2022 Mar 8
8 Horrifying Myths About Russian-Ukrainian War
And what you need to know to start saving Ukrainian lives.
I I am a Ukrainian UX designer. I never thought I’d be writing about politics, but my country has been at war for 13 days now.
I want the world to know the truth.
I’m scared to go to sleep. In the morning, I’m scared to open my eyes — what if I read about bombardments of my home city? My hands shake when I’m opening a messenger to check if my parents are online. To check if my parents are alive. I’d never been religious, but now I pray.
Russian fascists have been shelling Ukrainian cities for two weeks now. Russian airplanes have been dropping bombs on residential areas. Russian soldiers have been killing civilians, including women and children. Nuclear power plants have been captured and used as a nuclear threat. At the moment of writing this, 742,000 civilians are cut off from electricity, 238,000 are cut off from gas. A humanitarian catastrophe is at full scale, and Russians have cynically mined the “safe passage” they promised to keep.
Still, despite all these horrors and war crimes, I see a crippling trend on social media: lots of people are unsupportive of Ukraine and even defending Russia.
Some of these people like to consider themselves “alternative thinkers”, who are unbiased and wary of Western propaganda (and I suspect a lot of them are the same people who didn’t believe in Covid), so they avoid sharing any information about the Russian war in Ukraine.
Some of them like to consider themselves pacifists and socialists, so they don’t want to donate to the Ukrainian army.
Some are just ordinary people enjoying their comfortable lives in Europe, the USA, and all over the world — and wondering why news and media are full of gory images these days, and why should they care? Why should they sign any petitions or finance a conflict they don’t fully understand?
Ukraine needs your support. Ukraine needs you to know that truth. If you are still in doubt about what’s going on in Ukraine now (or know any people who are)— I’ve attempted to list and debunk the most horrifying myths about the Russian invasion. I’m also sharing information on what you can do instead of supporting these myths.
Myth # 1
Economic sanctions against Russia won’t stop the war. Millions of ordinary Russian people will lose their jobs.
False. There is a method to end any dictatorship, and economic sanctions are part of this method. If no companies are left on the Russian market, where will the dictator get his money from? Every company that hasn’t canceled Russia yet is basically sponsoring this terror full time. The same goes for the oil embargo — oil is the only way Russia can earn money to continue funding its war crimes. If all countries agree to stop buying oil from Russia, the war will cease soon.
As for ordinary people, sanctions are the only way to force them to protest (see Myth # 2). Another effect is that Russians are losing their jobs fleeing the country — as a result, fewer taxes and fewer men available for Putin to send them to war (remember, Ukrainians are dying, and it’s worse than losing a job). Also, sanctions will cause social turmoil, which will inevitably weaken Russia’s military power.
What YOU can do: if you’re worried about people losing jobs, support Ukrainians who lost their jobs because of the Russian invasion.
Here is a couple of websites where you can hire Ukrainian professionals:
👩💻 Hire for Ukraine
👩💻 UA Talents
👩💻 Job4Ukraine
Katya Korovkina I am a Ukrainian UX designer. I never thought I’d be writing about politics, but my country has been at war for 13 days now. I want the world to know the truth.
BAFS: So, Katya, what do you mean by MY COUNTRY? So, you were not interested in your country’s POLITICS, and thanks to Vladimir Putin you are now posing as an expert about the truth and you even want “the world” to know! How arrogant!
Katya Korovkina I’m scared to go to sleep. In the morning, I’m scared to open my eyes — what if I read about bombardments of my home city? My hands shake when I’m opening a messenger to check if my parents are online. To check if my parents are alive. I’d never been religious, but now I pray.
BAFS: If you are so scared that your parents are risking their lives by staying in Ukraine, why not make them join you until all dangers are over? Don’t you remember the Six Million Holocausted Jews if you have forgotten about your Stalin’s Jewish Communist Six Million Ukranian Holodomor deaths?
So, you must thank Putin for making you return to God because YOUR family is now in danger!
Russian fascists have been shelling Ukrainian cities for two weeks now. Russian airplanes have been dropping bombs on residential areas. Russian soldiers have been killing civilians, including women and children. Nuclear power plants have been captured and used as a nuclear threat. At the moment of writing this, 742,000 civilians are cut off from electricity, 238,000 are cut off from gas. A humanitarian catastrophe is at full scale, and Russians have cynically mined the “safe passage” they promised to keep.
BAFS: So, before you never objected about the Jewish Zionist, Neo-Nazi, CIA, and homosexual take-over of Ukraine – too busy designing?
Damaged buildings in a residential area of Bila Tserkva on March 5, 2022. (Wojciech Grzedzinski/for The Washington Post)
BAFS: Where are the bodies of the residents? So, you trust the Joowish Washington Post?
