#is that this war is fucking over everyone and not just ukrainians

[redjaybathood]

Every fucking westerner, and easterner, and both southerners and northeners too, on this god forsaken website, who said anything at all about how the world manages to discern politics from art for Ukraine but not other nations or ethnicities, based on, idk, Russians being banned from Eurovision which is surely because Ukrainians are white, and not, you know, the full-scale invasion that happened in the ninth year of Russian war against Ukraine, the ninth year of my hometown being occupied, and is still ongoing, and is a real fucking genocide on the scale unseen in Europe since WWII or Serbia, owes me, personally, to donate to a charity of their choosing:

Donate to Come Back Alive Foundation (life-saving defense)

Donate to Leleka Foundation (life-saving medical supplies)

(do not, under any circumstances, donate to Red Cross)

[dear-ao3]

who are the 20 f1 meow meows?

max verstappen (fast but an asshole on the track. lives in fear of his cats. winning everything.)

checo perez (might lose his spot. had two separate did not finishes in the same race. kissed another car at the hairpin)

sir lewis hamilton (fashion icon, classiest mother fucker you’ll ever see, knighted, just wants a comeback and to win his 8th world championship)

george russell (walking meme, looks like he belongs in the window of a tommy bahama, says crikey and blimey unironically, the most british person ever)

charles leclerc (the poorest little meow meow, is a millionaire but has a cracked back of his phone, either is fighting for the podium or crashes on the first lap, please dear god let this man win something he has the worst luck i’ve ever seen)

carlos sainz (smooth operator, dunks on everyone’s golf game especially landos, aparently doesn’t eat his pancakes with toppings, drives a volkswagen golf at least sometimes)

lando norris (usually getting told by carlos he sucks at golf, chronically online, has a blanket with george russell’s face on it, gets in trouble for being too sarcastic, please give him a win it’s been 5 years)

oscar piastri (has never once looked like he’s having a good time but almost did once while building a house of cards, hates horoscopes, almost got sued by alpine when he said he wasn’t signing with them after alpine announced he was signing with them, has an iconic mom)

fernando alonso (old man, retired and then came back for some reason, tad villain and he knows it, don’t mention taylor swift around him)

lance stroll (still waiting for his tennis career tbh, his dad bought aston martin to guarantee him a seat, rage monster)

esteban ocon (french, monster of a teammate aparently, once got beat up in the garage by max verstappen, besties with stroll and mick schumacher)

pierre gasley (also french, terrible awful haircut, did i mention he’s french, had his brain chemistry permanently altered by being teammates with yuki, photo dump king)

nico hulkenberg (looks like that one penguin with the weird hair from penguins of madagascar, dad, has raced in over 200 races and never been on the podium)

kevin magnussen (was kicked off haas because they wanted younger drivers only to reappear the next year after they fired one of the drivers for probably funding the russian ukrainian war, once fok smashed a door, has the cutest child)

valtteri bottas (unproblematic king, cyclist, makes his own alcohol, is ass out on netflix and has his own naked calendar called bott ass, mullet mustache man)

zhou guanyu (baby fashion icon, trying his best in a medium shit car, first chinese driver ever in f1)

daniel ricciardo (class clown, made the worst career mistake of leaving red bull and is now trying to get back in, from australia but is a texas cowboy, usually fucking shit up, just wants to tickle his scrotum and touch his nutsack)

yuki tsunoda (wants to chef, was forcibly moved to italy by his team cause he didn’t want to work out with his trainer, short king, usually gets sacrificed to the luck gods, cursed radios)

alex albon (so insanely barbie coded, filmed a cereve commercial in his hotel room with his girlfriend, definitely dyes his own hair with box dye, incredible oldest sibling energy, single-handedly carrying williams)

logan sargeant (what the fuck is a kilometer!!!! only american in f1, usually found in dead last or kissing walls, one of his essential items is heinz burger sauce, says mate with an american accent)

[catgirlforeskin]

Just so that everyone is on the same page: if we are going to analogize the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the American invasion of Iraq, Russia is playing the role of America.

Russia is even running the same bullshit "our enemies are fascist" propaganda campaign.

If you're anti war, you should be protesting Russian warmongering, not American aid to those resisting.

I’ve talked extensively about how Russia is doing the “war on terror” routine, and how the invasion, which I oppose, is causing Ukraine to become more fascist in reaction (banning of all opposition parties, welcoming of neonazi militias into the national guard, etc).

I’ve been analogizing to Afghanistan, not Iraq, which if you recall, was also invaded by Russia (then the Soviet Union) and the US trained and armed the mujahideen in response. Something I think we can agree was a bad move, given that the Taliban now controls the country, no?

I do not live in Russia, I can’t meaningfully protest their government, but I can protest mine sending over fucking cluster munitions man. Government officials in the US (and a number of European countries, Germany most recently) have outright said they don’t care if Ukrainians want to surrender, they will keep pushing for total victory. It’s a meat grinder that NATO is pouring Ukrainians into and reaping the benefits of. I want it to end.

[scarz-xo]

It's hard to write to a world that doesn't listen, a world that lives with double standards, I try to write but I just stare at the screen in utter disbelief to what humanity has come to.

Israel has bombed South Lebanon many times yet no one hears about it like at all.

The hatred & targeting of Palestinians all over the world right now just for being Palestinian.

Today Israel targeted & killed the 70 year old Palestinian woman who said she was older than the occupation.

No one is speaking, no one is talking, Biden came out in all his white saviour bullshit tweeting about Palestinian children who have cancer & about how he'll save them & get them proper help when he's the one funding the young children's displacement, the bombing of the hospitals & more

And of course we can't forget the Ukrainian president who should be on the side of Palestine cause they're both getting invaded yet he's with Israel going on & on about how the genocide in Palestine (which he didn't call genocide) takes the attention away from Ukraine.

Cause Apparently it's all about a fight for focus & attention not humanity & peace, but after all we can't forget he was an actor who did a photoshoot during the war so of course he's the best when it comes to having attention & focus on him.

Oh and let's not forget New York Times person Of The Year cause in 2022 it was Zelensky himself:

Cause yeah he's fighting a war against the Russian but this year we have mega pop star Taylor Swift, no Palestinians no, and before you attack me, I'm a major swiftie but this just shows the double standards cause as this year's person is not a Palestinian no, it's the same when people came out for Ukraine's support calling for actions against Russia yet no one is talking about Palestine like Selena Gomez who decided to take a break now but when it was Ukraine she was posting & talking about it.

All of this yet the result we get today is Starvation, no electricity, no water, bombing 24/7, hospitals out of control cause they no longer have the capacity for more, dismembered bodies, belongings getting stolen by the IDF & so so much more & what's worse is the Israeli posts their shit all over social media yet the world pretends it's blind!

Everyone have their eyes and ears covered, everyone is funding, some are not even doing the least as boycotting & you wanna see the result?

Here it is:

They took their clothes in December, tied them up, covered their eyes & preparing them for a mass execution, these are not Hamas or related to Hamas, these are Palestinian men, they're just men, just humans, like our own men, our guy friends, our boyfriends, our husbands, our brothers, out fathers, they're more than just "men" to their people.

But they're getting executed cause the world refuses to listen or see.

I'm so fucking tired over this.

[the-path-to-redemption]

Bitch wtf?!!!

Listen I have my own disagreements and agreements on Hazbin Hotel but at the same time I don't think the angels from Hazbin Hotel is a great example of Israel

From what I know angels from HH are unaware of the Genocide of hellborns are disagree with it. Zionist and majority Israel population IS aware of what they are doing and support the Genocide.

Avatar the Last Airbender is better on portraying a Genocide that HH

Long Post Ahead. Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Genocide, Naz*s, Deaths, and War.

