Last week’s biggest news story from the lens of the Russian jingoist media is the alleged finale of the battle of Bakhmut.
It’s been fought for over 9 months.
According to Russia’s mainstream media, Bakhmut has been “liberated.” However, they keep calling the city Artemovsk,
after Comrade Artem, Lenin’s associate.
Yup, the same Lenin who, on Putin’s worldview, made up the Ukrainian state in the first place. Go figure.
According to the government media, the “liberation” of Bakhmut/Artemovsk is a cornerstone
of “assistance to our people” in Ukraine.
This statement doesn’t make much sense, either, but we’ll discuss it today nevertheless.
And then we’ll give a chance to “our people” from the “liberated Bakhmut” to speak out.
”OUR PEOPLE”
Since Day 1 of the full-scale invasion, we’ve been parroting the same basic thing.
It’s impossible to achieve victory when you don’t define what victory is.
It’s impossible to succeed in an armed confrontation when your goals, objectives,
and grounds to use military force are a pure abstraction.
But even among the propaganda’s linguistic chicanery, there’s a concept whose ambiguity makes it stand out.
The so-called “our people in Ukraine.”
Before the full-scale invasion kicked off, “our people” meant those living in the so-called Donetsk
and Luhansk People’s Republics (the DPR and LPR). Now, however, this concept is akin to wave-particle duality.
Through Putin’s perspective, millions of Ukrainians are “ours” and “not ours” at the same time.
When Kherson is occupied, its people are “ours.” When it’s been liberated by the Ukrainian forces (AFU)
and there’s an urge to cover it with an artillery barrage, they suddenly aren’t.
All the civilians in eastern Ukraine are Schrödinger's cats.
They’re simultaneously both “ours” and “not ours” until a Russian missile hits their house.
If it does, they aren’t “our people.”
LOCALS SPEAKING
While the Russian propagandists are involved in the “ours/not ours” thought experiment,
they choose to ignore those people’s opinion. What do they consider themselves, what do they want?
Do they want to wave Ukraine goodbye or do they want Russia to leave them alone at last?
It seems especially absurd after the bogus “referendums” in the occupied territories.
First, they proclaim 87% of the Kherson Region’s population to be “ours.”
Then, they obliterate the region’s power system with Russian missiles and Iranian drones.
“Because,” they conclude, “they aren’t ‘ours’ anymore.
They’re Ukrainians and hence should be deprived of heat, power, water, and sewerage.
Because ‘our people in the Donbas’ have been suffering for 8 years, and now it’s their turn,” says Putin’s inhumane logic.
Last weekend, the Russian troops allegedly took over the ruins of the once beautiful Russian-speaking city of Bakhmut.
Out of 70,000-odd residents, a few thousand have stayed in the razed city.
Those who fled to the West are considered “not ours,” so there’s no shame in targeting them
with missiles and Shahed drones.
Those few who stayed in Bakhmut will be considered “ours,” but only until the AFU liberate the city.
And then propaganda will greenlight burning them alive for the “children of the Donbas and 8 years of their suffering.”
The fact that the cities razed by the Russian army are in the Donbas doesn’t seem to cross the propagandists’ minds.
We had a video on Bakhmut’s life and development before the war, and several videos about the city’s tragic fate.
We noticed a plethora of comments to those videos by the residents of Bakhmut who fled
and then decided to share their experience.
Naturally, YouTube comments aren’t a reliable source of information. Our team conducted a basic check.
We made sure the posters have been registered on YouTube long before the war.
Whether it is anything to go by is up to you. I’ll simply read them out loud.
Nastya Morozinskaya
My family is from Bakhmut. I owned a pet store, and my husband is a qualified civil engineer.
In 2021, our son began elementary school. His school, my pet store,
and all the buildings my husband helped to design are now history.
Evgenia Kolesnichenko I call Bakhmut home.
My parents have lost their house, my apartment is destroyed.
Before the full-scale invasion, I had a good job, a place to live, and future plans.
Fortunately, my parents left the city, and thank god, they’re alive and well. But the city and many of its people are gone.
Her again Bakhmut is my hometown.
When I watch video footage, I can’t recognize the street I used to walk to my kindergarten and school.
