For more than four years, the Russian invasion caused devastating human and social consequences. Putin’s troops occupied 20% of the country, but they have not been able to break Ukraine, which is resisting on the front and in the rear, with the working people as its backbone. Here we share a conversation with our comrade Oleg Vernyk, of the Ukrainian Socialist League (LSU) from Kiev, after the last Russian attack on the city.
“Russian aggression continues, but in recent months there have been some changes. After four years of uninterrupted service to Putin, in February the fascistoid Elon Musk disconnected the Starlink satellites that provided logistics to his military, which had to enable its own communications system.
Our numerical and technical inferiority remains, and the support of the Western imperialist powers is limited to our being able to defend ourselves, not to defeating Putin. The EU keeps up the financial support and Trump has all but eliminated it. However, Ukrainian drone production is increasing in quantity and effectiveness, at relatively low cost.
But what stands out is the massive and frequent manufacture and use of Ukrainian drones, which even reached Moscow, questioning its invulnerability. On the front, some drones are launched surprisingly from small hot-air balloons and from high altitude. This causes damage to the enemy, slows down and, in some cases, stops the advance of troops. There are some indicators of a weakening of Putin’s authoritarian regime and a decline in his popularity among the Russian people.
All this, which is positive for the resistance, should not be taken out of context. Russia responds with threatening nuclear military maneuvers, increasingly involves Belarus, seeks support from China, attacks Kiev as never before, and the talks involving Trump, Putin and Zelensky in various ways do not look in the direction of a just peace, without territorial losses and impositions on Ukraine.
In the early morning of last Sunday (24/05) we suffered the most criminal attack so far. We had to take cover several times in subway stations and other shelters; there were explosions, fire and smoke everywhere. It was a real barrage of about 600 drones and 90 missiles, which damaged 30 buildings and caused at least 2 people dead and 36 wounded. After the wave I learned that they launched, for the third time since 2022, an Oréshnik ultrasonic missile, this time over the town of Bila Tserkva, south of Kiev.
Our only hope is to resist, to appeal to internationalist solidarity and the mobilization of the oppressed peoples of the world”.
