Patterico's Pontifications

4/13/2023

President Zelensky Blasts Russia For Videos Purportedly Showing Beheaded Ukrainian Soldiers

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:51 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Nothing but horror for Ukraine as two separate videos have been released and the first one show two beheaded corpses, and a second video shows a Ukrainian soldier being beheaded:

From CNN:

The first video, which was posted to a pro-Russian social media channel on April 8, was purportedly filmed by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group and appears to show the beheaded corpses of two Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground next to a destroyed military vehicle.

In the video, a voice can be heard, behind the camera, the sound seemingly distorted to prevent the speaker’s identification.

“(The armored vehicle) got f**ked by a mine,” the voice, speaking Russian, says.

Apparently referring to the bodies on the ground, the voice, laughing, continues, “They killed them. Someone came up to them. They came up to them and cut their heads off.”

The dead soldiers also appear to have had their hands cut off.

Observers say that the video was filmed in Bakhmut.

Details about the second video:

The second video…was posted on Twitter and is heavily blurred, looks to have been filmed during the summer because of the amount of plant life on the ground. It purports to show a Russian fighter using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian soldier. A voice at the beginning of the video suggests the victim might have still been alive when the attack began.

There is also this:

On Monday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that Wagner was “reportedly continuing to commit war crimes by beheading Ukrainian servicemen in Bakhmut,” referencing a photo shared on pro-Russian social media sites showing what appeared to be a severed head, which they claimed belonged to a Ukrainian soldier, mounted on a spike.

The ISW has reported similar incidents in Popasna, in the Luhansk region, where Wagner troops were also operating earlier in the war.

Of course, the Wagner terrorist group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin denies that any of his fighters were involved in the atrocities. And the terrorist state of Russia cast doubt on the veracity of the videos…because, as we all know, the Kremlin always values and promotes accuracy in reporting, especially when it comes to their…less than humane behavior.

President Zelensky blasted the Russian “beasts,” while Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called on the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s Office to “immediately pay attention to another atrocity committed by the Russian military” as investigations into war crimes:

“We are not going to forget anything. Neither are we going to forgive the murderers. There will be legal responsibility for everything. The defeat of terror is necessary. No one will understand if the leaders don’t react. Action is required now!” he said.

I think that Olena Halushka has it right:

The videos of russians murdering unarmed POWs are just the tip of the iceberg. How many crimes were never filmed? Savage atrocities are daily reality at the occupied territories. Everybody who pushes for an alleged peace in exchange for Ukrainian lands want this hell to never end

It’s inconceivable that some world leaders claim to be “neutral” in this war, or have pledged “non-involvement” in the face of barbarity directed by a brutal dictator accused of war crimes. Just how bad would things have to get, how brutally inhumane would Russia have to be before these leaders would support Ukraine in any way possible? I know I keep beating the same old drum, but every world leader, especially in the West, should be completely ashamed of turning a blind eye to what Russia is doing.

Meanwhile, while Prigozhin is claiming that his Wagner group had seized more than 80% of Bakhmut, Kyiv says that in actuality, Ukraine controls 20% of the city. However, Poland claims that their analysis bears out Russia’s claims. Ukraine and Russia are in the midst of a brutal fight for control in Bakhmut:

[Ukrainian] soldiers have been pushed into a shrinking half-circle of ruins that is only about 20 blocks wide. It continually deploys small units in close-range urban combat, sustaining significant casualties. Ukrainian soldiers said they were often close enough to hear Russians talking in nearby buildings.

Kyiv Independent is also reporting some discouraging news for Ukraine: “In an interview with the New York Times, Morawiecki said that Russia has far more artillery shells and is firing far more rounds on the battlefield each month than the Ukrainian army. He said South Korea has a “huge supply of artillery shells and could help. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he believes that only the direct intervention of President Biden would lead to an agreement for South Korea to make its artillery shells available to Ukraine.”

I want to leave you with an excerpt from Tamar Jacoby’s analysis, Why Ukraine Fights. It’s hard to select just one excerpt because all of it is enlightening in its examination of Ukrainian’s national identity and motivations at this particular moment in their history. You may or may not agree with all of it, but please give it a read. (You may have to subscribe, I’m not sure. If so, then do so!).

