Russia-Ukraine War (Threadbanned in op)

moskovyte military facility hit by missiles in Luhansk region of Ukraine this afternoon:

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/ukrainian-armed-forces-launch-massive-missile-attack-on-enemy-in-luhansk/

The mere mention of Russia, or anything remotely connected to Russia to any Ukainian within at least the 60-70 years, and possibly much longer will elicit a response which could see you or whoever spoke about Russia, flat on your back. And that's in the best-case scenario.

You don't think those who disagree just say as llittle as they can?

Granted those who support the regime above what they feel they are forced to seem either blinkered or loathsome.

As much as I oppose The Russian Federation and their now openly facist aims to try to subjigate everything that takes their fancy, I'm not prepared to condemn every single Russian man, woman or child for this hateful regime.

I'm basing much of this on readings of history and in particualar the likes of Nazi Germany. A facist minority managed to whip up national fever there to the point where the NSDAP stole power, Hitler essentialy became a King of a technically democratic Weimar Germany and any opposition to all of this was swept away by loyalist paramilitaries & the notion that patriotism and loyalty to Hitler were one in the same. But behind all of that, normal Germans still existed. People who were appalled by what was happening to their country and by the stories of what happening to anyone the state deemed unnacceptable. Some of these people were extremely brave such as Sophie Scholl & The White Rose movement who actually tried to resist the Nazies, often resulting in their very public show trials & deaths.

Not all of them were as brave as Sophie was, but the normal Germans existed and many did live on with the shame of what their country had done. You could say they were guilty of not doing anything, or not stoping the Nazies when they had the chance, and frankly you'd have a point worthy of debate there, but I can understand their sense of hopelessness in the situation. They were often caught in the middle of a storm where death waited for them if they tried to move.

I sense that many ordinary Russians (and by that I mean people with intact moral compases who are just trying to get on with life) may find themselves in the same boat as those Germans I just described. They don't want what Putin is bringing them, and would likely just want this war to end…but they may feel that there have no path to effect change. The "elections" are just to rubber stamp Putin & his party. Any move against the state buys you an express ticket to the frontline in Ukraine, or a slow death in the Gulag system. They may just be keeping their heads down, hoping that one day this will all end and that they and their family will make it out in one piece.

Of course, like with Nazi Germany, the Russian Federation has facist extreemists who do deserve santion and our critism. Be it fully fledged civilian acolites of Putin or the very worst of his armies. These Russians do not deserve understanding and must be made to live with their guilt after all of this.

I want the Russian Federation to be defeated, and want Ukraine to succeed and survive…but I also want any ordinary Russian still left after all of this to have a shot at a normal life. I live in some hope that this centries-long cycle of stupid from Moscow will eventually end.

Yes a lot of Russians are a disgrace but the prisoner swap showed just a few of the genuine heroic resistance figures, many more of whom are still in jail are already killed. Claiming all Russians are savages or complicit is just idiotic and the same kind of smearing that people often use to demonise whole groups

Spare me the nonsense and wake up to Russia and what it stands for.

“I hear talk of ordinary Russians’ innocence, but then I see ordinary Russians murdering ordinary Ukrainians. I see ordinary Russian mothers saying goodbye to their ordinary Russian sons and wishing them good luck with their ordinary Russian war crimes. I see ordinary Russians celebrating murder," Landsbergis said.”

The list went on, with "ordinary Russians" dressing their young children in military uniforms and making cardboard models of tanks for them to take part in events, and "ordinary Russians" lining up in the shape of the letter Z.

"Ordinary Russia is sick. Healing will be a long and gruelling process which can only start when Russia, not just Putin, is defeated. Without a defeat in Ukraine, Russia will just keep spreading. So about those ‘unfair’ sanctions against ‘ordinary Russians’... Well, anything which slows down Russia’s total war machine will have ordinary Lithuanians’ support," the Lithuanian foreign minister tweeted, concluding the thread with the slogan "Glory to Ukraine".