Drone pilots from Ukraine's 60th Separate Mechanised Brigade have used an unmanned ground vehicle to evacuate an elderly woman after she was spotted walking along a road exposed to Russian fire.
I did a quick deep dive into this story, and basically: the incident seems to have happened, it’s still under investigation, and the 3rd Army Corps does indeed have right-wing roots.
But at the same time, it’s just one incident. An army’s a big organization with lots of people, there’s always going to be at least a few monsters in there. I’m not seeing anything to suggest that this is a systematic thing. And refusing to comment on something where there’s an ongoing investigation doesn’t seem unreasonable to me either.
It’s common for propaganda to latch on to specific incidents that match the narrative they’re after and display them as if they were representative of the general case. The fact that this seems to have nothing to do with the subject of the news story this thread is about beyond the very generic “3rd Army” connection suggests to me that this was likely intended as that.
If this thread were about that incident, sure, it’s a bad thing worthy of discussion. This thread is not about that, though, and jumping in out of nowhere with “but look, bad Ukrainians!” Looks pretty disingenuous.
No, I’m Ukrainian. It’s not people who talk about the bad apples that are discrediting the force, it’s the bad apples and those in the force who help them get away with it. There are very dark parts of our society that are unfortunately being whitewashed in the media, even made cult-like, especially for and by Western publications, as long as they have high military reputation. Some of them are fast-tracking neo-Nazis, such as the founder and head of 3rd corps Andrii Biletskyi, into politically respectable figures. Right-wingers who send death threats and do physical attacks on eco-activists, LGBT people, women and immigrants, get a free pass by joining military units, specifically 3rd corps, but not only. I brought the link to highlight how the media spin wing of 3rd corps gives positive publicity to people who do real evil shit. This isn’t isolated, people are just scared of talking about it.
It probs needs its own post. I do feel corruption and cruel behaviour should be addressed. I am in full support of Ukraine and understand how much a story can damage morale.
However washing over it or ignoring it does more damage.
I think you’re right, there’s need for articles by investigative journalists specialized in European far-right networks research to counter the spin machine of 3rd corps (of which OP’s link is a blatant example). Both domestically and internationally. Unfortunately, this niche is currently void, as the most knowledgeable people formerly dedicated to antifascist journalism are busy in the military now. I encourage people to read the archives of Liva Sprava and Nihilist (if you know the languages), because these blogs were an excellent example of Ukrainians being critically honest about Ukrainian politics, which IMO is the real patriotism.
3rd corps is a right-wing division that is recently known for refusing to comment on their members, Vikarii brothers who raped their sisters and killed one by forced hunger, according to Nadia, the survivor. https://babel.ua/texts/126202-tretya-shturmova-opublikuvala-video-pro-matir-yaka-vidpustila-na-front-simoh-siniv-pislya-cogo-jihnya-ridna-sestra-rozkazala-pro-zgvaltuvannya-i-vbivstvo-v-rodini-babel-pidnyav-istoriyu-20-richnoji-da
I am not going to click the link as the information looks worrying. But i am curious why you posted this. Is it to discredit a ukranian force?
I did a quick deep dive into this story, and basically: the incident seems to have happened, it’s still under investigation, and the 3rd Army Corps does indeed have right-wing roots.
But at the same time, it’s just one incident. An army’s a big organization with lots of people, there’s always going to be at least a few monsters in there. I’m not seeing anything to suggest that this is a systematic thing. And refusing to comment on something where there’s an ongoing investigation doesn’t seem unreasonable to me either.
It’s common for propaganda to latch on to specific incidents that match the narrative they’re after and display them as if they were representative of the general case. The fact that this seems to have nothing to do with the subject of the news story this thread is about beyond the very generic “3rd Army” connection suggests to me that this was likely intended as that.
If this thread were about that incident, sure, it’s a bad thing worthy of discussion. This thread is not about that, though, and jumping in out of nowhere with “but look, bad Ukrainians!” Looks pretty disingenuous.
No, I’m Ukrainian. It’s not people who talk about the bad apples that are discrediting the force, it’s the bad apples and those in the force who help them get away with it. There are very dark parts of our society that are unfortunately being whitewashed in the media, even made cult-like, especially for and by Western publications, as long as they have high military reputation. Some of them are fast-tracking neo-Nazis, such as the founder and head of 3rd corps Andrii Biletskyi, into politically respectable figures. Right-wingers who send death threats and do physical attacks on eco-activists, LGBT people, women and immigrants, get a free pass by joining military units, specifically 3rd corps, but not only. I brought the link to highlight how the media spin wing of 3rd corps gives positive publicity to people who do real evil shit. This isn’t isolated, people are just scared of talking about it.
To read more about the background of Biletskyi, particularly about his promotion of racial cleansing and his article encouraging a “crusade against subhumanity lead by semites”: https://www.nihilist.li/2014/11/09/chto-nam-v-nih-ne-nravitsya-i-andrej-biletskij/
That was from 2014, but more recently, in 2020, Biletskyi and his goons assaulted their own former affilitates (according to their lawyer) who have a reputation of not being far-right enough: https://texty.org.ua/fragments/100953/bileckyj-pobyv-kolyshnih-pobratymiv-za-pidtrymku-sternenka-advokat/
This is the leader, a general. Imagine what lower-ranking soldiers get away with because of the lack of media scrutiny and international attention.
It probs needs its own post. I do feel corruption and cruel behaviour should be addressed. I am in full support of Ukraine and understand how much a story can damage morale.
However washing over it or ignoring it does more damage.
I think you’re right, there’s need for articles by investigative journalists specialized in European far-right networks research to counter the spin machine of 3rd corps (of which OP’s link is a blatant example). Both domestically and internationally. Unfortunately, this niche is currently void, as the most knowledgeable people formerly dedicated to antifascist journalism are busy in the military now. I encourage people to read the archives of Liva Sprava and Nihilist (if you know the languages), because these blogs were an excellent example of Ukrainians being critically honest about Ukrainian politics, which IMO is the real patriotism.
Blocked