Even after Maidan and Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and Donbas, the two cultures, Russian and Ukrainian, remained deeply intertwined, often in complex, ambiguous ways. “There was a constant blending and blurring,” Andrieiev, the blogger, explained. “You could be a Ukrainian-speaking patriot and still quote Russian writers, listen to Russian music and have friends and relatives in Russia. But already in the wake of Maidan, more and more people began searching for a more distinctly Ukrainian identity.”

Fast forward to 2022, and that trickle has become a flood. What once seemed acceptable—the old cultural blending and blurring—is now seen as intolerable. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians want to sever all ties to Russia. And as often as not, the change has been bottom-up—with the government following from behind to endorse or codify popular will.

…

The key elements of this identity are a long, albeit uneven, experience with ethnic pluralism, an ingrained egalitarianism, deep distrust of authority, and now, after 30 years of independence and a brutal war, a fierce longing to join democratic Europe. This, every bit as much as land, is what Ukrainians are fighting for.

Still, in the end, as Ukrainians know all too well from past efforts to break away from Russia, winning the peace may prove as difficult as winning the war. What kind of country will emerge in Ukraine when the fighting stops? How will the political culture and national identity be reshaped by war?

“The serious debates haven’t started yet,” Oksana Forostyna conceded. “This is not a good time to ask unpleasant questions. But sooner or later, we will have to.”

–Dana

40 Responses to “President Zelensky Blasts Russia For Videos Purportedly Showing Beheaded Ukrainian Soldiers”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (1225fc) — 4/13/2023 @ 2:51 pm

  2. Well, at the end, those Ukrainian nationals who collaborated will be shot and their families deported to Russia where they might not be shot. Dead-ender separatists will be hunted down without mercy or quarter.

    After the wartime cleanup, Ukraine will join NATO and the EU.

    Wagner Group members will be hunted down forever by everyone, just like Nazi death camp guards.

    The real question is what happens in Russia.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/13/2023 @ 3:15 pm

  3. The mask is off, and Putin and his Russian people are telling us exactly who they are.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 4/13/2023 @ 4:37 pm

  4. But, but, but this is all just so unpleasant. Can’t we simply go back to our social media, video games, fast food, soda, professional wrestling, mindless music, tattoos, piercings, and fake eyelashes?

    norcal (15fce4) — 4/13/2023 @ 6:01 pm

  5. Many never left those things. But they vote, if it is made easy enough.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/13/2023 @ 6:49 pm

  6. Both countries are fighting under “total war” conditions. What did you expect?
    To bad Madeleine Albright was unavailable for comment.

    Joe (4cc3c9) — 4/13/2023 @ 7:38 pm

  7. Russia released this video of its terrorist acts to terrorize people. I see no evidence that Ukraine is routinely killing prisoners. That may happen at times in war due to exigencies, but even then it is not this kind of brutality that Russia seems to relish.

    Wagner Group fighters, btw, are not covered by the Geneva Convention, being mercenaries. They can be shot out of hand, and ought to be.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/13/2023 @ 9:36 pm

  8. The mask is off, and Putin and his Russian people are telling us exactly who they are.

    Huh? Did you miss learning of the rape of Berlin in WW2? They’ve always been brutal. Why do you think it’s rare risk to kidnap a Russian— same reason nobody dared grab a Roman. They’ll kill for retribution and revenge.

    DCSCA (b18ccb) — 4/13/2023 @ 10:55 pm

  9. Did you miss learning of the rape of Berlin in WW2?

    No.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 4/13/2023 @ 11:02 pm

  10. I said the mask was off, which implies that they are what they’ve been, but you condescended anyway.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 4/13/2023 @ 11:04 pm

  11. It seems like this scare tactic will ensure that Ukrainian soldiers never surrender.

    norcal (15fce4) — 4/13/2023 @ 11:26 pm

  12. Trading With The Enemy

    Horatio (9c34a6) — 4/14/2023 @ 6:26 am

  13. Prediction: Joe Biden will resign before the end of 2023.

    Colonel Haiku (c5f573) — 4/14/2023 @ 6:53 am

  14. You’d have to join Al Qaeda to meet anybody as anti-American as Seymour Hersh. He has been a propaganda and disinformation outlet for our Communist enemies for more than half a century.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/14/2023 @ 7:07 am

  15. @14 or go to a Trump rally.

