"Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on a theatre in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering on Wednesday, Ukraine's foreign ministry said."
"Russia denies targeting civilians. In Moscow, the defence ministry said its forces had not struck the building and instead accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, RIA news agency said."
if you go on twitter, the story is being completely framed as 100% accurate and a Russian atrocity/war crime despite there being no real proof of anything yet. So I'm really skeptical. This seems extremely convenient "terrible, clearly wrong thing" to occur the same day as further peace talks.
Obviously, if it is real, it's terrible and either was committed by Russia out of stupidity/confusion, or pure malice. But I'll hold my breath before believing anything like this coming from Ukraine at this point.
tbh at this point i believe the opposite of anything they say. why would anyone but azov do this?
Azov is ~750-900 soldiers out of 250k mobilized in Ukraine atm.
Why do people keep bringing them up like they are boogiemen?
Because they're integrated into the Ukrainian military as an official unit.
That speaks to the extent of the fascist rot in the Ukrainian government that they would even consider such a thing.
Or think about it this way: the KKK has only a few thousand members in the US out of a population of 300 million. Why do we bring up the KKK? Because they're an open manifestation of white supremacy that is otherwise hidden. Just as there's probably at least dozens of racists in the US for each actual Klansman, there's likely dozens of Nazi sympathizers in the Ukrainian government for each open Azovite.
If anything, Azov is way worse than the KKK. For all our jokes the US military doesn't openly have a "KKK battalion" that is arms and trains.
Why do people keep bringing them up like they are boogiemen?
Because they're concentrated in Mariupol, which is the city this article is discussing.
Also, they have a disproportionate amount of influence, and they're not the only fascist group in the country. They have the full approval of the government and have been allowed to brutalize people for years already, as well as to train children and market their ideology.
They should all be tried at the Hague.
Along with tons of Ukrainians and Russians and NATO ghouls alike.
I know. The only way justice will ever happen to NATO is through a reform of the UN where security council vetoes are stripped from the winners of WWII.
One can still dream though. NATO has been a shield for dozens of wars of imperial/colonial aggression since its founding. It is a menace to the world.
New security council where the veto votes are China, Cuba, the DPRK, Laos, and Vietnam. :party-sicko:
Props for remembering Laos.
Can we get official recognition of Transnistria while we’re at it?
Want to give a source on that? this comment smells like tongue polished leather.
Regardless, Azov was trained by the US military / NATO and they’re a symptom of a much worse problem.
Can't find the tweet from this morning.
Wikipedia says 400+, but it has been much higher all the way to 1200 before suffering losses to other units/deaths/casualties.
A battalion is always 400-1200 troops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
Azov isn’t the only fascist group in the country, they’re just the easiest to reference as short hand. It’s been a huge issue since NATO and the US couped the government 8+ years ago.
Check the talk page on the wiki article you linked, btw, that whole thing is astroturfed to hell by fascists.
I wouldn’t recommend trusting any political articles on Wikipedia besides using the talk pages and edit history to get an idea of who’s slugging it out and who currently has control of the page (spoiler, it’s almost always fash)
Azov isn’t the only fascist group in the country, they’re just the easiest to reference as short hand.
Yeah that's a good point. Even the libbiest libs can't deny that Azov are nazis since they parade around with swastika flags. Other groups like Right Sector can be just as bad but they're not as blatant so you have to suffer through a round of "akshully just because they're far right antisemites, doesn't mean they're Nazis..."
Yup. Lots of “tHeYrE jUsT rEaLLy iNtO sOuNdGaRdEn” shit about soldiers with fash patches too
It was fucking funny watching the libs even here drop the “there are no nazis” shit within like a day or two lmfao
"They just really love Japanese culture and that's why they have tattoos of Japanese shrine symbols!"
Azov Battalion is just their name. They had that name when they were a small paramilitary group and kept it even as they grew to the size of a regiment.
They're the most famous Nazi battalion in Ukraine and the one that's been most involved in the fighting, especially before the Russian invasion and then afterwards in Mariupol. They're the ones the Ukrainian government brought in to do war crimes in the Donbas after the Ukrainian military refused to run over some protesters. People do sometimes incorrectly use the Azov battalion as a short-hand for the openly Nazi parts of the Ukrainian military. I'm sure once Azov is destroyed people will start referring to Aidar Battalion or somebody else as short-hand for Ukrainian military Nazis.
Edit: I forgot to mention, they used to have about 2,500 members in 2016. Those guys are still Nazis and are probably still in the military, they've just been moved around to other battalions.
I get your point, but this particular building is a supposed Azov HQ and in the article about the whole situation I've read they site an Azov spokesperson.
given its mauripol (aka nazigrad), wouldnt doubt azov is killing its own civillians to justify the continuation of war, as theyve already been killing people who try to flee the city
Russia is claiming Azov blew it up with hostages locked inside:
https://www.rt.com/russia/552101-mariupol-theater-ukraine/
The Ukrainian military is getting desperate. They’re going to try and make this into a Reichstag Fire style false flag. If this doesn’t work, they’ll keep going.
They’ve been doing this shit on repeat and they couldn’t get the Russians to actually hit civilians. Wouldn’t be surprised if Azov gave up and just started doing it themselves if anyone even did die.
Real “saddam ripping newborns out of ICUs” energy. The US and their allies have exhausted their credibility.
Edit: Russia claiming Azov militants blew up building where they were holding hostages. They’re nazis, so of course. Fuck I can’t believe this shit.
:doomer-femme:
The US and their allies have exhausted their credibility.
to people with their wits about them. I talk to my spouse's family and they're like "this is literally good versus evil :so-true: "
Here's Russia's side more in full: https://www.rt.com/russia/552101-mariupol-theater-ukraine/
16 Mar, 2022 19:11
Civilians feared trapped and killed in theater explosion in Ukraine
Russia says neo-Nazi “Azov” militants blew up building where they were holding hostages
File photo: Ukrainian soldier in Mariupol, Saturday, March 12, 2022. © AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov
Responding to claims by Ukraine that an airstrike destroyed a theater in Mariupol and killed civilians sheltering there, the Russian Defense Ministry said there had been no such strikes against ground targets in that city, and accused the neo-Nazi “Azov” battalion of killing its hostages.
The Russian military was aware of reports that “Azov” militants had kept civilians inside the theater as human shields, and did not consider the building a target for airstrikes for that reason, Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
“Previously, it was known from the refugees who got out of Mariupol that the Nazis of the Azov Battalion could hold civilians hostage in the theater building, using the upper floors as firing points,” Konashenkov said.
Taking into account the potential danger to civilians, and “the provocation already carried out by the nationalists on March 9 with hospital No. 3 in Mariupol, the theater building in the city center was never considered a target for destruction,” he added.
According to Konashenkov, the “available reliable information” indicates that Azov militants committed “a new bloody provocation by blowing up the theater building they had mined.”
The paramilitary Ukrainian unit that uses WWII Nazi symbols had made Mariupol its base, and reportedly forbid civilians from fleeing to safety as Russian forces and fighters of the Donetsk People’s Republic surrounded the city.
It would make sense for the neo-Nazis to do a false-flag in order to make the peace negotiations more difficult.
weird how civilians killed by Russia get so much more press. weird. odd.
