Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is described as a “traitor” because of the way the peace process is conducted.
Some will see the risk of a radicalization of spirits, the others a new warning addressed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Monday, October 14, in Kiev, the day of parades celebrating the “defender of Ukraine”, a traditional parade of nationalists, paramilitaries and far-right groups, resulted in a great march of several thousand people chanting “no capitulation “,” we will not give up Ukraine “or” Zelensky traitor “.
Attacks directly addressed to the head of state elected in April and pressed to conclude peace in Donbass. To stop the exchange of gunfire in the eastern part of the country, devastated for the past five years by a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army, Ukrainian government officials have expressed their readiness to hold elections in the territories. occupied once the military troops evacuated on both sides of the front line. But for part of the country, this negotiation is unacceptable.
“We can not trust the Russians, if the Ukrainian troops withdraw, they will stay there! “ Think Natalia Lougovska. At 48, this psychologist lost her 23-year-old son, who died in the front line in 2018 when he was engaged with the far-right paramilitary group Azov. “He’s not dead for nothing,” she says , promising that her daughter, who is also a soldier, will not quit the fight until she is defeated. A little further, Anatoliy Fateiev, 56, amputated both legs after jumping on a mine, ensures him either “not want to give in”: “The Russian army has no word, no dignity, we will retreat and they will move forward. “
The four-hour press conference held on October 10 by the Ukrainian president to try to reassure the population will not have achieved its goal. “It was a show,” says Fateiev, the veteran claiming to be a nationalist party, Svoboda.
Blue and yellow tide
On Monday, it was a little less than four o’clock, and representatives of various far-right parties paraded in traditional costumes alongside soldiers near Shevchenko Park, showing their political color from Svoboda to the national Corpus Azov emanation. .
At the end of the day, when a much larger procession headed for Maidan Square, the surprise came. The flags of radical political parties suddenly disappeared giving way to a blue and yellow tide, colors of Ukraine. In the crowd, here and there, there were also European flags. And alongside paramilitary groups accustomed to the parade, were novices come to express their fears about the future of the country.
Among them, Larissa and Volodymyr Mandrik. She is an economist, he is marketing manager. “We want peace, but we know very well that Russia wants total control of Ukraine, if we give in on Donbass, tomorrow Russian troops will be in Kharkiv,” he said. “Zelensky, because he had the confidence of 70% of the population, thinks he has absolute powers. But the majority of Ukrainians also think that Russia is an aggressor. Yes, there are far-right groups in this demonstration. But when there is no hate speech or aggression, we can demonstrate with them to defend Ukraine, “ says Andrii Levous, former deputy of the party of the Popular Front (center right). And this one to conclude:“This is an alert for Zelensky. He must be worried. “
