Wali Kota Gostomel yang terletak kecil di dekat Ibu Kota Kyiv, Ukraina, tewas terbunuh peluru Rusia saat membagikan bantuan kepada warga.
www.cnnindonesia.com
According to this CNN article, the mayor of this city was shot dead by Russian soldiers at the moment he was sharing out bread to the people.
If this is true, than this is really a bad way of image building/promotion.
CNN cites a Facebook page as the source of the article. CNN Europe Is reporting on their timeline under the headline "There's heavy fighting around Kyiv" (you have to scroll down as this item was posted to the CNN timeline 5hrs 30min ago):
Ukraine and Russia will hold a third round of talks Monday, according to negotiators as from on the ground in Ukraine as Ukrainian civilians are trapped in the cities of Mariupol, Volnovakha and Kyiv after evacuation efforts failed. Follow here for live news updates from on the ground in Ukraine.
www.cnn.com
Ukrinform says "the occupiers shot him dead, along with his comrades-in-arms Ruslan Karpenko and Ivan Zoria":
Russian invaders killed the head of the Hostomel community, Yuri Prilipko, and two of his comrades while distributing humanitarian aid. — Ukrinform.
www.ukrinform.net
It appears he was shot while "heavy fighting" was going on, but who knows? The term "occupier" does not mean the city was under Russian occupation when these men were shot, as the Ukrainians call any Russian on their soil an "occupier" whether on territory they control or not. Just as the Russians called an alleged team of Ukrainian saboteurs allegedly engaged in sort of false false flag operation "terrorists" (see posts above -- a very fishy story put out by the Russians). Western media often simply parrots whatever the Ukrainian side says, not bothering to clean up the terminology in many cases, creating confusion.
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Ref the "terrorist" thing. The Ukrainians have been calling the Russian side, especially LDNR forces, "terrorists" for some time, so the Russians may be slinging that word right back at them. Yesterday, British tabloid headlines (and other media outlets around the world) were screaming that "Russian warlord Vladimir Zhoga who headed the Neo-Nazi Sparta Battalion" had been killed in Volnovakha. A nasty piece of work and war criminal yes, but a Neo-Nazi? As he was born in Sloviansk, he is not a Russian from Russia either, but the Western press gives that impression. The Russians have often painted Ukrainian forces with the broad brush of Neo-Nazi even though only a small fraction of them are. It looks to me like it's just insult trading going on.
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Now that we're hearing about local ceasefires and more about a general ceasefire, I'd like to at least propose an idea the west can implement to force Russia to either tone down, or outright deter it from later resuming an invasion.
If there is no ban on international aid of any form, western countries can simply establish non-military presence in large numbers, e.g construction projects, semi-permanent aid facilities, basically create many civilian tripwire targets that Russia wouldn't dare attack. We see the same happening in many countries, just not for this reason.
Of course also some minimal military logistical presence to evacuate civilians if Russia decides to target them anyway. The latter is not seen typically as a controversial demand.
This, as opposed to military tripwire forces that would obviously be banned.
I am aware this can be done technically without a ceasefire but this would be a cynical abuse of humanitarian missions and may prevent them further on.
Just exercising a thought. What do you guys think?
Perhaps I don't quite know what you mean by this. Why would any military be needed for evacuation? UNHCR, UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, ICRC, etc. have had offices in Ukraine for years. UNHCR has its own logistical officers, as do other top tier agencies. They don't need military for that. Humanitarian aid stations and trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies are already in-country. Of course the trucks can't move unless granted safe passage by whatever military force(s) control the area.
There is a UNCHR office in Slaviansk. What if it is damaged or destroyed by Russian shelling? What will happen? Antonio Guterres and Filippo Grandi will protest and condemn. Given the worldwide interest in this conflict, world leaders and media will condemn it. But that's it. Even when aid workers are killed, nothing much ever happens. They get killed all the time. So do UN troops and civilians.
Once the conflict is over, of course there will be construction projects financed by the West. The Western contractors will have offices, and there will likely be OSCE offices to facilitate coordination of projects between NATO countries and with the Ukrainian government, among other things. The humanitarian organizations already there will need to add additional staff of course, open more offices. More NGOs will arrive (lots already there).
