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Comment by fcpk | Hacker News Reader

reads quite like propaganda. no technical details, just "patriotic music" can defeat high tech weapons vibes. terrible boring article.

"Bandera was a World War II Ukrainian insurgent" he is a very very controversial character[0] and that description is quite reducing.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera

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This phrasing surprised me, too. Bandera certainly has a mixed legacy. The truth of the matter is that Stalin's brutality and evil was so bad that he forced western Ukrainian nationalists to collaborate with Nazi Germany (which of course was also brutal and evil, but also offered a semblance of hope for Ukrainians, like other ethnic minorities and partisans who were placed against gargantuan rocks and hard places during the height of the horrors of the 20th century, and perhaps world history).

Hello, old-ish person born and living in Poland here. [0] I would just like to add some color to this topic.

I know that Ukraine has a complicated history with our country. I also believe that Ukraine is currently fighting for freedom and democracy in Europe.

Oddly enough, nothing better states my feelings than this Russian language music video, by a group who is now banned in Russia. IC3PEAK nailed it, and risked their lives in doing so. Please take less than three minutes to watch it with subs on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqohApD6Ng8 [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pac...

[1] Previous discussion, possibly the most upvoted music video on this website:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40027113

>Ukraine is currently fighting for freedom and democracy in Europe

But somehow their heroes wear Nazi's symbols[0].

[0] https://www.lemonde.fr/videos/video/2025/06/18/guerre-en-ukr...

You guys are the experts on this [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], so please educate us how it's possible. It's very well known fact that Russia was always friendly with the nazis. It all started with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pac....

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Utkin

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Unity

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managed_nationalism

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Imperial_Movement

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryno-Skachevsky_gang

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Organization_of_Russian...

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusich_Group

>The truth of the matter is that Stalin's brutality and evil was so bad that he forced western Ukrainian nationalists to collaborate with Nazi Germany

Yeah, right. The truth.

Is it Stalin who forced Ukrainian nationalists to genocide Poles, Jews and also Armenians, Russians, Czechs and Georgians? [0] Looks like the genocidal ideology of Ukrainian nationalists aligned very well with genocidal ideology of German Nazis.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia...

And yet, Stalin was the one who actually did do a genocide in Ukraine. He also did one at home, but the Putinesque approach to history is to ignore all of that.

I really hate to say it, but makes it feel like not everything that Putin said was a lie.

Duh? Ukraine is a big place for Nazis. Funnily enough, so is Russia (and if black metal is any indication, Finland). This is not exactly news.

edit: I’d appreciate comments explaining why I’m wrong besides drive by downvotes.

The best bullshit always has a little bit of truth mixed in. Still not a justification for invading, and still just a cover for his, and Russia's overall, imperialistic ambition.

Good propaganda does not work on "entirely lies". In order to be more believable, it contains some shreds of truth and also some omissions.

Bandera was not a nice person, but neither were the Russian rulers whom the current Russian government lionizes as great people. As for Nazism in general, Wagner Group was founded by an actual Nazi.

It all boils down to Lenin's "Who? Whom?"

>Bandera was not a nice person

Neither was Hitler

what specifically, though? Did Putin actually say it? Did Putin also say something contradictory to it?

what about not-believing something from the Ukranian government makes Putin more trustworthy?

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