Four months ago, a viewer of wPolsce.pl television wrote me asking for contact details of a Ukrainian from Kharkiv who, together with his neighbors, converted the basement of a multi-storey apartment building into a civilian shelter. In the first days of the invasion, his estate fell into the “grey zone”, ie between the attacking Russian troops and the Ukrainian soldiers defending the city. Roma showed how tanks drove over yards, where they fired, where windows fell out and where a piece of a building was ripped away. Dozens of people have created their own micro world in the basement of the block with a place for children, a place for meetings, conferences, bedrooms and many other functional spaces. Well, the viewer of the program “Ukraine on Fire”, Mr. Daniel, long ago founded an association dedicated to the defense of the country and wanted to learn about the methods of adapting cellars to war conditions.
ABOUT THIS PROGRAM:
It was the end of March, the Russians were bleeding to death in Bakhmut, announcing great success in capturing a kiosk or a kebab stand, the Russians could not continue their offensive anywhere else, and preparations were underway on the Ukrainian side to drive the invaders out of the south. Putin’s army was – and still is – disorganized, without the ability to attack, entrenched in Zaporizhia, Kherson in Donbass. Contacting both men – Mr. Daniel and Roma from Kharkov – was easy and in terms of purpose – a bit abstract.
It changes for the worse
However, as it happens in this infernal war, nothing can be predicted here. Experts said – there will be no war, but it has broken out, Kiev will fall and it is not even surrounded, the Donbas will be occupied, and now the front is mobilized there, the Ukrainians will move to Kherson, and then they will move to Kharkov, there will be a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the spring, but in the middle of summer it has not started for good – and so on.
However, something has changed since early spring. Tired of aid efforts, Polish society has entered the electoral phase, exploiting emotions even more. The lies and cynical games of politicians distance us from the most truthful images of genuine Russian hatred and genocide scenes in Bucha, Izium and Mariupol. During the celebration of the anniversary of the crime in Volhynia, the expected breakthrough did not happen and the Poles became even more divided – especially within the patriotic camp. Outright pro-Russian politicians will run for the Sejm from Confederation lists. The Wagnerians have appeared in Belarus and illegal immigrants approaching our eastern border are supported by activists under the banner of Janina Ochojska.
hit Poland
Smallness and specific interests emerged on both sides of the Bug – Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, to play Zelensky, attacked Poland and presented it as an enemy that hinders grain exports. Today in the newspaper “The Kyiv Independent”, Sławomir Sierakowski responds to the quarrel between Poles and Ukrainians – he repeats the same propositions as Jan Grabowski in Germany: that Poles create historical fictions and do not want to apologize, while constantly demanding an apology themselves.
In Poland we see Szmyhal’s voice as “the voice of Ukraine”, in Ukraine Sierakowski appears as “an opinion from Poland” – a well-timed attack on the emerging prospect of a Polish-Ukrainian alliance. The series “Reset” revealed the backstage of the pro-Russian policies of Donald Tusk and Radek Sikorski, people still striving to return to power today, and the former is fueling society’s hatred towards the war in the East to a truly dangerous degree.
Careless Poles
Nothing in this war is a foregone conclusion as the situation changes and the game still goes on. But for now, Vladimir Putin has won the invisible battle of fatigue. Just because Ukraine defended its independence (because it already succeeded) and the Polish government and society effectively supported its eastern neighbour, we have no Russian tanks 10 km from Przemyśl. However, that may change. It is difficult for me to understand this meeting in Poland, which is safe for the time being after all these efforts. But as a Polish volunteer in Ukraine said in an interview with “Batman”, Russia could attack Poland because “Russia is unpredictable”.
Unpredictable Russia with war intensification in the East, German pressure from the West and the insane logic of the Polish election campaign. This could end really badly. Mr. Daniel does not work as abstractly as I thought until recently.
SEE WHAT A POLISH WARNS VOLUNTEERS IN DONBASA, UKRAINE ABOUT:
Source: wPolityce