Russia has to be punished like Germany after WWII - Ukrainian media leader
In February 2022, Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine resulting in intense fighting and refugee crisis with millions of Ukrainians displaced internally and externally.
The war has impacted global security and economies and Russia continues to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure while Ukraine conducts drone attacks on Russian territory.
Russia has recently focused on eastern Ukraine, claiming control over several parts of the Ukrainian regions.
Speaking on the Global South Conversations, Alyona Nevmerzhytska, the CEO of Ukrainian independent online news platform, Hromadske, said the only solution for peace in the region is for Russia “to be punished”. “It has never been punished. All this impunity during these years led to what we have now, and now all Europe is afraid of Russia…if Russia was punished as Germany after World War II, it would not be so aggressive.”
She added that occupied Eastern Ukraine has been cut off from Ukrainian media platforms, and the people have been given Russian passports, while others are fighting on the frontlines against their people.
“Unfortunately we do not know much about [the] people who are in occupied regions. They are cut from Ukraine-controlled territories. They are cut from the internet. Even if they have internet, they are cut from the pro-Ukrainian media. They are brainwashed, they are fed with the message that Ukrainian government and Ukrainian people do not care about them, that they are forgotten, that they need to take Russian passport because they give it left and right. You know, they just want more and more people to be Russians.
“I know for sure that all men that are there in occupied territories, they are mobilising them and they make them go and serve the Russian army. So there is a number of Ukrainians who are fighting on the front line now against us, against Ukraine-controlled territories. And we have many people who escape from Eastern Ukraine to here, to central part to Western part of Ukraine,” she told Ismail Akwei.
On the call for elections to be held in Ukraine, she clarified that the Ukrainian martial law that says during war, elections are not held, makes Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency legitimate and calls to organise an election were a ploy to have a pro-Russian leader who would accept the terms of Russia.
“That's something that Putin wants. He wants to have reelection and he wants a pro-Russian president here in Ukraine. Then it would be possible to stop the war immediately with the person who is not interested in regaining our territories back…And actually, what Trump started for some time [that] there should be elections in Ukraine. He wants the person who would be easy to negotiate with and who would be easier to lean towards any suggestions for peace that Russia suggests.
“But for Russia, if there is a freeze on the war, and if, for example, even hypothetically their is a new leader in Ukraine who would stop the war. This is just a time for Russia to run [back] to make more arms, to mobilise more people and come back in a few years. This is something that is not going to stop, you know, this peace will not be… trust peace, it's not justice peace. It's just for Russia to reorganise, rearm, remobilize new people and invade again,” she said.
Watch the full interview attached to this story.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
