One of many. But one of the few to receive a real funeral, rather than being left to rot in mass graves by their psychopathic commanders.
In the past two weeks persistent rumors that Kiev has been
hiding thousands of killed and wounded Ukrainian servicemen and 'volunteers battalion' casualties have forced their way into the Ukrainian press.
The most vocal allegations of a cover-up of Ukrainian combat deaths comes not from Russian media or the leaders of the 'separatist' Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, but from
right wing MP and Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko, and from the
commander of Kiev's 'Donbas Battalion' Semyon Semchenko.
Last month on his Facebook page Lyashko directly accused President Petro Poroshenko of
hiding over 8,000 Ukrainian combat deaths -- a number nearly eight times the 'official' KIA figures reported by the English-language
Kyiv Post, which as of
Friday was still stubbornly reporting 'only' 974 confirmed Ukrainian combat deaths - a highly dubious figure that has
barely budged since the disastrous battle for Ilovaisk in early September.
According to Myroslava Petsa, a correspondent for Ukraine's 5th Channel, Defense Minister
Valeriy Heletey refused to discuss the casualties from in the Ilovaisk disaster in a recent parliamentary hearing. Ms. Petsa tweeted on October 1st that
Heletey referred to the casualty lists from the Ilovaisk battle as classified. But who is Lieutenant General Heletey trying to hide Kiev's true losses from, the Donbas militias or the Ukrainian people?
It's easy to dismiss Semchenko as an incompetent battlefield commander seeking to excuse his failures, and to call Lyashko a fascist clown who kidnaps alleged 'separatists' and strips them down to their underwear for videotaped interrogations. But
Lyashko's estimate of Ukraine's total KIA is consistent with numbers put forward by pro-Novorossiya sources such as Colonel Cassad's blog. It's also consistent with the grim casualty reports from the bloody battle underway as of this writing for the Donetsk airport.
Comment: Every indication is that this is the case. Just like the U.S. in Iraq, Kiev is covering up the true amount of combat deaths, probably in a feeble attempt not to let the people know what a failure their 'war' is, and how many young men have been sent to their deaths, deaths which occurred while on a mission to murder civilians -- men, women, and children -- in east Ukraine.
By the way, this is not really 'new'. There have been indications that the death count in east Ukraine has been vastly downplayed for months. See:
Ukrainian MP sez over 10,000 dead in Ukraine since start of mad 'anti-terror' op
Comment: One of the reasons there is not enough money for education is that the elites do not want the masses to be able to think critically. It is much easier to control a population that has been dumbed down, does not ask questions and is happy to follow orders.
The Assault on Public Education
The dumbing down of America - By design
American Education: Brainwashing children and suffocating freedom