Category: Ukraine War

Esquire

How an All-Volunteer Ukrainian Battalion Freed Nova Basan and Three Other Ukrainian Towns

Robert Spangle – April 8, 2022

• 

Nova Basan, a town sixty miles east of Kyiv, was not the first town the all-volunteer Bratstvo battalion liberated from Russian forces, or the second, or the third. It was the fourth. What’s more, Sunday’s counter-offensive pushed the Russian forces—already in retreat, but still fighting—decisively out of the region.

With support from the Ukrainian army, special forces and police, the hastily assembled volunteer unit has had a dramatic effect on the course of battle for Kyiv. The volunteers of Bratstvo, Ukrainian for “brotherhood,” are a mix of men who first served during Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, and younger men eager to fight alongside on the frontlines this time.

Russia’s vehicular losses in the battle to liberate Nova Basan speak both to the Ukrainian fighters’ skills and their capacity to fight at scale. Just one Ukrainian tank and two infantry vehicles known as BMPs destroyed or captured twenty Russian vehicles. Ukrainian forces lost one vehicle in the battle, which came to rest on a broken fence line, straddling two Russian trenches.

Video: How to help people in Ukraine

Bratstvo’s success in Nova Basan followed the momentum they’d built liberating three towns in rapid succession, and their deftness at fielding the enemy’s captured arms and vehicles. While fighting to free the town of Lukyanivka, their first objective in the counter-offensive, the battalion had towed out their own damaged vehicles for repair using seized Russian tanks. In the neighboring town of Rudnytske, Russian forces abandoned their positions after only brief resistance.

Then, on April 1, in Nova Basan, Ukrainian fighters tried a new tactic: Rather than attacking the enemy’s positions, they ambushed a column as it withdrew though the center of town. It began with an artillery strike on a well-stocked Russian munitions truck as it entered an intersection, followed by tank canon fire from a concealed position on the column. It appears the Russian fighters panicked; they ensnared several vehicles in steep or muddy terrain, and their crews quickly abandoned them. Other vehicles scattered, only to be picked off on the side streets. On the outskirts of Nova Basan, two Russian armored personnel carriers that survived the ambush were met with rockets. Three occupants made it only a few feet away from their vehicle Ukrainian forces killed them.

As of April 7, the district of Kyiv is effectively free of Russian forces. The Kremlin now claims that capturing Kyiv was never their aim. The eyes of the Bratstvo battalion now look east and south, where the war continues.

Additional reporting by Masha Medvedeva.

The following images contain graphic violence.

Business Insider

Putin doesn’t want you to believe these photos. They show weeping Bucha residents seeing the bodies of their loved ones pulled from yet another mass grave

Erin Trieb – April 8, 2022

• Bodies were removed from a newly-discovered mass grave in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine.
• They were then placed in rows and numbered, as several dozen Bucha residents looked on.
• Killings in the city are being investigated as possible war crimes.

Editor’s Note: Readers may find some of the images below disturbing.

BUCHA, UKRAINE — Another mass grave had been discovered in Bucha, a suburb of the capital Kyiv.

On Friday, representatives from the Ukrainian government, including prosecutors investigating war crimes, arrived at the site near the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints. Bodies were pulled from a ditch and lined up in rows, and then numbered. Body bags were unzipped so that the dead could be examined and an initial identification could be made.

A few hours into the process, several dozen local residents arrived. They walked slowly through the gates of the church.

As they made their way toward the mass grave, many seemed to look away from what was in front of them. Then the weeping began, as people took in the bodies of loved ones.

Bucha, a town of around 35,000 people that’s 23 miles northwest of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, had been occupied for several weeks by Russian soldiers. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that the bodies were “staged” in Bucha after Russian forces withdrew from the town.

But Russia’s assertion has been contradicted by mounting evidence of the horror that unfolded in this town.

An analysis of satellite images by the New York Times found that bodies, some of them bound, had appeared around Bucha well before Russian forces withdrew. Ukrainian officials and human rights organizations say they are investigating killings in Bucha as possible war crimes.

Last weekend, satellite images showed the 45-foot-long trench where bodies were later discovered, Reuters reported. As journalists arrived in Bucha, photos quickly circulated of dead bodies strewn by the sides of streets, outside homes, and in backyards.

At the site of the mass grave, gloved hands and boots were seen poking out of the earth. It was later discovered that even more bodies lay below.

Yahoo! News

What is the punishment for a war criminal?