    Time123 (a56091) — 4/14/2023 @ 7:23 am

  16. @13, at minimum, announce that he’s decided to not run for re-election.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 4/14/2023 @ 7:25 am

  17. @14 or go to a Trump rally.

    Unfortunately true.

    Marjorie Taylor Greene defends National Guardsman suspected of leaking classified docs
    The Georgia lawmaker’s comments were at odds with those of fellow Republicans and drew backlash from Democrats.

    nk (bb1548) — 4/14/2023 @ 7:41 am

  18. She really is horrible.

    Time123 (a56091) — 4/14/2023 @ 7:59 am

  19. Hersh finds a kindred spirit, identifies him as “one knowledgeable American intelligence official”, and runs with it.
    This isn’t journalism, as so little of Hersh’s work is.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 4/14/2023 @ 8:02 am

  20. You’d have to join Al Qaeda to meet anybody as anti-American as Seymour Hersh. He has been a propaganda and disinformation outlet for our Communist enemies for more than half a century.

    Perhaps, but as expected, you attack the messenger, and do nothing to determine if the message is correct or not.

    I submit that Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, Obama, both Clintons, Sanders, Waters, AOC, Omar, Pressley, Tlaib, ad nauseum, are more anti-American than Hersh

    Horatio (a8ac90) — 4/14/2023 @ 8:05 am

  21. There are a collection of people who great anything negative to the US with open arms regardless of context or impact. Hersh is one of them. Greenwald is another.

    In this case they’re trying to conflate this clown sharing classified material with his online gaming buddies with the release of the pentagon papers or Snowden’s leak of the US government spying on citizens.

    There is another crowd, MTG is a representative sample & Tucker is another, that evaluate any development based on if it can be used for political advantage regardless of the impact to the US overall.

    Governments spy on friends and enemies and use the information to advance national interests. I haven’t seen anything in this batch of classified information that shows wrongdoing, abuse, or criminal acts by the US government. Cheering on this clown, as Hersh, MTG & Greenwald are doing doesn’t advance any US national interest. His actions harmed the US as a whole with no upside. Some (Hersh, Greenwald) are fine with harming the US. Others (Tucker, MTG) are happy to use what he did for political advantage. It’s unpatriotic and pathetic.

    Time123 (f63df3) — 4/14/2023 @ 8:15 am

  22. Horatio, Is there anything in the released information you can point out as an outrageous violation that needed to be leaked? Anything similar to our involvement in Vietnam, spying on US citizens, or use of torture?

    Time123 (f63df3) — 4/14/2023 @ 8:16 am

  23. #13

    Is your prediction generated by a current story or is it just a general feeling? (I really am curious — I might have missed something)

    Appalled (adba34) — 4/14/2023 @ 8:49 am

  24. As if we need more evidence, but if you want to know much of a sh-tty anti-American human being Tucker is, then see how he used a Russian-doctored document to mislead his viewers on Russian and Ukrainian casualties.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:02 am

  25. I said the mask was off

    I never saw a mask.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:11 am

  26. Marjorie Taylor Greene defends National Guardsman suspected of leaking classified docs

    Strip her, and her office staff, of all clearances.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:13 am

  27. Russia released this video of its terrorist acts to terrorize people. I see no evidence that Ukraine is routinely killing prisoners. That may happen at times in war due to exigencies, but even then it is not this kind of brutality that Russia seems to relish.

    In the age of total war, executing prisoners (and civilians) is not unheard of-US troops did it in WW II (Chenogne Massacre) and Vietnam, though not necessarily with the Russian brutality.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:14 am

  28. Seymour Hersh has been trying to reclaim his glory days after winning a Pulitzer for his reporting on the My Lai massacre and other stories in the 1970s for decades.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:26 am

  29. 23… read Mark Halperin’s latest about the visit to Ireland. The deterioration is rapidly accelerating, Biden doesn’t have long.

