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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| The grenade as an argument for the offended. Ukraine faces a wave of violence |
| 2023-12-20 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov [REGNUM] In the sensational video, when a deputy of the Keretskovsky village council in Transcarpathia blew up three grenades during a meeting, what is most striking is the everyday nature of the action. A 54-year-old representative of the Servant of the People party Sergei Batrin , who lives in the village of Kushnitsa, was called by his fellow countrymen “eternal oppositionist” in relation to the local authorities. He also had a long-standing conflict with the head of the village council, and on December 15, the deputy demanded that the budget report for the current year be announced, and then the financial document for 2024 be adopted. According to Ukrainian media, Batrin also “quarreled with colleagues about the allocation of a 50% bonus to the village head during the war and a monthly bonus of 100% of the salary.” Other deputies did not accept his claims and arguments, after which the man left, returned two minutes later with three grenades and threw them one by one on the floor, continuing to calmly stand at the door. Those sitting in the hall did practically nothing, the man in the first row did not even change his position, although grenades fell right in front of him, and the women simply covered their ears. As a result, Batrin did not influence decision-making, but there were 26 wounded in the hospital, one of whom died. The bomber himself is in serious condition, they are fighting for his life - only to later be placed in custody on charges of committing a terrorist attack. That is, if the truth-teller leaves intensive care, he will be imprisoned for 10 years with confiscation of property. In fact, this episode only got a lot of attention because someone made a quality video. And incidents with live grenades occur regularly in Ukraine; for example, quite recently everyone was heatedly discussing the self-detonation of assistant commander-in-chief Zaluzhny. As IA Regnum reported , a colleague gave six imported grenades to Major Gennady Chastyakov for his birthday. The result is one corpse, one cripple. But what is more interesting here is the fact of the free circulation of ammunition, which complements the theme of their widespread use in civilian life. And in crime reports you can generally get acquainted with the new Ukrainian tradition of solving various problems. Two neighbors quarreled - one went for a grenade. The man had an argument with his partner and her 14-year-old daughter and pulled out a grenade. In November, Dnepropetrovsk businessmen did not share the topic - they threw a grenade at Lexus. In the Odessa region, a serviceman stopped a car on the highway, asked for a ride, then began to extort money, which ended with a grenade explosion. The statistics have already become commonplace, and this is just one type of ammunition that has been arriving in abundance from the front lines to rear cities since 2014. To be honest, the author of these lines also has two grenades hidden in a safe place near Kyiv, honestly bought from reliable people “just in case.” And I had to communicate with characters in whose yard a service dog, trained on TNT and gun oil, would go crazy. Against the backdrop of discussions by Ukrainian publicists about upcoming problems in Russia with veterans of the Northern Military District, who will return to their hometowns with a disturbed psyche, veterans of the ATO and the “Great War” have already returned. As of July 1, 2022 alone, there were 438,834 combatants in Ukraine. And as follows from a statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of veterans, their family members and family members of fallen military personnel may increase to 4-5 million people. However, given the pace and tightening of mobilization, this figure could be much higher. As part of a national survey conducted by the sociological group “Rating” in September 2023, 65% of respondents indicated that they have loved ones who have fought or are fighting on the front line since February 24, 2022. And in the summer of 2022, this figure was 54%. At the same time, more and more people began to associate the concept of “war veteran” with people with disabilities. In January this figure was 29%, and in early autumn - 47%. According to the head of the center for prosthetics, rehabilitation, reconstructive surgery and psychological support Superhumans Center Olga Rudneva , “the world has never known so many young prosthetic users.” The vast majority of these people are guaranteed not to find any use in peaceful life. Such a place is not provided even for those who have not lost a limb, but have wounds and concussions, acquired post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. These conditions are known to lead to problems in the family, alienation from society, problems with adaptation to peaceful life, as well as suicide. Without appropriate support and assistance, veterans feel unwanted and misunderstood. But this support in Ukrainian conditions is very limited. The first comprehensive study of the needs and requests of veterans and military personnel, published by the Ukrainian Veterans Fund under the relevant ministry, shows that 53.8% of their charges already require help in improving their health. In particular, they see a big problem in the fact that “commanders today do not take neurological and psychiatric diseases into account at all” and there is no common position on what to do about it. When talking about psychological and psychiatric care, the military emphasizes the lack of qualified personnel. But most people do not have the opportunity to use sanatorium-resort services, travel abroad to treat complex injuries and illnesses, undergo normal prosthetics without bribes, and deal with the treatment of PTSD. Plus there are constant problems with government payments. “A comrade from our company, when it all started, left Kyiv for the Zhitomir region, and there in a village he joined the defense industry. From there he was drafted into the Ukrainian Armed Forces, although they promised not to draft him from these formations. And two months later he died near Bakhmut. We took him to the village and buried him there. But the wife still cannot receive benefits,” says the interlocutor of Regnum news agency in Kiev. And this, in accordance with the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers dated February 28, 2022, is 15 million hryvnia. In addition to physical and mental ill health, social injustice, and traditional corruption schemes, problems with work are added at every step. Firstly, there is none, since the economy as a whole is in a deplorable state. Secondly, 52% of Ukrainian employers consider the psychological problems of veterans and their disabilities to be a major obstacle to employment. “Less than a quarter of employers do not see any features that prevent the employment of veterans with disabilities. 24% are cautious, but ready to employ veterans with disabilities. 52% say that they are frightened by psychological problems and behavior patterns of veterans. 19% consider alcoholism and drug addiction, which, in their opinion, our veterans are prone to, to be a serious obstacle , ” says Andrei Zaitsev, a representative of the charity foundation “You are with us. In principle, ordinary people see the situation the same way. In the aforementioned Rating survey, 32% of respondents believe that the main problem of those returning from the war will be psycho-emotional instability, and the same number see difficulties with physical health and obtaining medical care. 28% state the lack of inclusive space and adapted workplaces for people with disabilities, and an equal number of respondents note problems with obtaining social benefits. Everything is clear about conflicts in the family. The predictable response to any difficulty will naturally be gun violence. Grenades will explode at home and in government buildings, and there will be much more news about shootings in public places. Meanwhile, the society has grown with new specialists. Another Ukrainian source , IA Regnum , who works in the unmanned environment, notes that experienced drone operators, primarily FPV, are a real discovery for the criminal world. Flying into someone’s window or killing a chosen person on the street, blowing up a car, even just “restoring justice”—Ukraine has yet to get to know each other better. And no method has yet been invented against this scrap. But if until now we have talked only about the military, then we should not discount civilians. The same social injustice, the same (and even greater) problems with treatment and prosthetics due to injuries and injuries associated with the war, the same lack of work and constant fear of the future. And there are always grenades and firearms at hand, purchased from other “reliable people” or simply picked up at battlefields, waiting in the wings. And this interesting circumstance is not at all taken into account by those who seriously or playfully discuss plans for the “post-war restoration of Ukraine.” |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 As opposed to what they got now... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-12-20 08:33 |