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Thursday, December 22, 2022

Links - 22nd December 2022 (2 - Ukraine War)

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Putin - did we help create a war criminal? - "‘There's a nagging feeling around that we've spent the last 30 years in a fool's paradise, thinking history had ended, or at least that the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that Western liberal capitalist democracy had finally triumphed, and a world fashioned in our image was inevitable. Some see our weakness, even decadence, paving the way for Russian revanchism. They point to democracy in retreat in the developing world, outnumbered by autocracies for the first time since the turn of the century. They note that on the very day the Russians invaded, it was reported our security services were being told to check their white privilege and stop using words like manpower in order to be more inclusive. MI6 fiddling with culture wars as real war broke out in Europe.’... ‘George Orwell wrote during World War Two, that the movement of British intellectuals to try to say that there’s something necessarily bad about patriotism was one of the reasons for Britain's initial weakness, and that there is a productive form of patriotism that can actually inspire solidarity’"
Even in Orwell's day, liberals hated their countries
Addendum: "England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box. All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British" - England Your England
Keywords: liberals hate their countries, liberals have hated teir countries

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Russia’s claims of troop withdrawal from Ukrainian border are ‘false’, according to the UK and US - "‘The day has passed. The storm hasn't. That is what they're saying in Kyiv today, the day after the people of Ukraine had been warned could see a Russian invasion. It passed, of course, with no invasion. Proof, the Kremlin says, that all the warnings about what Vladimir Putin was thinking, planning of doing, were in fact a Western hoax... the Kremlin has released video which purports to show troops being withdrawn at the end of military exercises. But the UK’s head of Defense Intelligence says that Russia is actually building up its military capabilities in the region’...
‘What did President Putin mean, when he said that the Russians and the Ukrainians were one people? What did that mean?’
‘It means that we live together in one state, we have excellent people to people contact. We have close ties regardless of seven years or even eight, eight years of Maidan tragedy. And it means that we view each other as very close and as next of kin. It doesn't mean that President Putin, I anticipate your question, it doesn't mean that President Putin will not respect the sovereignty of Ukraine’...
‘Is there not truth in the suggestion that Mikhail Gorbachev was given assurances all those years ago about limiting the expansion of the West? And the truth is they've been torn up haven’t they?’
‘No, that's just not true. I'm sorry. The history of that is well written. Scholars have looked into the archives, there's some great books written on it. There was no guarantee number one. Number two, I've worked as a diplomat, I used to negotiate with the Russians. I helped to negotiate treaties, including the New START Treaty, one of the last remaining treaties still in effect. And let me just tell you in diplomacy, there's no side agreements, informal handshakes, you write things down, you ratify them, you put them on a piece of paper. That's the way the real world of diplomacy works. And finally, I want to be crystal clear about something. Look at us. We're debating NATO expansion right now, right? We're talking about what may or may happen 30 years ago. That's exactly what Vladimir Putin wants us to do. He's the one that invented this so-called crisis about Ukraine, joining NATO. Brussels didn't change their policy, Washington didn’t change our policy. President Zelensky didn't change his policy. What changed? 150,000 Russian soldiers amassed, er, to surround Ukraine. I think that's very important for people to understand. Remember, thankfully, in this program, by the way, we are talking about annexation, but we should also be talking about the many ways that Russia has undermined European security. Invading Georgia in 2008, invading Ukraine in 2014, killing people in countries like yours and Germany and trying to kill people in his own country. Those are real threats to European security, this fictitious made up thing that somehow Ukraine is going to join NATO overnight, and that's gonna threaten Russia. That's not a real threat. That's invented by Vladimir Putin.’"
From February 2022. Damn psy-ops!