Look, I don't really give a shit about the whole morality of Hazbin Hotel because the show is fucking mediocre as shit to me, but let's just make one thing clear for everyone. Thanks for showing me this shit, homie, cause this coming rant?

This is mostly aimed at the fucker in the screenshot m/ultishipper and others like them:

If you compare an ongoing genocide that has caused thousands of casualties, real-life deaths of innocents including children, to a fucking fictional media.

YOU ARE A FUCKING GHOUL AND I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU.

We can discuss the presence of genocide in a show for days and I wouldn't give a fuck, but to take the suffering of war victims to boost up your asinine, anti-RWDE bullshit immediately takes you to the lowest depths of hell, m/ultishipper, and nothing will ever fucking change the fact that you are SCUM.

These are REAL fucking people. Not a fucking comparative element for anyone to compare to FICTIONAL CHARACTERS who cannot fucking do anything. They. Are. Not. Real. And I am fucking done with the RWBY bootlickers who make these kinds of fucking comments as a gotcha to RWDE.

I've seen a fucking edit of Ironwood sitting next to P*tin during the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis. I've seen posts of fuckers like this making Ironwood out to be a fascist and comparing him to N*tanyahu. I've seen so many fucking people calling fans of Ironwoods fascists and Naz*s, it's not even fucking funny.

STOP. THAT. SHIT. The casualties and horrors of war are NOT for you to fucking exploit, m/ultishipper, just because you love to such dick for a company that does not give a fuck about you. Don't fucking act like you're innocent either, because *I* had to block you last year after you fucking call me an abuse apologist as well as other vile ass shit. and that's not mentioning your countless abuse towards other RWDE blogs, many run by women of color and other marginalized groups.

I don't doubt that there have been death threats; yeah, RWDE isn't a monolith, and no one deserves to be treated like that over some trash-ass Texas anime. But guess what? DO FUCKING NOT ACT LIKE YOU AND SIMILAR BITCHED HAVEN'T DONE THE SAME THING AND WORSE.

So far, you ass-eaters have:

Call me an abuse apologist, a misogynist, a queerphobe, a racist, a dictator lover, and a pedophile over a FUCKING SHOW.

Harassed MULTIPLE RWDE blogs, many run by marginalized people, and called them similar shits for disagreeing with you, completely forgetting that some of them are SA survivors, in which calling them pedophiles and similar things makes you a SEXUAL AGGRESSOR.

Sent death threats to blogs for disagreeing with your bullshit and bullied many artists out of the FNDM for "shipping the wrong ships".

Make excuses for the abusers working at RT, who have a long fucking list of violence against people, while still calling us abuse apologists.

FUCKING CALLED SHEENA OUM, MONTY'S WIDOW, A MURDEROUS BITCH AND BLAMED HER FOR HIS DEATH AFTER RT KICKED HER OUT OF HER HUSBAND'S PROJECT.

Degrading the works and involvement that Dillon Goo and Shane Newville have on RWBY, even though they were with Monty since the beginning the same way MK was while uplifting the latter who continues to exploit queerness in characters to sell their show.

Blamed and bullied Kdin, who was abused by her place of employment for years, for said abuse while making excuses for your faves who made years of her life hell.

Ignored the many, MANY, animators and employees at RT, who were abused, laid off, and in some cases, DISABLED, by the awful working conditions there just for your dumbass show to continue at their expense.

Made comparisons between RWDE posters and NAZ*S. Who fucking does that?? There's a fucking screenshot of someone on Reddit literally claiming that if H*tler was a RWBY hater, WE would hang Swatzik*s to support him. FUCK YOU.

And right back to now, comparing real casualties of war to a fucking show as a gotcha to people you do not agree with.

I hope that you assholes find a conscience soon for your own sake. Because if this is part of your legacy, may you fucking rot in hell.

Thank you to the person submitting this to me. Only for showing me the depths of depravity this scumbag can go to though; making me read that shit was torturous and I will now pour 6 oz. of salt into your soup tonight.

[homocidalpotat]

I woke up this morning to find this anon. I'm genuinely disgusted, if I'm honest. I blocked them, but I'm kind of answering them anyway.

Sure, I'm white. Sure, maybe I subconsciously have privileges and benefits, but I don't think I'm all that privileged. I'm queer (asexual, genderqueer, queer), neurodivergent and with lots of issues that exclude me from the average white, mentally healthy, cishet person where i live. My point is even without being a poc, I am still in many minority groups that get hate. I had to contact the police only 3 days ago because of a hate crime that was committed against me. I understand what it's like to be mistreated for the way you are. And, seriously, I didn't make that post because I'm white. I thought skin colour didn't determine your values or opinions. I originally made that post for my blog. I didn't want all these 6000+ people to reblog it and trauma dump, but it's a free place and people have said it helps them. I made it to express why I didn't want those asks. Nothing more.

Also, I have every right to be uncomfortable with anything. Everyone does. Depending on the situation, you sometimes have to deal with it. But this is MY blog that I made for MY enjoyment. You're acting like you're about to get mad about the way I decorate my bedroom- posters about my fandoms and nature??? Instead of anti-war, anti-zionist, anti-whatever promo posters?? How dare I. It's almost as if I have the right to post and reblog whatever the fuck I want. I have utmost sympathy for those people suffering, those children, everyone. But that doesn't mean I want to experience it myself. People can have triggers and discomforts and fears. Not everyone needs to suffer to show solidarity.

I'd also like to point out that anon said "your country is funding". I'm going to assume anon meant I'm American. I'm not, I'm English and have lived in England all my life. Just to clear that up. Yes, I'm pretty sure the British government has funded Israel, but fun fact- I am not the British Government. I have no power and virtually no say in anything. I'm a highschool student. Don't blame me for something the government did. I can't change that, and if I could I would.

I'd also like to look at "standing there while a guy gets his face eaten off by tigers when you can call out for help is like , complicit. you aren't helping . you aren't even trying to help". Quite frankly, that's a terrible metaphor. I'm not actively witnessing the deaths and I can't do anything to help. Also if several tigers were mauling your face I doubt you would survive... they have very big and strong jaws so you wouldn't even have a skull at that point. Shouting would attract the tigers' attention and bring other people there to become victims of these tigers. If someone had their face eaten off by tigers, the logical response would be to run. They are past help and there wasn't anything you could do to start with unless you had a good enough gun and aim. Mourn after you escape safely. But, like I said, it's an awful metaphor- except in the way that I can't do anything to help either. I'm sorry anon but that's a ridiculous and unlikely hypothetical scenario that I will almost definitely never experience.

Also, for the umpteenth time, this post isn't about Palestine. I get asks telling me to pay for an American's medical care, a Ukrainian asking for support in evacuating their country, a Palestinian doing the same, or whatever. This isn't personal. It's not about a certain race or place or situation. It's about all of it. In fact, if any of the people that got mad about that post actually read it, they have no reason to be mad. Sorry. Just like? Read the whole thing... it explains that it is not just about Palestine. It gives over 10 reasons why I can't donate or share the posts. I made that post for people like anon. Who saw that I don't accept donation asks and decided to make me the villain. They can read that post. Oh, looks like this person is a minor. You have to be 18+ to get an account on things like gofundme and paypal. That makes sense, because you don't want them giving money irresponsibly or to a bot. Oh, and they don't even have enough money. They might not have a job and the amount of money these people need is often a lot. This person overthinks a lot. Wow, I hope they are okay. Figuring out what is a bot and what isn't must be difficult, and when they can't donate they must feel awful! This is why I made the post. That one, single, offhanded Tumblr post.

