Ukrainian Military Chief Photographed With Far-Right Paraphernalia

international | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Monday October 24, 2022 21:42

by 1 of Indy

The WSWS reports ...
Ukraine’s Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has been photographed several times in recent weeks while wearing or displaying photos and symbols associated with the far right and even neo-Nazism.

In one photo widely circulated on Twitter which was Zaluzhnyi’s own account posted, he can be seen walking with a gun while wearing a bracelet adorned with far-right symbols, including one symbol resembling a Nazi swastika. The bracelet is sold as a “Viking” bracelet in Ukraine and contains a number of symbols that are associated with Norse mythology and employed by far right and neo-Nazi movements worldwide.

Zaluzhnyi's twitter post in which he is shown wearing a bracelet with far-right insignia. [Photo: WSWS]

In another photo, Zaluzhnyi is shown standing in a military office with several other soldiers in front of a desk adorned with busts of OUN-B leaders and Nazi-collaborators Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych. Photos of both Shukhevych and Bandera are prominently hanging on the wall in the background. A separate photo taken in Zaluzhnyi’s office also has a bust of Bandera displayed on a table against a wall.

The "Viking" bracelet Zaluzhnyi was wearing. [Photo: WSWS]

Supporters of the NATO-backed proxy war in Ukraine on Twitter and Western media outlets such as France24 have attempted to whitewash Zaluzhnyi’s choices of decoration by pointing out that the swastika on the bracelet is not as prominent as it appears in Zaluzhnyi’s Twitter photo. Zaluzhnyi has been depicted as a heroic figure in the Western pro-imperialist press and has even recently appeared on the cover of Time magazine. To acknowledge the role of far-right forces within Ukraine is tantamount to heresy within the corporate press, since it would expose the real character of the imperialist-backed war in Ukraine.

Zaluzhnyi with soldiers in an office, decorated with busts and portraits of Stepan Bandera and other Ukrainian fascists. [Photo: WSWS]

However, the bracelet, combined with the far-right paraphernalia openly displayed in Ukrainian military offices leaves no doubt that Zaluzhnyi is supportive of the use of far-right symbols and the veneration of Ukrainian World War II Nazi collaborators within the Ukrainian military.

The photos also clearly demonstrate the extent to which the far-right, rather than being merely a marginal element, is in fact closely linked to the highest levels of Ukrainian government and military, which themselves are in constant contact with the Biden administration.

On the same day that Zaluzhnyi posted the photo of himself wearing the far-right bracelet, he also revealed that he had just spoken with United States General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to Zaluzhnyi, he and Milley “match[ed] our clocks regarding the level of supply of the Ukrainian military with weapons and material.”

The photos of Zaluzhnyi associating himself openly with far-right figures and symbology also appeared on the same day that Azov Battalion fighters recently released by Moscow revealed that Azov’s Commander Denis Prokopenko had been in contact with both Zaluzhnyi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while being trapped within the Azovstal factory in Mariupol. According to Azov Major Bohdan Krotevych, “The whole operation of our exit was agreed to with government leadership. It was a tough operation.”

US Govt and Zelenksy work hard to get the Nazi fighters and leaders released from justice

Zaluzhnyi was first appointed to his post as Commander in Chief by Zelensky in July 2021 and immediately displayed a predilection towards military escalation with Russia. In September of 2021, Zaluzhnyi permitted Ukrainian forces to open fire on Donbass separatists without having to consult first with military leadership. Later, in October of 2021, Zaluzhnyi ordered the first use of Turkish-supplied Bayraktar drones in a strike against separatist forces in Donbass. The attack drew a sharp rebuke from Moscow as the use of “foreign unmanned aerial vehicles” was clearly banned under the Minsk peace accord.

In November of 2021, Zaluzhniy made his support for the far-right public when appointed former Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh as his advisor. Yarosh previously led the Right Sector’s paramilitary formation the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps and played a leading role in carrying out Kiev’s war against the breakaway Donbass regions after the regular Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered from mass desertions and defeats. Zaluzhniy later refused to reveal the details of Yarosh’s role of advisor or of his dismissal from the post in December 2021 and it is still unclear exactly what role Yarosh played.