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Russian MP questioned over civilian casualties - "‘He's Jewish, his great grandfather died, fighting the Nazis as part of Russia, I put it to you again, that he's a bit of an unlikely Nazi.’
‘You know, I do believe that Nazism is not about just one nation. It's about killing, murdering torturing any nation, based upon their race, their gender, their nationality, their country of origin. And what we see today-’
‘So is Vladimir Putin a Nazi because he is currently bombing civilians in cities all over Ukraine. By your definition, is he a Nazi?’
‘Russia is not bombing civilians. Russian actually, Russian military troops actually, have humanitarian corridors’...
‘I am watching images. Have you seen them I wonder, of Mariupol a city that has been almost flattened, in which people young, old and disabled are being directly hit by shells fired by the Russian military. Are you seriously claiming that they are not under attack from Russia?’
‘You know, I want to seriously see the evidence that these are Russians. And as much as we know, and we personally in my region, we help people evacuated from Donbass. And we do-’
‘Hold on. You know, are you suggesting that the shells that are flattening Ukrainian cities are being fired by Ukrainians?’
‘I hope not. I hope no one in the world can want their own population. Well, I don't want to believe in that as well as the, I don't want to believe that somebody can torture, err an orthodox priest, but I talk to these people, many of them, it's abnormal’
‘Maria Butina. What evidence have you got to suggest that millions of people are fleeing their own cities that 1000s are dying because of countries bombing its own citizens. That is preposterous’
‘Well, as much as we see, we create humanitarian corridors. We actually-’
‘That wasn't the question’...
‘We just don't do it.’...
‘I was one of the authors of the law against fake news in Russia. And I'm proud of this, because I do believe that people should know the truth. On to the official information. I do read a lot of Western news. And I'm able to do it, as you probably see, you know, sometimes-’
‘Are you saying anything that is not the official information approved by the Kremlin is fake news? Is that your contention?’...
‘How does this war end?’
‘I believe that Ukraine should have a right to choose Ukrainians by themselves, and legitimate power, legitimate, legitimate leaders that they would like to have. But they should be demilitarized.’"
The Russians should just say they are combating "misinformation" and "disinformation". They already talk about foreign (Western) interference, so that's not much further of a step
Basically Ukraine needs to become a Russian buffer state

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Ukraine - to intervene or not to intervene. - "‘You brought up 21st century international relations. Considering the track record of the last 20 years in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, what moral authority do Western powers have to limit Russia's actions in what it considers to be its own sphere of influence?’
‘It's always tempting to fall into the trap of whataboutism and point to things that we have done wrong as a reason to not actually do the right thing now. I think that's very hazardous’...
‘Do you not think that we helped create a context in which states can act with impunity? If we have done that ourselves?’
‘Let's roll that back to Russia. Russia claims that it is NATO moving closer to Russia that causes it to act in this way. That's a complete fiction. If you look at the history of Russia, small wars around its periphery, they were busy at it in the 1990s when NATO was nowhere near and the simple truth is if Russia wants to stop its neighbors joining NATO, all it has to do is present a more attractive alternative instead of being a threat to them.’...
‘The collapse of the Soviet Union left many parts of the areas around Russia with large Russian populations that were now divided from Russia. In other words, in short, is there a does Russia have a claim to rebuild itself, given what was done to it in the aftermath of the Cold War?’
‘Russia was not humiliated deliberately by the West at the end of the Cold War. That is a narrative which has taken hold over the last decade, but it's very far from what actually happened. Russia said it was kicked when it was down. Actually, no, the West was doing all it possibly could, both to support Russia financially and with food aid, and to bring it into the international community of nations. And second, the Russians abroad, let's take the case of the Baltic states. Yes, people are proud to be Russian there. But they're also very happy to be living outside Russia. And if you look at the definitions that Russia uses for its so called compatriots, in order to create excuses for gathering lands together, Russia says that anybody that speaks Russian or is of Russian descent, living in those countries is actually a compatriot who is entitled to this protection...
What triggered the intervention in Crimea? It was nothing to do with NATO. It was Ukraine seeking a closer trade agreement with the EU… But for Russia, this is the evil West seeking to gather up lands and Putin’s talked about, he put it is, NATO’s dangerous attempts to seize the territory of Ukraine. It’s failed completely to understand these countries joined NATO, precisely because of the threat from Russia'...
‘There is this line, which is very popular out there that it is because of NATO and even EU expansion that Russia has felt drawn into the Ukraine, into Ukraine. Again, as I say, even if that's true, that's not good enough. But if you actually read Putin's own words, he wrote a little Mein Kampf essay last year. He very clearly says Russia and Ukraine are the same thing. He is motivated by an ethnic nationalism, which goes well beyond geopolitical strategic considerations. And secondly, it is Putin threatening Ukraine, which has prompted Ukraine to consider NATO membership. That's why Ukraine is tempted towards it. And also, I should add that Putin's depiction of Ukraine as some country governed by far right fascists is perverse when you consider that its president is a Jewish TV star and a Russian speaker. So it's utter nonsense’...
‘She also said that Brexit and Putin were one in the same thing, which is preposterous as an example of the way in which people constantly misread foreign policy issues through a domestic lens. And that's why they so often end up misunderstanding the motivations behind’"