And as this is a hate anon I feel obliged to say this, yet again. I AM A MINOR. I AM MENTALLY ILL. I HAVE LOW SELF ESTEEM AND INSECURITY. I MASSIVELY OVERTHINK EVERYTHING. DON'T SEND ME ANON HATE. If you disagree with my opinions, send me an ask OFF anon, explaining in a nice and polite way why you disagree and some genuine counterpoints. I hope anyone else who sees this and decides to attack me for having boundaries can acknowledge this. Also note that my post was about my PERSONAL PREFERENCES AND BOUNDARIES, AND STATING WHY I CAN'T EVEN HELP.

I'm not asking for sympathy, I'm just asking that you consider why I said that. Why I can't give money. Why it is too much of a mental toll for me. I am so, SO sorry that I can't donate, and it destroys me. I see asks every day saying that if I don't give money, I'm a murderer. From what you can infer about me, do you think that's a good thing for me to be hearing?

under the cut is a big caps paragraph, tw for suicide, self harm, self deprecation, depression, anger. I'm fed up. and i never get angry so this is uhm. saying something..

Oh, and I don't usually get angry angry at anons but seriously. Go ACTUALLY FUCK YOURSELF YOU INCONSIDERATE BRAT. YOU CANT SEND HATEMAIL CLAIMING TO BE A MINOR THAT GETS HATE ON! THATS SO FUCKING CONTRADICTORY AND SO FUCKING BITCHY. IF YOU WANT TO GO SPREAD HATE DO IT SOME FUCKING WHERE ELSE BECAUSE I DEAL WITH HUNDREDS OF DONATION ASKS AND TONS OF ANON HATE JUST FOR HAVING EMOTIONS! WAIT FUCKING SORRY YOU DONT HAVE EMOTIONS CLEARLY BECAUSE YOU ARE A COLD STONEHEARTED BITCH AND I FUCKING HATE YOU CAN YOU FUCKING GET THAT??? IM NOT A FUCKING MURDERER OR A PRIVILEGED WHITE BABY OR A ZIONIST OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU ACCUSE ME OF! I SWEAR TO GOD IF ANYONE ELSE SENDS ME ANY MORE OF THIS ABSOLUTE CRAP I WILL GET A KNIFE OUT OF MY FUCKING KITCHEN AND CARVE SOME FUCKING DEEP CUTS INTO MY SKIN BECAUSE THAT IS HOW I FEEL ALL THE TIME THANKS TO BITCHES LIKE YOU. HAVE A FUCKING HEART AND THINK ABOUT PEOPLES EMOTIONS. HAVE A FUCKING PAIR OF EYES AND READ ALL OF THE FUCKING POST BEFORE YOU SEE RED AND GO OFF ABOUT HOW IM SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON. I KNOW IM A HORRIBLE PERSON THATS WHY I TRY TO KILL MYSELF THATS WHY I SELF HARM I DONT NEED A REMINDER EVERY 5 FUCKING SECONDS

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Since I had to block a bozo who defends the hate of Russian civilians, (redjaybathood), here is proof of anti-Russian sentiment towards civilians, it's not propaganda and you ain't a tankie for calling it out.

OK, so I have to respond. Firstly, my criticism doesn't mean "I think Putin's behaviour is the right thing."

Let me ask you something. Why don't you lame Chinese civilians for their government? Why don't you call them names? Their leader is also a communist who threatens other countries. Why aren't Chinese civilians considered tankies? Why don't North Korean civilians get treated like they're part of the problem? Cherry picking.

Next, you're literally doing what the OP and many other people are calling out. Hating the civilians for existing and living in a dictatorship.

And since you freaked that I didnt send the links even though you can look it up yourself (meaning you're lazy), fine. Here we go. Now let's see if you try to accuse me of lying. This is the sentiment that lead to the Japanese internment camps which everyone agrees were wrong, but I know people would cheer for Russian ones. There's a LOT of Russia-bashing, believe it or not.

And serious actual hate crimes and attacks. All called "propaganda" by bigots.

That's arson if you don't speak German.

If a foreign minister needs to call you out, it's not propaganda.

NOTE: Dubs being put on hiatus, Russian non politial products like snacks and drinks being removed or given WARNINGS in stores, none of that happens to other "evil" countries like China. Selective outrage? I'd say so. And literal paragraphs about hate from the Wiki page.

All of these are civilians who are being treated like shit on the ASSUMPTION that if you're Russian, you must hate peace. Dictators are not the people. People are brainwashed. You don't have the right to judge the peopleof a dictatorship because they aren't born evil, they're taught to obey the dictator. It happened with Hitler. It happened with Stalin. It happened with Mussolini. It happened with Pol Pot. It happened with Milosevic. It happened with Hirohito. It happens with Xi. It happens with Kim Jong Un. Why is it that when it happens with Putin, and ONLY with Putin, are the civilians suddenly just as problematic as the leader? You can't judge an entire nationality based on a select number of people you've seen who agree (or pretend to agree, as many may not actually agree but pretend. If all you view them as is cowards, but you don't hold the same values to other citizens of dictatorships, you are in fact, a BIGOT and it's not problematic or propaganda or false to say so. I made myself very clear. If you still disagree that's your problem and you are a toxic person. Jesus fucking Christ)

Tell me again how being Russian automatically makes you a bad person and how civilians aren't victims just because they are living in a corrupt country. You judge the entire population based on what fringe nationalists and some brainwashed people say. Blanket statements about an entire nationality or race are NOT okay. Peoplewho criticizes this aren't automatically pro-tyranny. Not that you care or believe that.

As a bonus, let's talk about how America and Canada (my country) used to HATE UKRAINE, and they had Ukrainian internment camps.

Your reaction to this should NOT be "I don't think Ukrainians deserve peace". BOTH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE DESERVE PEACE AND TO BE FREE FROM HATE. THE HATE GOES IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THAT'S THE REASON WAR IS A THING. PUTIN NEEDS TO STOP FIGHTING. PEOPLE NEED TO STOP JUDGING CITIZENS OF A DICTATORSHIP FOR BEING FROM A DICTATORSHIP. THE MORE RUSSIANS THAT CALL OUT PUTIN ANY WAY THEY CAN THE BETTER. ALL OF THESE STATEMENTS CAN AND SHOULD CO-EXIST AND I YOU DON'T THINK SO, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. "BUT THEIR LEADER!" "BUT I'M UKRAINIAN" "BUT LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY" "SHUT UP TANKIE" "ORC/RUZZIAN AREN'T SLURS THEY'RE TRUE". ARE NOT EXCUSES. The orcs and Ruzzians are Putin and his lackeys, not the people who live in said tyrant's cities. Obviously people should help Ukraine, that's absolutely fine. But people should not do or say anything the people above have said. It's pretty easy to find out of touch comments on Twitter and Quora that blanket the entire population as the same "evil commie tankie orc zombies". People calling out this stuff aren't trying to make a competition of "who has it worse" when in fact war harms EVERYONE.

That's all I can say. Don't like this? Then you should really think.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Here are the issues I have with the book. Since it's a lot, I'll try to keep it as short as possible and only mention my biggest problems with it. So this list is not complete and I could write pages about it.

Let me start by saying that a good autobiography (or any book that highlights a real life person) should be balanced. It should not glorify that person or pretend that person is a god and without mistakes. I also have no problem with critizing Ze, because, let's face it, yes he made mistakes and fucked things up in the past and not every war decision or speech or whatever was good or perfect. The point is: the critique should be fair and balanced (this obviously doesn't apply to bad people in general and the books about them; but since Ze isn't a bad person...you get what I want to say). The portrayal of Ze in the book is anything but fair or balanced. Or true, for that matter (unless literally every person in Ze's life and who knows him better, including the Kvartal fam, Olena, Andriy or people like them, have been lying to everyone for decades).

