pleasure of mayhem. There can be no excuse for this barbarism.
Apparently when the war began, the Russians planned to take Kyiv in 3 days. If so, why did their Ministry of Defense purchase 45 000 body bags prior to the invasion? Why did the Russian forces advance with mobile crematoria? If the frontline troops were told to pack dress uniforms for their parade through central Kyiv, why would their commanders equip themselves for large numbers of dead?
Because they planned mass murder! They planned to exterminate all Ukrainian opposition in the same way as the Soviets did many times before. They planned to enslave, kill, plunder… Their government even published instructions on how to dig mass graves (more on this from Sergej Sumlenny - link in first comment).
For the moment, the valiant Ukrainian Armed Forces have pushed the Russians away from the outskirts of Kyiv. Supposedly, they will now concentrate their swarm on Kharkiv and the Donbas. Mariupol is already 90% destroyed, and many of its citizens have been forcibly deported to Russia’s interior. I fear for Kharkiv and the smaller towns of western Donetsk oblast – Kramatorsk in particular.
As for Kyiv, make no mistake: the Russians will be back. When the black earth in the region around Ukraine’s capital hardens enough to enable them to advance through the fields instead of having to stay on paved roads, they will return. Again, Ukraine’s forces will push them back, but again and again they will try – as long as the Chief Locust remains in the Kremlin (or in his bunker).
Next time we will be even more ready than before. No more local turncoat collaborators in our midst. Hopefully, with a strong anti-aircraft and anti-missile shield. Certainly, with even more determined defenders.
Слава Україні!
#ThoughtsfromKyiv
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