James Morris, Freelance news writer, Yahoo UK – April 8, 2022

The UK government is continuing to accuse Russian president Vladimir Putin, and his regime, of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Preliminary international probes have already begun following Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says Putin’s war has so far resulted in 1,626 confirmed civilian deaths and 2,267 injuries – but adds the actual figures will be “considerably higher”. Meanwhile, millions of people have been displaced from their homes.

But what is a war crime, how are they prosecuted and what is the punishment?

What is a war crime?

There is not actually an agreed definition. As the United Nations points out, “there is no one single document in international law that codifies all war crimes”.

But the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), where war crimes can be prosecuted (see further information below), follows the definition set out by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which were ratified by 196 states.

This definition includes acts of:

• wilful killing
• torture or inhuman treatment
• wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury
• extensive destruction and appropriation of property which is not justified by military necessity
• compelling a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile state
• wilfully depriving a prisoner of war of the rights of fair and regular trial
• unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement
• taking of hostages

However, the Rome Statute also includes an extensive list of further specific violations, such as intentionally directing attacks against civilian populations, using child soldiers, forced pregnancy and intentionally directing attacks against hospitals.

How are war crimes prosecuted?

War crimes can be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague in the Netherlands. This court is governed by the Rome Statute outlined above.

The ICC, which began operations in 2002, “investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community”. This includes war crimes as well as genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

It is a “court of last resort” and a case will only be heard there when a national court is not in a position to address it.

Watch: Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko attacks Putin: ‘He’s sick, he’s an unhealthy man.’ 

After gathering evidence and identifying a suspect, ICC prosecutors can request judges to issue arrest warrants. It relies on countries to carry out the arrest and a trial cannot begin until a suspect is detained and transferred to the court.

Twenty-seven defendants have been accused of war crimes by the ICC, with three – Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, Germain Katanga and Thomas Lubanga Dylio – convicted. A further eight are currently in ICC custody awaiting trial or appealing proceedings.

What is the punishment for war crimes?

At the trial, the prosecution “must prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused” before three judges.

If found guilty, the judges can issue sentences of up to 30 years’ imprisonment, or a life sentence “under exceptional circumstances”.

Sentences are served in countries that have agreed to enforce ICC prison terms.

Verdicts are subject to appeal by the defence of the accused, as well as by the prosecution.

Has Putin committed war crimes in Ukraine?

Putin hasn’t been formally accused of war crimes by the ICC, though it launched an investigation last month following referrals from 41 countries.

But Putin’s bombardment of major cities such as Kyiv and Mariupol, including strikes on hospitals and civilian evacuation routes, have seen leaders around the world accuse him of having committed war crimes.

And on Friday, Boris Johnson joined international condemnation of a rocket strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, which is said to have killed at least 39 people with dozens wounded.

He told a press conference: “The attack at the train station in eastern Ukraine shows the depth to which Putin’s once-vaunted army has sunk.

“It is a war crime indiscriminately to attack civilians, and Russian crimes in Ukraine will not go unnoticed or unpunished.”

In a message to Russian people on Tuesday, the prime minister also said: “Your president stands accused of committing war crimes. But I cannot believe he’s acting in your name.”

In the past week, there were more accusations following the reported violent killing of civilians by Russian forces in Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Amnesty International said the reports show a “wider pattern of war crimes including extrajudicial executions and torture in other occupied areas of Ukraine.

“We fear the violence suffered by civilians in Bucha at the hands of Russian soldiers is not unique.”

Watch: Britain will do more to see Putin defeated in Ukraine – Wallace

Wallace: Britain will do more to see Putin defeated in Ukraine

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday the UK will do more to help Ukraine in its battle against Russia. Mr Wallace was speaking in Romania where he was visiting the capital Bucharest.

Joe Biden has also repeatedly labelled Putin a war criminal, with the US president calling for him to face trial.

In his most recent statement on the probe on 10 March, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said: “I note, in particular, that if attacks are intentionally directed against the civilian population: that is a crime. If attacks are intentionally directed against civilian objects: that is a crime. I strongly urge parties to the conflict to avoid the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas.

“There is no legal justification, there is no excuse, for attacks which are indiscriminate, or which are disproportionate in their effects on the civilian population.”

Could Putin be prosecuted for alleged war crimes in Ukraine?

David Scheffer, who was the first US ambassador-at-large for war crimes under the Clinton administration, told Foreign Policy last month it’s “inevitable” Putin will be indicted at the ICC.

“He is at the very top of the command chain in Russia.

“He has obviously failed as top commander to stop those crimes from being committed on a daily basis. He has the power to do it.”