Katya Korovkina Still, despite all these horrors and war crimes, I see a crippling trend on social media: lots of people are unsupportive of Ukraine and even defending Russia.
BAFS: “horrors and war crimes”? But, Katya, you forgot to give us your evidence! You only showed us a photograph (usually staged) of damaged buildings! What, which Ukraine are you talking about? We used to travel safely to Kiev and back under the Soviets, what happened? Your “truth” stinks!
Katya Korovkina Some of these people like to consider themselves “alternative thinkers”, who are unbiased and wary of Western propaganda (and I suspect a lot of them are the same people who didn’t believe in Covid), so they avoid sharing any information about the Russian war in Ukraine.
BAFS: So, now, you claim we had an obligation to “believe in” that Joowish Bill Gates-WHO pandemic hoax? Is there a “Russian war in Ukraine”? Why, for what?
Katya Korovkina Some of them like to consider themselves pacifists and socialists, so they don’t want to donate to the Ukrainian army.
BAFS: So, you expect us to donate to the Joowish, Zionist, homosexual CIA mercenaries of the Neo-Nazi Ukrainian Army?
Katya Korovkina Some are just ordinary people enjoying their comfortable lives in Europe, the USA, and all over the world — and wondering why news and media are full of gory images these days, and why should they care? Why should they sign any petitions or finance a conflict they don’t fully understand?
BAFS: Just like in 1933, “Judea” today owns and controls all the Western media and Propaganda machines, including cinema and television. Strange that I know more about Ukraine than you, Katya! Did you too watch this piece of stinking propaganda garbage?
ALYOSHA: "Mom, I'm in Ukraine. This is a real war here. I'm scared; we're fucking up everything, even civilians."
“MAMA, MAMA, We are bombing all of the cities in
Ukraine together even targeting civilians....They are throwing themselves under
the wheels of our armed vehicles not allowing us to pass. They call us
Fascists! MAMA, MAMA, THIS IS SO HARD”
Music: Mykyta Moiseiev's cover of Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Katya Korovkina Ukraine needs your support. Ukraine needs you to know that truth. If you are still in doubt about what’s going on in Ukraine now (or know any people who are) — I’ve attempted to list and debunk the most horrifying myths about the Russian invasion. I’m also sharing information on what you can do instead of supporting these myths.
BAFS: So, let us see those fabulous MYTHS!
Katya Korovkina Myth # 1
Economic sanctions against Russia won’t stop the war. Millions of ordinary Russian people will lose their jobs.
False. There is a method to end any dictatorship, and economic sanctions are part of this method. If no companies are left on the Russian market, where will the dictator get his money from? Every company that hasn’t canceled Russia yet is basically sponsoring this terror full time. The same goes for the oil embargo — oil is the only way Russia can earn money to continue funding its war crimes. If all countries agree to stop buying oil from Russia, the war will cease soon.
As for ordinary people, sanctions are the only way to force them to protest (see Myth # 2). Another effect is that Russians are losing their jobs fleeing the country — as a result, fewer taxes and fewer men available for Putin to send them to war (remember, Ukrainians are dying, and it’s worse than losing a job). Also, sanctions will cause social turmoil, which will inevitably weaken Russia’s military power.
People demonstrate in support of Ukraine outside the residence of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on February 25. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
What YOU can do: if you’re worried about people losing jobs, support Ukrainians who lost their jobs because of the Russian invasion.
Here is a couple of websites where you can hire Ukrainian professionals:
BAFS: I am not going to waste my time debunking each and every one of your Zionist NATO propaganda garbage like the one “JUDEA” carried out since 1933 when they declared WAR ON GERMANY that caused some 60 million deaths, the rape of over 1 million European women, the starving to death of over 1 million German prisoners of war, the fire bombings of German Cities like the Dresden Holocaust, countless millions in Bolshevik Occupied Russia, and countless other millions in British and French Occupied and colonised lands in both Asia and Africa. Alone, in Bengal, Winston Churchill officially starved some 4 million people.
JOO Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev had sold Ukraine to the Jewish Oligarchs, both Soviet and US American! And Crimea? So, shut up, Katya, you do not know much about politics, History or about war!!!
Richard Cook, the NASA whistleblower who stopped the Challenger disaster coverup, discusses his latest article “Pro-Zionist U.S. Politicians Dead Set on War with Russia.”
RUSSIAN P.O.W. SHOT IN THE LEGS!
Myth # 2
Russian people can’t do anything. Protests don’t work in an authoritarian state.