Throughout the whole book Shuster does say that Ze is Ukrainian (and Jewish) but also always tries to paint him as an "Ukrainian Russian" - so Ze is actually Russian despite being a "Ukrainian" (basically using one of Russia's Propaganda lies). Ze is basically a stubborn "Ukrainian" who kind of deserves all the hate and arrogance he gets from "real Russians" during KVN times (and later) because Ze is an insufferable asshole during his KVN times. And that Russian treated Ukrainian (or from other former Soviet Union countries) teams badly (including racist remarks, looking down on them, treating them like slaves, insulting them, not giving them a fair chance,...) teams awfully is, in Ze's case, deserved. Because Ze was oh so focused on always winning - no matter what and the cost.

Speaking of KVN: According to Shuster, Ze was terrible as a person during his first years of stardom. A maniac who only lived for applause and needs it to survive and was willing to do absolutely everything to win and beat other teams. Because, you know, he's so obsessed with winning. To a point were even he gives a flying fuck about the Kvartal team and their members (Shuster basically hints that they all disliked Ze and he was some kind of group dictator who only wanted to work and win all the time and was reckless and took to many risks and almost destroyed everyones lifes). When Shuster finds something positive to write about, he quotes people from Kvartal but what he quotes are just general statements or people saying what KVN was like during the 1990s and early 2000s. The moment Shuster writes about Ze and was he (allegedly) like during this time it's almost only "team members" and "people who knem him" and "classmates" and all that stuff - so anon sources. Or it's just Shuster telling stuff without saying what his source is or him just have feelings and thoughts and drawing conclusions. If people get named they - surprise, surprise - have a lot of times bad things to say about Ze or are people who we never ever have heard of as being part of Ze's life. Btw, it's not very hard to guess who the "team member", who talked the KVN years and adds a lot of negative talk about Ze, is... . Denys (yes, THAT Denys) contributed to the book with pictures, so chances are high he also talked to Shuster. If you ever wondered if the asshole would ever get over the fact that he fucked up and Ze kicked his ass out of the group - well, the answer is no. He now just tries to cash in on Ze. And since we are talking about Denys' obvious contribution to the book - he, once again, gave out private photos. How much we all wanna bet that he, once again, didn't ask for consent?!

Shuster also tries to paint Ze's family in a bad light. The father a tyrann who sacrified his wife's (Mama Ze) health for his job and money. Also rarely being at home and giving a fuck about his son and family. Mama Ze spoiling her child and making him entitled. Both to unloving and hard and more or less making Ze's life a living hell. Also that Ze's family was suddenly rich. Not to mention indirectly questioning the trauma his family had to go through (and Ze talked about in the past) under Stalin and the Nazis and family members that are suddenly alive (despite Ze stating in the past that they were dead). Also, Shuster sees in the childhood and family of Ze a part of the explanation why Ze is such a horrible person today, to stubborn to just give up and end the fight (and all that nonsense) and won't win this war. Because the parents put Ze in all kind of activities without him finishing any of it but letting him believe he can do everything and always demanding excellent perfomance in every aspect of his life (to keep it short). So of cooourse Ze had to grow up into a maniac who can't loose and always continues despite what people may tell him and who needs the constant validation and love from others.

There are also a ton of negative remarks about Ze as father and husband in regard of his own family. Not to mentiont hat a ton of informations are factually not correct. Things like birth dates or dates in general, how and where Ze's family lived (missing important context several times), Ze basically being as awful as his father, Ze not giving a fuck about his families safety during the war (Olena was the voice of reason who protects the poor, poor children because their father just wants them back for egoistic reasons and doesn't care about their safety) or not seeing anything concerning about his sons military obsession and instead fueling it (again, it's the poor poor wife who has to protect the son from the awful father), Ze giving zero fucks about his relationship with Olena right from the start and that poor, poor, poor woman always staying behind and having to go through hell and hate because of Ze's maniac ambitions and facing an unsave future in the early 2000s because Ze was so full of himself and had the biggest ego,... . (reading several parts you would think that this "poor, poor woman" is trapped in some abuse situation or Ze somehow tied her to himself and the whole marriage is fake and there is no love) (also Olena simultaniously romantizing things and her life and Ukraine but also being the only who who sees the truth about Ze or several parts of their lives but, of course, can't tell her terrible husband because bad, bad Ze) Also Shuster indirectly claiming that Ze and Olena lied about their relationship and they didn't date for eight years but for a shorter period of time. Because suddenly Olena also was a part of KVN long before Ze (???) and was essentially just his work buddy and friend for a while and somehow and for whatever reason they ended up in a relationship one day. (Also prepare yourself to read about a new version of the "Basic Instinct" story we never have heard before...and Ze and Olena never said.)

Btw, the way Ze is portrayed during his KVN years is essentially with little variation how he's portrayed in later stages of his life. Including his presidency and the war (I'm not going to write several more paragraphes because I think you get the picture Shuster tries to paint of Ze).

Only one thing about Ze's war portrayal: Shuster swings back and forth between Ze as wanna be dictator who will turn Ukraine into something bad as soon as the war is over (and is already starting with that) and who already makes his own rules and gives zero fucks about people and is only interested in his own fame and people applauding him and all that stuff. And Ze being the worst President ever because the war and the current state of Ukraine (which is, of course, very bad and they are about to collapse and loose and big Russia and winning and blablabla) are somehow also his fault. Yes, Shuster really manages to make Ze (and with that Ukraine) partly guilty.

Throughout the whole book he also, sometimes more obvious sometimes hidden, Shuster portrays Ukraine in the worst way possible. He does mention how "bad" Russia is but somehow justifying it several times or leaving out important facts and, once again, context. Also the portrayal of Putin, especially in comparsion with how he writes about Ze, is a joke.

Oh, and, the "inside look in the bunker" life Shuster used for his marketing campaign and that the claim of the book - yeah, bullshit. It's nothing now and anon and all that stuff. Also, once again, portraying Ze in a bad light. Like, yeah, the first weeks of war affected him but to such a worrying point (according to Shuster) that Ze was actually unfit to rule any longer as President but continued (because, you know, he loves power sooo much...). And now he's the mini dictator of Bankova who is always grumpy and changed into a (an even more) awful person and... .

What can I say at the end?! As mentioned earlier, the book has a ton of fake news and wrong facts. It's incredibly poorly researched - if sources exist at all. A lot of times it's Shuster just sharing his feelings or thougths or conclusions or interpretations or whatever. Or just saying things without context. Or writing stuff without giving sources. And to be honest, in some parts it also feels like that Shuster just made stuff up.

If you have no idea about Ze and his life or know very little - that's not the book to get informed. If you know a bit more about Ze, you will surprisingly often feel that certain parts of "exclusive interviews" or "when I talked with XYZ" are strangely familiar...with interviews we all know from Ze's (and several other people) past...because it is these interviews. Just a lot of times missing context, shortening what was said, adding stuff or giving it a new meaning.

Speaking of using old stuff: Shuster also really used his old articles to include them in the book...to a point where it's basically almost word for word.

Overall, the book is in large parts poorly written (so poorly that you wonder how he became a TIME journalist in the first place).

In the end, you probably haven't learned anything new or interesting about Ze, his life, the war or Ukraine. When we talk about Ze, I may have read one, maybe two new things I haven't read before (but questioning both of them and will do research if they are true or just made up by Shuster). It's over 300 sites of wasted paper and ink. I know articles who did a better job than this "book". It's a waste of time and money. And in the end it's a Pro-Russia Propaganda book, trying to undermine the support for Ukraine and hurt Ze and his image (as well as Ukraine's). Shuster tries to be subtle at his try to do this but he isn't not. He tries to come off as critical thinker who wants to portray a balanced picture of Ze and also writes about the sides no one dares to talk about. But nothing about this is balanced. It's just 300+ sites of trashing Ze and backstabbing him and using every possible way. Same applies to Ukraine.