However, as outlined above, hearings cannot begin until a suspect is arrested and transferred to the ICC.

And while the court could well accuse Putin of war crimes, asking Russia to arrest its all-powerful dictator is another matter altogether.

Politico

The Putin Generation is Fleeing Putin’s Russia

Uliana Pavlova – April 7, 2022

ISTANBUL — At a hostel down a cobblestoned street not far from Istanbul’s fabled mosques and cathedrals, a young Russian restaurant worker named Misha was smoking cigarettes on the balcony.

Misha quit his job on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, swiftly packed his bags and left Moscow without a clue when he will be back. Only 24, for the last few weeks he has shared a $10-a-night bunk room with three other guys. He estimates his money will last about a month.

“I decided without a second thought — That’s it,” he told me. “I thought, ‘I am 24 years old, I have arms, legs, I am not dumb, well, I probably won’t perish.’”

Misha isn’t a jet-setter; in fact, this is his first trip outside of Russia. When I asked him what surprised him most about life outside Russia, he said: “I don’t feel scared when I pass by police officers, even if they are holding guns. I just feel safe.”

Misha told me that he had lost faith in his homeland. Only a toddler when Vladimir Putin became president, his entire life has been lived in the Russia that Putin built during his 22 years in power. Last year, Misha went to rallies in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who has been jailed after leading a pro-democracy movement that brought to light massive corruption by Putin and his circle. In recent months, the Russian government has intensified its crackdown on opposition and independent media.

“Even before this war started, I went to Navalny rallies and various other opposition events and saw that the effect from this was zero! No matter how hard we try, the government keeps screwing the bolts tighter and tighter,” Misha said.

In response to the war in Ukraine, at least some of the young Russians who grew up in Putin’s Russia are fleeing. With opposition to the war in Russia effectively criminalized, some are actual refugees, fleeing Putin’s crackdown on opponents and media. Some are intellectual exiles who no longer want to live in a country that invades a neighbor or supports a despot.

Tens of thousands have landed in Istanbul, because Russian flights can reach Turkey without crossing into European airspace and Russians don’t need Turkish visas to visit.

As a result, you can now hear Russian on the streets and on lines that form in front of ATMs — with Russian credit cards disabled, Russian refugees are living on any cash they can withdraw from ATMs. Inside coffee shops, you can overhear Russians exchanging tips on cheap places to stay, how to open a bank account or the best places to exchange currency.

Under Turkish law, they can only stay for 90 days. What will happen to them next is a topic in the cafes, bars and hostel lobbies where they also gather to discuss the political developments in their homeland. Most still have friends and families who are left in Russia.

Putin’s generation grew up in the post-Soviet era of exhilarating upheaval. They ate at McDonald’s, read Harry Potter and danced to Rihanna. Unlike their parents, they don’t know what it is like to live behind an Iron Curtain and they don’t wish to find out.

And Putin doesn’t want them, either, dubbing self-exiled Russians a “fifth column” that is working to undermine their homeland. In a televised address, Putin condemned Russians with a Western mentality as “national traitors” who cannot live without “oysters and gender freedom.”

I’m part of this generation, too. I’m a freelance journalist and landed in Istanbul when it became clear that my reporting could put me at risk if I stayed in Russia.

I didn’t expect I’d have so much company.

During my first week in Istanbul, I find myself sitting next to a couple from Saint Petersburg in a small coffee shop. I ask if I can interview them, and they agree.

Nastya Mez, 26, and Igor Timofeenko, 28, are both from the southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don just an hour away from the border with Ukraine; their families speak with a southern accent that can sound like a mixture of a Ukrainian and Russian pronunciation. For the last few years, they have lived in Saint Petersburg, the second-largest city in Russia.

“My father stopped speaking to me after we moved to Turkey. He thinks I am part of the fifth column,” Igor tells me. He notes that his surname ends in “enko” which is a common Ukrainian ending. “He has been brainwashed with TV and thinks that Ukrainians are Nazis, despite our last name being Timofeenko.” Igor laughs bitterly.

I hear similar stories from other young Russians I meet. When Misha told his father that he ran from Russia to Turkey, he was met with radio silence. His father hasn’t spoken to him since.

“He has not been interested in anything all his life. He sits in a room all day and watches TV,” Misha says, including one of Putin’s most influential propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov.

“I tell him: ‘Dad, let me watch Solovyov for an hour with you, and you, in turn, watch Navalny’s YouTube investigation with me for 10-15 minutes.’ And he says that this is evil, that the Internet is evil,” Misha tells me.

