bones and feathers

[suratan-zir]

Information for anyone who wants to make a donation in support of Ukraine:

Account of the Ukrainian National Bank to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Account of the National Bank of Ukraine for Humanitarian aid

Trustworthy Ukrainian charity fund "Повернись Живим"

Trustworthy charity foundation of Serhiy Pritula

Why you should NOT donate to the Red Cross.

Any help, no matter how small, is greately appreciated. Thank you ❤️

[justacynicalromantic]

"The stealing of Ukrainian children by Russians and their russification reminds me of how Russian nobility "established guardianship" over kids during Wars in Caucasus (18-20th centuries), after they had murdered all their relatives in their homes and on their land, taking the kids away, stripping them of their language and culture.

There's a lingering feeling that this is all - one long, long colonial war with no end in sight. A war that will be our doom. For the enemy is just too strong, the forces are too unequal. But now there is also hope. A hope for freedom. The name of this hope is Ukraine."

- writes a Chechen woman.

— Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, after Russian "liberation" in 2000.

More images:

Trouvez des images et des photos d’actualités de Destruction Of Grozny sur Getty Images. Choisissez parmi  des contenus premium de Destructi

[snovyda]

Kinburn Spit (Кінбурнська коса), Southern Ukraine

[snovyda]

According to the latest reports, this place pretty much no longer exists. Russians have burned everything to the ground. 8 thousand hectares of forests, swamps and steppes fully burned, with no living thing surviving.

The total area of the resort is 12 thousand hectares.

[moonandstarlightsposts]

Zaporizhzhya. Direct hit of a Russian shell to a residential building

[thegirlwhohid]

In Zaporizhzhia, the demolition of rubble has been completed, the police said.

34 people were injured, including three children. One person was killed.

russia is a terrorist state

[unofficial-estonia]

On 25th March 1949, 95 000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians were captured and violently transported to Siberia by Soviet authorities. Most of them never returned to their homeland.

Since 2010, twenty thousand candles, one for each of the men, women and children deported by the Soviets from Estonia to Siberia in 1949, have been lighted on Freedom Square in Tallinn, Estonia.

We can never forget, or history will be doomed to repeat itself.

[creidart]

OK BUT FOR REAL

[anastasiamaru]

Bakhmut

[kurhanchyk]

current derussification of toponyms in ukrainian cities brings us also decolonisation. here's a street in kyiv, izhevska. it was named after izhevsk city in russia, the capital of udmurtia. but izhevsk is a russian name. so here are some variants recommended by expert committee (among those suggested by people): izhkarska, after izhkar, an actual native udmurt name of the city, and street of albert razin, udmurt activist, who burned himself in 2019 in front of the local council in izhkar holding a poster with words: "if tomorrow my language will disappear, i'm ready to die today". he did it in protest against new russian law that removed indigenous languages from standard school curriculum, many of which were already endangered and poorly studied.

[unhonestlymirror]

ALT

View on Twitter

[steakplissken]

I love when you guys don’t read the story.

Ukraine war 'perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented,' says Pope Francis

Pope Francis has said that the war in Ukraine "was perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented" in remarks published by Italian new

Basically the Pope is reflecting the opinion that NATO’s continued expansion was known to be putting stress on Russia and that the Russians were making it abundantly clear that they felt threatened by NATO. Since NATO’s entire purpose of being was to counter the Soviet/Eastern Bloc alliance, and since neither of those parties exist anymore, it can be argued very reasonably that NATO’s continued existence doesn’t serve a legitimate purpose but just to enhance American military supremacy.

This is not an argument unique to him, though it is an argument that Americans do not hear very often. The counter argument would be that Russia’s military actions since Dec. 26, 1991 warrant the continued existence and expansion of NATO. These are the kinds of opinions and debates that make up mature foreign and international policy discussions.

He also expresses an concern about arms sales, the business end of war, which thrives best during active conflict and therefore has an active interest against peace.

He did not say that Russia has a right to invade Ukraine, or to go to war, or that anyone has a right to kill, torture, relocate, or otherwise persecute anyone. He did not say that NATO members do not have a right to protect themselves against aggression.

Read articles before you shoot from the hip. Please don’t make me defend the Pope as a hobby.

