Thread by @IndoPac_Info

1/ #Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing 'ISIS-Style' War Crimes: Amnesty International

Right-wing Ukrainian ultra nationalists are committing war crimes in rebel-held territories of Eastern #Ukraine, evidence of militias beheading their victims.
newsweek.com/evidence-war-c…

2/ Armed volunteers who refer to themselves as the Aidar battalion "have been involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions", Amnesty said.

3/ Kiev-based Pravilnoe TV reported that it had spoken with one of the mothers who confirmed her son was a rebel, captured during fighting in Donetsk.

She said she had received her son's head in a wooden box in the post, blaming nationalist volunteers for her son's death.

4/ There are over 30 pro-nationalist, volunteer battalions such as Azov, Aidar, Ukraina, DND Metinvest, Kiev 1, Right Sector, etc, all funded by private investors, ultranationalist oligarchs actually.

These volunteers battalions operate as part of Ukraine's National Guard.

5/ Amnesty's report, however, indicates Kiev's loose regulation on volunteer groups, its "members... act with virtually no oversight or control".

Norwegian channel TV2 showed footage of the Azov battalion flying flags with symbols of Ukraine's neo-Nazi party, Patriot of Ukraine.

6/ What could possibly go wrong when you let large groups of armed ultranationalists on the lose?

They terrorized the ethnic #Russian population, that's the case since 2014.

Could that contribute to why the mainly ethnic Russian regions wanted to separate, like the #Donbass ?

7/ The Newsweek article is a shocker to many that didn't study the background & history of the conflict, which I would say is essential to understand it, rather than just going by the mainstream media.

Need to go back to the 1920-30s to see the historical roots of the problem.

8/ Ukraine's ultranationalist movement started in the 1920-30s when present day western #Ukraine had been annexed to Poland & Ukrainians were openly discriminated.

Stepan Bandera was the leader of the ultranationalist movement that wanted an independent West Ukraine, Google him.

9/ Stepan Bandera created the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) seeking independence for Western Ukraine, a terrorist group & he was jailed for it.

Once WW2 started, he was released in 1939 & became a Nazi collaborator seeking an Ukrainian state in Nazi-occupied Lviv

10 / #Bandera's OUN allied with the #Nazis & gladly participated in the #Holocaust. They rounded up #jews & #Russians for the Germans to send to the death camps.

Their nationalistic slogan was “Glory to Ukraine!” (Slava Ukraiini!) now used again since 2014, that's its origin.

11/ OUN formed 2 #Ukrainian army battalions that fought with the Nazis against #Russia

They launched a pogrom in Western #Ukraine that killed 4000 Lvov #Jews in a few days.

“We will lay your heads at #Hitler’s feet,” a Banderist pamphlet proclaimed to Ukrainian Jews.

12 / Over 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were killed by the Nazis & its OUN allies

In 1941 Bandera & fellow OUN member Yaroslav Stetsko tried to proclaim a new Ukrainian state in Nazi-occupied Lviv, but were quickly arrested by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in detention.

13 / #Bandera lived in Munich after the war

British intel used him to run agents into #Ukraine to gather intel & help the #Ukrainian underground against the Soviets. The #CIA used some of Bandera’s former cronies for similar reasons.

Bandera was murdered by a KGB agent in 1959.

14/ After the war, #Bandera's movement (Banderowcy) cleansed western #Ukraine of its ethnic Polish population, killing over 200,000 Poles in the process.

Bandera was mystified as a hero of #Ukraine for fighting the Soviets after WW2, while looking the other way to his dark past.

15/ Regrettably, #Ukraine's ultranationalist movement isn't a fringe movement, it's a significant part of the population, particularly in the former Polish regions of West Ukraine such as #Galicia & #Lviv

Many of them are openly neo-Nazis, often displaying Nazi flags & tattoos.

16/ #Ukraine is a country with an ethnic Ukrainian half that leans to western Europe & an ethnic Russian half in the east & south that leans to #Russia. When those 2 parts are in balance, people get along fine. In 2014 the balance was broken & the ultranationalist got unleashed.

17 / The Maidan regime change placed the western #Ukrainians on top. The ultras highjacked the movement & started to persecute ethnic Russians. New laws abolished the use of Russian language, massive discrimination, etc, etc, creating a civil war with the ethnic #Russian regions.

18 / The #Donbass regions fought & separated with Russian help. The other Russian regions were brought under control.

The #Ukrainian ultranationalist shoot way beyond their weight. They are a national minority, but very active & were able to shape Ukrainian politics since 2014.

19 / The Ukrainian ultranationalist are not part of the govt, but any govt that dares to go moderate, sees armed ultras protesting & given death threats & quickly fold.

#Zelensky was not linked to them.

Zelensky won the elections by promissing to make peace with the #Donbass

20 / #Zelensky was massively voted by ethnic Russians, people wanted peace.

But once in power, as Zelensky tried to move towards ethnic reconciliation, he was quickly shot down by the ultras, that was the end of that effort. From there on, he collaborated with them.

21 / #Zelensky enacted into laws what the ultras wanted, vague national security laws (Hong Kong style) to easily abolish the ethnic Russian opposition, jail opponents, close opposition media, etc, etc. Not much of a democratic system.

This is the background of #Ukraine in 2022.

22/ It's not possible to understand the roots of a conflict if one of its key elements is not understood.

The ultras shaped Ukraine's politics since 2014 & are greatly responsible for its direction since that time.

When Russians say "denazification of #Ukraine", they mean them.

23 / Just imagine a country whose army has a national guard with over 30 openly right wing, often neo-nazi battalions.

And their historical leader, Bandera, was declared "Hero of Ukraine" in 2010, later rescinded after outcries from the #EU, #Poland, etc

That's today's #Ukraine

24 / The purpose of this thread is to shed light on a key element of the conflict that's rarely mentioned by western media or it's mentioned while hiding its radical elements & their influence.

By all means this does not justify #Russia's invasion against #Ukraine in any way!!!

25 / But this helps to explain the role of one of the contributor factors to the crisis, that was mentioned by #Putin as one of the reasons for the invasion.

How many people had a clue of what Putin meant by "denazification of #Ukraine"? Not many, but this tries to explain it.

26 / I started the thread with an old article from 2O14, when the conflict started, because it's from mainstream media, Newsweek, so nobody can say that is Russian propaganda & from there I gave a brief historical background of Ukraine's ultranationalist movement & it's influence

27 / There are 3 main sides in this war: the west, Russia & Ukraine. Each one has an agenda, not often clear & there is a lot of propaganda & deception.

I've tried to shed some light on a key part of the background. If people wants to see it as Russian propaganda, up to them....

28 / I get many replies of: ultranationalist movements are normal in many countries, fringe groups, no big deal.

Fringe groups? What country other than Ukraine has over 30 battalions of ultranationalist, neo-nazis as part of their army? Nowhere, let’s not make excuses for them.

29/ #Ukraine thread ⬆️
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