Professor Roman Sheremeta

Mon, Dec 1, 2025

To hand over Donbas to Moscow means condemning the Ukrainians who remain there to lives filled with torture.

Gouged-out eyes. Electric shocks. Mock executions. Dog attacks. Months forced to stand motionless. Beatings for any movement. This is reported by The Moscow Times, citing a “Memorial” report on russia’s crimes against Ukraine.

Russian soldiers gouged out a man’s eye because he had a blue-and-yellow discount card from the Ukraina supermarket. They deemed it “proof of Nazism.” In another case, they executed three brothers simply because the eldest had once served in the Ukrainian army.

Russian troops steal cars, beat civilians, demand fabricated “weapons caches,” and force people to “confess” to links with the “Right Sector.” Victims often don’t even understand what they are being accused of.

When it comes to Ukrainian prisoners of war, russia has effectively abolished the Geneva Conventions.

Moscow’s narrative is as follows: prisoners are “terrorists,” training is “terrorist preparation,” and crossing the front line is “illegal border crossing.”

Liubov Selina, an office worker for the former “Aidar” battalion, was sentenced to five years for just 5.5 months of work back in 2015. russia used her conviction to declare Aidar a “terrorist organization.” Later, 15 men were given 15–21 years for “participation in Aidar,” even though they were captured before russia added Aidar to its “terrorist list.”

In Penal Colony No. 10 in Mordovia, detainees are forced to stand motionless from 06:00 to 20:00 for months. Any movement results in an immediate beating. They are attacked by dogs, subjected to electric torture, and made to learn Katyusha and the russian national anthem.

This same torture system moved from Chechnya to Georgia, from Georgia to Syria — and is now being used against Ukrainians.

To hand Donbas over to Moscow is simply to decide who will be tortured next.

Source: translated and adopted from Tymofiy Mylovanov

……………….

“Ukraine must cease to exist – that is Russia’s goal in this war.”

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

…………

They call them “peace negotiations.”

Witkoff: “We will take part in the peace negotiations.”

Ukraine: “And who will represent the American side?”

……………..

The most disturbing part of the so-called “peace plan” is that there isn’t even a hint of punishing Putin for his crimes against humanity.

Putin is a war criminal, a terrorist, and a murderer. He ordered the genocide of the Ukrainian people. He is responsible for the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost because of him. Putin is the Hitler of our time.

And instead of discussing how to punish him for his crimes, we are discussing how to reward him.

……………….

“The sooner America’s allies recognize that the U.S. government is no longer acting as a partner, and is instead aligning itself with Europe’s adversaries, the easier it will be to adapt to this new reality. Both Trump and Putin share an interest in seeing a weaker Europe.”

Pekka Kallioniemi, host of Vatnik Soup

………………..

Marco Rubio said that the U.S. will provide security guarantees to Ukraine only after a peace agreement is signed with russia.

Speaking not in diplomatic language but in plain terms, this means there will be no security guarantees from the United States.

Moreover, judging by recent sabotage incidents, explosions, and incursions by combat aircraft and drones into Germany, Poland, the Baltic states, and other European countries, there will be no U.S. security guarantees not only for Ukraine but for Europe as well.

I don’t long for American guarantees. Any U.S. guarantees are not worth the paper they would be written on. We’ve seen this with the Budapest Memorandum and the Vietnam War. We saw Afghanistan — where America’s allies were clinging to airplane wheels because, after the Americans fled, they faced brutal death at the hands of the Taliban.

That is the current value of U.S. guarantees — not even worth a penny.

Much has been said that the only real guarantee of our (and Europe’s) security is the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But here’s the problem: Ukraine is unable to sustain a modern and motivated army of one million soldiers capable of stopping the russians. We simply don’t have the money.

Therefore, it’s time to get off the American roller coaster and step onto European ground. Europe must pay for its peace by financing the Ukrainian army. And this is the only direction in which all efforts must be focused.

Not mythical russian assets (which won’t be enough anyway), not words of support, but agreements with clear financial commitments to fund the Ukrainian army. So that Ukrainian soldiers stop the russian horde — and don’t march as part of that horde into Europe, the way residents of Crimea and Donetsk are currently fighting against us.

America is far away, and its actions are easily explained by that vast, beautiful ocean behind which it hides from the boogeyman. Europe is right here — just 15 minutes of flight from a russian fighter jet launched from Belarus.

And Europe must become more actively involved because Trump Always Chicken Out (TACO) and retreats. As Garry Kasparov said very accurately a few days ago in Halifax: “You have the weapons — but you’re not ready to use them.”

The only army on the continent that knows how to shoot at the invaders is the Ukrainian army. Give us weapons. Give us decent financial support, proper guarantees for the wounded and the families of the fallen — and you will forget about russia forever. We will simply bury it here, in Ukraine.

This is what negotiations should be about.

Source: translated and adopted from Serhii Marchenko