.

[jacensolodjo]

Speaking of "yeah but people cheered during Operation Barbarossa" I think people are like... completely missing the whole reason WHY anyone would think being invaded from the West was going to be a GOOD THING for them.

They were under SOVIET RULE. The Soviets were killing people en masse so of course if you have people claiming to be your liberator from THAT you're going to at first think it's great. Remember, there was very little info coming into the Soviet Union about the Holocaust. This was on purpose on some level BY THE SOVIET UNION. Because they were allies with... Nazi fucking Germany. Y'all keep forgetting this and I'm tired of it. What do you think happened to Poland? Do you somehow not even know about the Pact that bisected Poland?

It's the absolute start of the whole 'there's soviets then there's everyone else but we're not gonna say that we're just gonna say either you're Soviet or you're a fascist". That was the absolute. You're either a comrade or you are a fascist. There is no middle ground. And the only one pushing that line was... Soviets. Once Barbarossa happened, it was no longer censored about what was going on re: Holocaust.

The funniest part though is people claiming that is what happened during the Donbas shit and then the new invasion since 2022. When it wasn't. At all. NO ONE has been suffering under 'Ukraine rule'. There was never ANY anti-Russophone action like there has been for those who speak Ukrainian. For centuries speaking Ukrainian was a killable offense. People act like Ukraine then turned around and made speaking Russian illegal. None of that has happened after making Ukrainian the state language of... Ukraine. Russian was never made illegal, it just isn't being used for schools and government and such.

People want so badly to be persecuted and they simply aren't. Persecution is what russia is good at. You had folks in the eastern Ukraine area who may have collaborated but it wasn't a wholesale thing like russia has been pushing in their propaganda. And we actually have been getting people stepping forward and admitting they were WRONG to think anything was going to be good for them when russia invaded.

Here's a little secret: Nazis didn't like Slavs either. In fact, Nazis wanted to add a little 'e' after the 'v' for Slavs. They wanted a nation of slaves. There was an entire secondary plan for Operation Barbarossa to make this happen. You section out all the volk from the icky Slavs and then you send the icky Slavs to camps, often camps that are already occupied by enemies of the soviets that you've just taken over.

A lot of people found this out the hard way, sadly. But it was NEVER a whole bunch of people being FOR Nazism. It was them being AGAINST communism. And there IS a difference. Remember, there is no absolute binary of fascist and commie. Yes, there were Ukrainian SS divisions. But they were small. Guess what other countries had SS divisions. Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, etc.,. Overall you only had 500,000 non-German SS soldiers. Out of tens of millions of people. Out of all of those different countries. Romania above all was the most eager to join and did.

In fact, every other SS unit HATED the Polish and Ukrainian units. 53,000 people tried to sign up in Ukraine in 1943. Only 12,000 were accepted to a final number of 23,000 by the end of the war. And yet now you have people acting like Ukraine has been a nation of nazis. Why do all the other collaborator countries get a pass? Hell, everyone knows what Switzerland did and yet it's just peachy keen now. The nordic countries were downright rabid in their antisemitism but it's Ukraine that is the evil one.

You are not immune to Russian propaganda. You claim to be antifascist and yet you support fascists. The russcists ain't gonna fuck you. Russia and the US being at loggerheads is not a binary of supporting one (russia) over the other (US). With Ukraine somehow being viewed as a satellite territory of the US hence supporting President War Crimes. Or just the general binary of "we support everyone who isn't the US" even when the people of the countries you 'support' tell you point blank to stop it because their country has done bad shit too that they have been trying to hold people accountable for and your blind support isn't helping (notably north Korea and China but the list does go on).

[lilietsblog]

So I'm probably making myself a target for some nasty shit by doing this, but it's just bothering me a lot to scroll through tumblr in the middle of all this, so here it is: my understanding of the whole Gaza/Israel issue.

Based on tumblr's usual noise, but also on Ukrainian news sources, which I p much trust on this because... well, because of the specific things they say that check out, and also because Israel isn't actually supporting Ukraine in this war, and is apparently also trying to suck up to Russia (it's not working, Putin and Co are too antisemitic for that), so no reason for our news to suck up to them. (Especially the independent opposition bloggers I also follow)

Yes, Israel got itself into the whole mess via its own very special ill-thought-out policy. And they're basically stuck this way because of external and internal political reasons. Here's hope they manage to sort it out in a way that doesn't result in ever more deaths, misery and horror -_-

Yes, there was a violent terrorist attack by HAMAS that resulted in... at least several hundred deaths, including torture, rape etc of civilians, including visiting foreigners.

Yes, Gaza inhabitants are often aggressively antisemitic in a "want to kill them all" way. That's where HAMAS recruits its terrorists from.

Yes, again, it's predominantly the fault of the government of Israel and the decisions it's made. No, it's not the fault of each individual citizen of Israel, let alone every Jew, and it's not the fault of every single person who thinks Israel deserves to exist as an independent country, either.

No, Israel did not bomb the hospital. I have yet to see a single relevant photo on tumblr, but I did see relevant photos in Ukrainian sources, and they're of an explosion in the parking lot. The casualty numbers were grossly overexaggerated in the initial reports, and the actual cause for the explosion was a misfired rocket from HAMAS. There've been corrections from some sources, none from others, but overall I believe that the final version is that.

No, Palestinians are by and large not inhuman monsters who deliberately use their own children as human shields then blame Israel. There are, have been and will be a few fanatics who do do that though - even besides specific reports, I'd be very skeptical if someone told me apropos of nothing that after several decades of conflict there wasn't a SINGLE person who was that far gone. It's just how human variance works. I mean, I'd buy it if someone said that a Ukrainian did that, too - have you read Taras Bulba?

Yes, HAMAS absolutely does use Palestinian civilians (including children) as human shields. It's a terrorist organization that thinks they're in the right and the ends justify any and all means. Of course they would.

Yes, Israel is doing some fucked up shit with forcing civilian population to evacuate within 24 hours, shutting off water and gas, etc. I don't think they're enacting deliberate genocide and I do think they're at least trying to avoid casualties (see: telling them to evacuate instead of bombing as is, and shoutout to Russia for absolutely not doing that), but their solutions are still horrifying and lead to misery and deaths.

Pretty sure Egypt is not helping either, I trust the Ukrainian sources on that. Nothing to gain from lying, there.

The whole thing is resulting in an explosion of antisemitic AND islamophobic AND just overall racist violence all over the world, including riots BY the affected populations in response to it. Everyone is in the wrong, and everything sucks. I'll be blocking people for both sentiments should any make their way through tumblr savior, so fair warning here. Have an opinion based on the understanding of both sides as actual human people, or go fuck yourself with a rusty fork. Thanks.

So this one might be the most controversial, but: I think it'll be good for Israel to get US weapons. They don't need them against Gaza, they can handle Gaza. Those are against hostile neighbours that support HAMAS and are currently, right now, attacking the territory of Israel. I do not think they should get to do that, and I think Israel should continue to exist as a country. A country that could very much stand to improve its internal and external policies, but that the world is better off having than not anyway.

(I'm seriously biased in that last one, because weapons for Israel getting bundled with weapons for Ukraine is VERY VERY GOOD for us specifically, including for personally me in my personal interest of not getting personally blown up by a rocket from Russia. Very much biased here)

(And to be clear, I don't think this bias affects the news sources, because those news were posted before the bundle idea came up)

(And yes, I do think US military intervention / aid can be in the right and make the world a better place. Not because US is flawless, colonialism is good, etc, but - broken clock, twice a day, you know the drill. I think these are both the twice a day in question.)