Ukraine Calls for Boycott of 'The Nutcracker' and Other Russian Works - "Ukraine’s culture minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, wrote that the Kremlin is using Russian culture as a “tool and even a weapon,” wielding it to “justify their terrible war.”... But not everyone is on board: Some heard echoes of the Red Scare and McCarthyism in calls to boycott Russian culture, per NPR’s Andrew Limbong.  Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, two Ukrainian artists based in New York, told Artnet’s Anna Sansom in February that they “don’t believe” in cultural sanctions. “Cultural connections are things that may bring people together when politicians fail, and dialogue is important as long as we are able to create it, especially through cultural exchange”'...  Kevin M.F. Platt, an expert on Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania and a translator of contemporary Russian poetry, criticized cultural boycotts in a New York Times piece.  “That the world should be amplifying Ukrainian art and culture is clear. This is of the highest priority,” Platt wrote. “Yet support for Ukrainian culture does not entail canceling Russian culture. To adopt such a stance is to support a world of pernicious national antagonisms and closed borders. That is precisely the world that Mr. Putin seeks to create with his war.”   Tkachenko’s call for institutions to boycott Tchaikovsky arrived a week into December, when performances of The Nutcracker were already underway. For many ballet companies, the beloved Christmas show is an essential profit-generator. About 45 percent of the New York City Ballet’s annual ticket sales come from its five-week run of The Nutcracker... a spokesperson for London’s Royal Ballet says that “the presentation of great historic works such as The Nutcracker, performed by an international roster of dancers, should send a powerful statement that Tchaikovsky—himself of Ukrainian heritage—and his works speak to all humanity, in direct and powerful opposition to the narrow and nationalistic view of culture peddled by the Kremlin.”... “[b]oycotting an entire culture is problematic because so much culture is inherently countercultural. No one indicts Russia more acutely than Russian writers and artists. Russian aggression may be resisted and defeated militarily, but the only real cure for it will arise from Russian shame, disgust and self-criticism. A boycott also leaves culture in the hands of Putin and his accessories, who will amplify the worst of it.”"
If someone suggests boycotting Jewish culture until the Palestinians have a real state...

Darth Putin on Twitter - "It's fun to see mental gymnastics my trolls will go thru to explain how Russia didn't violate an agreement it actually did sign over Ukraine's integrity but also claim NATO absolutely violated an agreement it never signed cos it never existed over enlargement."
Conspiracy Bullshit on Twitter - "The funniest argument I've seen is when they claim it was the US who violated the Budapest Memorandum 1st because of the ''2014 coup''. It's not even the gotcha they think it is because if foreign covert meddling is a violation then Russia was already doing it years before 2013."

Putin: I Could Take Kiev in Two Weeks | Time - "Reports emerged Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin said he could take control of Ukraine’s capital city in as little as two weeks, a remark that escalated already pitched tensions between Russia and the West in the lead-up to NATO’s summit in Wales. Putin made the incendiary comment in a phone conversation with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso"
From 2014

Zelensky visits liberated Kherson, touts ‘beginning of the end’ of Russia’s invasion - The Globe and Mail - "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the newly liberated city of Kherson on Monday, addressing residents in a city that Russia claimed only six weeks ago to have annexed “forever.”... Dmitry Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesperson, said the Kremlin had nothing to say about Mr. Zelensky’s trip to Kherson. “We leave that without comments. You know it’s the territory of the Russian Federation.”"