False. Protests are effective. Authoritarian states just require more significant protests — mass strikes of the regime’s core electorate. So far, only a few thousand have taken it to the streets in Russia, a country with a 145-million population. Obviously, these are the most educated and intellectual people of the country who’d never supported the Putin regime. These people are a minority. We need to trigger protests of the masses, protests of millions who would simply overwhelm the police force (the bigger part of Russian police are currently distracted by killing people in Ukraine).
In fact, similar protests took place in Russia in 2018 — the so-called “garbage protests” against Moscow garbage being landfilled in northern Russia. About 16,000 people turned up in the 30 places, despite the risk of arrests. After two years of activism, they reverted the authorities’ decision.
So Russians ARE able to protest? And they can be successful at it, when they are really motivated. Current unprecedented economic sanctions will be their next “motivation”.
Another
great example of an effective protest is the Ukrainian Revolution of
Dignity, the Maidan Revolution of 2013–2014. Millions of Ukrainians went
to protests, managed to defend their country’s democracy and prevented a
slide back into Kremlin-style authoritarianism.
If millions of
Russians took it to the streets, they would simply overwhelm the police
force (the bigger part of Russian police are currently distracted by
killing people in Ukraine).
More examples of effective and heroic protests from recent days:
- Ukrainians trying to stop Russian tanks with their bare hands in Eastern Ukraine
- social protests in the cities seized by Russian forces, where thousands of people remain protesting in the central squares despite the danger of being shot by the occupants
- people creating a living shield with their bodies to protect the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar.
What YOU can do: support Ukraine and the world in imposing EVEN MORE economic sanctions on Russia and Russian citizens. One of the ways to intensify this pressure is to write messages and emails to your local members of parliament and senators, with direct demands to block all business with Russia.
For example, here is the list of US Congress senators you can write to.
Another way is to put pressure on international brands who are still continuing business with Russia. At the moment of writing this, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are still operating in Russia, and at least 35 top brands still remain on the Russian market — here is the full list.
Myth # 3
Russians and Ukrainians are both victims in this situation.
False. Imagine you’re walking home at night and see someone raping a woman. Without saying a word or calling the police, you carry on walking home. Does it make you a victim in this situation? No, it makes you an accomplice. This is exactly what Russians are doing (and have been doing during the entire duration of the Putin regime). They observe their government raping and murdering Ukraine.
According to numerous recent reports (and from my personal experience), many Russians simply refuse to acknowledge the atrocities that have accompanied Putin’s invasion. You‘ll be shocked to learn how many Russians are, in fact, endorsing the war effort and are vocal about it. For example, heads of 250 Russian universities published an official address by the Union of Russian Rectors on March 4 justifying the war and calling on Russians to rally in support of Putin.
You have to understand that the majority of Russians have imperial mindset and had been supporting the annexation of Crimea before and after 2014 (claiming it to be the “native Russian land”). Even the most liberal Russians, even leaders of the Russian opposition, such as Alexey Navalny, do not see any problem in the annexation of Crimea — which means they’re violating the sovereignty of Ukraine as an independent state. Navalny also supported Russian war in Georgia in 2008. You can’t be a victim and an aggressor at the same time.
To validate this, do a simple test — ask any liberal Russian who’d fled their country recently — which country does Crimea belong to? The answer will surprise you. Russians still crave to be the supreme nation and expand their territories.
What YOU can do: spread the truth about Russians, about Putin and his regime. Share information about this war, killed and tortured civilians, and ruined cities on social media with the hashtags #StandWithUkraine, #RussiaInvadedUkraine, #PutinIsATerrorist, #StopPutin, #StopWar, #UkraineWillResist, #HelpUkraineNow, #StopRussianAggression.
Myth # 4
You should feel sorry for the Russians who are suffering now.
False. It’s Ukrainians who are dying now, not Russians. Every minute you spend discussing how Russians lost access to their favourite Netflix movies, lost their jobs, or lost their freedom for 15 days due to their participation in protests — just remember: Ukrainians are dying.
A 6-year-old child died of dehydration in Mariupol yesterday because Russian fascists had been blocking water supplies. By shifting priorities to Russians’ needs, you’re allowing more Ukrainian children to die.
What YOU can do: Post tweets on the pages of all major human rights organisations, such as @UNHumanRights. Attract their attention to the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine. Write direct messages to their leaders on Linkedin and on Twitter. Put pressure on @RedCross and @BritishRedCross, as they’re currently not doing enough to ensure the safe passage from Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities terrorised by Russian fascists.
Myth # 5
“I’m not supporting NATO and I don’t want to finance another war. I’m a pacifist and I wish peace for everyone. Violence is not the answer.”
Imagine a bully attacking you in the street. What will you do? Cry for peace and show them a picture of a pigeon? Or fight back? Ukrainians are fighting back, and they’re fighting for peace of entire Europe. Putin is a bully, and he won’t stop at Ukraine. If you want peace, you need victory first. Wish us victory, send us weapons, send us funds to fight back.
