Photo of President Zelensky from his official site
* US Secretary of State and Russian foreign minister met in Geneva for crunch talks over Ukraine crisis today
* Blinken said Russia has to choose between path of diplomacy or conflict, and US 'will meet it on either path'
* He said there is 'no room' to negotiate Ukraine's future, after Russian demanded a ban on NATO membership
* Lavrov accused NATO of 'working against' Russia and stirring up 'hysteria' about invasion of Ukraine
* He denied Moscow is planning to attack, and instead raised 'concerns' about weapons supplied to Kiev
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has predicted a 'large-scale' war with Russia if the superpower attempts to occupy the industrial city of Kharkiv - which he believes is a target due to its large Russian-speaking population.
The stark warning came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted there have been 'no breakthroughs' in crunch talks with his country's former Cold War rival in a bid to prevent an imminent war with Ukraine.
Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, is the former Soviet republic's second biggest city with a population of about 1.4 million, and Zelenskiy believes it is a 'feasible' target for Putin.
Read more ....
Update #1: Zelensky says Russia may try to occupy Kharkiv (Ukrinform)
Update #2: President Zelensky gives candid interview to Washington Post – says Russia might try to seize Kharkiv (Kyiv Post)
WNU Editor: Ukrainian President Zelenskiy's concerns that Russia may take this part of Ukraine are justified. Kharkiv is Ukraine's second largest city, and the region around Kharkiv is predominantly made up of Russian-Ukrainians. One of my aunts and her family lives there.
The Western press does not report on it, but there is a great deal of resentment against Kiev in this region because of the anti-Russian language policies that have been enacted in the past few years.
Knowing the people in this part of Ukraine, I am willing to bet that a good part will support a Russian military incursion. Something that even the Ukrainian President is acknowledging.
9 comments:
All sorts of dishonest there WNU
The Ukrainian language is the State language of Ukraine. According to the article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the State has to ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of Ukraine. Other languages spoken in Ukraine are guaranteed constitutional protection. Russian is recognized as the language of a national minority.[2]
A 2012 law, called the law "On the principles of the State language policy" gave the status of regional language to Russian and other minority languages. It allowed the use of minority languages in courts, schools and other government institutions in areas of Ukraine where the national minorities exceed 10% of the population.[3][4] The law was used mostly in Ukraine's southern and eastern regions, where predominant or significant parts of the population speak Russian as their first language.[4] Three minor settlements did the same for Hungarian, Moldovan and Romanian.[5] Ukrainian remained the only official country-wide language.[4] Introduction of the law was supported by the governing Party of regions and opposed by the opposition parties. According to its opponents, the law undermined and supplanted the role of the Ukrainian language, and violated Article 10 of the Ukrainian Constitution.[6][7][8]
The bill was adopted amid fistfights in the Ukrainian Parliament building on 3 July 2012, and the opposition said that the procedure of adopting the law was not respected.[9][10] The law came into force on 10 August 2012.[3] Since then various cities and regions of Ukraine declared Russian a regional language in their jurisdictions.[5] Other cities and regions declared their opposition to this law.[11] Immediately after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, on 23 February 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal the law. This decision was vetoed by the acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, who instead ordered drafting of a new law to "accommodate the interests of both eastern and western Ukraine and of all ethnic groups and minorities."[12][13] However, in October 2014 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine started reviewing the constitutionality of the law,[14] and on 28 February 2018 it ruled the law unconstitutional.
The 2012 law seems rather fair. It was repealed by the courts in Oct 2014. but Russia had already invaded by then. Sot was not really a pretext.
Crimea FEB 2014
Donbas March 2014
WNU was not dishonest.
Finally someone calling the WNU out on this.
I wouldn't call him dishonest, just incredibly bias and anti-ukraine.
The first sentence of the comment said WNU was being dishonest.
He is not dishonest
He is a Russian propagandist and has been doing this job for years.
Anon 5:37
You are quoting the 2012 constitution.
Everything changed after the Maidan revolution.
Update your information by reading this Wikipedia page on Ukraine's new language laws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy_in_Ukraine
I know first hand that in Kharkiv that Russian is banned in schools and seeking government services.
No he is not.
Update?
Maidan happened in January Crimea happened in February. Russia was awful quick on the pull.
"on 23 February 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal the law." and the law was promptly vetoed.
The Russians moved in 27 FEB
So when were ethnic Russians prevented from speaking Russian?
In a store? I am told shop keepers around American bases know how to speak English. Most shop keepers whatever their high school performance in languages learn how to speak the lingua franca. In the southwest the Spanish fluency among Anglo sis higher than in the east or Midwest. Why miss out on a sale? If you are in eastern Ukraine and a shop keeper, you know Russian. Or at least most do, because money is money.
I think the whole language thing is a red herring. They repeal it and 4 days later things are so bad Russia invades? 4 days?
Movements usually take more than a few days.
Then there is the culture angle. What Russian ethnic culture has been suppressed exactly? The after school Satan clubs the Russians want? I forget if you guys are Gog or Magog. No, but seriously what Russian culture was suppressed? Russian irredentists say language and culture, like liberals say sexist, bigot, homophobe. It is a little rhyme ditty. What culture was denied. to get something tangible what holiday was denied? Name it.
Maybe you can name a holiday, but why has it not been named before now?
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