An open letter to Workers World from Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich Dear Comrades We would like to first draw your attention, comrades, to the fact that we, communists and anti-fascists, brothers Mikhail Kononovich and Alexander Kononovich, were arrested for our many years of “Komsomol [Communist Youth League] for Peace” actions, which we held in all the cities of Ukraine, starting in 2014. The last action was two weeks before the full-scale war of 2022 began, held near the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine with the main slogan “No to NATO – Peace for Donbas!” Only communist anti-fascists advocated for peace in Ukraine. We tried to prevent the “Third World War.” That is why being a communist and anti-fascist in Ukraine is already a crime. Since our arrest on 2nd March 2022, we have been in the dungeons of the SBU (Ukrainian secret police) and prisons for eight months, subjected to beatings, torture, abuse, deprived of sleep in solitary confinement and in inhumane conditions...
by Alex Miller Today most Ukrainians have lost their patriotic zeal. Guided by a common instinct of self-preservation and fear of serious injury or unwanted death they are not ready to sacrifice themselves. The new Ukrainian law on military mobilisation further aggravates the situation with conscription into the army. Numerous attempts of government to straighten out the mobilisation process have generally failed. Territorial Recruiting Centres (known as TCK) cannot meet the government’s recruitment needs. Large-scale military defeats, a high number of losses, an acute shortage of weapons, the complete absence of social benefits from the state, -- all these creates conditions when the majority of Ukrainian men prefer to flee to Europe and other countries. According to the Belgian newspaper, Politico, during this time more than 650,000 Ukrainian men fit for service fled from the country. However, the actual statistical figures are much higher. The London Guardian on 29th June 2024...