When his mother asks him to fix something on her phone, Misha subscribes her to Navalny’s Telegram channel and the one operated by his organization.

For both Igor and Misha, economic concerns also played a role in their decision to flee. They fear what will happen to Russia as its economy is battered by unprecedented sanctions and on the verge of the first major default since 1998.

“We grew up in the well-fed 2000s. We still remember the time when everybody was getting rich, when the average [monthly] salary in cities with a population of a million-plus was around $1,000. Now it’s hard to even imagine this,” Igor said.

Now in Russia, prices are spiking, the ruble has lost value and stores are running out of basic necessities like sugar and feminine hygiene products.

“Sadly, Western sanctions are also affecting those who oppose Putin and don’t want to stay in Russia and pay taxes to support the regime,” Nastya said.

When I ask them if they have encountered any instances of Russophobia while abroad Nastya has a sharp reply: “Nowhere are Russians treated as badly as in Russia.”

As Putin seems to have feared, Russia’s young exiles are continuing their anti-war protesting from abroad. On the third week of the war, Russians gathered outside one of Istanbul’s nightclubs for the first in a series of charity concerts by Russian cult rapper Oxxxymiron called “Russian Against War.’’ All revenues from the concert were promised to go to a Polish independent NGO helping Ukrainian refugees.

Oxxxymiron, also known as Miron Fyodorov, has enchanted Russian-speaking popular culture with his clever lyrics that sometimes sound like political manifestos. His Jewish family fled Soviet Russia in the 1980s, and he spent half his childhood in the West. After graduating from Oxford, he returned to Russia as an adult and his rap battles gathered million of views on YouTube.

Most in the crowd are under 30, stylish, urban, middle-class Russians. Some even brought anti-war posters. During the performance, the newly-minted emigres chanted: “No to War,” “Glory to Ukraine” and “Putin Huylo” — an anti-Putin obscenity.

This is exactly the demographic that Putin resents. The feelings are mutual.

“I cannot wait until all of this is over, the dictator is dead and I can return to my country,” Alexander Salin, 25, an IT programmer from Saint Petersburg carrying a Ukrainian flag tells me inside the concert venue.

His girlfriend stands quietly next to him and looks visibly distressed by Salin expressing his political opinions to a journalist. Salin says he is also a Navalny supporter and he donated to the Kremlin critic’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which has been branded an extremist organization in Russia.

“I hope that people like me will be useful in Europe or elsewhere and that there will be no Russophobia,” Salin tells me.

At the concert, I also met people from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. It felt as if the young people of the post-Soviet countries came together to transcend the boundaries of Russian nationalism in a demonstration of the kind of brotherhood of nations that once were espoused by the Soviet Union.

Some of the concertgoers were Ukrainian. Lera, 23, and Stasya, 24, told me they were from Dnipro, Ukraine. Both young women moved to Istanbul several months before the war started.

“We are shocked and horrified by what is happening,” Stasya tells me.

Stasya’s mother was able to join her in Istanbul a week ago, while Lera’s family remains in Dnipro. Even though the city avoided heavy shelling, unlike Kharkiv and Mariupol, the nightly sirens and fear are keeping everyone awake.

“Even as we live abroad, it is impossible to make any plans, because business is connected with Ukraine, our relatives are in Ukraine, all our friends are in Ukraine, and every day we check the news. It is infinitely impossible to focus on anything and live normally,” Lera says.

“Physically, we are here but our head is in Ukraine,” she says.

When I ask them how they feel about going to a concert surrounded by Russian expats as Russian missiles are destroying Ukraine’s residential areas, they give a gracious answer.

“We don’t judge people by their passports. Like all Ukrainians, we don’t hate Russian people, because of their passports, but we hate those Russian people who support the war or are indifferent to it,” Lera said.

Oxxxymiron had cancelled a series of concerts in Russia to protest the war and the Istanbul concert was the first of a series he planned to hold in other countries to raise money for the victims. He addressed his audience from the stage with a bright neon “Russians Against War” slogan lit up behind him: “Those people who are for this war, are actually against this war,” he said. “They are sure that a ‘special military operation’ is underway, that it’s only military facilities that are being bombed.” He reminded the audience that Russians aren’t being told the truth.

“Unfortunately, our parents, friends of our parents, very often live in this illusion. You need to talk to them because they are most likely not bloodthirsty people, but most likely they are watching too much TV.”

The crowd cheered.

A common theme emerged in my conversations with the opposition-minded Russians who had fled to Istanbul: Protests do not work. Putin’s police state is too powerful.