[renardtrickster]

A really annoying trait some leftists really have to knock out of their heads is the tendency to force a neutral sentiment or signal reluctance when speaking about something out of some fear of looking like a lib. Like, in the more benign cases, you have the massive storm of conservatives getting Really Fucking Mad at Barbie because they think it's an evil feminist anti-man film, and I saw someone preface their defense with "now I don't like defending capital, BUT". As though saying "you're all wrong about this movie" is an act of class betrayal or something.

Then there's the "getting worse" cases. Like wow, the Democrats in a deeply red state just did some sicknasty cool things and increased everyone's quality of life/human rights quota massively! Except wait, I forgot, they're the liberal party not the leftist one. Man, being so excited over that is so lame, imagine being a cheerleader for the dems. Or Jan 6. That was pretty bad, that a former president Fucking Lied about losing so hard that he whipped his followers into a violent frenzy and attempted to overthrow democracy to install him as Grand Leader. Except it's the CNN types who really beat the drum about Jan 6, so it can't be that bad, right? After all they were mostly just tipping chairs and wandering around, I don't care about the guns and zip ties.

In the worst cases of this you turn into the "if we want to enact a worker's state we have to ditch the gay stuff" kind of leftist-who-inexorably-begins-drifting-hard-right, or the kind of guy who's reading of the Russia/Ukraine situation stops being "yeah it's bad when an authoritarian state does naked imperialism also they're kind of fascists, go go gadget Ukrainian missile platform" and morphs into "well Ukraine wanted to join NATO and NATO = USA and USA = bad therefore it's just two imperial powers slapfighting in a proxy war, maybe the two should just get along, Putin seems very reasonable and open to negotiations and is not an unstable pseudo-dictator".

Like don't get me wrong, liberals have a pretty bad track record when it comes to Not Shooting Leftists In The Back Of The Head, but I'm not even saying "make those bitches into allies and ttempt to pull them over" (although I also believe that), I'm saying "if a liberal says the sky is blue do not say the sky is actually red, especially not when the conversation is about conservatives saying that The Deep State is using space satellites to turn the sky purple at dawn so they can extract the life force out of children". I do not think this is a difficult request.

[whoiwanttoday]

I don't know how many people have seen the costume in the middle picture here, I last saw it at some point last week I think when it was first revealed. This is Viktoria Apanasenko, the current Miss Ukraine, and that is her costume for part of the Miss Universe contest which she has called the Angel of Light to symbolize her countries fight against the darkness. And just goddamn if that isn't the most bad ass thing I have ever seen. Besides the fact that it is utterly amazing, it also is courageous and uplifting and it felt to me to be the perfect way to finish out this year because she seems to just embody the courage of the Ukrainian people that is flat out astonishing at times. A lot bad has happened in the world and the invasion of Ukraine is awful. I am not one for silver linings but this war has provided me one anyway. The way that the people of Ukraine have absolutely refused to back down in the face of swelling tide of authoritarianism is inspirational and fills me with so much hope. It has forced Western Democracies to step up and finally draw a line. Perhaps it's not ok to get in bed with dictatorships just because it makes us a little bit more comfortable. I know not everyone agrees with me but I buy plenty of useless crap and I am ok buying slightly less because it's slightly more expensive if it means not fueling oppression both abroad but also at home because let's remember, these very same regimes are doing all in their power to subvert democracy where you live as well. I know you think I might not know here you live but I don't have to because if you live in a democracy it is currently happening. And Ukraine was supposed to roll over. They were not supposed to have the will to fight for their fragile and flawed democracy. Not that long ago they had to toss out someone who was likely not fairly elected. This is a country where democracy was supposed to fade away and a strong man puppet would be installed and that would be it because that's just the way of things. Those people over there can never handle democracy and so this was inevitable. Except it wasn't and they fought and they fight and they have shown that actually things like giving people a voice isn't the weakness some try to paint it as. It's inspirational and it gives me hope than maybe the rest of us, those further from the front lines, those who live more comfortably, can actually get our shit together as well. So I love that picture. It's badass and it's beautiful and it is hopeful. And she is beautiful either way but just remarkably beautiful with a sword and wings. I will just share her words here because it's all I need to do in the end to justify why she is here today, "It is the personification of inner strength, courage, determination and will flowing in our veins. War cannot break our strength and will not discolor our hearts. Ukraine will bloom like a phoenix even in a fire. It shines with bright rays of kindness and faith. We are all true warriors of light - unbreakable, made of steel, who will definitely defeat the darkness and evil that has come to our land". Today I want to fuck Viktoria Apanasenko.

[ohsalome]

your post reminded me how people on here tried to gotcha on the idea that ukrainians are inherently racist because of the issue with black ukrainian people fleeing and they tried to pin it on ukraine itself when it was literally just poland who didn't want to take them

Mhm, from what I remember, the problem came from the fact that during the first days the evacuation trains were prioritising women, children, elderly and disabled over men. + Not all foreign students are fluent in ukrainian, and not all ukrainian railroad workers are fluent in english. This created a miscommunication issue, where the railroad management failed to explain the students what to do and where to go.

If you've been here, you know what kind of chaos happened during those time period. The tension was fucking high. Everyone was in the survival mode. The infrastructure wasn't prepared to a full-scale war. A lot of mistakes happened on all levels of management.

The people who were in panic and jumping to the worse conclusions (based on their lifelong experience of racism) were given the platform by russian propaganda machine; and those who understood the language a bit better and were explained the priority of saving women and children first, didn't. If you have time and inspiration to bother with translation, here is an artice from March 2022 that includes quotes from both sides of the story.

We need to admit that this event was bad. A lot of people were hurt. But it wasn't a specific campaign targeted at black people. Yet russian propagandists and their lap dogs turned it into an anti-ukrainian smear campaign.

additional rant below

It's sad how easily westerners are ready to eat up anti-ukrainian propaganda, even when it comes from people who sent their mercenaries to commit war crimes in Africa. Y'all really think russia is a reliable source to learn about racism? Really? Ukraine has a black politician, we were represented by black artists in Eurovision twice - by popular vote! - and in russia, people bully brands who use black models in their advertisement into withdrowing the ad and apologising for hurting the feelings of consumers. I know this comparison sounds pathetic, especially if you're from a country with large black population, but keep in mind that we didn't partake in the transantlantic slave trade route, and yet we still do better than russia which has thrice the population we do.

People who don't speak russian don't have a clue about how racist their society is. If you know those fringe internet guys who scream about culture war and throw tantrums about black disney mermaids - this is literally the status quo of russian culture. And THESE are the people westerners have decided to trust on their word in questions of racism?? Really?