[yvreth]

Firstly, that’s what he’s saying, albeit indirectly. He’s shifting the blame from the attacker to the victim, and that’s not okay. “Yes, the rapist is bad, but the skirt was kinda short.”

Except it wasn’t short. Until 2014 Ukrainians weren’t crazy about joining NATO, and it wasn’t even on the table anyway. The EU was preferable, but not NATO. We were concerned with our economic development, and NATO had been concidered an additional burden. The NATO talk started when Russia invaded and started annexing our territories, but by then it was too late. The NATO talk is just a stupid pretext, and I’m honestly very very tired of explaining that we never provoked Russia, we’re not guilty of anything, we do not deserve it. What the Pope does is victim blaming. I literally don’t care what he or anyone else says when the war is over, but right now, when we’re being killed and tortured, it’s disgusting and unbearable to hear. You can theorize all you like when the war is over, pretending you know better, but right now please have the decency to shut up.

[steakplissken]

No, Ukraine did not want to join NATO until 2014 but NATO drift had existed prior to that and for no good reason. Much like NATO would claim that it had a right to protect itself, so too would Russia claim it does.

He is not shifting blame and you’re misinterpreting his statements. Russia alone bares the blame and responsibility for every invasion its made into Ukrainian territory since 2014, but the international community bears some blame for ignoring diplomacy and placing border nations in harm’s way by antagonizing Russia for the sake of their own power.

The United States and other NATO states bear responsibility for creating the tense situation. Russia alone bears responsibility for the wars. And when the war is over that tension is still going to exist because my country isn’t going to change and Russia is likely not going to change. You will be right back into the middle of these power struggles through no fault of your own, like Georgia. That’s how the superpowers have operated since the end of WWII.

Discussions on the culpability of NATO into playing into Putin’s hands and acting anti-Russian as a matter of policy rather than practicality are not ones that shouldn’t be had right now.

[yvreth]

You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had this very conversation, and I just don’t have any energy to do that once more, I’m sorry. I’ll just say that you’re very naive to assume that Russia wouldn’t have touched us if not for NATO/the US.

Not everything in the world happens because of the US. Russia invaded immediately after a coup against a president who was basically a Russian puppet. It had nothing to do with NATO expansion at the time, that rhetoric was dragged in by the ears later. I can’t deny the fact that other countries might have their own interest in this war, but I’m tired of people presenting us as a mindless plaything of bigger countries. We have our own unresolved issues with Russia, and the war is, first and foremost, the result of a centuries-old tension. Please study Ukrainian and Russian history to understand it all better.

[unhonestlymirror]

[steakplissken]

I love when you guys don’t read the story.

Ukraine war 'perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented,' says Pope Francis

Pope Francis has said that the war in Ukraine "was perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented" in remarks published by Italian new

Basically the Pope is reflecting the opinion that NATO’s continued expansion was known to be putting stress on Russia and that the Russians were making it abundantly clear that they felt threatened by NATO. Since NATO’s entire purpose of being was to counter the Soviet/Eastern Bloc alliance, and since neither of those parties exist anymore, it can be argued very reasonably that NATO’s continued existence doesn’t serve a legitimate purpose but just to enhance American military supremacy.

This is not an argument unique to him, though it is an argument that Americans do not hear very often. The counter argument would be that Russia’s military actions since Dec. 26, 1991 warrant the continued existence and expansion of NATO. These are the kinds of opinions and debates that make up mature foreign and international policy discussions.

He also expresses an concern about arms sales, the business end of war, which thrives best during active conflict and therefore has an active interest against peace.

He did not say that Russia has a right to invade Ukraine, or to go to war, or that anyone has a right to kill, torture, relocate, or otherwise persecute anyone. He did not say that NATO members do not have a right to protect themselves against aggression.

Read articles before you shoot from the hip. Please don’t make me defend the Pope as a hobby.

[yvreth]

Firstly, that’s what he’s saying, albeit indirectly. He’s shifting the blame from the attacker to the victim, and that’s not okay. “Yes, the rapist is bad, but the skirt was kinda short.”

