Drueke with his mother, Lois (left) and Drueke's photo from his time in the U.S. Army Reserve, which included two tours in Iraq / credit: New York Post

‘I Regret’ Being a Mercenary in Ukraine: Conversation with U.S. POW Detained in Donbass

Last week, two U.S. citizens who had traveled to Ukraine to fight for the Ukrainian International Legion were widely reported as having been captured by military forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the breakaway republic in eastern Ukraine that is allied with Russia in the ongoing conflict in the region. The two Alabama residents were apparently captured amid fighting in the outskirts of the Ukrainian oblast of Kharkov and, to this point, had not had any contact with U.S. press. That is, until regular TF contributor Fergie Chambers got a phone call.

A residential block in Petrovsky / credit: Fergie Chambers

‘God Will Sort Them Out’: Ukrainians of Donbass Beg NATO to End War

The Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine has reached its 90th day and the Western press continues to be inundated with unverified claims of war crimes Russian forces allegedly have committed. However, reported Ukrainian military shelling that has killed more than 14,000 people since 2014 in the breakaway region of Donbass has received little media attention. TF contributor Fergie Chambers reports on the latest he found in the city of Donetsk, where attacks on civilians continue.

Fergie Chambers, TF Contributor in Ukraine, and ‘Texas’ Bentley Report from Donbass Frontlines

Russell "Texas" Bentley returned to The Grayzone alongside regular Toward Freedom contributor Fergie Chambers to detail their experiences documenting the war in the Donbass region. Chambers discussed his recent visit to a dungeon of the Ukrainian state-backed Aidar Battalion, and his interviews with Donetsk-based communists, while Texas described being on the front lines with the Donetsk People's Republic militia.

A Ukrainian delegation arrived on February 28 in Belarus for a round of talks with Russia / credit: Sergei Kholodilin/BelTA/TASS

Ukraine: A Conflict Soaked in Contradictions and New Patterns in War and Media

Even as we deplore the violence and the loss of life in Ukraine resulting from the Russian intervention (and the neofascist violence in the Donbass), it is valuable to step back and look at how the rest of the world may perceive this conflict, starting with the West’s ethnocentric interest in an attack whose participants and victims they believe they share aspects of identity with—whether related to culture, religion, or skin color, writes Vijay Prashad.