No matter how many times we disprove those "ukrainians are racist because we didn't allow black people to evacuate burr burr" claims with facts, they still come up. The rebuttals were there immediately. Yet 2 years later, I still get lectured by usamerican tweens about how all ukrainians are racist by birthright because "i googled ukraine racism and a russia today article told me it was so"

[eccentrickleptomaniac]

Could you give a head cannon for Chechnya, Dagestan, Circassia, and other Russian republics

?!?:@#?:@?!:@?:#?@:! COCONUT?????? GHI I THOUGHT YOU DIED

anyways ya they'll each be a paragraph long (under the cut cuz itll probs be long)

chechnya (the russian republic) is actually the child of the chechen republic of ichkeria. ichkeria died after the second chechen war was over. chechnya on her own is a very excitable person. she is very intrigued by kosovo and finds herself often around them primarily out of curiosity. she tells kosovo about her mother a lot and how lovely she was to her. she doesn't live with russia and instead has the status of "annexed country", meaning she's stuck in the real world, making communication pretty difficult. she manages though! still tries her best despite it all. actually pretty smart as well, good at weaving her way out of situations.

circassa, ooohg. she's mysterious to say da least.. she was a sister of the russian empire and ussr, very much ignored by the other two. she never talked much, preferring glances well enough to shut up a curious bystander in one look. she was very self-centered and always believed what she did was right, but you wouldnt know that due to her mysteriousness. she didn't have many friends nor allies and it led to her demise sometime in the late 1800s against the russian empire. in death she's still very mysterious but it appears more timid now. if she sees someone she'll probably just disintegrate and teleport away. her daughter (adygea) lives on, hardened by the experience but not deterred in the slightest.

karelia is.. odd? she does not act russian in the slightest. what that constitutes is different for everyone but pretty much everyone agrees that.. yeah that girl does not act like she'd belong under russian rule. she's staunchly happy and slightly passive aggressive but overall fine to be around. she talks to the finnish karelias a lot. they're her besties thru and fucking THROUUUUGH. outside of that she doesnt have many friends though ):

dagestan is curious at heart. if he's not out and about writing notes there is no doubt he's pressing a former soviet republic for info about their past. and i mean, they usually give it to him, he spends a lot of time doing this and learning about the others. he has a fuck ton of blackmail against them its actually kinda funny. he also loves to learn new languages! occasionally in his spare time he translates things into different languages. avid nonenglish wikipedia editor.

komi is like... silly.., every definition of the word she is silly. she loves tree climbing and food. perhaps she's one of the countries with the random cat gene? im not super sure though. it'd be fun though! she likes to glomp people and also body slam them. she's ironically pretty harmless but at first you wouldn't be the first to assume that she would kill you without hesitation.. she COULD but she probably wouldn't because she's nice and rarely loses her temper.

do we count crimea? i'll talk about her i suppose 😭 she's a sailor at heart. knows many curse words in many different languages and nothing else. she hasn't been seen much since her annexation by russia but from what people remember she was a very hearty person, loved a good joke and was rather strong on her own accord. she spoke very few languages aside from the one everyone knows, russian and ukrainian were her only strong suits. she was impulsive, fun, and generally well liked.

mari el is plain. she's known for not much honestly. she's not boring or anything, but nothing out of the ordinary either. she's very go-with-the-flow-y and prefers to stay in the background. she has no strong opinions on anything but her clothes are pretty and her smile is heavenly. she's known among the other russians for being kind and willing to take in anyone if they're hurt, even if someone like her "father" (not really) might consider them an enemy.

bashkortostan has the most power out of the republics due to being the most populous. everyone kind of treats him like a big brother, even if he's not older than the others, it's assumed dhe's more well liked than the others by russia. and so, if they need something or have a complaint, they go to him! he listens intently and overall? good sibling. people like him and he likes people.

altai is very good at surprising people with her capabilities. while nothing special, she does love a good adventure. she's pretty much always out and about and her and dagestan often go on hikes together and note different plant and animal species together in the many notebooks they have. you cannot handle the uber instincts of their uber autism. (ahem slash joke)

ill do the rest later theres a lot of them 😭 also these might not be super accurate like? history wise? yada yada i hope ya still enjoy

[mariacallous]

Drug use is widespread in the Russian army, both among soldiers on the front lines and in rear positions. One out of every 10 soldiers smokes marijuana, and many also take hard drugs, according to independent outlet Verstka. Drug mules bring synthetic drugs, namely mephedrone and what’s known as “salt,” straight to the trenches, while drug paraphernalia is often found at Russian positions. To learn more about drug use on the front, Verstka spoke with dozens of soldiers, drug users, and local residents in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Meduza in English is sharing an abridged translation of Verstka’s report.

In the image below, Russian mobilized soldiers are seen taking turns smoking hashish through a tin can. Behind the soldiers stands a makeshift bench, a two-liter bottle of beer, and a dugout.

“Hey, are you out of your fucking mind?” one soldier suddenly yells at another who appears to have dropped the hashish on the ground. “What’d I do?” “Fuck off to bed.” 

A video showing this exchange was first posted on Telegram in August. An administrator for an anti-war Telegram channel shared the full video with Verstka. The soldier recording is Vladimir Kozlov, who was found in Ukrainian captivity in August 2023 — that’s likely when the video was taken from his phone.

While there are many reports of Russian soldiers drinking in occupied Ukraine, the use of illegal substances is documented much less frequently.

“Recently, one of my mates took [drugs], stashed them, I saw it all myself,” explains Kirill, a soldier in the Kherson region. He was referring to a 27-year-old contract soldier who had been taking drugs for three and a half years before he went to the front.

How he made it past the selection committee in the Moscow region — that’s a big question. They haven’t check anyone at all here, they just don’t have time for that. He seemed like a normal person, he was sent out to complete assignments. But yesterday he started to shake, he was lying there sweating all over, he couldn’t stand up, he was sleepy, he was trembling, but he had no fever. We called a medic.

According to Kirill, the doctor said the man had most likely suffered from an overdose. When the military police arrived, they started to conduct the search in front of everyone:

They found that my mate had used syringes. The idiot, he threw them there. After that, all 43 people in the battalion got up and immediately said, “We won’t serve with him. We’re going on assignments with him, and who knows what he might do? It could all end badly.”

‘They do drugs out of boredom’

“Since the dugout is small, everyone knows if you’re taking drugs in the trenches. Nobody gives a shit, the main thing is that you don’t bother anyone. Just don’t leave the dugout,” said one soldier who’s a drug user.

“They do drugs out of boredom,” he explains. “War is when you’re constantly waiting for something, often praying for it all to end. When I was smoking salt in the dugout, I didn’t give a fuck about anything. The boredom’s a lot worse.”

A fellow soldier brought him a gram of alpha-PVP from Luhansk right to the dugout. They smoked it through a ballpoint pen off of the metal lid of a jar, and washed it down with vodka out of a tin mug. “While I was high on salt, it even tasted good. It’s horrible, when you’re high, even ration cigarettes are quite nice, but when you’re sober, I’d rather pick sunflowers from a minefield and smoke them.”

Most of Verstka’s sources say that it’s easy to get ahold of drugs in the occupied territories and on the front lines. “It’s like in Las Vegas,” explains one soldier.

Local residents bring drugs straight to the trenches, Verstka’s sources say. They charge a lot due to the risks involved. One source said that three syringes of an illegal substance cost him around 15,000 rubles (approximately $150). Other sources says they get drugs from fellow soldiers, volunteers, or they just bring it themselves.

“You just pick up the stuff and take it with you. The first time, when we went for what seemed like training exercises in February 2022, we sure as fuck didn’t have time to take anything. But in May, one guy from our unit stopped for ‘an assignment.’ And that time he brought some. A couple dozen doses of gunpowder and pinecones,” one contract soldier from Moscow told Verstka.

It’s the second year of war that locals have been growing, processing, and selling poppies, contract soldiers explain:

When we see these kinds of gardens during clearance operations, we immediately burn everything. Last time, the neighbors of the man whose garden we burned told us that he never had a plot like that before the war. But when the Russians came, he started growing it, demand had gone up.

A few soldiers told Verstka that you can also get drugs from pro-Russian volunteers who bring equipment and other necessities to the front line.

Our company has its own kind of support service — volunteers occasionally send us everything we need. We get our friends and family to give them [the drugs]. It’s all greenlit, without inspection. And that’s how we did it last time. Well, not through the volunteers themselves, they didn’t know anything, but through our friends.

‘Making money off of us’

One drug mule, Artem Levchenko, a 28-year-old resident of Donetsk, was arrested in January 2023. A video shows him saying he “was asked to bring” three grams of mephedrone to the trenches. “There was information from soldiers that they were bringing this shit to the trenches… Right to the positions! Fucking salt addicted low-lifers,” says a military officer who detained the dealer.

