Tomáš Forró, a Slovak journalist who probably knows the most about the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border:
,,The east of Ukraine has always been linked to Russia. Culturally, not ethnically, as people of different origins live in the east of Ukraine. They are not only Ukrainians and Russians, they are mixed with many other ethnicities. There, it's not about where you come from, it's about what your family tradition is, who you are connected to. For that you have your language. It's a very specific mentality that makes these people different from people in western Ukraine."
,,The real conflicts started after the outbreak of the so-called Euromaidan, when pro-European pro-democracy forces united in Kiev. In the East, they saw this as a threat.
The mobilisation in eastern Ukraine was triggered by local oligarchs, wealthy Ukrainians with strong ties to Russia. You see, Ukraine has long been divided up among such influential people. Everyone had their own territory where they had huge influence and economic power."
,,These people saw Euromaidan and moving closer to the European Union and the West not only as a cultural threat, but especially as a threat to their economic interests."
,,They were all strongly connected to the Russian world. They did business and exported things eastward. See ex-president Yanukovych, he was such a capo di tutti capi in the east. He and his whole family were real mafiosi. These people could not imagine that they would suddenly have to do pure business and meet some demanding requirements of the European Union."
,,That's why they started mobilising their workers and miners. And not only them, the Donbas is a region full of the lowest strata of society, often criminals, who were still being moved there by the Soviet power. These people have begun to protest in the cities of eastern Ukraine."
,,When the Russians took Crimea, the pro-Russian citizens there suddenly woke up in a new country and started to be happy because they had achieved their perfect world. Also the people in Luhansk region wanted the Russians to liberate them and they suddenly woke up in a country with higher pensions and a better life.
They were convinced that this is how life is in Russia, even though they later found out that this is not really the case."
,,When the invasion of Crimea began, the Russian army's secret services, the FSB and GRU, and Spetsnaz units began to infiltrate the eastern regions of Ukraine. They joined these increasingly peaceful demonstrators, who until then had at most been exchanging stones with Ukraine supporters on the streets.
These undercover officers began handing out weapons and organizing protesters. They started giving them money and literally commanding them."
,,Still no one knew who exactly these people were. They claimed to be locals who were just trying to defend their town from "Ukrainian fascists", but nobody really knew them there. They weren't from here, they often spoke with a Russian accent, and they didn't know the town at all."
,,Ukraine sent its troops to the Donbas and what happened was that in the summer of 2014 it started to win over the pro-Russian hybrid forces. That's when Putin realized he couldn't just let the Ukrainians take back their country."
,,Putin wanted the Donbas to remain Ukraine's, as an autonomous region in which Russia would have enormous influence. He wanted pro-Russian people to live there, who will continue to participate normally in the Ukrainian parliamentary elections and not lose influence over events in the country."
,,Ukraine defended itself and created a clear front line, which it then held. The Donbas became the black hole of the east and Putin even had to feed and fund it. The area is completely ungovernable, there is also a huge crime rate."
,,It was obvious all along that Ukraine was continuing to move towards the West and becoming stronger, more stable, more successful and richer. Putin has realised that despite the war in the east, Ukraine is becoming a global example of pro-European success and people in Russia and Belarus are beginning to see it that way too. Suddenly they thought that maybe something was wrong at home after all. Putin has realised that if he doesn't intervene now, in a few years Ukraine will be so strong that it will be a direct threat to him."
(It doesn't seem like it to us, but to a post-Soviet person living outside the EU, Ukraine's transformation was ,,far from visible.)
,,I'm afraid we can do nothing about the Russians. These people have been massaged for a long time not only by Russian propaganda, but also by a warped Russian mentality. Some don't even need to be told that Russia is killing some fascists over there. They say: 'Ukraine has always been ours and the time has come for it to be ours again. It is our sacred right to take it back."
,, The only thing that can be done about it is to defeat the Russian soldiers who are in Ukraine. If possible, take them prisoner and if no other way is possible, kill them. Russian society today is not part of the civilized world, just as the Germans were not during World War II."
https://www.aktuality.sk/.../reporter-tomas-forro-ludia.../
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