36% of the Ukraine po/pulation are ussian speaking people with ntheir home language being Russian. There poeple live in Eastern Ukraine that was incorporated into the Ukaine in 1953 - when the Communists tried to get the safety of Ukraine as part of Russia assured. That followed wehat happened in WW2 when the Ukraine seaking people favored and supported the NAZI''s when they invaded the then USSR. There were two Ukraine extreme national parties involved - the main one being the party linked to Bandera. Bandera was under direct protection iof the Nazi's and during the wear he resided inb a private home in a German Concentration camp in Poland from where organized attacks on Ukrainians and especially Jews and people opposed to Germany took place and from where more than 800 000 people were killed - including Poles - were exterminated.
The Communists took control of Eastern control of Ukraine when the Germans were retreating after the battle of Stalingrad and interms of the Yalta agreement between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill the Russians had to occupy Poland. Ukraine, Hunagary and Austria - as well as the zone to end up being called East Germany af ter the ward. The borders of Poland and Russia was changed drastically and Poland lost huge territory in Eastern Poland and Lvov - a Polish city - was included in Ukraine and effectively made part of the USSR.
After WW2 the Russians took their revenge on Ukraine, Hundreds of thousands of Ukarinians ended up in slave camps in Siberia and 3,5 million Tartars from the Crimea wedre sent to Siberia.. Bandera was protected by the Germans and taken by them to Germany. After the War the Polish Government requested that Bandera be sent to Poland and charged with crimes against humanity, The USA refused - thinking that Bandera would influemced the Ukrainians to turn against the Communist Regime in the USSR should the cold war turn into a hot war. The Russians knew that Banderas was kliving under US Protection in Munich and he was murdered by a Communist spy in 1956.
By 1953 after the death of Stalin - the USSR tried to stop the abuses suffered under Stalin and they took a number of decisions based on closing down the slave camps in Siberia - the famous Gulag archipello. After 1953 - the remaining Tartars from Ukraine was allowed to return to the Crimess - only 200 000 of them survivied the ordeal and reurned to the Crimeas where they became a 5% comnponent of the Crimea population. Thje Ukrainians surviving the slave camps in Siberia ws also allowed to return to Ukraine - but the Communists ensured that the influence of the Ukrainians speaking people of Ukraine be reduced by the incorporation of Crimea and large areas in Eastern Ukraine and Russian cities like Kharkov, Odessa, Mariopol, and Donesk and Bakhmut was incorporated into Ukraine. When the first sensus of Ukraine was undertaken in 2001 it was found that 36% of the Ukraine population were Russian speaking people were in fact Russian speaking people.
In 1991 with the fall of the USSR the Russians waere prepared to allow Ukraine with its Russian population minority to gain independence based on Democracy. A new constitution for Ukraine was compiled guranteeing human rights for all citizens. This Constitution was ultimately approved ibn a referendum. The Constitution provided for the borders of Ukraine with the Crimea given its own Parliament to run the Crimea on a Federal basis.
After 1992 there was a reviuval of the Bandera movement in Ukraine - but it always was a rather harmless community with ultra-Nationalist outlook. They never had enough support in Ukraine to get elected. By 2007 Bandera was declared as a National Hero of Ukraine on the insistence of the fringe group involved. They evens tarted a private army called the Asov Regiment to support the ultra-nationalist movement.
After a democratic election in 2013 won by an independent candidate who wanted the country to remain neutral the USA saw an opening to take voer the effective Government of Ukraine by a coup. The USA realize they needed the support of the ultra-nationalists to achieve a take-over of the country in a coup. They then started protests meetings in Kiev in October 2013 and thiose lasted through to January 2014 - when it became violent by the Asov Regiment firing at the protestors and the Police. By Februray 2014 the elected President decided to elave Ukraine rather than being part of a civil war in the country.
That was when the country was left without a constitution and the USA Government then decided who should be in the Interim Government in Ukraine, The 1991 Constitution was abandoned and he USA wanted anti_Russiands to be in cherge. Nuland - the USA assistant Secretary of State had a long discussion with the USA as to who should eb in charge of the new Ukraine Government. - the norm being who should be appointed based on anti-Russian ideology. She even introduced the selected group of people attached to the Bandera movement to then Vice-President Biden. Let me summarize the approach of those people in one statement made by one of the Chief Advisors of the present Zelenskyy Government:- who stated that the objectives of the Ukraine Government was to -
* eliminate Russian culture amongst all residents of Ukraine and he crimea;
* eliminate Russian as a spoken language in Ukraine; and
* if that does not work remove the Russian speasking people from Ukraine territory through ethnic cleansing. You can get this from Wikipedia - hardly a pro-Russian propaganda vehicle.
