An old Soviet T-34 tank covered in snow sits on display outside the MF Sumtsov history museum in downtown Kharkiv on January 27, 2022. © Mehdi Chebil
Rolling Stone: ‘Putin Lost Us’: A City of Russian-Speaking Ukrainians Is Vowing To Fight Moscow’s Aggression
The students and artists of Kharkiv are embracing their history and sticking it to the Russian president
KHARKIV, Ukraine — The House of Actors theater was packed on Saturday night in Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city just 33 miles from the Russian border. The crowd spent the evening laughing at stand-up comedy from the Saxalin-UA troupe, who performed in Russian here in the heart of the country’s supposedly pro-Russia east. Most of the bits were the usual jokes about men and women and relationships, but politics arrived for the final act: On the smoke-covered stage, performers stretched out the Ukrainian flag and silently mouthed the words of an obscene popular chant about Vladimir Putin, comparing him to male genitalia. The audience exploded in applause and whistles. SaXalin-UA is popular among locals here, and performs nearly every night to packed houses, delivering the audience a much-needed break from continually feeling stressed out about “Russia coming.”
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Update #1: Ukraine: Kharkiv resilient as it faces the threat of a Russian invasion (France 24)
Update #2: In Eastern Ukraine's Largest City, Pro-Russia Sympathies Wither as War Looms (WSJ)
Update #3: Pro-Moscow separatists once marched in this Ukraine border city. Now it's standing against Russia (Washington Post)
WNU Editor: Since the 2014 revolution there has been a massive security presence in Kharkiv. Their focus has been to keep the peace, and to make sure that a rebellion does not happen like in the Donbas. This presence is not only in Kharkiv, but in most eastern Ukrainian regions with dominant Russian speaking populations. The central government .... understandably .... does not trust these civilians.
I have family in Kharkiv, and they like most Russian-Ukrainians resent the central government's discriminatory language and educational laws. And while I doubt that they will fight to stop a Russian invasion, I also doubt that they will support it. Most people in Ukraine want to live their lives, and they are tired of conflict and hard times.
In the last Ukraine Presidential election this region voted in the first round for Yuriy Boyko, a politician with close ties to Putin and who (not surprising) favors closer ties to Russia.
3 comments:
"discriminatory language and educational laws."
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In the 2001 census, the total Russian-Ukrainian population was a little more than 17% (note, this does not include ethnic Ukrainians who are primarily Russian speakers. These two distinct groups are often conflated).
Only Crimea was majority Russian. Even the two Donbas oblasts were less than 40% each. Kharkhiv oblast was a bit more than 25%.
Once you eliminate Crimea, the % of Russian speakers in Ukraine drops under 15%. If you take into account the Russian occupied areas in Donbas, the figure likely becomes under 10%. And this probably overstates matters a bit since the % of Russian-Ukrainians likely declined from the 2001 census (for obvious reasons, the next Ukrainian census has been delayed for the past half-decade).
If you compare to the population who consistently vote for pro-Russian parties, it's around 15%. It's certainly significant, but we are a far cry from the days of the nineties when pro-Russian parties were at parity or more with the more pro-Western groups. Russia has lost Ukraine, especially the young. While I agree with WNU that Russian speakers should be accommodated in some fashion, this is not what this conflict is about.
Putin essentially has the low hanging fruit already. Except for a few small areas, any large place he annexes may be 50-75% against him. The same tensions that make the region difficult for Kyiv would make it even harder for Putin.
This is the first time I've seen WNU acknowledge that this part of Ukraine may actually want to remain part of Ukraine. Hope to see more of this balance in the future.
Chris
I think Russia has way overplayed its hand here. If it's actually concerned about its security vis-a-vis Ukraine, then find ways to address the concern that don't outright antagonize Ukraine. Land swaps, strict de-militarized zones, local referendums, energy deals, and so on. Perhaps if NATO saw these good faith efforts, it might agree to postpone expansion into Ukraine, or make Ukraine a special Economic/Military zone. This is probably a simplistic approach, but considering the almost unprecedented build-up along with the stupid claims to justify it (not to mention ongoing efforts to destabilize what is after all a sovereign country) only has the effect of confirming European skepticism regarding Russia's longer term strategic intentions.
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