War Crimes of the Russian Soldiers

 

All parties to the armed conflict in Ukraine are obligated to abide by international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, and customary international law. Belligerent armed forces that have effective control of an area are subject to the international law of occupation. International human rights law, which is applicable at all times, also applies.

 

The laws of war prohibit willful killing, rape and other sexual violence, torture, and inhumane treatment of captured combatants and civilians in custody. Pillage and looting are also prohibited. Anyone who orders or deliberately commits such acts, or aids and abets them, is responsible for war crimes. Commanders of forces who knew or had reason to know about such crimes but did not attempt to stop them or punish those responsible are criminally liable for war crimes as a matter of command responsibility.

 

Just few facts with no comments:

In Irpin:

* 9 y.o. girl was raped by 11 (at least 11 sperm samples were found) soldiers, then they cut the letter “Z” on her chest and ripped her stomach open. Her parents were killed in front of her.

* Mother, father, 3 daughters 5, 8, 17 years old. Russians settled in their house. The father was shot dead the same day. They raped the children in front of the mother, she was raped too. Girls aged 5 and 8, died from rape and injuries. 17 years old daughter and mother survived, but they are in critical condition in hospital.

* Mother, father, 11 years old daughter and their shepherd. The father was shot. The dog was cut for 4 hours in front of the child and mother. During 1 week, the mother was raped in front of her child.

In Bucha:

* Mother, father, daughter 9 years old and son 5 years old. Soldiers from the Kadyrov brigade entered their private house. The father’s hands were tied, he was brought to his knees and shot in front of his wife and children. The next day, the boy's genitals were cut off, he died of bleeding. The mother and daughter were raped for 2 weeks.

* Mother, father, grandparents and 2 years old girl. They found all dead in the house. Father with their hands tied and shot. The child has a cut throat. Mother with torn genitals and slaughtered.

* 14 years old girl was raped by 5 Russian occupiers. She’s pregnant now. The laughed that now she will remember quite well the Russian World

* 11 years old boy was raped in front of his mother. She was tied to a chair to watch.

* 25 girls and women aged 14 to 24 were systematically raped in the basement. Nine of them are pregnant. Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn't want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children.

As individuals, Russian soldiers are no more brutal than any other. But they operate within an institutional culture that tacitly allows and actively encourages barbaric behavior. Radio intercepts reveal them discussing the killing of civilians as a deliberate tactic. Putin’s propaganda machine has dehumanized the Ukrainians, making it much easier for his troops to brutalize them.

 

Sources and Additional Information:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3264042-the-russian-army-has-a-long-history-of-brutality-ukraine-is-no-exception/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61071243

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/17/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-atrocities.html

https://time.com/6166681/bucha-massacre-ukraine-dispatch/

Resistance by Simon Armitage

Here is the laureate’s poem about the invasion of Ukraine, written in solidarity with those under fire

Resistance

Author: Simon Armitage, March 11, 2022

It’s war again: a family

   carries its family out of a pranged house

      under a burning thatch.

The next scene smacks

   of archive newsreel: platforms and trains

      (never again, never again),

toddlers passed

   over heads and shoulders, lifetimes stowed

      in luggage racks.

It’s war again: unmistakable smoke

   on the near horizon mistaken

      for thick fog. Fingers crossed.

An old blue tractor

   tows an armored tank

      into no-man’s land.

It’s the ceasefire hour: godspeed the columns

   of winter coats and fur-lined hoods,

      the high-wire walk

over buckled bridges

   managing cases and bags,

      balancing west and east - godspeed.

It’s war again: the woman in black

   gives sunflower seeds to the soldier, insists

      his marrow will nourish

the national flower. In dreams

   let bullets be birds, let cluster bombs

      burst into flocks.

False news is news

   with the pity

      edited out. It’s war again:

an air-raid siren can’t fully mute

   the cathedral bells -

      let’s call that hope.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/resistance-by-simon-armitage-ukraine-poem

A poem inspired by the war in Ukraine

 

On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces previously concentrated along the border. Russian soldiers indiscriminately kill civilians to break a spirit of the Ukrainian people, protecting their country from unprovoked invasion. Forbidden by the international community weapon is used, like vacuum and cassette bombs to increase the casualties. Due to the inability to capture the major cities, the Russian government became desperate, threatening to use chemical and tactical nuclear weapon, if the Ukrainian people will not lay their arms. More than 2 million people fled from the country.

  

A poem inspired by the war in Ukraine

 

By Daniel Pekker

 

you watch a snail, shell curled up like a sleeping child

wander the vast green of a leaf

little bites spot the waxy terrain, the world a feast

you place your index finger before the snail

not a demand, an invitation

and the snail sluggishly climbs aboard

the slime trail tickles as the frontier is crossed

and there’s a war going on

you watch the clouds and she watches too

she is close enough that you smell lavender

all the stronger when the breeze picks up

both chilly and unwilling to move

she points out an anteater wearing a hat

and you feel her fingers gently nudge yours

all the warmer between shivers

and there's a war going on

you sit on the floor, your back leaning on the front door

it’s late and you only hear the muffled highway

you didn’t even take your shoes off yet

the silence hums like a branch under the weight of its fruit

there’s nobody to watch, nothing to attend to

just the day seeping through your fingertips into the carpet

and there’s a war going on

you brush your teeth

and there’s a war going on

her laugh breaks your scowl

and there’s a war going on

you spot green mold on your toast

and there’s a war going on

you set the snail down on another leaf and wonder how it’ll get home

and then remember that snails carry their homes with them

and the snail will be okay wherever it ends up

and there’s a war going on

March 2022