A 92-year old World War II veteran, Mykola Ostashevsky, came to
the National Defense Headquarters for Dnipropetrovsk to enlist as a new
conscript. Ostashevsky is a veteran of the ‘Great Patriotic War’ where he
fought as a part of the Soviet (Red) Army. He said, “I am ready to go to war,
and this is not because I don’t love Russia. How can you not love the people
who fought alongside you for victory in the Great Patriotic War? It’s just that
I really love Ukraine”. He has also written a letter to Putin, accusing
the politician of using military to invade Ukraine.
An excerpt from a letter to
V. Putin from the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry:
To love one’s
own country and to fight for it is not fascism and it is not neo-Nazism.
Fascism and neo-Nazism is the attempt to conquer, subjugate and humiliate
another nation, another independent state. This is exactly what, with great
treachery, Russia is doing in Ukraine today. We are convinced that not all
Russians support the current declarations and actions of the Kremlin,
particularly in Ukraine. We believe that the voice of a real, civilized, and
democratic Russia will resonate more and more.
In a turn
towards more violence and fear, Pro-Russian grousp have begun looting and
assault against Romani residents of Sloviansk. According to eyewitnesses,
the gunmen beat people in front of their houses and families and carried off
stolen property in trucks. These attacks follow a troubling precedent where
members of the Donetsk Republic organization have also been distributing
anti-Semitic leaflets in an attempt to extort and intimidate members of the
Jewish community. There are also rumours that a ‘hunt’ has been announced on
the Ukrainian speaking population of Sloviansk. Those who speak Ukrainian
are to be treated as suspicious and reported to the local militia.
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