Ukraine: is a genocide under way?
In a morgue 85km south of
Kyiv, the evidence of Russian atrocities is plain to see, said
Danielle Sheridan in The Daily Telegraph. Here, dozens of body bags are stacked up, each holding the corpse of a civilian killed during the Russian occupation of the Kyiv area. The majority are male; the oldest was 80, the youngest 15. And most appear to have been executed – shot in the head or chest, with their hands tied behind their backs. Police say they’ve found the bodies of 900 civilians on the outskirts of Kyiv alone, said Bel Trew on The Independent. Almost all of them had been shot; some had been “beaten to a pulp”. And such atrocities were not confined to the Kyiv area. In Trostyanets, 350km east of the capital, witnesses give harrowing accounts of people being abducted, tortured and killed.
From the rape and murder of civilians to the relentless shelling of towns and cities, it has been apparent for some time that Russia’s aim is to terrorise Ukraine into submission, said The Times. Now, President Biden has suggested that this “barbarism” amounts to genocide – defined as “an intent” to destroy, “in whole or in part”, a national, ethnic or religious group. Lawyers say there isn’t yet the evidence for such a charge, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. But when you hear about Russian soldiers allegedly threatening to rape women and girls “to the point where they wouldn’t want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children”, or read reports that Ukrainian children in occupied areas have been moved across the border, and fast-tracked for adoption by Russian families, you certainly feel as if this war isn’t just about territory or strategic interests. It feels as if it has also become about “eradicating the very idea of being Ukrainian”.
The Russians have committed many savage acts, said Rich Lowry on Politico. But there is no clear evidence of an intention to exterminate Ukrainians. Their initial plan was to sweep in and install a puppet regime. That having failed, they now seem bent on seizing what territory they can in the east and south before forcing Kyiv into an “unfavourable settlement”. Their methods are vicious, but they are not unique to this conflict. As we have seen in Chechnya and Syria, this is “the Russian way of war”. Some people think calling Russia’s actions genocide is helpful, because it stokes moral outrage, said The Economist. But it’s an exaggeration. Since the facts of what Russia is doing are horrific enough, “there is no need to exaggerate”. And it could be counter-productive, as it blurs a key distinction: “that the West has generally told the truth about the war”, while Russia has lied.