Everything’s damaged beyond repair, it’s uninhabitable. It pains me to hear about the city that is no more.
Anna
Thanks a lot for showing the truth about my Bakhmut.
I’m especially touched by the phrase “ruined lives of Bakhmut’s people.”
It was a prosperous and peaceful city indeed. Now it’s destroyed and unlivable.
Tamara Yevtushenko
My poor Bakhmut, the city of my youth, look what they’ve done to you! You haven’t shown even a fraction of its former charm.
It was a unique old city, its buildings having been lovingly preserved for centuries. Patience to you,
Mother Ukraine. We’ll rebuild you, and your streets will hear children’s laughter again.
Nastya
I’m from Bakhmut, and it’s a great and cozy small city (I can’t type “was”).
Among other things, Bakhmut has a great education system.
My school studies focused on languages (there were also advanced law and math programs available).
We had volunteers from France and the U.K. visiting our school for us to study
with native speakers and get an immersive language experience.
Starting in grade 5, we studied two languages.
English was in the curriculum from day one, and we followed modern Oxford coursebooks.
All teachers (with rare exceptions) were top-notch and enthusiastic, and I’m still thankful to them.
High school students were taught sex ed uncharacteristic of other schools.
We had interactive whiteboards, new computers, a basketball court, and a soccer pitch.
There were many activity clubs in the city. Handicrafts, dancing, singing, theater club, fashion —
those are just the ones I attended.
It pains me to see it all ruined, but I still hope to come back to my hometown when the war is over.
Vasgen
Here’s a new video, and it’s about my city of Bakhmut. You happened to show my alma mater
(Institute of Foreign Languages).
I can tell four floors are missing.
The building had been restored before the war. New fire alarms, latest standards, new classrooms.
It’s all gone. A vast and decently stocked library, a computer class. Needless to say, it’s all leveled now.
I spent a part of my childhood in Bakhmut (Artemovsk at the time). A beautiful, prospering city is turned into ruins.
Luckily, grandma didn’t live to see it… It’s tough. I bite on my fists not to cry out loud.
Bagr
A friend of mine used to live in Bakhmut. They fled to Dnipro with the family. They live in a relatives’ summer home now.
His granddad went back to check on their pets and was killed… That’s what this war is…
Olga Trofimova
Maxim, thank you for the video about my beautiful city! It used to be even fairer that you presented it.
In September 2021, we celebrated its 450th anniversary, which was a blast. Importantly,
the city had a lot to offer for kids’ creative development.
A beautiful, blooming city it was. And I hope it will be again. Ukraine will win!
Irina Maksimova
I studied in Bakhmut from 2013 through 2017. It used to be called Artemovsk back then.
A beautiful, cozy, and clean city. It’s devastating to watch it being obliterated.
The Railway Vocational School where I spent my best years is burned to the ground by the Russian a-holes.
Burn in hell everyone who’s involved.
Yelena Fyodorova
I lived in Bakhmut for 17 years. All that’s happening there now stirs pain, anger, and hatred.
Hatred is a despicable emotion, but nothing else’s there when you see a beautiful blooming city being turned into ruins.
With God’s help and the AFU we’ll restore everything. The city will live again. As for the enemy, I only wish them death.
I wish they experienced all they brought to Ukraine by themselves.
People leave their comments to my videos in Russian. Those are the videos of a Russian YouTuber, mind you.
Dmytro Tkachenko
I treat Bakhmut as my homeland, too. I’m from Soledar. Thanks, Russian neighbors.
My childhood’s house is gone with the entire street. Nothing’s left.
Thank God, my sister’s alive. She fled with her children empty-handed. No money, no clothing.
She now lives in Lviv in an RV provided by the Polish government. Thanks, Poles. I’m addressing Russians.
Bots, whatever. Tell me one thing. I’m typing in Russian. Who stops me from doing so in Ukraine?
Where in Bakhmut, a Russian-speaking city, did you see Nazis before 2022? I doubt you’ll ever come to senses.
But some may ponder my words. Because frankly, I’m kind of tired of fighting.
It’s not how I intended to spend 2022 and see in 2023.
