What to do with captured Russians?

Looking at the dense high-rise blocks, few people imagined that, even if war broke out, a deranged old man would have enough madness to order strikes on such neighborhoods, or that the question of what to do with captured Russians would one day become a grim reality.

But after they flattened Aleppo and Homs, those doubts proved groundless. Let us note: strikes on non-military targets are a war crime, and as we have written many times, neither Зootin nor his gang were held accountable for crimes against humanity because the world lived in a “appeasement” paradigm. What that leads to, comrade Hitler showed — the question was never whether he would wage war. The only question was whether he would dare to start it; that there would be a war conducted as systematic war crimes, nobody doubted.

Frankly, after seeing the videos of what they do on our soil — and that they deliberately kill civilians — the debate shifted to whether we should take occupiers prisoner at all. This is a legitimate question and deserves examination from different angles.

Geneva Convention and Its Limits

Geneva set the convention that defines the rules and conditions of warfare. It clearly distinguishes combatants from non-combatants, and the latter are civilians who no one has the right to touch, much less deliberately destroy. That fact alone suffices to raise the issue of war crimes and to send criminals to the gallows.

On the other hand, the convention also defines prisoners’ rights. Prisoners must receive basic guarantees, including the right to life. A prisoner of war is a member of the enemy’s armed forces wearing that army’s uniform, carrying appropriate papers, and who has laid down arms and visibly surrendered. Executing POWs can also be a war crime.

Any “volunteers” operating on foreign soil with weapons in hand fall outside this convention by default. Put simply: if an occupation army contains mercenaries or individuals behaving as mercenaries — for example, not wearing the occupier’s uniform or otherwise acting unconventionally, in particular deliberately harming civilians — they fall outside the convention and are subject to destruction. In such cases this will not be a war crime.

Russian Tactics Put Them Outside the Rules

The russian army operates entirely outside the Geneva Convention. They strike residential neighborhoods, they deliberately kill civilians, and, as numerous reports show, they dress in AFU or police uniforms. They do this not as isolated incidents but systematically, and today one can say that russian forces use non-conventional methods, which gives the AFU the right not to take them prisoner at all, but to destroy them wholesale, wherever they are.

But there is another aspect. It’s less about taking prisoners to extract information or show them on TV. In our view, the only justified reason to take prisoners is psychological. Those people are not machines or robots. Yes, they are vile and bloodthirsty, but they are scared and lack the motivation we have.

Russians well understand that they are up against Ukrainians fighting for their own land. And the ruZZians appear heroic only while they remain numerous and think themselves invincible. But when everything around them starts to burn, when limbs and entrails of “heroes” lie everywhere — the same ones they yesterday joked with about tearing everyone apart — that swamp-green camouflage quickly gets brown stains and Ivan very much wants to go home to his mother. In that case, Ivan will find surrender less terrifying than fighting to the last. That is the only reason to keep prisoners.

The Growing Number of captured Russians

According to AFU reports, the number of captured Russians has reached about 200 and this figure will likely grow, proving once again that every invader prisoner weaken the Kremlin’s war machine. Then the question arises: who will feed that rabble? Once officially registered as prisoners, their upkeep becomes our responsibility.

The main thing is to survive these first days and regain cold confidence and natural inventiveness, so that at the stadium where Kobzon’s concert takes place there won’t be a single standing place left.

We will win!