Pavel Gorchakov, 31, has been protesting Putin’s regime for the past 10 years until finally deciding to leave the country forever. I met him on the same hostel balcony where I met Misha, also smoking his cigarettes. He had left his wife, who is pregnant, behind in St. Petersburg because she couldn’t travel. He is waiting for her to give birth before they can travel to Thailand as a family and reestablish their lives in a new country.

He has a long ginger beard and embellished his fingernails with the message, “NO WAR”.

Before deciding to flee, Gorchakov had attended an anti-war rally in Saint Petersburg. “In a city with a population of more than 5 million people, I saw only 200 students at a rally, chased out by 500 riot policemen,” Gorchachov told me. “I didn’t see many adult, capable men who think like me.”

Over 15,000 Russians have been detained by authorities for participating in anti-war protests since the war started, according to the independent human rights monitor OVD-Info. Images of men in black balaclavas dragging men, women, the elderly and teenagers off the street have filled social media. But in a country of over 140 million, 15,000 is a small percentage.

“I realized that I need to go, and the faster the better,” he said.

He reminisces of the days of Bolotnaya protests in 2012, referring to the massive protests in Russia that opposed Putin’s fraudulent reelection and his move to amend the Constitution to govern Russia again after he already served two terms.

“When there was Bolotnaya there was a feeling that now freedom is rushing from all the cracks, we are now changing something. I’m telling you now, and I have goosebumps. And then the National Guard appeared, they brought paddy wagons,” Gorchakov says.

Gorchakov tells me he received anonymous threats by email, which also inspired him to leave quicker.

It becomes clear to me that Misha looks up to the older and more rebellious Gorchakov. Misha does not want to give me his last name because, unlike Gorchakov who is a well-paid IT specialist, Misha is struggling to find work in Turkey and might have to return to Russia once he runs out of money.

Gorchakov encourages him to pick up programming. “I was about your age when I started, around 24-25,” Gorchakov tells him.

“I have been studying online courses all day long,” Misha tells him. “And, when I’m 30, I’ll grow a beard and start vaping,” he says and we all laugh.

As our conversation continues, I notice the lingering presence of another man who quietly joined us on the balcony. It turns out he’s from Ukraine.

“Why don’t you also torture Sasha?” Misha suggests, pointing at the man in the corner. “He is from Kharkiv.”

Sasha, it turns out, is a 31-year-old Ukrainian who came to Istanbul for a friend’s birthday on Feb. 23. The next day Russia fired artillery rockets at his hometown, destroying the residential building next to the building where he bought an apartment three years ago. His family is in Luhansk — inside one of the pro-Russian separatist regions — and he calls them every day.

I feel uncomfortable asking him how feels being surrounded by so many Russian citizens, staying in the same hostel in Istanbul.

“Well, you are not vatniks,” Sasha says, using a slang term for people who support the regime and believe religiously in the Kremlin’s propaganda. We all chuckle, embarrassed for the vatniks back home, some of them in our own families.

“You are not in Russia. What can you do?” he adds. “I resent those who support this operation. They are also responsible for this, by quietly consenting to everything that is happening.”

After a silence, all four of us exchange tips and plans on where to go in case Putin starts a nuclear war.

Stranded in this country for 90 days, on a tiny balcony thousands of kilometers from our home countries which are at war with each other, we realize we need each other. And we share a laugh.

The New York Times

New Russian Land Mine Poses Special Risk in Ukraine

John Ismay – April 7, 2022

WASHINGTON — Russian forces in Ukraine appear to be using a new type of weapon as they step up attacks on civilian targets: an advanced land mine equipped with sensors that can detect when people walk nearby.

Ukrainian bomb technicians discovered the device, called the POM-3, last week near the eastern city of Kharkiv, according to Human Rights Watch, a leading human rights group, which has reviewed photos provided by Ukraine’s military.

Older types of land mines typically explode when victims accidentally step on them or disturb attached tripwires. But the POM-3’s seismic sensor picks up on approaching footsteps and can effectively distinguish between humans and animals.

Humanitarian de-miners and groups that campaign against the use of land mines said the POM-3 would make future efforts to locate and destroy unexploded munitions in Ukraine vastly more complicated and deadlier.

“These create a threat that we don’t have a response for,” said James Cowan, who leads the HALO Trust, a British American charity that clears land mines and other explosive remnants of war to help countries recover after conflicts.

The group began removing unexploded munitions from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in 2016 after Russian-backed separatists started fighting the Ukrainian government.

“We’ll need to find some donors to procure robotics that can allow us to deal with these threats at some distance,” Cowan added.