Watch | Facebook - "Mutinying Russian conscripts surround general and shout 'Shame on you' RUSSIAN marines have slammed Vladimir Putin for leading them into a "massacre" in a bombshell leaked letter. It emerged as mutinies erupted across Russia's armed forces - with video footage showing 2,000 conscripts surrounding a general and angrily shouting: "Shame on you.""

Biden officials ‘ask Zelensky to show willingness for talks with Putin’ - "The Biden administration has been privately telling Ukraine to signal willingness to hold talks with Russia or risk losing support from other nations"
So much for the US military-industrial complex keeping the war going forever
Since Elon Musk was a clown for advocating negotiation (even if Zelensky had also mentioned that himself), Biden must be too

Meme - *beautiful female soldiers with braids*
">be walking around in Ukraine (after abandoning your T72)
>*blocks you're path*
>hands up! You're now a prisoner of the Norway foreign legion!
What's the correct move here"

Watch | Facebook - "I've held off posting this because I wanted it verified first, it seemed almost too incredible. Over the last 24 hours a large number of observers and experts I trust have confirmed that the man in the video is Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of the infamous Wagner Group which is supplying the "mercenaries" for Putin's war. This never before seen footage shows how he recruits... in a penal colony. Promising freedom to criminals if they fight. ...and we wonder how the Russian soldiers are capable of the evil rape and mass executions they've been accused of. This is true super villain stuff."

The Russian army has given newly drafted soldiers 'absolutely no equipment,' forcing families to buy armor and clothing so conscripts have a 'chance to come back' - "Vladimir's sister posted a phone call on Russia's social media site VK where he vented about the army's neglect of the newly mobilized soldiers. Insider has not independently verified the call.  "I even had to paint my gun to cover the rust. It is a nightmare ... Soon they'll make us buy our own grenades," he said, adding that they had been given Airsoft gun scopes... there have been more than 12,000 opened cases involving stolen military gear or equipment within the last eight years.  Pavel Luzin, an independent Russian military expert, told The Guardian that "Russia was just not prepared for mobilization of this scale. It was doomed to have logistical issues." "When mobilization was announced, there was no mechanism in place to actually implement it," Luzin added.  Russia has been forced to retreat from certain parts of Ukraine, has threatened nuclear warfare, and declared martial law in four illegally annexed territories."

Albanian PM: EU’s vaccine policy, ‘shameful mistake’ - "  Rama also spoke about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the fallout worldwide, including cost-of-living increases and the energy crisis, adding that the EU expects Albania and others to side with them but does little to help them combat the consequences.  That said, Rama added that “We have harmonised with the EU’s foreign policy since the first day, and we will continue…We have no other choice….we have to be patient. We have to keep going. The EU is the only safe haven for countries like us.”"

Millions of Ukrainians who fled their homes during war return, despite bombings and blackouts - The Globe and Mail - "There are still 6.2 million internally displaced people in Ukraine, and around 7.6 million Ukrainians have registered as refugees abroad. The IOM found that the average time away from home for returnees was 76 days."

Israel won't sell Ukraine its Iron Dome defense in deference to Russia - The Washington Post - "Israel’s Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraine’s reach, experts said, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots."
Time for all the West haters' heads to explode. The US is supporting Ukraine. The US is supporting Israel. Israel is not supporting Ukraine. Must be high level psy-ops by the CIA

As masses flee Russia to avoid conscription, European neighbours grapple with whether to let them in - ""We were officially told there would be no training before going to the front," he wrote. "The regiment commander confirmed this information that on the (Sept.) 29th we will go to Kherson."   Another video has emerged of a Russian training officer addressing new recruits and telling newly mobilized men that they will need to provide their own sleeping bags, and medical packs — and that they should go to pharmacies to buy feminine protection to take with them to use as bandages, as Russia's military has none to provide."

