In this article, we will attempt to explain why the Ukrainian military’s use of drones in combat missions is just as reprehensible as the Russian military’s use of drones. We’ll begin with a quote from a Czech daily newspaper:
The war in Ukraine has escalated in recent days into a battle over energy infrastructure. Russia is systematically destroying Ukrainian gas facilities in the Kharkiv region, while Ukrainian drones are striking targets deep inside Russian territory. Nighttime airstrikes on the outskirts of Moscow left ten people injured, including three Chinese citizens. (…) In Podolsk, drones struck civilian buildings and a highway, injuring two more women. An 11-year-old girl also had to seek medical attention due to a severe stress reaction. – source: https://ekonomickydenik.cz/ukrajinske-drony-ruske-vnitrozemi-zraneni-cizinci/
What political and strategic conclusions do supporters of the “Ukrainian people’s resistance” draw from this? We see no critical self-reflection here. Their perspective remains as tragic as ever. First, according to them, Russia is the sole aggressor in this war. Second, they continue to call for “more military equipment for the Ukrainian army,” which they claim is solely defending the Ukrainian civilian population. Third, they continue to raise funds for the manufacturers and pilots of Ukrainian drones, which they describe as instruments of liberation and means of defense.
Attacks by the Ukrainian military using drones have repeatedly resulted in injuries, deaths, and trauma among civilians in Russia. Pro-Ukrainian media, including those labeled as anarchist, however, unanimously declare: “Ukraine has been defending itself against Russian aggression for five years.” Thus, it is considered aggression when the Russian military bombs infrastructure in Kharkiv, but when the Ukrainian military bombs similar infrastructure in Russia, it is an act of self-defense.(1)
We would search in vain for any substantial difference between what pro-Ukrainian fighters and their supporters consider to be defense and what reasonable people generally regard as a ruthless attack on innocent people. It is clear that both sides—Russia and Ukraine—are the same in this regard. Each side accuses the other of spreading terror, while describing the terror it itself inflicts as necessary self-defense.
That is simply the essence of war propaganda and practice. The ruling classes and their minions on all sides spread destruction, but it is the working class—which has no interest in waging war—that suffers the most from its consequences. This is summed up very well by a comment that was recently posted in a discussion thread under a podcast on the ANews website. In this podcast, there was a discussion about a controversial interview in which Margaret Killjoy asks questions of a person named Kafa, who operates drones in Ukrainian military operations and describes this as the only correct anarchist strategy during the war. A person who was disgusted by this interview wrote the following in the discussion:
For context, I was born in russia and have been living in the united states for most of my life. Most of my family still lives in russia. I hear the stories of whats going on with them over there pretty often. I cant visit them in person because there’s a chance that I would be drafted if i did.
Currently I have family in two cities that are being attacked by ukrainian drones. I hear about my cousin being scared to go to school and my grandma describing the sound of drones while she gives me updates about her chronic heart condition. My mom has been having panic attacks for years now because the reality that our family might get killed before we get to see them again is very real. I mostly don’t talk about this with my friends. Most people don’t have anything to say to me when I bring it up. I know that this is much less intense than what people in ukraine are experiencing. I do not see myself as capable of speaking on what its like to live under an active military occupation, in an active War zone.
That all being said, to think that someone on the other side of a drone that’s scaring the shit out of my grandma is a proud enby anarchist is really really hard to hold. That I have multiple things in common with someone that’s enthusiastically a part of a state military that’s spreading terror in a civilian population that my family happens to be a part of. To read the drone operator say that they think the only anarchist option is to enlist is hard for me. There is a long history of anarchists saying “this isn’t my fight” when War comes knocking. I do feel capable of criticizing Margaret, who chose to uncritically engage with someone that’s enthusiastically participating on a side of a nation-state while proclaiming it as the only anarchist option. I would have liked to hear a question or two about what it’s like to participate in one of the most techno-dystopian manifestations of War this planet has had the misfortune of witnessing.
What is it like to play a game which results in real carnage? To know that on the other side of that fiber optic cable are people hiding in basements and apartments, some are chugging meds so their heart wont quit on them.
On both sides of every War are people that want nothing to do with it. That cant wait for it to be over, on whom it is imposed by piece-of-shit politicians that didn’t get hugged enough or whatever the fuck. To say that participating in their games, literally with an xbox controller, is the only anarchist option is something that should at the very least be challenged and questioned further. To let that part of the conversation end without naming the long lineage of sabotage and evasion practiced by anarchist and anti-political people is to forget a crucial part of what it means to be anarchists in an increasingly idiotic and binary world. I felt real shitty reading the transcript of Margaret’s podcast, and maybe that would be good for Kafa to know. That her pain is spreading as far as to touch someone so far away.
This world pins us against each other in ways that become hard to see through the pain and rage. The games politicians play with our lives can feel inescapable. It is totally worthwhile to engage critically with those of us that choose to play along.”
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NOTES:
(1) Here are a few more examples that clearly show that the Ukrainian military’s operations are having a devastating impact on the civilian population as well, and not just on Russian military infrastructure.
– “Another Ukrainian drone attack struck the city of Voronezh. According to the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, four people were injured; two female residents of the city had to be taken to the hospital, and one man is also in the hospital with burns. Several residential and farm buildings caught fire after being struck by debris from the destroyed drones. One private home was completely destroyed.”https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/svet/drony-zasahly-mesta-v-ukrajine-i-v-rusku-363627
– “Ukraine’s response was not long in coming. The Russian Ministry of Defense reports a massive drone attack involving more than 200 drones over its territory. The strikes in the Moscow region are drawing the most attention. In the town of Domodedovo, seven people were injured, six of whom had to be hospitalized.”https://ekonomickydenik.cz/ukrajinske-drony-ruske-vnitrozemi-zraneni-cizinci/
