green rajab
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- Oct 16, 2015
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Russia baada ya kuona Wafungwa wa vita wa Ukraine wananenepa kwa kula ugali wa bure na vidali wameamua kuwapeleka mstari wa mbele wapigane na Jeshi lao la zamani Ukraine..
Russia
Ukrainian PoWs being sent to fight their own army, Russian news claims
Unverified footage from state media shows captured soldiers swearing allegiance to Russia as part of new battalion
Associated Press
Wed 8 Nov 2023 21.59 GMT
ia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to the frontlines of their homeland to fight on Moscow’s side in the war, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported.
Video from RIA Novosti released on Tuesday showed the Ukrainians swearing allegiance to Russia, holding rifles and dressed in military fatigues to fight in a battalion named for medieval nobleman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, seen as a national hero in Russia for bringing parts of Ukraine under Moscow’s control in the 15th century.
The news agency said the battalion entered service last month.
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 623
The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the report or videos released by the news agency, or whether the PoWs were coerced into their actions.
Both Ukrainian military and human rights officials as well as the Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Experts say such actions would be an apparent violation of the Geneva conventions relating to the treatment of PoWs, which forbids them from being exposed to combat or from working in unhealthy or dangerous conditions – coerced or not.
“Russian authorities might claim they are recruiting them on a voluntary basis but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a prisoner of war’s decision could be taken truly voluntarily, given the situation of coercive custody,” said Yulia Gorbunova, senior researcher on Ukraine at Human Rights Watch.
Nick Reynolds, research fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said “the entire scenario is laced with the potential for coercion”.
A prisoner of war, he said, does not have “a huge amount of agency” and is in a “very difficult situation”.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington said there have been previous reports of Ukrainian PoWs being asked to “volunteer” for the battalion.
They were housed in the Olenivka prison, which was blown up in July 2022. Russia said Ukraine destroyed the jail in the country’s east with a rocket, but Kyiv said the blast was perpetrated by Moscow to cover up what Kyiv alleged was abuse and killings of the PoWs.
‘Absolute evil’: inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death
Russia also has used inmates from its own prisons to fight in Ukraine in exchange for a commuted sentence if they survive.
It is also trying to bolster its forces with a “conscription campaign in occupied Ukraine”, said the ISW’s Karolina Hird.
By mobilising Ukrainian PoWs, deploying Russian convicts and conscripting Ukrainians who live in occupied regions, Russia is increasing its combat force “without having to risk the social implications of conducting a general mobilisation”, Hird said.
Earlier this year, Russian media reported that about 70 Ukrainian PoWs joined the battalion.
RIA Novosti reported the Ukrainians will operate as part of another unit in eastern Ukraine, and the unit’s website said it has about 7,000 fighters.
Given the location of the unit, Hird said she expected the Ukrainian PoWs would be deployed to the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Reynolds said the fighters were not deployed as part of a conventional Russian military unit but were one of a number of irregular formations that do not adhere to “normal force structure”
2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Russia
Ukrainian PoWs being sent to fight their own army, Russian news claims
Unverified footage from state media shows captured soldiers swearing allegiance to Russia as part of new battalion
Associated Press
Wed 8 Nov 2023 21.59 GMT
ia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to the frontlines of their homeland to fight on Moscow’s side in the war, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported.
Video from RIA Novosti released on Tuesday showed the Ukrainians swearing allegiance to Russia, holding rifles and dressed in military fatigues to fight in a battalion named for medieval nobleman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, seen as a national hero in Russia for bringing parts of Ukraine under Moscow’s control in the 15th century.
The news agency said the battalion entered service last month.
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 623
The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the report or videos released by the news agency, or whether the PoWs were coerced into their actions.
Both Ukrainian military and human rights officials as well as the Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Experts say such actions would be an apparent violation of the Geneva conventions relating to the treatment of PoWs, which forbids them from being exposed to combat or from working in unhealthy or dangerous conditions – coerced or not.
“Russian authorities might claim they are recruiting them on a voluntary basis but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a prisoner of war’s decision could be taken truly voluntarily, given the situation of coercive custody,” said Yulia Gorbunova, senior researcher on Ukraine at Human Rights Watch.
Nick Reynolds, research fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said “the entire scenario is laced with the potential for coercion”.
A prisoner of war, he said, does not have “a huge amount of agency” and is in a “very difficult situation”.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington said there have been previous reports of Ukrainian PoWs being asked to “volunteer” for the battalion.
They were housed in the Olenivka prison, which was blown up in July 2022. Russia said Ukraine destroyed the jail in the country’s east with a rocket, but Kyiv said the blast was perpetrated by Moscow to cover up what Kyiv alleged was abuse and killings of the PoWs.
‘Absolute evil’: inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death
Russia also has used inmates from its own prisons to fight in Ukraine in exchange for a commuted sentence if they survive.
It is also trying to bolster its forces with a “conscription campaign in occupied Ukraine”, said the ISW’s Karolina Hird.
By mobilising Ukrainian PoWs, deploying Russian convicts and conscripting Ukrainians who live in occupied regions, Russia is increasing its combat force “without having to risk the social implications of conducting a general mobilisation”, Hird said.
Earlier this year, Russian media reported that about 70 Ukrainian PoWs joined the battalion.
RIA Novosti reported the Ukrainians will operate as part of another unit in eastern Ukraine, and the unit’s website said it has about 7,000 fighters.
Given the location of the unit, Hird said she expected the Ukrainian PoWs would be deployed to the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Reynolds said the fighters were not deployed as part of a conventional Russian military unit but were one of a number of irregular formations that do not adhere to “normal force structure”
2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
