Ukraine sinks Russian ship as Moscow accused of forcible deportations from Mariupol
Ukrainian forces have been bolstered by the dramatic destruction of a major Russian landing ship as it brought in supplies to its troops, as Moscow was accused of forcibly deporting thousands of people from the besieged city of Mariupol.
As Ukrainian forces struggled to hold the flattened city, it was claimed that civilians in captured territory were being deceived into leaving shelters to be bussed out to Russian camps by soldiers wielding loudhailers.
Officials said 15,000 residents of the encircled city had been deported so far after being told by the soldiers that Ukraine had abandoned them, with some sent as far as the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Pacific.
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He said: “What the Russian occupiers are doing cannot be explained. At first, they blockade a peaceful city, purposefully start killing people, and then forcibly deport them to their territory.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/ukraine-sinks-orsk-russian-ship-moscow-accused-forcible-deportations-mariupol
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Not sure what was *on* the ship, but even if it was empty, it won't be bringing more death and plague to Ukraintsy. That's a good thing.
Now, if it held 25 Russian tanks, that's good. And while I honestly don't want Russian soldiers killed, in this context killing them stops innocent lives from being taken *and* might tell the Put-put that maybe, just maybe, if he really loves Russian lives getting them killed isn't the best thing. (That last is wishful thinking. If probabilities could be < 0 ....)
As for the "forced deportations," that's all the Ukrainian sources I could look at.
So I looked at the Russian sources. Not "Russophone sources", but actual Russian press--always a risky thing, but sometimes, you know, they say something that's not 100% false. Perhaps the weather forecast. Perhaps.
In this case they said that 402k citizens "arrived" or "crossed the Russian border". Keep in mind that not *all* Ukrainian citizens are opposed to Putlin. Some like him. Think he's doing a swell, if not swole, job.
But folx in the DNR and LNR aren't in Russia, and if offered the chance to leave and go to their personal version of Paradise (located just below Dante's 6th circle of hell, it would seem), they would. Many applied for and received Russian citizenship. They volunteered and supported the DNR and LNR.
Benighted? Sure, why not? Still, in 2014 most Russophones watched Russian state tv. They had their little information bubble. And during the dust-up in 2015 *only* Russian tv channels were broadcast in the LNR and DNR. "Benighted" barely begins to cover it.
Could 402k of the folk in DNR and LNR, convinced that Putin is a saint and that Ukrainians are all fascists out to genocide them, emigrate when given decent terms for once? Sure.
Now, the numbers from Mariupol ... Given Russian (or "Ruscist"
actions in previous wars of aggression, imperialist, and hatred, I have no problem accepting that some of the blessed victims of Mariupol are being forcibly expatriated back to their non-homeland.
Now, is that 99.999% voluntarily and 0.0001% involuntary? Are the children the children of those who *want* to leave, having seen that after this disaster to be pro-Putin/pro-Russia in any Ukraine that survives is going to be, um, problematic?
Dunno. Can't know.
I don't trust Ukr's numbers. I do believe that to some extent the reporting is correct.