Europeans should welcome Russian draft-dodgers | The Economist - "Privately, European officials and diplomats argue that if Russians are unable or unwilling to overthrow Mr Putin’s regime, they bear some responsibility for it.  This argument is flawed. Forcing people to stay and accept the draft so that they get sent to the front to kill and die is cruel. It is also likely to be counterproductive. Closing an escape route could in theory increase the pressure on a dictatorship, feed dissent and hasten its collapse, but that is not how it has worked out in, say, North Korea. More probably, shutting the border would strengthen Mr Putin’s regime by seeming to confirm the story he tells Russians—that their country is under siege by a hostile West."
When virtue signalling means you give Putin more troops

Putin has lost more troops in Ukraine than US did in whole of Vietnam war – report - "Russian police and military officers have conscripted hundreds of men in the past week, grabbing them from the street without any notice to be deployed in the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine... The Russian police officers searched for conscripts in places including a business centre in Moscow where they seized almost every man in sight... more than 200 men were taken away from the dormitories of the Mipstroy1 construction company and on 9 October, officials grabbed dozens at a shelter for the homeless"

Conscription Officers in Russia Keep Suffering a Grim Fate

Was China duped on Ukraine? - Nikkei Asia - "Western intelligence reportedly knew that China asked Russia in early February not to invade until after the Beijing Winter Olympics... Two days after the Olympics closed on Feb. 22, Putin recognized the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region of Ukraine and sent in "peace-keepers." On Feb. 24, he invaded Ukraine. Waiting until after the Olympics betrayed some measure of coordination. But on Feb. 19, in Munich, Foreign Minister Wang Yi had said that the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected and safeguarded as "a basic norm of international relations" and that this was "the consistent, principled position of China" adding "and that applies equally to Ukraine." Did he lie? Good diplomats seldom tell outright lies, particularly lies that will be exposed within a few days by events. Wang Yi is a skillful diplomat. Russia's invasion of Ukraine left him and other Chinese diplomats with a great deal of egg dripping from their faces. China is neuralgic about external support for "separationists" in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chinese diplomats have contorted themselves into awkward and uncomfortable postures, trying to simultaneously defend the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity and Russia's gross violation of these principles in Ukraine... Xi could have been led to believe that Russia's "special military operation" would be a limited gray zone operation as it was in the Donbas between 2014 to 2022. Or Putin may have persuaded Xi that Russia would win quickly as it did in Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014. In both those cases, the international response was minimal. Some element of wishful thinking or selective hearing may have been at play. Putin himself may have believed that this would be a quick victory with no serious consequences. China initially did not try to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine. The safety of Chinese citizens abroad is a sensitive domestic issue. On the day Russia attacked, the Chinese embassy in Kyiv advised Chinese citizens to stay home and display the Chinese flag, presumably because it thought this would keep them safe because of China's close relationship with Russia. But the next day, the embassy told the Chinese not to reveal their nationality. As the scale of the Russian invasion became clear, and with growing international condemnation of a war that was not going as easily as anticipated, China began to shift position... Unless Moscow withdraws, or Beijing criticizes Russian aggression, China will be tainted by association, fueling the anxieties many countries already feel about Chinese behavior and complicating relations with the U.S. and Europe."

StopAntisemitism on Twitter - "We have no words for this. *Zelensky looking at map, Hitler looking at map*"
Arlon Mukeba on Twitter - "And this is antisemitic how? Because Zelensky's Jewish? Is the comparison based on ethnicity or political choices? Would it have been fine had he been non-Jewish? If, for whatever reason, the tweet's author deems Zelensky's actions similar to Hitler's, where's the antisemitism?🤦‍♂️"

Meme - "/pol/ before 2022
/pol/ member: "European nations have the right to defend their borders and sovereignity against invaders that want to conquer them, specially if the invasion was orchestrated by a global superpower led by a tyrannical minority"
/pol/ after 2022
Ukraine supporter: "European nations have the right to defend their borders and sovereignity against invaders that want to conquer them, specially if the invasion was orchestrated by a global superpower led by a tyrannical minority"
/pol/ member with Swastika shirt: "Nooooooooooooooo""