    Colonel Haiku (d066c6) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:38 am

  30. Haiku,

    When the left no longer has a use for Biden they will dump him and allow all his corruption to be spoken about publicly. We are almost there.

    NJRob (426623) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:40 am

  31. These performance artists they call Democrats are slowly being exposed, Rob.

    But some choose to scream about Marjorie Taylor Green, as if this fringe character is the problem. Clowns all around.

    Colonel Haiku (d066c6) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:45 am

  32. US troops did it in WW II

    At the Normandy beachhead and at Bastogne. Exigencies of wartime. There is no indication that they were shooting civilians out of hand though.

    Vietnam was quite different.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:48 am

  33. Haiku, Green, Gaetz, Omar, AOC, Tlaib are all terrible. However Green, Gaetz and their compatriots have done a far superior job of wielding power and gaining influence then the left wing counter parts. Of the Squad only AOC has managed to maintain significant influence and even she is much weaker respectively then her RW counterparts. If i were a Trump supporter with a few scraps of decency left I’d want to pretend MTG was less powerful then she is. But the sad fact is that she’s closer to the center of the current republican base then Romney, Ryan, or Tim Scott.

    Time123 (f63df3) — 4/14/2023 @ 9:58 am

  34. Thanks, moby.

    Colonel Haiku (d066c6) — 4/14/2023 @ 10:02 am

  35. CH, That insult applies to people who pretend to be a republican. I’m not a Republican. I used to be one. Voted for them. Worked for campaigns when I younger. But many people, you included, have convinced that I’m not a republican and shouldn’t call myself one.and independent voter who wants limited government, fiscal discipline, rule of law, and strong national defense. I wish there was a political party that highly prioritized those things, but sadly there isn’t.

    The GOP pretends to care and the Dems barely do that.

    Time123 (f63df3) — 4/14/2023 @ 10:47 am

  36. #35
    Time123: based on your political “wants,” you might be interested in this conversation between John Caldara (Independence Institute) and Kelly Maher, local political strategist.
    Note: it includes a lot of sporadic casual friendly chit-chat & gentle digs at each other, which I find a bit frustrating, but the main topic of “whither the Colorado GOP” is interesting, I think.

    https://youtu.be/86ofIMyJjW8

    ColoComment (373523) — 4/14/2023 @ 11:03 am

  37. ColoComment, thank you for sharing. I’ll check it out.

    Time123 (f63df3) — 4/14/2023 @ 11:19 am

  38. @25. Only suckers did… like these “folks”…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCCTf17ZiIs&t=2s

    DCSCA (65f130) — 4/14/2023 @ 11:24 am

  39. It’s inconceivable that some world leaders claim to be “neutral” in this war, or have pledged “non-involvement” in the face of barbarity directed by a brutal dictator accused of war crimes.

    People praised Nixon’s diplomatic opening to China in 1972, even though it was known – or should have been known – what a tyrant he was, and what kind of system he ran.

    The same thing with some people always wanting “peace” negotiations.

    It’s more common than the opposite.

    Maye some people (not Macron) are just more aware of it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 4/14/2023 @ 2:07 pm

  40. norcal (15fce4) — 4/13/2023 @ 11:26 pm

    It seems like this scare tactic will ensure that Ukrainian soldiers never surrender

    Not to the Wagner group or a similar one maybe (there’s also Ramzan Kadyrov’s Chechen group.

    According to one of the leaked documents, the U.S> has discovered that the Russians are arguing among themselves about casualties.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-leak-spotlights-russian-infighting-wagners-role-in-ukraine-war-c0f14632

    According to another purported U.S. document, Russia’s powerful Federal Security Service accused the Defense Ministry of underreporting Russian casualties in Ukraine by excluding deaths among units that don’t form part of the armed forces, such as Wagner and the National Guard. FSB officials calculated that the actual number of Russians wounded or killed in action in Ukraine was around 110,000, far in excess of official estimates.

    The National Guard has been tasked since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with stifling protests on occupied Ukrainian territory and guarding strategic objects, but it has also suffered losses among personnel involved in defending front-line positions, one of the leaked documents said. It said personnel losses in National Guard units undermine Russia’s ability to hold occupied parts of Ukraine.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 4/14/2023 @ 2:17 pm


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0858 secs.