Radio Free Europe: Symbols of Ukraine's Strength Hide Tensions in Kharkiv
KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Beside an overpass eight kilometers from the center of Kharkiv lies a newly dug network of trenches lined with bark so fresh the sap still oozes out.
Regional Governor Ihor Raynin told RFE/RL of state-of-the-art fortifications being built here to guard against an invasion from Russia, 30 kilometers up the road, and in the south to ward off any advance by Moscow-backed separatists from the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
But Oleksandr Zalyvan, a military adviser who once served with NATO peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, is not impressed. He would never agree to be deployed in the trenches, he says -- Russian tanks would destroy them and everyone nearby in an hour.
"It's public relations," Zalyvan says.
WNU Editor: My aunt lives in Kharkiv .... and as she put it to me bluntly a few months ago .... Ukraine security forces are everywhere. If you voice any opposition or even if you are suspected of being an opponent .... you are arrested. Many of the city's eligible men for conscription have left .... with most of the men going to Russia. The economy .... is in a deep depression with high unemployment. And while I do not believe that the war will reach Kharkiv .... there is definitely no love of Kiev in the region either.
Wartime security is one thing, repression of civilian population is another. This is a policy that will come back to bite them.
ReplyDeleteYour Aunt is reliable source of disinformation. Sounds like you are singing into Putin's microphone...
ReplyDelete