Ukraine

Ukraine: behind the Belgorod incident

The two-day incursion (22-23 May) into the Russian region of Belgorod by the Freedom for Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps — military units made up of Russian citizens who are fighting for Ukraine — caused panic amongst Russian officials and was widely covered across the media. The Russian militias claim they briefly occupied up to 42sqkm of Russian territory, and had two fighters killed. While some details remain obscure the broad politics of the matter are now clear. It is inconceivable that such an operation, involving scores of Russian fighters, carried in tanks and armoured...

We are not nationalists

Michael Baker misses the point a little, I think (letters, Solidarity 673 ), when he criticises my quoting of a Ukrainian poll which asked a question of Ukrainian attitudes towards Russians. Indeed, Ukrainian attitudes towards Russians have changed, which is my point. I didn’t write the polling question, just used it as evidence to back the case. Putin’s imperialism has pushed the peoples apart. However, if our eventual goal is to see the removal of barriers between peoples — borders, suspicion, hostility and other more benign features of national differences, too — then the assertion of...

“Brotherly”? It depends

Dan Katz’s article in Solidarity 672 is a necessary corrective against blanket anti-Russian policies in Ukraine. Stoking divisions based on perceived national or ethnic lines within a country helps no-one, and socialists should argue strongly against policies and practices that attack the Russian language itself, as if it were the real enemy. However, while I understand the motivation, it is wrong to describe it as a “tragedy” that fewer Ukrainians now see Ukraine and Russia as “one people” since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. If this statistic tells us anything, it is that the...

Pro-Ukraine protest at Russian ambassador

Photo: Anna Hope, FAR Oxford On Thursday 11 May, Russian ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin was invited to speak in Oxford. The event, advertised as a "Q&A", was hosted by the Oxford Russian Club, a "society" that is not affiliated with the university but uses its prestige to garner interest. A collection of pro-Ukrainian protestors demonstrated outside the venue – after having bookings at Magdalen College and a local church cancelled, the event was moved to the house of one of the society’s members. As Kelin left his car, protestors shouted “murderer” at him in Russian, and "Putin will fall’...

Ukraine document (AWL Conference 2023)

AWL policy on the Ukraine war, agreed at AWL conference 2022, much of which remains true and is reprinted below as part of our 2023 resolution, has stood-up well over the course of the last year. The AWL opposes the Russian imperialist war against Ukraine. The Russian state is fighting to annex Ukrainian territory and subordinate Ukraine to Russian political power. At the time of our 2022 conference this assessment was certainly true and is probably still the case, despite the staggering losses of equipment and manpower Russia has suffered on the battlefield. Russia continues to expand its...

Russia out! Arm Ukraine!

On 21 April Yuriy Aristov of Ukraine’s Defence Committee reported that the imperialist Russian war on Ukraine has caused $143.8 billion of damage. He added that a quarter of all infrastructure and about 8% of industrial facilities have been destroyed. On 12 March 2023, the UN Human Rights office stated it had recorded 21,965 civilian casualties in the country, although the exact figure is probably much higher. Over 8mn Ukrainian refugees are registered living across Europe and probably another 5mn are internally displaced. 80,900 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces are being...

STUC backs Ukraine solidarity

The 17-19 April Scottish TUC congress overwhelmingly rejected a composite motion on Ukraine backing the line taken by the Morning Star and the Stop the War Coalition: blame NATO for the war; accuse NATO of escalation; and make vacuous calls for negotiations. Instead, congress backed a statement issued by the General Council which “rejected any suggestion of equivalence between the invader and the invaded” and expressed solidarity with Ukrainian trade unions, including their participation in the military resistance to the invasion. Arms The statement did not explicitly advocate (increased) arms...

The “Global South”, “multipolarity”: what about class?

The Morning Star used to hedge articles on the Ukraine war with a formal condemnation of the Russian invasion. Sometimes, too, there’d be a reminder to readers about the reactionary nature of Putin’s regime. No longer. A recent (3 April) editorial contains no hint of criticism of the invasion or of Putin. In fact, it gloats over the fact that “a resolution before the United Nations calling for Russia to withdraw from Ukrainian territory failed to attract votes from all but a tiny handful of states outside the North Atlantic alliance.” The obvious satisfaction taken in this vote (described as a...

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