Initially the Russian speaking people in Eastern Ukraine would have nothing to do with the newly installed Government in Kiev adn rfused to recognize the new Government - bearing in mind the key people involbed and when the new Ukraine Government started bombarding Donetsk in 2014 sw civil war broke out in Eastern Ukraine. The USA was providing aid to Ukraine to keep the enw Government in Kiev and the Russians provided the rebels in Eastern Ukraine with aramnets and technical help to keep fighting against the ultrNationalist in Kiev - which the Russians openly call Nazi elements.
Germany and France saw the problems potentitally arising from the Civil War in Ukraine and organized a conference in Minsk to try and stop the worsening of the Civil War. By then the Crimea Parliament decided that with the Ukraine cosntitution being discarded the situation of control over the Crimea was not legally sustainable and the Crimea Parliament called for a referendum as to he future of the Crimea. The result was to be expected since 905% had no link to the Ukraine - they were eiher Russian seakibng people or Tartars. - only 5% of he residens of Ukraine had Ukrainian as home language and only 4,5% of the voters voted to remain part of Ukraine - while 95% voted for incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation. The USA refused to accept the outcopme of the election as legitimate. Two subsequent opinion polls held by a USA and Germany opinion pollstgers confirmed tghat support of being aprt of Ukraine is even less tna it was when he refernef]d=um was held.
Be it as it may at the Minsk conference in 2015 it was decided that a ceasfiire takews effect on the following basis:-
* That the borders applicable in 2015 (without the Crimea) should be internationally accepted by all parties concerned;
* That a new Constitution dealing also with human rights of all ctizens in Ukraine should be compiled and approved by a referendum to be hed in the Ukraine; and\\
* Ukraine would be a neutral country and not become apt of NATO>
This agreement was signed by the then Presidents of Ukraine and Russia - as well as the German and French Government leaders. It was forwarded to the UN wqhere the security Council unanimously endorses it.
The USA never accepted that agreement and deliberately undermined it. So an opportunity to settle the problems in Ukraine peacefully was lost. It was obvious the USA did not want to accept a constitutional democracy in Ukraine - and the constantly ubndermined implementation of the agreement.
be it as it may the actions against the Russian speaking people in Ukraine got progressiely worse. In 2015 the Asov Regiment attacked Mariopol and committed seriosu war crimes to the civilllian population adn in Odessa was used agaisnt protestors of the local union against Government abuses. The Asov Regiment dfired at them and when the protestors fled to the Unuion building - a woden structure - the Asov Regiment surrounded the building and put it on fire. Any people fkleeeing from the burning building was shot and killed. Based on evidence provided the Asov Regiment was declared by the UN as a mercenary and terrorist organization and banned from receving military aid from anybody. The Asov Regiment by trhat time considerably strengthened - was then absorbed as a Battalion of the Ukraine Army. In the raging civil war the Asov Battalion was extensively used to terrorise and kill civillians and in the period 2014 to 2019 18 000 civillians mostly was killed in the Civil War. A particularly nasty incident took place when a KLM airliner was shot down over the Government controlled area of Ukraine. The Ukraine Government accused the rebels of Eastern Ukraine of shooting down the plane - but there was no conclusive evidence proving the invovlement of the Russian speaking people in that.
Initi9ally the movement to undermine the Russians speaking population troublled them only mildly. When people soeaking Russian in public areas were fined and had to pay fines as a result. By 2019 the Ukraine Government decided to ban Russian froim being used as a means of instruction in all Ukraine schools and they also banned Russian as a language been taught in Ukraine schools,
By 2021 it got worse - especially in 2022 when before the Russian Invasion all Russian-speaking members of the Ukraine Parliament were arrested and nobody knows where they arfe at present. Ukraine then went further and banned the fucntioning ofd the Ukraine Orthodox church with 80% of the total population of Ukraine - because like all Orthodix churches in the wold they had links to Russia.
When the Ukraine ordered 90 thousand newly trained Ukraine soldiers into Eastern Ukraine to finally crsdh then civil war in the country - Russia dxecided it was to act against obvious agression by the Ukraine Govedrnment against the Rusian speaking population in Eastern Ukraine to protect the Russians speaking people. 14 days before the invasioon took place Macron went to Moscow to try and stop the pending war. All Putin told him was to implement the 2015 Minsk agreement and there would be no war. An agreement was compiled on that basis and signed by Putin and taken to Kiev by President Macron and Zelenskyy signed it as well. The US Government did not want that - they wanted war and they got it.
Since 2015 it was clear - all Russia wanted was neutrality on the part of Ukraine and protection of the human rights of Russian speaking people in Ukraine. Nothing more. Ultimately the Russians fortified what was the borders of the Russian speaking borders of Eastern Ukraine and the only Russian speaking cities still left in Ukraine are Odessa and Kharkov. It is just a matter of time before the Russian army attacked and conquer those two cities as well.
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