German army has enough ammunition for barely two days of fighting - "The German Army (Bundeswehr) has just enough ammunition for one or two days of fighting, according to the German version of news website Business Insider (BI), citing military industry and legislative sources... Berlin is well behind NATO's demand to keep inventories for at least 30 days of conflict... the situation "has been known for years," since military training have been hampered by insufficient supplies.  Stockpiles were lowered further after Germany, along with many other Western countries, began delivering weapons and ammunition to Ukraine"

Meme - "The people who've been saying "if it saves one life" for the last 2 years
TO WAR!!!"
Both allow the left to control others and impose their agenda, so

Meme - ""If you are struggling on the offence, simply declare that the enemy's territory is actually yours, and now you may succeed on the defence." - Pu Tin, "The Art of Special Military Operation', circa 2022"

US intelligence says Ukrainians behind Darya Dugina killing: NYT | Russia-Ukraine war News
Some people were accusing the Western media of blaming Russia for assassinating her for sympathy points. But I was unable to find any examples of this in the NYT, Wapo or CNN archives

Ukrainians Are Responding to the Threat of Nukes By Organising an Orgy - "More than 15,000 people have subscribed to “Orgy on Shchekavystsa: Official”, which was set up on the 26th of September, and the intention is to head there in the event of a nuclear attack – as opposed to finding the nearest bunker. The opening post told members to decorate their hands with stripes to designate what their interests were ahead of visiting the hill – three strips symbolises anal sex, and four means oral sex. They then posted: “They say that all the apartments with a view of Shchekavystsa have for some reason disappeared from real estate sites.”  Radio Free Europe interviewed a local woman about the group, who said: “It’s the opposite of despair. Even in the worst-case scenario, people will look for something good. That’s the mega-optimism of Ukrainians.”"
On-brand for VICE

Vladimir Putin is a 'clown' and has been outplayed by Ukraine, blasts former ally - "A former Vladimir Putin-loyal separatist commander has branded the Kremlin leader a “clown” who has been outplayed in the war by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.  Igor Girkin - an intelligence and army veteran who was central to Vladimir Putin ’s seizure of Crimea and parts of the Donbas in 2014 - has mocked the Russian ruler’s performance."

‘We have already lost’: far-right Russian bloggers slam military failures - "State television, the most popular source of information in Russia, similarly continues to paint a rosy picture of Russian successes in Ukraine. In a combative speech on Wednesday, Putin reiterated that Russia had “lost nothing” in a war he said was going according to plan... “It must be stated that in Balakliia, the armed forces of Ukraine have completely outplayed our command,” Starshe Eddy, a popular pro-war Russian blogger, wrote... For now, the Kremlin seems to be willing to accept the criticism coming its way from the band of pro-war bloggers. Girkin has repeatedly called for the firing of the defence minister and close Putin ally, Sergei Shoigu, urging in one post for the minister to be executed by firing squad.  The Kremlin’s tolerance of the bloggers’ comments is remarkable, experts say, given the newly introduced laws under which criticism of the war can be punished with up to 15 years in jail. Pavel Luzhin, an independent Russian military expert, believes the bloggers are left “untouched” because they provide an outlet for a section of the Russian population to vent their anger about the failures in Ukraine. “The Kremlin is too scared to simply ignore the nationalist section of the population,” Luzhin said, adding that some of the bloggers were probably operating with the tacit approval of the security services."
Damn psy-ops! Russia needs to censor the internet like Russia

Ukraine war: Russia admits Kherson 'tense' under shelling - "The commander of Russian forces in Ukraine says the situation in the southern city of Kherson is "difficult" and residents are to be evacuated.  General Sergei Surovikin said Ukrainian troops using Himars rockets were hitting the city's infrastructure and housing. He spoke on Russian state TV... Mr Saldo said on Wednesday that the evacuation would involve some 50-60,000 civilians over a six-day period, Tass news agency reported. If Russia forces people to leave their homes it could constitute a war crime, under the UN's definition."
If you allow people to stay in their homes, and they get killed, this will still be called a war crime (e.g. Palestinians being sacrificed in Gaza)

Rob Lee on Twitter - "Another indication of Russian manpower issues. This 27-year old senior lieutenant killed in Ukraine was commanding an engineer-sapper battalion."

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