Ukraine

Support Ukraine, criticise Belgorod bombing

Ukraine is the victim of unprovoked Russian imperialist aggression. Ukraine is facing an enemy — Russian President, Vladimir Putin — who has openly stated that Russia’s war aims are to abolish Ukraine and subsume it into Russia. Russia’s brutal war has probably cost Ukraine 70,000 military dead, some thousands of civilian casualties including at least 550 children. 1700 secondary schools and over 1,200 medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed together with 170,000 units of housing. 18% of Ukrainian territory is currently occupied by Russia and 5mn people have fled the country. Russia...

Using Gaza to undermine Ukraine

The Morning Star carries claims, some veiled, some shameless, that support for Ukraine is somehow incompatible with support for the Palestinian cause

Ukraine in danger

Russia is confident and Putin’s recent statements indicate his stated aims, to “de-Nazify” Ukraine and overrun the country remain. He believes the West will give up on Ukraine.

Meeting trade unionists in Kyiv

Between 11 and 17 November, I was in Ukraine as part of a PCS union delegation. During our stay in Kyiv it was quiet with only three air alerts, which everyone ignored (they have a fine sense of what is dangerous). Unfortunately that quiet period has ended with multiple sustained air attacks in the past week. These have been drone attacks but the attacks that people most fear are ballistic missiles, where you get little or no warning (as you can imagine having discussions about ballistic missiles is slightly surreal). Everybody I met in Kyiv described living there as being in a bubble, and...

Ukraine is in danger

In June 2023 Ukraine launched its long-expected offensive with the intention of breaking through Russia’s well-prepared defensive lines in southern Ukraine. Ukraine aimed to get to Tomak, Melitopol and Berdyansk in a drive towards the occupied Black Sea coast, but has fallen far short. The US, EU states and the UK had eventually provided Ukraine with some of the modern weapons it had been demanding for many months. However, the delay in donating the equipment which Ukraine needed to follow-up spectacular victories against the Russians in Kharkiv and Kherson at the end of 2022 allowed the...

Ukraine, Palestine: similarities, differences

Two national peoples, one historically colonially subjugated by the state of the other. An ongoing war of attempted conquest and occupation. Devastating air strikes, bombardment of civilian targets, cutting off access to utilities and humanitarian aid. An authoritarian leader who continually denies the legitimacy of the subjugated people’s national identity and right to self-determination. Israel/Palestine, Russia/Ukraine, Putin/Netanyahu. There are many clear similarities between these two situations. As Ukrainian activist and writer Daria Saburova put it, “How can we look at images of Gaza...

The hell of war in Mariupol

The film 20 Days In Mariupol confirms many times over the essential truth of the old saying, “war is hell”. At times so grim as to be unwatchable, the film, produced by a small team of Ukrainian journalists working for Associated Press (AP), documents the first days of the siege of Mariupol, (24 February-20 May 2022). The port and industrial city was an important target of the initial Russian invasion. Its capture was key to providing Russia with a land route to Russia-controlled Crimea (to the west of the city). Russian-speaking Mariupol was a city that was largely and traditionally Russian...

Letters: Veolia demand a distraction?

Pro-Ukraine activists in the UK seem to have tacked on to the Veolia workers’ pay dispute in Notts the demand for the company to pull out of Russia, as an act of solidarity with Ukraine’s fight against the Russian imperialist invasion. Clearly, as I have already stated, the Veolia workers’ pay dispute should be supported. My objection is that the additional demand is a distraction and wrong. Firstly, because the demand for Veolia to pull out off Russia will have no impact on Putin’s war. If Veolia gave in tomorrow it would not stop a single Russian bullet being fired. Putin’s state (in so far...

Populist right threatens Ukraine support

An anti-Ukraine, pro-Putin party has won the Slovakian general election, held on Saturday 30 September. Robert Fico’s pseudo-left, populist Smer party won 23.3% of the vote. Progressive Slovakia, a liberal, pro-EU, and pro-Ukrainian party won 17%. The Hlas party, led by a former Smer member and initiated as a breakaway from Smer, came third with 15% of the vote. Hlas could allow Fico to put together a workable coalition. Slovakia is a member of both NATO and the European Union and so has the possibility of helping Putin in his war against Ukraine by obstructing aid for Ukraine. Fico, an...

Ukraine’s labour movement defiant

As I walked around Kyiv last month on a beautiful, sunny morning, I began to notice the scaffolding in the city’s squares. I asked Tristan Masat what was going on. Tristan runs the Solidarity Center office in Kyiv, representing the American trade union movement. He told me that they were statues, covered up to protect them from bomb damage. Later, near Tristan’s offices, I saw an exposed statue with no protection around it. It was the graffiti-covered statue of a Red Army general on a horse. No one I asked could remember his name. Later had lunch with an activist in a small Georgian cafe. We...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.