The POM-3 is typically launched by a rocket and falls back to earth by parachute before sticking into the ground — where it waits, according to CAT-UXO, an online resource for military and civilian bomb technicians. When the mine senses a person, it launches a small explosive warhead that detonates midair, producing fragments that are lethal up to about 50 feet away.

Cowan, a retired British army major general, said his staff of 430 Ukrainians clearing unexploded munitions in Donbas had been unable to continue working since Russia launched a full invasion of the country in late February, with many staff members temporarily relocating in Ukraine. He anticipates that in the future, HALO’s operation across the country will require about 2,500 workers, given that many areas outside Donbas are now contaminated with unexploded munitions as well.

U.S. government officials have said that Russia appears to be moving troops to consolidate its hold on Donetsk and Luhansk, which could mean that even more weapons like the POM-3 will be used in the war.

“The war is entering a static phase — trenches are being dug,” Cowan said. “This is the time when I would expect the Russians to start using land mines on a massive basis.”

HALO, which stands for Hazardous Area Life-Support Organization, has about 10,000 employees around the world and is among the few international nonprofits that have remained in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital, in August. Cowan said the future cleanup in Ukraine would require roughly the same number of workers as HALO’s current operation in Afghanistan, which is recovering from decades of armed conflict.

The POM-3 is just one new hazard among many that his organization expects to encounter, in addition to an untold number of rockets, bombs and artillery shells that failed to detonate on impact. Russia has also attacked Ukrainian arms depots, causing fires and explosions that typically fling hundreds and even thousands of damaged munitions into surrounding areas.

Once widely used around the world, anti-personnel land mines often kill and maim civilians long after hostilities have ceased. Ukraine is one of the 164 nations that have signed a 1997 treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines and pledged to purge their stockpiles. The United States and Russia have refused to join it.

The treaty does not prohibit the use of anti-tank land mines — which typically have a much larger explosive charge and are designed to detonate only when a vehicle drives over or near them — nor does it address improvised explosive devices built to destroy vehicles. Videos posted on social media purport to show anti-tank mines and improvised bomb attacks on Russian vehicles in Ukraine.

Russia’s use of land mines was among the discussions at an event Tuesday on Capitol Hill for the United Nations’ international mine awareness day, which brought together groups that focus on the issue and lawmakers from Congress’ Unexploded Ordnance/Demining Caucus.

“Wars end, they stay,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said of land mines and unexploded munitions. “The targets are invariably civilians, and they are in places where you have a limited ability to provide lifesaving medical care.

“Look at what’s happening in Ukraine. Russia is placing land mines in people’s homes, as well as children’s playgrounds and places where people go,” Leahy said. “That’s using it as a weapon of terror.”

Popular Mechanics

Ukraine Shot Down One of Russia’s Most Advanced Fighter Jets

Kyle Mizokami – April 7, 2022

• Photos have emerged showing the wreckage of an Su-35S “Flanker-E” fighter jet, lost near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
• The Su-35S is the most advanced jet that Russia’s Aerospace Forces operates in significant numbers.
• Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down the jet, which boasts sophisticated self-protection systems.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going well, and this week brought even more bad news for Moscow: the loss of one of the country’s most advanced fighter jets. Ukraine’s military shared photos on social media showing the wreckage of an Su-35S multi-role fighter jet, the first lost in the war. Ukraine’s aging air defense network allegedly shot down the fighter, often characterized as a fifth-generation fighter … just without the stealth.

On Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff shared the images (below), which depict the flaming remains of a large, twin-tailed fighter jet. A red star—a holdover from the days of the Soviet Union, common to Russian Aerospace Force aircraft—is visible on the starboard wing. The rest of the plane appears to be burned to ashes.

So far, Russia has lost 19 jets throughout the course of its invasion, as documented by the Oryx Blog. The photos confirm the first documented loss of an Su-35S, known to NATO as the “Flanker-E.” The Su-35S is an evolution of the Cold War-era Su-27 Flanker, a dedicated air superiority heavy fighter. Just like the U.S. Air Force F-15A Eagle air superiority heavy fighter gradually morphed into the F-15EX Super Eagle multi-role fighter, the Su-27 in time morphed into the multi-role Su-35S.

The Su-35S is Russia’s most advanced frontline fighter. Developed by the legendary Sukhoi Design Bureau, the Su-35 is a single-pilot fighter. The aircraft is large at 71 feet, with a wingspan of 50 feet. Two thrust-vectoring AL-41F-1S Saturn engines power the aircraft, giving it a maximum speed at altitude of Mach 2.25 (1,726 miles per hour). The Irbis (“Snow Leopard”) radar can detect an enemy fighter at up to 249 miles, and the aircraft can carry up to 17,637 pounds of fuel and weapons on external hard-points on the wings and fuselage.

