Just how brainwashed you have to be to believe this level of propaganda?
For anyone interested, the linked post features a video and a photo from Bucha, a city near Kyiv that was recently reclaimed by Ukrainian side after Russian retreat. It emphasizes the fact that some of the bodies found there had a white rag tied to their arms and claims that those people were killed by Ukrainian forces. According to the post's author, a white rag was an identifying sign used by locals who supported Russian troops.
Because of course a white rag/flag can't be anything else but an identifying sign in support of Russian invader? And of course it proves that these civilians must have been killed by Ukrainian troops!?
It just couldn't be that locals used white rags and other white things to show that they are unarmed civilians, to prevent invading troops from shooting them, right? And Russian military has such a stellar track record of never harming any civilians, right?
Mentioning Russia and "white flags" reminded me of an interview that was reported with a Ukrainian soldier. He stated about having to watch out for the tactics Russian soldiers use. Stating it was common for some Russian troops to wave something white and make it look like they're surrendering, only to then open fire on Ukrainian troops who would move in closer to confirm it.
Russian soldiers were ordering Ukrainian civilians to wear white armbands to designate themselves as civilians. They then rounded up and shot all the civilians before they left while looting their homes for food because the Russian military's upper ranks embezzled all the money for rations.
This is basically on the level of Nazi Germany trying to "get out ahead of the story" by declaring that as they were retreating from German-controlled territory, the Nazis found all sorts of concentration camps set up by the Americans and British to kill all the Jews! However, in the face of British and American genocide of the Jews, the Germans will fight on in defense of Jewish rights!
Mentioning Russia and "white flags" reminded me of an interview that was reported with a Ukrainian soldier. He stated about having to watch out for the tactics Russian soldiers use. Stating it was common for some Russian troops to wave something white and make it look like they're surrendering, only to then open fire on Ukrainian troops who would move in closer to confirm it.
Won't that run the risk of *actual* surrendering Russian troops to just be killed instead?
Won't that run the risk of *actual* surrendering Russian troops to just be killed instead?
Yes, but that doesn't stop some groups. It has often been the duty of officers or "blocking units"/"barrier troops" to kill those who try to surrender or flee. Making it so the enemy will not trust a surrender is an effective deterrent to your own troops surrendering, so deliberately violating those laws of war is a strategy a truly ruthless command can employ.
(This is in fact a big part of the real IJN Yuudachi's infamy - the real ship hoisted a white flag as a "sail to raise the spirits of the sailors" the Japanese said before continuing to fire during the Battle of the Solomon Islands. In response to this, the USN put out a "No Quarter" order saying that their ships have no obligation to accept surrender if they suspect a trap. The KC Yuudachi has a white flag in a "sail" to reference this in some bizarrely cutesified way.)
Besides which, it's long been reported how much Russia wants to get in a false flag operation to justify any of what it's doing. If they force civilians to wear white armbands and then have their soldiers dress like civilians and wear white armbands, they might be able to trick some Ukrainians into shooting civilians, and then they get the news story they want.
I just want to add this news article by the New York Times, where journalists compared satellite images of Bucha to show that there were civilians lying dead in the streets for weeks while the Russian forces were occupying the city (just type in some gibberish in the format of x@x.x to get through the account requirement) (Also, Content warning, video containing dead bodies): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html?
Of course that doesn't necessarily prove that the Russian forces killed the people linked in comment #2214562, but it's certainly some solid evidence that the Russian forces have been doing some pretty nasty things, contrary to their claims that it's all been staged by Ukraine.
Calm down, I was just thanking your advice. Nothing else. The word comrade often has positive meaning.
Comrade that's ironically from mass murder ideology lover to mass murder ideology lover and nothing else after "soviet" "union" of socialist "republics"