BELGRADE, THURSDAY

“YOU HAVE MILLIONS of Ukrainians fleeing their beleaguered homeland for the safety of other European countries, while that same homeland is pleading for the return of hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age who are hiding abroad while their brothers and, yes, sisters because our women have to fill the gap they leave, at home, and thousands of volunteers from the very countries hiding them, risk their lives and die daily for the cause of Ukraine against the Russian invader. And on top of all this, the same huge flood of refugees is causing protests in their lands of sanctuary, complaining that these territories are themselves the subject of invasion by too many refugees. It would be amusing if it were not so tragic, and stupid. I wonder if Russia is paying for all this.”

The words of a junior Ukrainian officer sitting in a hospital bed, minus his right arm, were spoken with tears welling in his eyes. He cannot understand how European countries, who say they support Ukraine, who send money and weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, who train Ukrainian soldiers, whose own citizens have volunteered to risk their lives defending Ukraine, can give a hiding place to thousands of Ukrainians who have deserted their country’s cause and refuse to take their place in the front line.

“These slimy bastards want someone else to die for them, but they are not willing to lift a finger to help their nation. I have only five fingers left but I would gladly give all of them for my country. They, however, refuse to defend our elderly, our women, our children. Well fuck them. And fuck those creeps who give them shelter. With help like that no wonder things are going so badly for us on the battlefield. The hypocrisy of the West is breathtaking. We need men, hundreds of thousands of men. We need them now. Perhaps we need to make an example of a few of them by shooting them in town squares or hanging them from trees with placards stating that they refused to defend the motherland and so do not deserve to live. My God, how violent I have become. See what war does to you? But I have seen so many good friends die or be terribly wounded my tolerance for these traitors is limited. No mercy. None.”