Oksana Syroyid: “Minsk” Is About Capitulation, Not About Victory

Oksana Syroyid wrote about the “Minsk” Mouse Mess for the Lviv Security Forum

In February 2017, tankers and artillerymen, who were in the Bakhmut area, reported on the humiliation suffered by the Ukrainian army because of the proclamation of another “ceasefire.”

They talked about how Russia and mercenaries fired on Ukrainian infantry positions, and how they were not given the opportunity to support their mates with their own fire. They told how representatives of the OSCE Monitoring Mission came to their location every morning to check the mouths of the guns with cotton swabs in order to see whether there were any traces of gunpowder – or whether the Ukrainian army did not leave at night to protect their own soldiers.

This was preceded by Ilovaisk and Debaltseve. While Ukrainian soldiers were actually shot near Ilovaisk, President Poroshenko pretended that nothing was happening and hosted a parade in the center of the capital. While our military, without ammunition and equipment, was selected from the encirclement near Debaltseve, President Poroshenko spoke of a planned retreat. He did this in order to sign the Minsk agreements. The first and second. In order to force the Ukrainian’s Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to vote for the humiliating law “On special status” on 16 September 2014. In order to push this special status into the Ukrainian Constitution on 16 July and 31 August 2015.

Today, we see another mouse mess around “Minsk.” Another “comprehensive ceasefire,” which ingloriously ended in the first day of 111 shooting. Another attempt by the international community to force it to stop firing, and once again not Russia (because it is not there according to “Minsk”), but Ukraine. Leonid Kuchma’s next attempt to escape from a trivial process. Another blackmail of Russia. Another mysterious hint of compromises in Ukraine.

President Zelensky does not know yet, but his “Ilovaisk” was the mutilated body of MykolaIlyin. While Russia has demonstrated atrocities and audacity against the military medic, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief has “hosted a parade” of a comprehensive ceasefire. Moreover, while Russia has demonstratively committed a crime against humanity, Ukraine and the international community have demonstratively swallowed it.

There is no difference between Kuchma and Kravchuk. Because “Minsk” is about capitulation, not about victory. It is also not worth looking for a choice between Poroshenko and Zelensky. They are equally incapable of protecting Ukraine and Ukrainians. The reason is also the same – they do not have the same identity with their country and with the citizens of their country, and still pretend to (just Petro Poroshenko was the best actor).

The only difference between them is that President Poroshenko sold Ukraine’s honor for money, and President Zelensky acts in this way out of fear.

At the same time, the recipe for survival and success remains the same:

• fully legally recognise the fact of Russian aggression in Ukraine, and the fact of occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine, isolating the occupied territories;
• demand the recognition and punishment of the crime of aggression and occupation at the international level (even if it takes 50 years). To do this, we must forget the words “conflict in eastern Ukraine,” “separatists” and “pro-Russian militants” – there is a Russian-Ukrainian war, Russian occupation forces and Russian mercenaries;
• never share the issues of Crimea and Donbas;
• punish in Ukraine and demand international punishment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression committed by Russia, as the Dutch do today in the case of the downed plane.

Any patriotic rhetoric and hysteria without acknowledging the fact of the crime and punishing it is “for sale” and not for the state and the people.

Reference

Oksana Syroyid is Ukrainian People’s Deputy of the 8th convocation, elected from the “Samopomich” Association. Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.

From 19 October, 2019 she is Chairman of the “Samopomich” Association. Before that, she was a member of the Political Council of the party and Chairman of the Kyiv city organization.

In 2014, she was an expert on the Judicial Reform, Constitutional and Administrative Reform Group of the “Resuscitation Reform Package”.

In 2016, she categorically opposed the idea of ​​granting special status to certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In July 2019, Syroyid, together with other people’s deputies, appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to declare unconstitutional the laws on the special status of Donbas and on the amnesty of collaborators and mercenaries. At the end of January this year, the CCU refused to review the constitutionality of these laws.