What YOU can do: there are many ways to support the humanitarian mission in Ukraine.
🇺🇦 🏦 The easiest way to donate is through this website, built in partnership with several Ukrainian fundraisers: https://www.withukraine.org/en
🇺🇦 🏦 Fundraiser organised by the Ukrainian Tech community (they focus on medium-sized orders of supplies that often go overlooked by large foundations): https://koloua.com/en/
Myth # 6
“Ukrainian government doesn’t want to negotiate. Ukrainian president could end this conflict peacefully.”
False. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had offered Putin to meet and talk long before the war started. Ukrainian representatives participated in all rounds of current Ukrainian-Russian “negotiations”, and every time the demands of Russia were unacceptable for the sovereignty of Ukraine. The demands include Ukraine ceasing military action, changing its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory, and recognising the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states. Such demands are a political joke and by no means Ukraine will accept them.
Other world leaders tried to negotiate with Putin, too, but all their efforts were futile, as in the case of Emmanuel Macron.
What YOU can do: If you want this war to end peacefully, sign a petition for NATO to close Ukrainian sky: openpetition.eu/!stopwar. This plea includes a lot of possible measures (their effectiveness is explained and measured in this article), all of which will help Ukraine immensely. Petitions and social activism have been very successful so far — governments are taking unprecedented actions to bankrupt Russian war machine, partially thanks to people like you and me, who are expressing our demands on social media and at peaceful rallies.
Myth # 7
“We also need to stand for the Russian culture and arts, as they are being cancelled now.”
False. Russian culture isn’t your first priority now. It is Ukrainian culture — and future — that has been endangered for the entire history of it being neighboured by a terrorist state.
When Nazis are bombing Warsaw, it’s not the right time to discuss the music of Wagner.
Thousands of Ukrainians are wounded, can’t get medical help, can’t call their close ones, can’t breathe, can’t sleep, can’t save their children. Ukrainians are sitting in dirty basements, horrified and desperate. How on earth can you still think of Dostoevsky and canceled Russian operas when this nightmare is happening?!
What YOU can do: If you prefer to show your support through arts, there are multiple ways to do that.
🇺🇦 🏦 Support Ukrainian musicians and music labels: https://djmag.com/features/ukrainian-artists-labels-and-fundraising-releases-support-today.
🇺🇦 🏦 Find more Ukrainian music fundraisers here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GVBFIPmfmfBvqi6XMuBNxAHkcG1k102ewMkS6w0waLE/htmlview?urp=gmail_link
🇺🇦 🏦 Buy from fashion brands raising funds for Ukraine: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/ukraine-donation-fundraising-fashion-brands
🇺🇦 🏦 Support Ukrainian artists: https://nftnow.com/features/ukrainian-artists-you-can-uplift-and-support/
🇺🇦 🏦 You can also donate via buying NFTs and read more about how the design world is supporting Ukraine.
Myth # 8
“Russians and Ukrainians are one people. This conflict has been staged by the West.”
False. Ukrainian is an independent culture, and it has existed for much longer than the culture now called Russian.
📖 You can learn more about in this lecture: “Carl Bildt: The history of Ukraine is different from the history of Russia”
📖 A short thread on how Ukraine is fighting for its independence from Russia for ~300+ years by Ostap Andrusiv
What YOU can do: stop calling Russians “the older brothers” of Ukraine. Brothers aren’t murdering and torturing their brothers. Stop expressing your regrets about our nations “drifting apart” — anyone would want to drift away from a fascist neighbour. Stop any discourse on how close our cultures are — you’re helping Kremlin propaganda.
Stand with Ukraine!
📖 Additional materials
- “My Motherland is at War — Please Help Ukraine Now”, an article by Slava Shestopalov
- Russification of Ukraine from the 18th century till nowadays.
- Chronology of Ukrainian language suppression from the 17th century, 90% of suppression came from the Russian Empire and USSR.
- Russian fascism (Rashism), an ideology based on the ideas of the “special mission” of the Russians, xenophobia, paternalism, Soviet-style imperialism, the use of Russian Orthodoxy as a moral doctrine, and influence through nuclear arsenal, energy resources, etc.
- Russian war crimes in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Central African Republic, and Ukraine.
🇺🇦 🏦 Donate to trusted organisations in Ukraine
- Special account of the National Bank of Ukraine (accepts 9 different currencies; simplified payment in Euro and U.S. dollar).
- Save Life Fund and their subsidiary Come Back Alive (work since 2014; accept Euro, U.S. dollar, and Bitcoin).
- Fund Hospitallers (medical volunteers).
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