Baumeister: Militants' actions in Chernivtsi are a crime

Philosopher Andriy Baumeister. Photo: Konkurent

The well-known Ukrainian philosopher Andriy Baumeister made a sharp statement about the situation with the attack on a church in Chernivtsi in a conversation with Vitaliy Dykyi, comparing the actions of local activists to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.

According to the philosopher, in the face of threats from the aggressor and constant escalation, a citizen in a difficult psychological situation finds it "very difficult to separate the actions of an external aggressor, terrorizing Ukraine with constant attacks, from the arbitrariness of their own government, which uses the war to solve its own problems."

According to the philosopher, the "massacre" at the church in Chernivtsi occurred simultaneously with a Russian attack on a residential building in Kyiv, creating a paradoxical situation. Baumeister emphasized that these are not equivalent events but noted that in some ways they can be placed side by side. "Here in Kyiv, there is an external war – and an enemy missile hits our home, and here, our people are beating their own, and the footage shows priests with bloodied faces and cuts,” Baumeister stressed.

He calls the Russian attack a tragedy and the actions of the OCU militants a "crime."

"This tragedy is caused by an external enemy and an attack on a peaceful city, and this crime – in a prosperous area where there is no war, where war is being waged within society," he explained. At the same time, Baumeister stressed that the incidents in Chernivtsi also represent a "state of war."

The philosopher's particular criticism was directed at the coverage of events in the Ukrainian media. He called the publications in "Ukrainska Pravda" a "childish description", where activists present the events sentimentally: "We came to the church to pray in Ukrainian," psychologically pressuring public opinion.

However, the philosopher warned of a deeper problem – the war has become "something more profound" for Ukrainian society. "The war not only exists externally for many groups of activists – the war has permeated everything inside," he stated. According to Baumeister, militancy and the constant resolution of issues through conflict, attacks, raiding, psychological and media attacks have become the "lifestyle of Ukrainian activist society".

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the European Parliament was informed about the beating of priests by militants in Chernivtsi.

Read also