U.S. Media Decries Brutal Russia Invasion of UkraineYet an Intrepid
Reporter Finds that the Russians Were Welcomed as Liberators in the Southern
Ukrainian City of Henichesk along the Sea of Azov - CovertAction Magazine
A picture containing outdoor, road, sky, street Description automatically
generated
Russian troops in Henichesk. [Photo courtesy of Sonja Vandenende]
[This is a report from Sonja Vandenende, a Dutch journalist who was embedded
with Russian troops in southeastern Ukraine. Previously, Sonja reported on
the ground in Syria for CAM. Her reporting substantiates that of Patrick
Lancaster, a Russian-speaking U.S. Navy veteran whose reporting on the war
in Donbass for eight years is respected by investigative journalists. CAMs
mission is to bring to your attention alternative narratives gleaned by
eyewitness accountseven if they could be misconstrued as
pro-Russian.Editors]
Last week I was embedded with the Russian army and visited two towns in
southeastern Ukraine. The first town was called Henichesk, a port city along
the Sea of Azov in Kherson Oblast (province) of southern Ukraine, bordering
on Crimea.
The Russian army, patrolling the city, went with usthe embedded
journalistsfor protection. But actually the protection was not really
needed; the people in Henichesk, at least the majority with whom I spoke,
were very happy that the Russian army was there.
The people that I spoke to all said the same thing: They felt protected from
the criminal gangs, with their Nazi ideology, who raged the towns. They in
turn hoped that Ukraine will prosper again.
Henichesk Strait - Wikipedia
[Source: wikipedia.org]
Since the coup détat of 2014, the economy of Ukraine has become very bad,
according to many citizens in Henichesk.
I could see that people were standing in line to get money from ATM machines
outside the banks, money which was barely there.
At the market, the food was scarce. The Russian army is providing
humanitarian aid, which they do in every village and town, liberated from
these criminal gangs. This is how many Ukrainians call them.
Sonja Vandenende with Henichesk resident. [Photo courtesy of Sonja
Vandenende]
Numerous villagers in Henichesk told me that, as the Russians entered their
town, they left everything intact. I heard this stated many times. No
damage, no dead, no wounded. Most people, they said, are happy that the
Russians were there.
A picture containing person, outdoor, road
Description automatically generated
[Photo courtesy of Sonja Vandenende]
The town of Henichesk was undamaged after the Russian army came. People were
rushing on the streets to do their shopping or just talking and socializing
on the street. The population was very diverse. It included ethnic Russians,
Ukrainians and Tatars. They have churches and mosques.
According to residents, before the 2014 coup détat,[1] the people lived in
harmony. Many Tatars originating from Crimea live in Henichesk. They have
been allowed to go back to Crimea since Vladimir Putin became Russias
president.
A picture containing sky, outdoor, person
Description automatically generated
[Photo courtesy of Sonja Vandenende]
Propaganda has been spread on the Wikipedia page of Henichesk, stating the
following: On 24 February 2022, Henichesk was captured by the Russian Army
in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was where the famous incident
occurred where an old woman confronted Russian soldiers and said Put
sunflower seeds in your pockets so they grow on Ukraine soil when you die,
as well as the death of Vitalii Shakun blowing up a bridge to stop their
advance.
Vitali Shakun
Vitalii Shakun [Source: indiatimes.com]
Indeed, Shakun tried to blow up the bridge connecting Crimea with southern
Ukraine. But they neglect to tell that he was not from southern Ukraine, but
from Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine. He was also a combat engineer
with the Ukrainian Army. The damage his explosives caused to the bridge was
actually minor and the bridge is still passable. It is a pity generally that
boys (Shakun was born in 1996) should die for a false ideology, by blowing
up a bridge without success.
[Source: indiatimes.com]
Fact Versus Fiction
Western propaganda claims that the Russian army is besieging towns and that
the population is starving. From my observation, the latter was not true in
Henichesk or in the next town called Melitopol, which I also visited (to be
discussed in a future article).[2]
The Western countries are pouring in weapons, most of them old Soviet
weapons into Ukraine to shoot at the evil Russians, and imposing
sanctions. Nothing positive is being done to help the long suffering people
of Ukraine.
[Photo courtesy Sonja Vandenvende]
Waiting for humanitarian aid being distributed by the Russian army. [Photo
courtesy of Sonja Vandenende]
The Zelensky regime is presented as a moral beacon in the West, but has
banned opposition parties and spurned a negotiated settlement to the war
that could end his peoples suffering. Before the war, Zelensky had failed
to stimulate much economic development or curtail corruption, which he
himself appears to be implicated in, according to revelations in the Pandora
Papers.
In the past years, many Ukrainians have gone to Russia. Crimea is nearby and
there they get shelter and help. Russia has no refugee camps, but provides
them with shelter, food and medical care.
Zelensky Announces Ban on 11 Political Parties
Heralded as a democratic hero in the U.S., Zelensky here is announcing a ban
on opposition parties. [Source: ntd.com]
Ukraine is left by itself to bleed.
Western countries have no interest in its economy or people, because
Ukrainian people have many similarities with their brother
countriesRussia and Belarusand would naturally be aligned with them.
They share the same culture, language, and history of being invaded by the
Nazis in World War II.
The West is only interested in benefits to their own economies.
Many buildings and factories are left to rot away and money for
infrastructure was never there. Ukraine has been bleeding since 2014 and
no one in the West has cared.
Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and the largest producer of sunflower
oil, while Russia is the largest producer of fertilizer necessary for
growing crops. However, with the war, production will be affected and the
whole world economy may suffer. But the leaders in the West, who helped
provoke the war, do not carethe Ukrainian people to them are pawns in a
larger geopolitical game that will cause potential disaster for all
humanity.
In February 2014, the U.S. government supported an insurrection against the
legally elected government of Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who
spurned an IMF structural adjustment program that would have been terrible
for Ukraine. Victoria Nuland famously was photographed handing out cookies
to the demonstrators, many of whom worshipped World War II Nazi collaborator
Stepan Bandera. For more details on these events, see Chris Kaspar de Ploeg,
Ukraine in the Crossfire (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2019).
These observations correlate with other eyewitness accounts. The Grayzone
Project recently ran an important article pointing to misinformation about
the destruction of the Mariupol theater, showing how the Azov Battalion was
likely responsible for the destruction.
