Ukrainians in Spain

Text: Fernando Sánches Alonso – XL Semanal

They came to Spain because the social and economical situation in Ukraine became complicated, but they could not have imagined that their country would become the centre of the conflict threatening to destabilise the entirety of Europe.

Pro-European: Yana Palatkina, 16 years old (9 in Spain) 

“Before Maidan, I was ashamed of my country.” 

“I ran away from home because I wanted to be on Maidan,” says this Odesa-born student, who has lived in Madrid with her mother for 9 years. When the protests started, Yana was on vacation in her mother city and she ran to Kyiv, the capital. “I left with my cousin. My parents knew nothing.” She confesses that before the revolution in Maidan, she was ashamed of her country. “I told everyone I was Russian. Today I would give every last drop of my blood to Ukraine. Ukrainian patriots like myself are not fascists. They have to inform themselves before talking and stop insulting us!”

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Donbas: divorce and maiden name?

Olexandr Kochetkov, for UP

“Our situation is good. But not hopeless.”

Alexandr Novikov, “Dialogues in the elevator” 

One out of three terrorists in Donbas is taking photos with the MPADS. And only the “Hindenburg” dirigible is a better target than the huge and slow Il-76.

The author does not know the surname and military rank of the person who gave the order to deliver the military replacement to Luhansk airport by air. But in any army, except for ours, the case would have reached tribune.

The issue is not only the losses, which are unacceptable for the ATO. But also the blow landed to the military spirit and faith in the commanders, which our soldiers have experienced at the “eastern front.” 

“We will shoot you now and nobody will look for you!” – How “Berkut” veterans are living with Maidan veterans

This week I was supposed to be in the territorial defence battalion “Aidar” with the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. Instead of this, I am writing this blog in Somy.

I will try to avoid being emotional in describing our adventures to the maximum. 

Russian blogger: The rude song about Putin is a development of the Pentagon’s political technologists

You know what I think about the rude song about Putin (“Putin – h***lo, la-la-la”), which they are actively trying to present in the Ukrainian segment of the Russian-language Internet as a national song of Ukraine?

This is no national song. It is most likely to be a secret development of American political technologists from the Pentagon. And it was created to zombify the population… no, not of Ukraine, but of RUSSIA! By means of constant repetition, the Russians are being subconsciously coerced into thinking that “Putin is (insert rude word).” As is known, if a person is constantly told that they are a swine, sooner or later they will start behaving like one.

Cold war becomes hot in Crimea

Russia began a stealth invasion of Crimea last week, letting uniformed men without insignias, take control of first the local parliament and then key pieces of infrastructure like the two airports.

I have visited Crimea once, quite recently, in October 2013 travelling around visiting Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta and the seat of the Crimean Tatar Khanate Bakhchysarai. Two things struck me about Crimea, the climate is really nice (it was not that week, but it has palm trees) and it’s a mixture ethnically of the Tatars, Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. Russian is the main language on the peninsula, as it has been for centuries and especially since Stalin decided to deport all Crimean Tatars for their alleged cooperation with the Nazis, during their invasion of Crimea.