Russo-Ukrainian War: Russian forces shell Derhachi

Two people, as Russian forces shell Derhachi, are killed. Several other people are severely injured. Massacres in towns like Bucha remain a hot button topic. The available evidence suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin isn't serious about peace talks. Continued shelling clearly suggests the Russian president has no real interest in a peaceful resolution. Does anyone seriously believe Putin?

“Peace Talks with Ukraine not progressing was fast as we would’ve wanted. West trying hard to derail it by sparking a hysteria over 'war crimes'", Sergey Lavrov, Russia's former Foreign Minister, said. "It’s their call. Russia is ready for whatever.”

Joel Day, in an article published by the U.K.'s Daily Express, reports "Putin needs peace talks as 'pretext to continue shelling' Ukraine."

"Putin will have a victory parade on 9th May regardless the status of the war or peace talks," a European defence official said. "On the other hand: a victory parade with what troops and vehicles?"

"Two Ukrainians were killed Sunday morning in Russian shelling, reported Reuters journalist Aaron Reich. The journalist, published in The Jerusalem Post, wrote of persons "digging out two bodies of villagers."

Peace talks, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are still very much on the table. The president isn't going to allow Russian intransigence to get in his way. Negotiations, if all parties are willing, can move forwards.

"Zelensky pledges to continue peace talks with Russia despite atrocities committed in Ukraine," reported The Kyiv Independent.

A Russian journalist, Vladimir Solovyov, believes "Zelensky is Ukraine’s last president because there won’t be any Ukraine after that.”

Derhachi, with a population a little over 17,400 people, is situated in Kharkiv Oblast's Kharkiv Raion. The eastern Ukrainian city, only seven miles from the oblast capital, was established in the mid-seventeenth century. Derhachi was originally a sloboda.

A sloboda, terminology increasingly less used in contemporary culture, was a settlement type found in Old Russian regions. Curiously, considering current Russian occupation, the word "sloboda" is associated with an early Slavic word meaning "freedom". Sloboda is increasingly associated with rural communities.

World Central Kitchen , on Wednesday, 6 April 2022, referenced in a tweet a Derhachi hospital being evacuated.

At a hospital in Derhachi, north of Kharkiv, increased shelling has forced many to evacuate. Still, some medical staff remain to treat residents injured. WCK will keep delivering ingredients including fresh fruit & vegetables for hospital teams to cook with.

Derhachi, historically speaking, previously saw invading forces take up residence. The German Army, during the Second World War, occupied Derhachi from Tuesday, 21 Oct. 1941 to Friday, 13 Aug. 1943. The Third Battle of Kharkov, unfolding during Feb. 1943, briefly saw the Red Army retake the city.

The city, during the Belgorod–Kharkov offensive, was liberated the same year. If Derhachi can survive German occupation, despite technology having changed significantly, the city could outlast the Russians. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, with an optimistic view, remains ever defiant.

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Naturally, Republicans being Republicans, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blames President Joe Biden for Putin Ukraine. The invasion had nothing to do with former President Donald J. Trump being weak on Russia. Republicans will never accept Trump played a significant part in Putin's decision.

"Had Biden sent, one, weaponry earlier, maybe Putin would not have made the decision to enter Ukraine," McCarthy said during his Fox News interview.

McCarthy, like Putin, was obviously lying. Nothing, as Sarah Reese Jones correctly observes, was going to stop Putin from invading Ukraine. Putin began seeing the United States as being weak. Consequently, because of this, the Russian president thought he could walk all over Ukraine and the United States wouldn't do anything. Never underestimate Biden.