All of this makes the Su-35S quite heavy; it’s armed with four air-to-air missiles of 27.9 tons. Despite this, the high thrust-to-weight ratio, as well as the thrust-vectoring controls, make the aircraft quite maneuverable. Here’s footage of the “Flanker-E” performing some jaw-dropping maneuvers at the Dubai Air Show back in 2017:

The Su-35 is often referred to as a fifth-generation fighter—like the F-22 Raptor or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Su-35’s offensive and defensive systems, as well as its sensors, are some of the most advanced in Russian service. The Su-35S was meant as a transition fighter, to hold the line until the Su-57 was ready for production. However, technical difficulties and a lack of cash have caused the “Felon” to slide several years behind schedule.

Ukraine’s air defenses have claimed responsibility for the downing. They’re dated by modern standards, relying mostly on ex-Soviet air-defense systems such as the S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile. More advanced surface-to-air missiles, such as the short-range Stinger missile provided by the U.S. government, are more lethal to Russian jets, but require enemy fighters to fly at altitudes of 10,000 feet or less.

The pilot, according to Ukrainian sources, ejected from the aircraft and was captured by local forces. He will reportedly be charged with up to 12 war crimes, under the Geneva Convention, pertaining to attacks on civilians.

Fox News

Russian commander orders soldiers to ‘take out’ Ukrainian civilians near besieged Mariupol: report

Danielle Wallace – April 7, 2022

The Ukrainian government on Thursday released what they claimed were intercepted radio recordings of a Russian commander instructing his soldiers to “take out” Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol.

The Times of London reported Thursday about the obscenity-strewn recordings released by the Security Service of Ukraine. In one recording, an unidentified Russian soldier says he observed “two people coming out of the grove in civilian [clothing].” He also spotted a vehicle and states he cannot determine whether it’s a civilian vehicle or one operating by members of the Ukrainian military.

“Take them all f***ing out!” a Russian commander shouts in response, according to the intercepted call.

“Off them all, f***!” the superior shouted. The soldier accepts the command, saying, “Got it.”

PUTIN ALLY AND BATTLE-HARDENED CHECHEN LEADER TEASES FURTHER BRUTALITIES AS FRACTURES WITH KREMLIN SURFACE

The recording was said to have come from a village outside of Mariupol, a city on the northeast coast of the Sea of Azov that’s suffered near constant Russian bombardment since March 1. An estimated 120,000 civilians remained behind in the city with a pre-war population of half million. As Russians blocked humanitarian aid and food, drinking water and medical supplies have dwindled.

Ukrainian officials have estimated that thousands of civilians have perished as airstrikes have struck a maternity hospital, a theater where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, and residential buildings. They’ve also warned that Russians might be staging a “false flag” provocation by staging the corpses of slain Mariupol residents and falsely presenting them as the victims of Ukrainian troops who used them as human shields.

The Mariupol City Council on Wednesday accused Russian forces of relying on a mobile crematorium to cover up their war crimes against civilians, as the mayor of Mariupol said, “This the new Auschwitz.”

In another leaked recording, one soldier lamented to his colleagues how Ukrainians troops have “encircled” their smaller Russian group and that they’re receiving little support from Moscow.

Declining morale and panic among the Russian ranks have been a concern of Russian leadership, according to a military directive the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said it intercepted from the Russians.

The document states that “commanders of all ranks have faced opposition from personnel” who have been persuaded by the “internet and popular messengers.”

It adds that Russian “security services have become aware of numerous cases of soldiers being blackmailed through their personal data and cases of soldiers being deceived with false information communicated to them personally through messenger apps such as Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram, Vkontakte and others.”

In response, Russian military leadership ordered “increased control” on soldiers’ access to the internet and social media on their mobile devices and check-ups on their “moral-psychological state.”

The Times also reported that Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, who’s been dubbed the Butcher of Mariupol, also recently boasted about his forces having “liquidated” 93 alleged Ukrainian “deserters” last month as they abandoned their posts and sought to flee the besieged Mariupol. The group was wearing civilian clothes, but Mizintsev said they were Ukrainian fighters, Russian state-run RT reported.

