On Sep. 8, 1944, a V-2 ballistic missile carrying 910 kilos of hatred, landed in Staveley Road in West London, killing three people and injuring 17 others. Among them was Rosemary Clarke, aged three, who died in her cot. Another wartime tragedy lost to the oblivion of history, similar to the ones we see today in Ukrainian cities.
As painful as it is to watch, history is repeating itself today in Ukraine. The use of terror tactics and the lack of humane values in Russia has been documented and demonstrated throughout history, whether it is blowing up their own residential buildings, cities, bombing of residential areas, orphanages, hospitals etc. This has always been pure state-sponsored and justified terrorism, nothing more.
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Those who still are unable to recognize the painfully obvious similarities between Nazism and Putinism are simply naive, blind, or worse, ignorant. There are deep structural and societal similarities between leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler, and Russian President Vladimir Putin – both are cut from the same cloth.
War against civilians
We see this from Russia’s chosen strategy in Ukraine, which bears the hallmarks of the early phase of the Second World War. Nazis too lost at their might in the Battle of Britain. Without aerial supremacy, the invasion of the British Isles remained, on paper, just like the planned grand landing at the shores of Odesa over 80 years later. Although the Nazi attack gained limited success in disrupting production and transport, reduced food supplies, and shook the British morale, it failed in its real objective.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November, 21, 2024
Despite this being followed by a desperate attempt to make a difference through a campaign of terror against civilians with the help of vengeance weapons, it failed to break the resistance spirit. Both the Blitz (bombing campaign of Britain, 1940-1941) and Vergeltungswaffen (missiles fired at Britain, 1944-1945) inflicted immense suffering in Britain, causing over 73,000 civilian casualties and leaving nearly 2.3 million homeless. But they failed to bring the British to their knees.
The attempt to break civilian morale failed despite causing dismay among the population which had hoped that air attacks of the early phase were a thing of the past. On the contrary, morale increased. The cruise and ballistic missile attacks on civilian infrastructure towards the end of the war failed to produce the expected results.
It doesn’t matter what you call today’s alleged Russian miracle weapons, be it Kalibr, Iskander or Kinzhal – it just doesn’t work. It didn’t in the 1940s and it won’t in 2022.
Why is civil infrastructure being targeted?
Today, Russia is a hub both for resurrected Nazism as well as radical orthodox terrorism which, like a suicide terrorist, is fully aware of its actions.
Changing the blood-soaked shirt of the Soviet Union in 1991 has not changed the true nature of this regime, which still follows Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik conception of the state – “the liberation of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power.” Thus, it seeks politically motivated destruction by targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
To put in bluntly, for “the happy but freedom-oppressed people” to be able to live with the Russians, it is first necessary to destroy everything that resembles a democratic civil society with its supporting infrastructure. Then there will be equality, and envy will disappear because it is equally bad for everyone to live in squalor without a perspective chained to a time loop.
Since Ukrainians know far too well what they are fighting for and against, World War II tactics will fail to work as they failed against Britain. This will be just another chapter in the history of this unjust war against civilians
Ukrainians won’t be pressured
Finding resolve in such tactics shows that we have reached the equivalent of 1944 – a year when the aggressor was about to start its final descent. Unfortunately, before the Russian terror regime collapses, it will bring many more shocks. But we all know how things went from there for the Nazis of the past.
Although the occupants have been shelling energy plants and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine in recent days, they have failed to hit the essence of the reality. The mere idea of being able to pressure Ukrainians into negotiations through cold is ridiculous after what happened in Bucha, Irpin, Harkiv, Mariupol, Izjum and countless other crimes against humanity.
The need to bring the people responsible for this war’s atrocities to justice, along with the pursuit of freedom, keeps the Ukrainians warm. Just as does sheer anger.
Whatever comes, one thing is for sure – Ukrainians will persevere and, just like Hitler, Putin will try to cheat his way through the inevitable endgame. When reality finally sets in, the turnaround can be unexpected. The question is, where will he end up – in a bunker or a trial? Perhaps revenge is a dish best served cold, in the bunker itself?
The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.
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