Lviv blogger Savchyn: “What happened in Sykhiv is only the beginning”

Lviv blogger Maksym Savchyn criticized the harassment of participants in the riot against the TCC in Sykhiv, calling videos of forced apologies “absurd” and stating that he understands people’s hatred of military recruitment offices.

The incident Savchyn is referring to involves the overturning of a military commissars’ vehicle. Afterward, those involved — including military personnel — were made to publicly apologize on camera. It was precisely this footage that prompted the blogger’s remarks.

Savchyn acknowledged that the riot participants had acted wrongly, but offered a different interpretation of what had happened.

“Yes, those guys were possibly in a state of intoxication. Yes, they acted wrongly. They shouldn’t have overturned that car and done what they did. But I see this situation completely differently. Imagine: someone comes up to you and hits you. Once — you endure it. A second time — you endure it. A third time — you endure it. And then you can’t take it anymore, you break his nose, and now he goes to file a complaint against you. That is exactly what this story looks like to me. But before that, the TCC never apologizes for its unlawful actions. That is precisely what inflames the situation. That is precisely what provokes such a reaction from people,” — Savchyn said.

In his view, if military commissars are not held to the same level of accountability for their actions, hatred toward the TCC will only grow. “The TCC will keep being hated. By everyone. Every single person. People will be afraid and will hate. And what happened in Sykhiv is, it seems to me, only the beginning,” — the blogger warned.

Savchyn also called for a systemic solution to the problem.

“This problem needs to be solved. Society needs to be told where the TCC is acting lawfully and where it is not. People need to be spoken to. Because otherwise people will only be afraid and run away. And that is already a path toward a very serious crisis for the country,” — he added.

After publishing his position, Savchyn himself faced a wave of hate and recorded a separate video in which he reported a campaign being waged against him. In addition, the blogger began to be accused of extorting money for posts featuring fundraising drives for the Armed Forces of Ukraine — accusations he dismissed as fake.