Oksana Menzak
My friend is from Bakhmut. In 2021, she finished a long renovation of her apartment.
In 2023, it burned to ashes after an air bombing. No words, only tears.
User with a tongue-twisting handle
In our city, we had a new trolleybus program being implemented before the war.
It was the main form of public transport in Bakhmut.
They purchased new trolleybuses, built glass-walled stops, and started a new route running to the suburb.
The trolleybuses were battery-powered.
I’m from Bakhmut. The a-holes haven’t left anything intact there. We got a picture of our burned house recently.
All the property and business that took years to build is destroyed by some sick bastards.
Regina Reshetnyak I’m from Bakhmut.
Everything’s burned, but (here she switches to Ukrainian) I’m waiting for our victory, and I’ll be rebuilding the city!
Dafna
100% of Bakhmut's population spoke Russian, and no one was oppressed for it.
Many residents were born in Russian towns and cities. I personally knew some of them, and no one bullied them.
Everyone lived in peace until “tha liberatorz” came, that is. Whom did you liberate?
People from their homes?
True, Bakhmut isn't the world's prettiest, richest, or best city, but it deserves to exist like any other city.
It’s the best for me, and I’ll remember it as it was before the war broke out. As for now, I’m crushed by pain and rage.
It pains me to see my hometown being leveled. Once-familiar streets are simply unrecognizable.
My former in-laws are Russians, and most of their relatives live in Russia.
They could, too, but they loved Bakhmut, it was the center of the universe for them.
They met and got married there, and their children were born and raised there.
It was a bit annoying to hear them constantly coaxing my husband and me to move from Kharkiv to Bakhmut.
That’s how wonderful they thought it was.
When the frontlines approached Bakhmut and made it dangerous to live (and even survive later on),
they absolutely refused to move away. They weren’t having any of that.
They could’ve moved to Russia to their relatives, but the so-called “Russian world” wasn’t up their alley.
Now their beloved city is razed, their freshly renovated house is likely in ruins, too.
And they were forcibly “evacuated” to the DPR without any documents.
Anna Ivanova
They called Bakhmut the City of Roses. It used to host blossom festivals.
Olga Golubkova
My neighbor came from Bakhmut. She said her brother was recently killed there. He lived there, refused to leave, and died.
He wasn’t a soldier, but a civilian. Her house is gone.
So are her parents’ house, her brother’s house, and her in-laws’ house. Her brother wasn’t even buried.
He decided to stay and died. How many dead civilians are there! Such a tragedy. Such a nightmare. Such pain.
NOT OUR PEOPLE?
My friend, blogger Ilya Varlamov, has traveled all over Russia for ages.
He’s been to every corner of our country to see for himself the way millions of Russians live.
Bracketing small towns, he filmed big cities’ people living in rotten barracks with no amenities, breathing mold,
and drowning in sewage.
Quite literally so. Some of them commute to work and traverse back through puddles of feces
that no one bothers to clear for years.
And every time, no matter the size of the city, local patriots spit abuse at him.
Like, why do you choose to film rotten barracks with no amenities?
You could’ve found something beautiful, you Negative Nancy, but you’ve purposely plunged into the cesspool.
But I personally have a counter-question. Aren’t there our people surviving in those slums? Aren’t there our children?
In Putin’s Russia, it’s become trendy to seek “our people” abroad, and constantly specify which Ukrainians
can be “ours” and which can’t.
To determine who’s who based on the way the war plays out. To conduct filtration and selection on occupied territories.
To impose a new government for those who're worthy to be “ours”
and to drive out of homes or even murder those who're not.
“Our” houses in Mariupol and Volnovakha need to be demolished first and then restored by forced labor.
But only for those who’ve passed the test to be “ours” and haven’t lost their
worth despite having to adapt to fluctuating criteria.
Meanwhile, the government owes nada to “ours” in Chita, Omsk, or Kyzyl.
God forbid they start living like decent human beings.
That’s utterly disgusting. With its verbal diarrhea and propagandistic chicanery,
Putin’s system hides a basic principle it abides by: don’t live and don’t let live.
There’re no “our people” for Vladimir Putin. Not in Ukraine, nor in Russia.
See you tomorrow!