Originally Posted by
peter we
No they don't. They had the opportunity to leave 8 years ago and since, when the press ganging started. Most people left for Russia or Ukraine.
By staying they volunteered and this is exactly how Russia is treating them.
This is outrageously wrong as a generalisation. I am hosting a Ukrainian refugee whose family are from Donbas - a town near Sieverodonetsk. They are primarily Ukrainian speakers although, of course, they also (used to) speak Russian. Although they were begged (my guest's word) to leave at the very beginning of the war they were reluctant to leave their home and unable to believe that the current situation could possibly happen. These are well educated and capable people. For a considerable period they were effectively imprisoned in a partially destroyed home lacking all utilities. Cars leaving for western Ukraine were routinely destroyed and their occupants killed. One grandparent is over 90 years old and extremely disabled. Fortunately it was eventually possible to extract them to the west of the country.
Is it that surprising that people like these were reluctant to leave their homes - not least because they were probably the only asset that they owned? There's a great deal more that I could say about the above but it's not for public consumption. There's an appalling lack of empathy with the victims of the war that is starting to emerge here in the UK, where many, if not most, people think that the economic impact on their relatively safe and manageable lifestyles is far more serious than a major war in Europe.
Unfortunately I believe we are currently experiencing the early tremors of an earthquake which is going to change "Western" civilisation. Assuming there will be much left of it.