ON SUNDAY morning around 30 cruise missiles fired by the Russian military hit the mis-named International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in western Ukraine, which is situated 15 miles from the Polish border.
The reaction to this attack was immediate, with the NATO countries and the bourgeois media swift to condemn Russian ‘barbarism’ and denounce an attack so close to the border of a fellow NATO member and, moreover, that cost the lives of foreign nationals.
As details emerged of this ‘peacekeeping’ centre and its inhabitants, it was clear that this was a centre for the organisation and training by NATO forces of a mercenary army recruited from around the world to wage war on Russia.
An article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph observed: ‘They came from all over the world, readying themselves for battle against what they knew would be a formidable enemy. Yet before they had a chance to fire a shot in anger, Ukraine’s foreign volunteers tasted the Kremlin’s full wrath.’
According to this report, at least 35 were killed and over 130 injured including a number of ‘Western volunteers’ in what the Telegraph described as a ‘blunt and very bloody reminder from President Vladimir Putin that foreigners should stay out of the conflict.’
In fact, Russia has issued many warnings about foreign mercenaries being recruited and sent to fight imperialism’s war in the Ukraine, with Russia’s Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashennkov warning that foreign mercenaries would not be considered prisoners of war if captured but could expect criminal prosecution.
Earlier this month, Russia accused the US of launching a widescale recruitment programme to send private military contractors to Ukraine, including professional mercenary private contractors, to train and direct military operations while foreign volunteers provide fighters.
According to a recent report in the Sunday Times, defence contractors in the US are recruiting former military veterans for covert operations in Ukraine for a massive $2,000 a day!
These foreign volunteers have been actively encouraged to go to Ukraine and fight by several European countries, who assured them they would not be criminalised but helped to fight in NATO’s war effort.
In Britain, foreign secretary Liz Truss said she supported individuals going to Ukraine to fight in the war to overthrow the property relations established by the Russian Revolution and restore capitalist exploitation in Russia.
The build up to this war has long been prepared and the ‘peacekeeping’ centre in western Ukraine has been central to it. Immediately after the US-financed the fascist-led coup in the Ukraine in 2014, the US and its allies have pumped in over $3 billion in arms and is committed to sending over $850 million more this month. Also in 2014, the centre was established with joint training sessions between NATO and Ukrainian troops.
The military build-up has now massively increased with the centre becoming the focal point for the training of foreign mercenaries and a storage base for weapons being sent in by NATO countries.
Sunday’s strike is a massive blow against the imperialist war drive. It was also a massive blow to the narrative continually pushed by the ruling class and its tame media of the Ukraine as a plucky little nation being invaded by a barbaric Russia.
By flooding the country with arms and mercenaries imperialism intends to keep the fighting going in the hope of spreading it out into Russia and effecting regime change and the restoration of capitalism to that country.
Meanwhile, the working class at home are to be forced to pay for all the billions spent on war and the economic disaster from the savage cost of living increases that come with the economic war against Russia.
The workers in the UK, Europe and US must give their full support to Russia by dealing with the main enemy, a capitalist system that can only survive through war both at home against its own working class and abroad to impose its rule over the world.
The only way to put an end to war on two fronts is for the working class to take power by overthrowing capitalism and going forward to worldwide socialism.