Except it wasn’t short. Until 2014 Ukrainians weren’t crazy about joining NATO, and it wasn’t even on the table anyway. The EU was preferable, but not NATO. We were concerned with our economic development, and NATO had been concidered an additional burden. The NATO talk started when Russia invaded and started annexing our territories, but by then it was too late. The NATO talk is just a stupid pretext, and I’m honestly very very tired of explaining that we never provoked Russia, we’re not guilty of anything, we do not deserve it. What the Pope does is victim blaming. I literally don’t care what he or anyone else says when the war is over, but right now, when we’re being killed and tortured, it’s disgusting and unbearable to hear. You can theorize all you like when the war is over, pretending you know better, but right now please have the decency to shut up.

[chrysocomae]

Honoring the memory of artist, designer and KGB dissident Lyubov Panchenko. She died in Bucha from hunger and shelling due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She was 85 years old.

Part 1: Her Art

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

[imperatoralicia]

Inquisitor: Oh yes, I’m very good at using Charisma and Diplomacy to solve my problems.

[ohsalome]

[fade-out-lights]

every time a russian person accuses a ukrainian person of nationalism, i think of “загадочная русская душа” - mystifying russian soul, a concept mis- and overused since not even the 24th of february. 

considering the fact that often ukrainians get accused of “nationalism” by russians after stating that we love Ukraine, we love our culture, we love our language - isn’t it absolute hypocrisy to claim that your soul is so unique no one should even try to understand it, to grasp it (well, why one should be interested in challenging oneself to understand something that is meant to be un-understandable?) and therefore it is above all other “souls” on the spiritual level? isn’t it nationalist-y? ;) is every russian person using this term, this concept, able to tell who and why and when coined it? and, which is more interesting to me, does every russian posses such a mysterious collective soul? while other nations, folks, groups of people may have the collective soul because of them sharing the same history (including tragedies, wars etc.), culture etc., - why do russians think that their collective soul needs to be highlighted with an adjective “mystyfying”?

there’s a quote by ukrainian singer Volodymyr Ivasyuk, who died in 1979 under strange circumstances (read: killed by KGB):

“The French, Italians, Russians and all people of other nations sing in their own languages, and no one calls them nationalists. And we, Ukrainians, become nationalists from the very cradle, for our mothers sing Ukrainian lullabies to us. That is why we are being re-taught in concentration camps. A Ukrainian ceases to be a nationalist only when he despises his language, song, his national traditions, loves everything else but his native.”

[creekfiend]

[wintersmitth]

The original thread can be found here.

[ohsalome]

The thing about this invasion and any calls for peace, it Russia could literally end it before I finish typing this if they wanted to. Russia can unilaterally end all fighting by simply not attacking anymore and withdrawing back into Russia. I'm very much for peace, I'd love it... so why aren't we asking Russia to give it when it's entirely in their hands. Why should Ukraine lay down to be butchered? Every moment Russia could end this and every moment they continue to choose not to

Well, to be pedantic, we do ask them to unilaterally stop, we have since day one. Not just “ordinary” people, but also country leaders from all over the world. In first days of war the Pope himself has left his residency to visit russian embassy in Vatican personally - an act unprecedented in the whole history, from what I've heard. But like I've said a thousand times before, russians don't understand the language of diplomacy, they only respect the language of brute force. I think many people who have only started following this war since February 24th are unaware that the previous 8 years we’ve had non-stop negotiations with russia; that every peace agreement we signed during that time they broke; and that they traditionally use "negotiations" and "ceasefire" as a flimsy front for drawing reinforcements and regrouping for another attack.

Based on their actions, the only conclusion one might draw is that russia doesn’t provide peace is because they don’t want to provide peace. It’s a fascist empire that has fallen for its own hype; I wouldn’t be surprised if by this day, the Kremlin still doesn’t get truthful information about what’s going on on the frontier.

And we can’t disregard the decades of dehumanisation of ukrainians in russian media. They have been systematically growing the hate towards us in order to sell the yet another genocide of ukrainians as a victory to the russian population. After all, we’re all nazis, therefore, by raping our toddlers, they are fighting fascism, just like their grandfathers! They’re the good guys! /s This is what “rusky mir” really is: the massacre of civillians is not the “frustration of russian soldiers who weren’t gifted an easy victory”, it is a systemic policy towards the “untermenschen”, approved on the highest levels of military command.

Anyone who doesn’t realise that isn’t in contact with reality enough to be telling Ukraine what we should or shouldn’t do in order to protect our very existance.