Further evidence to suggest Russia has committed war crimes has emerged appearing to show Russian soldiers ordering Ukrainian citizens to be killed.
In an intercepted audio recording obtained by CNN, a Russian commander says: “Kill them all, for f**k sake,” in response to a soldier’s uncertainty over what action to take when seeing Ukrainians ‘dressed as civilians’.
The shocking exchange starts with the soldier saying: “A car drove by, but I’m not sure if it was a car or a military vehicle. But there were two people coming out of the grove dressed as civilians.”
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When the commander shouts: “Kill them all, for f**k sake,” the troop adds: “Got it. But the village here is civilian…”
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His explanation is met with the following order: “What’s wrong with you? If there are civilians, slay them all.”
As reported by the outlet, intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime and is something Vladimir Putin has denied since launching his invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
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But the hours of audio tapes released by the Security Service of Ukraine show otherwise, with another of the conversations involving a commander and a soldier discussing the action to take in civilian areas.
The commander is heard saying: “Shell everywhere! Shell the settlements directly, got it?” before adding: “Shell them. Shell them a lot to raze these two villages to the ground.”
A disturbing exchange also suggests Russian troops are committing war crimes through the use of inhumane tactics such as rape.
A soldier in a tank regiment can be heard telling a counterpart: “Basically, three tankers here raped a girl… she was 16 years old.”
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As Putin continues his attack on the country, the recordings demonstrate the impact Ukraine’s defence has had on Russia’s operation, including severely disrupted supply chains and a drop in morale amongst young soldiers.
“We feed ourselves alright. We butchered a dog and ate it. It was okay,” said one of Putin’s troops in a conversation.
A separate exchange sees a young fighter telling an unknown woman: “We are so fed up sitting here, and I just hope we are not going to get hit.”
The woman says, “But you are going to be a veteran after this special military operation in Ukraine,” indicative of the influence Russia’s state media has had on civilians’ perception of the war.
She adds, “Putin has signed a decree,” to which the troop says, “What veteran? They promised us we would all get medals, and money with each medal. But I want to go home. I don’t need those medals.”
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Amid calls for those suspected of war crimes to be brought to justice, forensic teams are now in Ukraine gathering evidence should they ever be brought to trial.
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Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, World News