Ukraine says Russia strikes Mariupol theatre sheltering residents, Moscow denies attack
www.reuters.com
Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on a theatre in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering on Wednesday, Ukraine's foreign ministry said.

"Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on a theatre in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering on Wednesday, Ukraine's foreign ministry said."

"Russia denies targeting civilians. In Moscow, the defence ministry said its forces had not struck the building and instead accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, RIA news agency said."

if you go on twitter, the story is being completely framed as 100% accurate and a Russian atrocity/war crime despite there being no real proof of anything yet. So I'm really skeptical. This seems extremely convenient "terrible, clearly wrong thing" to occur the same day as further peace talks.

Obviously, if it is real, it's terrible and either was committed by Russia out of stupidity/confusion, or pure malice. But I'll hold my breath before believing anything like this coming from Ukraine at this point.

  • Malagueta [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Want to give a source on that? this comment smells like tongue polished leather.

    Regardless, Azov was trained by the US military / NATO and they’re a symptom of a much worse problem.

    • cawsby [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Can't find the tweet from this morning.

      Wikipedia says 400+, but it has been much higher all the way to 1200 before suffering losses to other units/deaths/casualties.

      A battalion is always 400-1200 troops.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion

      • Malagueta [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Azov isn’t the only fascist group in the country, they’re just the easiest to reference as short hand. It’s been a huge issue since NATO and the US couped the government 8+ years ago.

        Check the talk page on the wiki article you linked, btw, that whole thing is astroturfed to hell by fascists.

        I wouldn’t recommend trusting any political articles on Wikipedia besides using the talk pages and edit history to get an idea of who’s slugging it out and who currently has control of the page (spoiler, it’s almost always fash)

        • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Azov isn’t the only fascist group in the country, they’re just the easiest to reference as short hand.

          Yeah that's a good point. Even the libbiest libs can't deny that Azov are nazis since they parade around with swastika flags. Other groups like Right Sector can be just as bad but they're not as blatant so you have to suffer through a round of "akshully just because they're far right antisemites, doesn't mean they're Nazis..."

          • Malagueta [she/her]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Yup. Lots of “tHeYrE jUsT rEaLLy iNtO sOuNdGaRdEn” shit about soldiers with fash patches too

            It was fucking funny watching the libs even here drop the “there are no nazis” shit within like a day or two lmfao

            • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              "They just really love Japanese culture and that's why they have tattoos of Japanese shrine symbols!"

              • Malagueta [she/her]
                ·
                3 years ago

                “Jainism is aktualy the state religion of ukraine not a lot of people know that but its true there are many devout followers and temples so inspiring”

      • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Azov Battalion is just their name. They had that name when they were a small paramilitary group and kept it even as they grew to the size of a regiment.