The reality of the death and destruction in Ukraine continues to seep out where reporters are still on the ground. A New York Times investigation uses unencypted Russian battlefield communications to reveal how haphazard Russian command and control is.
The Washington Post has video from volunteers defending Kyiv. At least one Ukrainian in this unit served with the U.S. military.
This longer video (below) from Vice News is perhaps the most damning and disturbing. At Timestamp 12:40, 25-year-old Olya tells Isobel Yeung what happened to her town of Mykolaiv in South Ukraine. She huddles with her grandfather in the basement of their bombed-out home. In a call to her aunt Svetlana in Russia, Olya asks what media there is saying about Ukraine.
“The Nazis torture people,” the aunt says. “They show on TV how they abuse girls and youngsters. They rape and abuse them,” Svetlana says. “Olya, they just hide that from you.”
For anyone who’s heard right-wing and QAnon propaganda spread in the U.S., the effect is chilling. Svetlana supports Putin. He’s liberating Ukraine from the Nazis.
“I feel like I live in a movie, in a lie,” Olya tells Vice.
“The disbelief from their own family members just across the border is in bitter contrast to the devastation they are experiencing,” Yeung explains.
It is like a kick to the gut. The alternate reality and even the narrative content from Russia is all too familiar. The American right is singing from the same hymnal.
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