In another audio recording made public by Ukraine, Mizintsev stated that Russian soldiers’ ears should be cut off as punishment for not wearing the correct uniform.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking remotely from Ukraine, addressed the Greek parliament Thursday and emphasized the destruction brought on Mariupol, which is home to a large Greek population and shares strong ethnic and cultural ties with Greece. After pulling back from Kyiv, Russian troops have recommitted to their offensive in southeastern Ukraine in recent days.

US CALLS OUT ‘CREDIBLE REPORTS’ OF PUTIN’S FORCES HEARDING UKRAINIANS TO ‘FILTRATION CAMPS,’ THEN INTO RUSSIA

“I urge you to use the influence of Greece and opportunities as a member of the European Union to save Mariupol,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia is absolutely confident in its invincibility and that they could do whatever they want without going unpunished. We have to stop it. We must bring Russia to justice.”

“Russian troops have brought death and destruction to the land where for centuries both Ukrainians and Greeks have been enjoying peace and prosperity,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians have started a new relocation of the people from southern Ukraine. At least tens of thousands of our citizens have already been taken away to the territory of Russia and to the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine. Those are residents of Mariupol and other cities and communities hit hard by Russian troops.”

This week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations acknowledged “credible reports” about Russian forces moving tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians from Mariupol into “filtration camps” and then into Russian territory or into the rebel-controlled region of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Zelenskyy on Thursday warned the Greek parliament that another port city on the Black Sea could meet Mariupol’s same fate. Zelenskyy said that when the Greek foreign minister was in Odesa last week, the Ukrainian city, once an ancient Greek colony and now a large industrial hub, was experiencing Russian shelling and another missile attack. The Ukrainian president said Odesa is now again calm Thursday.

“This is forced relocation of people by Russia, and it is definitely not the first relocation by the Russians and both the Ukrainians and Greeks suffer from such relocation,” Zelenskyy said. “We must save Odesa from the same destruction Mariupol has suffered. We have to find all the people deported by Russia. We have to save those in Mariupol who are still alive and can be saved.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Ukraine had walked back its proposal that international guarantees of its security don’t apply to Crimea. Russian annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014 and wants Ukraine to acknowledge Moscow’s sovereignty over it.

Russian forces have pulled back from the capital region around Kyiv in recent days, and photos have emerged showing corpses in civilian clothing lying in the streets or outside homes in Bucha and other towns, some of them with their hands tied behind their backs and showing signs of rape and torture.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel recently reported that the German Federal Intelligence Service also claimed to have intercepted radio recordings from Bucha and presented the findings to the German parliament on Wednesday. The recordings purportedly captured Russian troops discussing killing civilians over the radio, with one soldier specifically mentioning shooting a man on his bicycle. Of the many graphic images that surfaced from the Bucha massacre, a dead man next to his bike was one that sent shockwaves through the West and prompted new sanctions to crush the Russian war machine.

Meeting in Brussels, G7 foreign ministers vowed Thursday to “sustain and increase pressure on Russia by imposing coordinated additional restrictive measures to effectively thwart Russian abilities to continue the aggression against Ukraine.” Considering allegations of war crimes in the city of Bucha, the ministers insisted “those responsible for these heinous acts and atrocities, including any attacks targeting civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure, will be held accountable and prosecuted.”

They also repeated warnings about the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, saying that “any use by Russia of such a weapon would be unacceptable and result in severe consequences.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Business Insider

Ukraine says its forces are ‘holding on’ in Mariupol despite Russian claims they had been driven out

Sinéad Baker – April 7, 2022

Ukraine said its troops in Mariupol were “holding on,” but added the situation for them is tough.

A Donetsk People’s Republic official had claimed: “the main battles have ended.”

Russia’s state RIA news said the official said Ukrainian forces had been “practically cleared” from the city center.

Ukraine said its troops are still fighting in the city of Mariupol after Russia said it had driven the defenders out.

Alexei Arestovich, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said in a Thursday news briefing that Ukraine’s forces “are holding on, however difficult it is for them there,” The Washington Post reported.

He said Russia had “renewed its offensive against Mariupol.”

He made his statement after Russia said it had taken the city earlier on Thursday.

Russia’s state RIA news outlet reported that pro-Russia forces had “practically cleared the center of Mariupol from Ukrainian formations,” citing Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the Donetsk People’s Republic — a Russia-backed breakaway region of Ukraine.

The report quoted Basurin as telling Russia 24: “Regarding the situation in Mariupol, the central part of the city, one can say that the main battles have ended.”

Mariupol has been one of Ukraine’s worst-hit areas in Russia’s invasion. Troops have targeted the city with weeks of intense shelling, including numerous Russian attacks against civilians targets like a hospital and a theater.