Ukraine Shelling Russia, Killed Russian Civilians Says Russian Media
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been front page news ever since Ukraine gave its pro-Russian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and President Viktor Yanukovych the heave-ho in January. News outlets gave live, up-to-the-minute updates when Russian forces crossed the border into the historically Russian Crimea region of the Ukraine. We’ve even seen reports about Russia refusing to return dolphins trained for underwater reconnaissance and combat.
We continue to get regular news about Russia preparing to attack the Ukraine and supporting separatist rebels, but we’ve heard little to nothing about the Ukraine putting up resistance against Russia, much less actually attacking them.
According to a report in Russia-based Interfax-Russia, there’s more to the story that most of us are hearing in the West. The report claims that shelling from Ukraine has targeted residential areas.
The report quotes Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov’s remarks about the frequency of Ukraine attacks into Russia:
“Much has been said about the concentration of Russian troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Listen, you at least know who to shoot someone at the border. On the Russian side, we recorded nine attacks on Russian territory (from Ukraine) in June and July. Dozens of Ukrainian ground breaking and mortar shells. (The attacks) Were conducted and aimed fire along the Ukrainian border. (Ukrainian attacks) Killed our citizen Andrey Shulyataev. He is survived by three teenage daughters. Question: if a U.S. territory was fired from the adjacent territory, and God forbid, killed an American citizen, what would the Americans have done? The answer is clear.”
The report also quotes Russian border control representative Vasily Malaev speaking about the most recent shelling of Russian residential areas:
“In total, 45 shells exploded on the territory of the Kuibyshev district, damaging six houses — one of them has serious damage.”
There were no casualties reported in the alleged attack on Kuibyshev.
Whether we aren’t hearing about these Ukrainian attacks because the reports from the Russian media are unreliable or whether the information is being withheld for other reasons is unclear.
What do you think? Why are we not hearing about the alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russia? Would news of Ukrainian attacks on Russia sway public opinion as the situation continues to escalate?
It’s hard to say. What we know for sure is that the Russian media claims that Western Russia has been shelled by Ukraine, that homes and buildings have been damaged and that a Russian father of three has been killed. We also know that Russian officials have suggested that the United States would not put up with its civilians being killed in the Ukraine or anywhere else and that Russia doesn’t intend to, either.
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