Besides those inexperienced dealers, there are also so-called “professional guides” in the occupied territories. “These are locals who can illegally bring you through the checkpoints, they have deals with them. They bring drugs through them. These are people who are making money off of the war, making money off of us,” explains one soldier, sounding offended.

As far as how they go about taking drugs, one contract soldier replies nonchalantly: “Like usual, make a line and take a hit. There are plenty of options. Go to the woods, do it during a night patrol shift, or back at the barracks. We rented apartments in a couple of places instead of staying at the base.”

“Just don’t paint a picture that we’re in the trenches, all drugged up,” explains one of Verstka’s sources from a special unit. “I haven’t even heard about that. There’s a lot of drinking on the front. But fuck knows if people are high on amphetamines while in combat.”

One air force soldier explains that he’s never seen professional soldiers do drugs —only contract soldiers.

‘Most soldiers in the city take amphetamine, mephedrone, salt’

There are advertisements for salt throughout Donetsk and Mariupol, and even in the city of Rubizhne in the Luhansk region, which is less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front lines.

Russian contract soldiers and draftees can afford expensive drugs thanks to payments from the government. These payments are transferred to their cards, which they then use to buy drugs through Telegram bots.

Verstka estimates that drugs in the “new regions” are two-and-a-half times more expensive. “I don’t think salt prices have deterred [anyone]. The number of addicts hasn’t gone down, it’s stayed the same. And they spend it on all this crap. Most soldiers in the city take amphetamine, mephedrone, salt — I’ve seen [Russian soldiers high], and not just once. I could tell that they weren’t being themselves. Before the blockade, I also knew people from Ukraine’s Armed Forces who took drugs,” said Vadim, a drug user from Mariupol.

New drug traffickers appeared in the region as early as April 2022. Many of them were tortured and beaten by “people in uniform.”

“Someone I know was taken to a basement. They didn’t beat him, they mostly electrocuted him,” said one resident who ran away from the occupied region. “I know that newcomers were squeezing out drugs from a local dealer in Hola Prystan. They tortured him so that he’d hand over his suppliers, so they could sell it themselves. He didn’t say what exactly he told them. But they broke his ribs, arms and legs, stole his Jeep, and threw him out on the street to die.”

Since July 2022, they’ve started to bring heroin to the Kherson region, “and very strong [heroin] at that,” explained one local drug user. “People were dying from it. There were a lot of occurrences like that. Soldiers and our local residents were poisoned by chemicals, [people] nearly died on the spot from the supply.”

“There were a lot of drugs in Kherson, just like there was a lot of booze. Both after the occupation, and now, after the liberation,” explains one of the city’s residents.

In the summer of 2022, drug traffickers from the “people’s republics” came to Kherson. In June, an online drug store called Republic started to hand out “samples” of alpha-PVP through Ukrainian drug forums.

Clearing Lyrica from pharmacy shelves

Soldiers also take pharmaceuticals to relax. “They bring us potent [drugs] and sell them without prescription. Barbiturates were everywhere in the winter,” says one resident of a city in the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic.”

“There are a lot of barbiturates. Like actually a ton, I’ve even taken them myself. Every second or third soldier takes some,” one contract soldier told Verstka.

He’s mostly referring to anti-anxiety medications such as Lyrica, which induces euphoria and relaxation. “Yeah, kind of like Lyrica. You can buy it in Bayatsk without a prescription, in specific places.”

Soldiers don’t consider Lyrica a hard drug, though — it’s seen as similar to beer or wine. “When we were in Luhansk, we crossed paths with Chechens there, they would clear Lyrica out of the pharmacy shelves.”

In Rostov-on-Don and Bayatsk, pharmacists who give out Lyrica and Tropicamide without prescriptions are occasionally arrested. Tropicamide, which drug users call “cartoon,” are eye drops that are used recreationally to enhance the effects of other substances. The substance becomes addictive after just a few uses, and is reported to completely destroy the body after 7-8 months of regular use.

Drug users who are caught get sent to ‘penalty battalions’

On the front lines, drug testing is almost non-existent. “But there were a few scandals in the winter when they made everyone take urine tests to check for drugs, to kick out the users,” one soldier told Verstka. “There are units where there’s a strict prohibition law, you can get in trouble for overdrinking. It was apparently all very strict for the Wagnerites, they couldn’t do anything, but no one checked the assault units. You can’t get a jar and tests out to Bakhmut…”

“They didn’t check the rest of us after they found a mate of mine with injection marks on his legs,” said one contract soldier near Kherson. “Generally, no one here gives a shit, frankly speaking. But if you’re caught, then you have one fate — a penalty battalion, the ‘Storm’ unit.”

“Storm” is referred to as “a battalion for screw-ups, where soldiers are sent for getting drunk, fighting, brawling — everything civilians would get jail time for.”

Most of the time, the courts dismiss the cases and send the relevant files to the commanders of military units to punish the servicemen themselves. Their punishment of choice — sending the soldiers to the front as part of the Storm unit.

“There, the soldiers are on the frontlines and come under fire. 95% of them are sentenced to death,” making drug use at the front effectively a death sentence, said one soldier. “Let’s be honest, no one here wants a commotion, drugs in the battalion are a stain on all of us. No one needs the prosecutor and Investigative Committee here. And there won’t be any trials. It’s easier to put them in confinement for two days and write up a document saying they’ll be transferred to Storm. They can’t say no.”

[jyndor]

Russia's attack on Ukraine is not a fucking proxy war. Weapons support from the US is literally mostly old things that would cost you tax dollars to dismantle. Now they get used in Ukraine instead and the US citizens can use that money elsewhere. I don't think you have much understanding of what military assistance in practice means. It's material help. Tangible things that already exist and have already been paid for years ago. What are the poor USAmerican citizens going to do with soon expiring ammunition?

lmao rebelcaptain secret santa this is what i get for opening up my anons again just so you know

so many things lol

i support the us sending weapons to ukraine because i believe that ukrainians deserve the right to not be butchered by russia, i do believe that support does have limits - those limits are fairly high (like nukes? did i have to say i specifically do not think nuclear war is good? that's pretty much my line, i literally said i support a word that sounds like ass and nation lmaoooo) and not likely to ever even need to be talked about but like yes i do in fact have limits, and the military assistance that we've been doing i am fine with, trust me i'd rather you have them. also the us prints its own money i personally think we can do both but americans don't understand our government soooo

russia's attacking of ukraine is not the proxy war of course, which i never said and idk maybe i wasn't clear but i think i was. the us and the west frankly caring about ukraine is about russian power and not about ukrainian lives, and never forget that. this is why i said that it's a proxy war FOR THE US. as in a us proxy war. i'm sorry that that probably feels shitty to think about but that's what ukraine is to the us. geopolitics sadly aren't about morality and justice for governments. it's about power and hegemony. we are more concerned with russian power than we are human rights. and by we i do mean my government and not me or even other americans.

btw of course the us has spend money on not just nearly expired weapons but also humanitarian aid, financial aid and of course training and logistical support. again i don't care about the money, but don't fucking act like the us hasn't sent billions of dollars of aid in the past few years, it has which is why it is so important that the us continues to send billions of dollars of aid to ukraine in order to continue to fund the war effort.

i'm going to support marginalized people every and that includes here in the us where the empire harms its own and has from the inception of this country. yes us americans have a right to be annoyed at not having basic human rights like healthcare, a decent education system, livable wages, and lack of housing and shelter. but they're probably not the ones hemming and hawing over the dollars spent abroad btw - that's more likely to be upper and middle class americans and republicans/conservatives. but we can do both - provide for the general welfare of americans and also provide for the general welfare of everyone else. and fight fascism, but we don't have a good track record on that one.