Kherson was the first regional capital that the Russian army captured after the invasion of Ukraine. A few weeks ago, Putin declared that Russia had annexed four regions of Ukraine, including Kherson, and henceforth they would be “forever Russian.” That occurred at the same time that Russian troops were retreating before the Ukrainian forces. A few days ago, Russian troops abandoned Kherson, and Ukrainian troops arrived. They were greeted by jubilant crowds waving the Ukrainian flag and singing the Ukrainian national anthem.
But before the troops left, they carried out a special mission for V. Putin. They robbed the grave of Potemkin, who conquered Ukraine on behalf of Russia and Empress Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Simon Sebag Montefiore, a British historian of Russia, reports at the website Airmail that Putin is obsessed with Potemkin. Potemkin is Putin’s role model. His body was buried in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Kherson. Before the Russians evacuated Kherson, they removed Potemkin’s bones and sent them to Moscow.
The New York Times reported the failure of “Russification” in Kherson:
KHERSON, Ukraine — Iryna Dyagileva’s daughter attended a school where the curriculum included memorizing the Russian national anthem.
But teachers ignored it, instead quietly greeting students in the morning with a salute: “Glory to Ukraine!”
The occupation authorities asked Olha Malyarchuk, a clerk at a taxi company, to settle bills in rubles. But she kept paying in the Ukrainian currency, hryvnia.
“It just didn’t work,” she said of Russian propaganda, beamed into homes through televisions and plastered on billboards for the nine months of Russia’s occupation of Kherson. On Sunday, she was walking in a park, waving a small Ukrainian flag.
One roadside billboard proclaimed in bold text, “We are together with Russia!” But a teenager who offered only his first name, Oleksandr, had shimmied up the supporting pole on Sunday and was tearing the sign to pieces. Asked how he felt, he said, “free.”
The Ukrainian army has reclaimed hundreds of villages in towns in three major counteroffensives, north of Kyiv, in the northeastern Kharkiv region and now in the southern Kherson region.
But the city of Kherson stands out: it was the focus of a major Russian campaign to assimilate the citizenry and stamp out of the Ukrainian identity. Judging by his assertions that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation, it was a goal President Vladimir V. Putin had harbored for all of Ukraine, had his military been more successful.
After Russian forces captured Kherson in the early days of the war, Ukrainian national songs were banned in the city. Speaking Ukrainian could lead to arrest. Schools adopted a Russian curriculum, and young students were to be told that they were Russians, not Ukrainians.
In the first hours and days after the city’s recapture by the Ukrainian army, signs have emerged suggesting that the Russian attempt was a largely futile effort, at least among those who remained in the city.
Many pro-Russian residents had evacuated as Ukraine’s army advance on the city, and the Kremlin-installed authorities had encouraged residents to leave. Many local government officials had collaborated with the Russians.
Serhiy Bloshko, a construction worker, had lived at the homes of friends through the nine-month occupation, fearful he’d be arrested for joining anti-occupation protests in March that broke out soon after the Russian army arrived. Soldiers indeed went to his home, he said. Not finding him, they made off with his television and refrigerator, he said.
“They repressed the pro-Ukrainian population,” he said while waiting in a line for water on Sunday afternoon. Friends had been detained and vanished, he said. Of the cultural assimilation effort, he said, “what happened here was ethnic cleansing.”
The entry into his city of the two armies, one in February and the other last week, was telling, he said.
“When our soldiers drove in, their machine guns were pointed up, into the air,” Mr. Bloshko said. “When the Russians drove in, their guns were pointed at the people. That explains everything. And they said they were our liberators.”
Before the Russians evacuated Kherson, they removed Potemkin’s bones and sent them to Moscow.”
Very ironic, given that it was a Potemkin victory.
I think you were thinking of a Pyrrhic victory. Tsar Vladimir’s “Greater Russia” is even less than a Potemkin Village. It isn’t even a proper facade. It exists only in his warped little diseased Chekist brain.
It was a facade intended for the people of Russia, at whom the propaganda was directed.
OK. That makes sense. Oops. We didn’t really care about taking Kiev. What we really wanted where these cities in the East.
And I would bet a buck that you would have fixed that if WordPress had a correction feature for comments.
I find it Ironic that Potemkin, a Russian, who conquered Ukraine in 1783, finally left in defeat.
Why would Ukraine want to let his bones in their country to honor him in any way? Imagine if Hitler had been buried in France. Would the French want his bones?
I think RasPutin the Terrible did Ukraine a favor taking that man’s bones with them as Russia retreated.