More recently, the city of Dnipro renamed one of its major streets after Stepan Bandera after the Mayor of the city promised Yarosh he would honor Bandera in the largely Russian-speaking city when the right time came. In September, Yarosh posted to Facebook that Ukraine should make territorial claims on several Russian regions and cities such as Belgorod, Kuban, Voronezh and continue the war into Russia to capture “Ukrainian lands.”

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Comments (3 of 3)

Reality

by newsmedia

Tue Oct 25, 2022 02:17

Have you forgotten that a military force invaded a sovereign territory?
WAKE UP.
Else you just might yourelf find yourself awakening to exploding bombs and guns pointed at your face.
Away with you.

oh shut up!

by lefty

Thu Nov 17, 2022 22:57

Newsmedia my arse. Propaganda more like. Putin had no choice but to go into ukraine.
The US spent billions setting up the Maidan coup in 2014 (nuland openly admitted on youtube to spending 5 billion)
Then they shelled the Donbass for 7 years after.

The yanks snookered Putin. 70,000+ US armed and trained azov nazi neo nationalists were lined up and ready
to sweep through the Donbass and ethnically cleanse every last Russian speaker off the face of the planet.

If Putin didn't react he's dead. Their relations in Russia would march to the Kremlin en masse and string him up.
If he did react well....we all see how that panned out don't we. Demonised by the world media in a one way lying narrative, sanctioned up the wazoo by all the US vassal states including occupied Germany (all those US bases and 40,000+ US personnel aren't there just to pick their noses!) while actual nazis are armed and trained by the US and EU and even by the Irish recently.
I don't remember voting for that. Do you?

Putin was snookered. And guess who currently profits most selling LNG gas and weapons to the EU and Ukraine?
Meanwhile German industry is dismantled, Europe is priced out of the market. Less economic competition for the US.

And we all pay up the ass for electricity , food and petrol.
Thank you so much America.

I'm sick of all the dirty little propagandists like you dropping your turds on every website on the internet. shoo shoo!

“These are animals, not people”: Zelensky frees convicted child rapists, torturers to reinforce depleted military

by antiwar

Sun Nov 20, 2022 22:15

Once condemned by Ukrainian officials and imprisoned for sadistic torture and the rape of minors, leaders of the notorious Tornado Battalion are free under Volodymyr Zelensky’s orders.

After banning virtually his entire political opposition, publishing a blacklist of foreign journalists and academics accused of advancing “Russian propaganda,” and ramming through a law exempting 70% of Ukrainians from workplace protections, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy has freed from prison fascist militants convicted of some of the most heinous crimes the country has seen since World War II.

According to a July 11 report in Ukrainian media, Ruslan Onishenko, commander of the now-disbanded Tornado Battalion, was freed as part of President Zelensky’s scheme to release prisoners with combat experience. Along with an unwavering commitment to fascism, Onishenko is known as a psychopathic sadist who was involved in sexually assaulting children, brutally torturing prisoners, and murder.

Onishenko’s release follows a February 27 order by Zelensky to free other convicted former Tornado members like Danil “Mujahed” Lyashuk, a fanatic from Belarus who has openly emulated ISIS and boasted of torturing captives for sheer enjoyment. According to Zelensky‘s decree, prisoners with combat experience would be allowed to “compensate for their guilt” by fighting in the “hottest spots.”

Back in 2015, when the Ukrainian state provided official support to his Tornado Battalion, Onishenko texted two fellow “patriots,” Voldomor and Svetlana Savichuk, propositioning Svetlana Savichuk to “suck my cock in front of the [toddler] children.” (See screenshots of the conversation here). He also asked Savichuk to perform lewd acts on her children for his viewing pleasure. Despite the magnitude of his crimes, which included torture, murder, rape – including that of children – kidnapping, amputation, and more, Onishenko was sentenced to a mere 11 years in prison on April 11, 2017.

Now, after serving just five years of his sentence, the convicted predator has been freed by a president hailed by Western patrons as a defender of democracy.

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Ukrainian Military Chief Photographed With Far-Right Paraphernalia

Comments (3 of 3)