War crimes in Ukraine

B9exchange that incident made me cry. Thinking of those poor little girls so brutally abused is sickening.

Maizie that article is almost unbelievable, I feel sick after reading it. It does illuminate how the Russian forces are able to be so cruel. I’ve read a fair bit about WW2 and the Russians were the most feared by the Germans and indeed by all the populations all the way through from Russia to Germany. No one in Europe wanted to be liberated by the Russians. Many people ran ahead of them to get to the west to avoid them including our next door neighbours when I was a child. They were from Ukraine and had fled the country as the Russians advanced, eventually ending up in England. My parents were very friendly with them and we socialised a lot with them. I played with their child who was the same age as myself. So it seems that the Russians have always been brutal.

The report from the Ukrainian paediatrician having to treat a group of girls, the oldest of which was 10, that had been raped so badly their perineums had been completely split between vagina and anus. That has been on my mind all day, sorry for putting it in yours too, but how on earth has Russia managed to dehumanise its forces to that extent.

I've found an article about the treatment of conscripts in the Russian army. It doesn't make nice reading.

www.vice.com/en/article/gqdx44/full-v13n4

The consequences of these reports are going to be very long lasting for the Russians, even China is not going to condone this kind of behavior, it is also going to galvanize Ukrainian resistance long term.

sodapop

silverlining48

In every war sexual and other violence is used by any army of any nationality. Twas ever thus. Sad but true. It’s naive to think otherwise.

I agree silverlining and its very sad. I do wonder how much we read and see about both sides is propaganda.

Yes, and saying so is by no means intended as an insult to all service people.

Look at Belfast. Or Iraq.

I'm not saying that all soldiers would rape and pillage, but that some would, and this is true of all nationalities.

I have read similar reports PECS this war is unnecessary and so very cruel.

PECS

My brother was, in the early stages of the invasion, in direct contact with a friend in Ukraine who worked for a church. He was praying with some captured Russian soldiers. One was a 16 year old on a" try before you buy" weekend with the Russian army..had no idea he was to be used as fodder on a front line & was just crying to go home to his mum. Suspect he won't be the only conned conscript.

That's sad PECS - I bet he's not the only child to have been conned like that.

silverlining48

In every war sexual and other violence is used by any army of any nationality. Twas ever thus. Sad but true. It’s naive to think otherwise.

I agree silverlining and its very sad. I do wonder how much we read and see about both sides is propaganda.

My brother was, in the early stages of the invasion, in direct contact with a friend in Ukraine who worked for a church. He was praying with some captured Russian soldiers. One was a 16 year old on a" try before you buy" weekend with the Russian army..had no idea he was to be used as fodder on a front line & was just crying to go home to his mum. Suspect he won't be the only conned conscript.

In every war sexual and other violence is used by any army of any nationality. Twas ever thus. Sad but true. It’s naive to think otherwise.

I saw a twitter thread a few days ago about how the young conscripts to the Russian army are systematically brutalised by beatings, rape, humiliation and similar really appalling treatment. I can't find it again. If it is true then it explains a lot about how they are desensitised to humane feelings.

grannygravy13 I am afraid there are incidents of very inappropriate behaviour by British military in Iraq. Maybe not on the scale that we have witnessed in other conflicts...but we don't always know.
We have to hope & expect our troops behave in an exemplary manner but be prepared to accept the possibility of wrong doing.

I haven't read the Mumsnet thread but having heard Rohit Kachroo's report the other day about one particular atrocity I felt even more sickened and can't get it out of my mind.
I won't post it on here, even recalling one girl's ordeal makes me weep.

Pure evil.

I read that some Ukrainians have given poisoned pies to the Russians. Some have died and others in hospital. You would use every weapon available to defeat these usurpers.

There has been videos showing small villages where it was quite clear that the innocent population were used as target practice. There poor bodies laying where they were shot. Men women and children.

War crimes every one.

Whatever the outcome, Putin must not be rewarded for his behaviour by giving home the territory he desires.

It's evil.

Doodledog

Yes, PECS. That's what I meant. That, plus the fact that the winning side gets to tell the stories makes it easy to think that 'we' would never do that sort of thing. 'We' would (or it would be done in our name).

Are you actually implying that British Service men/women would tie up enemy civilians and shoot them at point blank range in the head, oh and just for kicks rape the local women then try to incinerate the evidence ?

If you are then you are insulting every member of the Armed Forces currently serving in the U.K.

I haven't read much of this thread because the details are too much to handle. It seems to me, as a lay person, that the whole thing is a war crime. I just hope they are keeping evidence and that we get him.

There was an article on the BBC about a crack Russian regiment that had had many of its soldiers killed. Young men, all of them. For the first time ever when reading about a conflict, I thought, Good. That'll teach them to attack someone else's country. No sympathy.

Yes, PECS. That's what I meant. That, plus the fact that the winning side gets to tell the stories makes it easy to think that 'we' would never do that sort of thing. 'We' would (or it would be done in our name).

Just dreadful.

Russia has tried to pass this off as fake news saying that the bodies were moving. The BBC has checked and says there is no movement. The men had their hands tied too.
The Russian army are thugs and the level of brutality is appalling.

Oh bloody hell, it is just brutal.

War is brutal. Dehumanising your enemy, especially in the eyes of troops and to some degree in the civilian population too, enables those atrocities to be carried out. That, and creating blind obedience & fear in your militia i.e. if I don't comply I become the victim. It has been happening for years in every war since WW1 in Asia, Africa, Middle East & now probably because it is easier for us to empathise with Ukrainians it is shocking us!

JaneJudge

It is an unbelievable level of depravity shown by a developed countries army, surely?

I can't even read the mumsnet thread

Cannot disagree, but having read several articles on how the Russian recruits and conscripts are treated in their basic training it’s a recipe for disaster.

They are abused and brainwashed to the point of no return, beaten, made to eat faeces and drink urine. That is not the way a modern civilised country trains it’s forces.