Potemkin is commonly used to mean counterfeit or fraudulent, which actually fits quite well.
Potemkin
Having a false or deceptive appearance, especially one presented for the purpose of propaganda.
Apparently impressive but actually sham or artificial
Pyrrhic” is obviously used much more frequently with “victory” but I still would not have changed it to that if my browser autocorrect had suggested it — particularly if it had suggested that.
I never take the suggestions of autocorrect.
In fact, I spend half my life correcting autocorrect.
Autocorrect is a tale told by an idiot (programmer), full of vowels and consonants, signifying nothing.
Autocorrect is a tale told by AI — “an idiot” –…
I am translating the New Testament using autocorrect:
And chezit said: Blasted are the poor
Autocorrect is a tale told by an idiot (programmer), full of vowels and consonants, signifying nothing.
Haaaaaa!!!!
And Roy, hilarious!
Ha ha ha.
Cheezits Cripes
Blasted are the meek, for they shall inherit the hurt.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man go fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
Father, into thy hands I commend my spit.
Let the one among you who is without weed be the first to get stoned.
My Catholic ex-wife told me that when she was very little, she though the phrases were
Hail, Mary, full of grapes
and
Oh, my God, I am hardly sorry for having offended thee
Years ago, I taught across the hall from a nun who brought me one of the papers written by one of her 9th graders. It’s subject? St. Paul preaching to the genitals.
cx: Its subject?
Teach a man to fish and he will spend the rest of his life in a bass boat
Bob: there is a Protestant hymn that has a chorus that goes “Draw me nearer, nearer… I have known two people who reported that they, in their youth, thought it went “draw manure..”
Such are the minds of the agricultural
Seriously, Roy, that was really good.
Well pretty much everyone thought at one point in their life that the pledge of allegiance contained the word “invisible”.
So it’s not just religion, although I would say pledging allegiance to an inanimate object comes pretty damned close.
It would be interesting to know at what age children actually realize the nation is not “invisible”.
Might make a good PhD study.
And i bet if you did a survey of adults, you would find that a significant fraction never learned.
A d of course, the Extreme Court majority believe the pledge includes “and Just us for All”
Now that I think of it, the nation “with liberty and justice for all” is pretty much invisible.
Free Dienne , LOL
the Russian propaganda was getting worse than just tiresome; there’s a point at which, with all these innocents being killed, that it’s just unconscionable and disgusting
I don’t disagree . I imagine she would say the cheering crowds were staged
LOL. Yes. I suspect so.
Not staged, just very small, as one would expect from a region that is overwhelmingly pro-Russian.
And no one in Ukraine is pro-Russian anymore. Funny how killing people’s babies, children, grandparents affects their opinions of you, huh, Vladi-mere?
Granted, far fewer people in ukraine are pro-Russian now that the Russians evacuated over 100,000 people to avoid having them tortured and slaughtered as “Russian collaborators”, so you’re partly right, if for the wrong reason.
BTW, “Vladimere” is so cute and convincing. I can remember when I thought you were better than that. Seems almost kinda quaint now.
Then there is that frightening creature from ancient Slavic folklore, the Mer-vlad.
Or Mere-Vlad
Deporting people against their will (for that’s what actually happened) is YET ANOTHER variety of war crime, specifically prohibited by the Rome Convention. One day, I hope, should the ailing POS live that long, he and all of his co-conspirators will answer for this another the many, many other war crimes they have committed, in the International Court of Criminal Justice.
I think that Netflix should do a biography of Tsar Vladimir starring the animated Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Smeagelmir, Tsar of All the Russias in His Own Little Mind
Go ahead. Accuse me of typecasting.
My pardon. Technically, under Article 7(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, forcible deportation such as those perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine are Crimes against Humanity.
cx: deportations
Of course, if your hero Vladimir ever does come before the court, they might as well read out the entire list of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the beginning of the trial, for he’s committed all of them.
Sorry, hero doesn’t fully capture it. Hearthrob? Inamarato?
All this support you show for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, and not once, Dienne, have you uttered one word in support of my claims on British Columbia, which are EQUALLY VALID. British Columbia, aka, Boblandia.
Even after my son and I held a vote on my annexation of British Columbia! Which I plan to add to my other territories, including Colombia. To create the state of Boblandian Columlombia.
Ewww. What’s that smell?
It’s the Putin-esca sauce.
Oops. Sorry. I meant Vladamok
I’m always so flattered when y’all miss me!