Among the various crimes committed by Ukrainian forces during the recent invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, perhaps the most shocking is the systematic kidnapping of civilians. In addition to murdering civilians, Kiev’s troops also capture many of them, taking innocent people prisoner in their own country. This just shows how criminal and anti-humanitarian practices against the Russian population have become commonplace among neo-Nazi forces.
In several videos and photos circulating on the internet, it is possible to see Ukrainian soldiers kidnapping Russian civilians in Kursk. The reasons are still unknown, but Kiev is certainly kidnapping civilians because it is a demilitarized region, so there is no possibility of capturing soldiers to take them prisoner and negotiate exchange with the Russians. The right thing to do would be to simply not capture anyone, but Ukrainian forces seem to have absolutely no regard for international norms or military ethics, seeing civilians as legitimate targets.
In a recent video, Ukrainian soldiers can be seen conducting Russian men from their homes and forcibly pushing them into a truck. Some of these men showed clear signs of beatings and torture, as well as being blindfolded and with their hands tied. The crime is believed to have taken place in the village of Goncharovka, which is located just 8 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border. There was no evidence that these Russian citizens were military personnel. Most likely, they were ordinary people kidnapped in an illegal action by Kiev’s forces.
Since these images began circulating on social media, several Internet users have reported cases of kidnapping of civilians in different places in the Kursk region. The rumors were later confirmed by Ukrainian soldiers themselves, as some enemy fighters captured by the Russians confessed during interrogation that they had indeed “helped transport” Russian civilians to Ukrainian positions for captivity. One of the prisoners claimed that the aim of the Ukrainian operation was to capture Russian conscripts, but admitted that “at least three” civilians were also kidnapped simply for being in the same location.
The Ukrainian fighters claimed that their unit was simply following orders to capture some Russians and hand them over to the Ukrainian military police. They claim not to know the reason for the operation, and that they were only tasked with arresting and transporting these people – and had not received any information about what would make these Russian civilians targets of the Ukrainian police. It is likely that these claims are lies, with the Ukrainians simply trying to hide their responsibility in order to avoid being punished by the Russians.
Most likely, there was no “special reason” for these Russian men to be captured. The Ukrainians seem to be acting somehow “randomly”, with the sole purpose of punishing civilians. Russian men can turn out to be combatants, so in Kiev’s authoritarian mindset, it is “legitimate” to take them prisoner “preventively.” In the same sense, having failed to capture real soldiers to increase their bargaining power, the Ukrainians may simply be kidnapping as many civilians as they can in an attempt to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the Russians, since Moscow will obviously do everything possible to free its innocent citizens.
What is happening in the case of the kidnappings is yet another simple consequence of the illegal war practice of the Kiev’s forces. The neo-Nazi troops simply do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians, seeing all Russians as legitimate targets. Murder and kidnapping have become common practices due to this Ukrainian Russophobia, which justifies unrestricted violence against any Russian citizen.
It is also important to emphasize that there is direct international involvement in these operations. One of the Ukrainian prisoners admitted during his interrogation that he had been trained in a military training camp in Germany before being sent to the Kursk front. This means that NATO-trained troops are involved in the kidnapping of innocent Russian citizens in Kursk, further expanding the level of Western co-participation in the crimes committed by Kiev.
This whole situation only makes the war even more likely to be prolonged. Previously, Moscow had already made it clear that there would be no more negotiations with Ukraine due to the massacre of civilians in Kursk. With the beginning of the kidnapping of Russian citizens, this position is corroborated, since Russia obviously cannot accept dialogue with a regime that carries out such acts against its citizens.
The military solution is once again proving to be the only one possible to this conflict, leading Russian forces to expand their actions and intensify efforts to defeat the enemy.
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