2023-08-12 01:24:08
“Occupiers, don’t bother Ukrainian women”is one of the phrases that “Mavka furiosa” is in charge of spreading throughout the south of Ukraine under occupation. It is a clandestine organization dedicated to making Russian troops uncomfortable through sabotage campaigns that include spreading pro-Ukrainian propaganda and counterfeiting rubles with covert messages.
“The mavkas see everything!” reads one of the brochures circulating in the regions of Zaporizhia, Crimea and Kherson, under Russian occupation as part of the invasion that began on February 24, 2022. All have an image of a mavka, as the goddess who protects the forests and who is famous in Slavic mythology is known. A symbol that already bothers Russia.
Among the activities are the distribution of pro-Ukrainian leaflets, graffiti, the destruction of Russian symbols, the collection of information about Russian troops. An example is the image of a woman beating a Russian soldier with a bouquet of flowers, with the caption “I don’t want flowers, I want my Ukraine”. Part of the resistance is to spin the brochures in digital format so that other residents can print them and post them in their cities.
The original ruble.
“This is not Russia”
One of the most original sabotage mechanisms implemented by the Mavka is the ruble counterfeitthe Russian currency that is used by the Kremlin in the occupied Ukrainian territories as another way to “Russify” the population.
Rubles present modifications and messages seeking “intimidate” to the soldiers who must watch over the Russian occupation. For example, in the upper left corner of the original banknote lies the symbol of the Bank of Russia, while the fake shows ‘Mavka Angry Bank’.
In the center, the ruble bears the Neva Monument, found in Saint Petersburg, a female figure holding a scepter. This was modified by the Trident, a symbol of the Ukrainian nation and similar traits to Mavka’s character. In addition, the phrase “Russian banknote” or the sum of rubles were replaced by the phrases “this is not Russia” and “you are in Ukraine!”.
The ruble modified by Mavka furiosa.
Another sentence makes an exclusive allusion to the internal politics of Russia, shaken by the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the wear and tear of the war. “The ruble is as useless as Putin’s threats to Prigozhin,” reads the phrase, thus mocking the fall in the value of the ruble.
Ukraine denounced another Russian war crime in the city of Pokrovsk
“They are not welcome in Ukraine”
The resistance movement was founded by three friends from Melitopol and operates in the south of the country occupied by Russia through efficient coordination by Telegram. The idea of a clandestine movement of women arose in a meeting that they organized in the previous one of the International Day of the Working Woman.
“We were clear that the occupiers would do something and that they would certainly give flowers to women in the streets. We wanted to show them that they cannot buy us flowers and that we know what we want, which is to return to Ukraine,” said one of the founders. to the DW portal, who asked to protect his identity for security reasons.
The woman is from Simferopol, a town located in the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. “During the occupation we tried all the time to make our resistance clear, we also helped other movements. But we always thought it would be good to do something like women”, says the co-founder of the movement that already has more than a hundred collaborators of all ages.
These brave women are considered “sabotage squads” by pro-Russian information channels. In pro-Russian groups, mavkas are further described not as goddesses from Ukrainian mythology but as “evil zombies” who are “similar to the dead girl coming out of the TV in the movie The Call.”
The defamation does not stop the organized Ukrainian women who continue to print hundreds of banknotes and pamphlets that they courageously spread in defiance of Moscow. They maintain that the objective, in addition to resisting, is to remind the occupiers that “They are not welcome in Ukraine.”
CD
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