The desire to destroy the nation: Russian invaders staged a genocide in Ukraine

Russian prisoners of war, who were given by Ukraine as part of the exchange, which took place on September 21, returned home vigorous and healthy. And the Ukrainian servicemen who returned home are emaciated and sick, FRREDOM reports.

The defenders of Mariupol, Mikhail Dianov with the call sign “Pianist”, Dmitry Kozatsky, the head of the National Police of Mariupol, Mykhailo Vershina, with the call sign “Cat”, and many Ukrainians who returned from Russian captivity are unrecognizable.

“Everything is in a different state – it’s true. There are those who are in plus or minus normal condition, with the exception of chronic malnutrition associated with the conditions of detention. There are those who were tortured, the percentage of such people among those whom we returned is very high, ” – says Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

On September 23, Ukrainian law enforcement officers found the 18th place in the Kharkiv region, which the Russian army had equipped for torture during the occupation. Ukrainians were subjected to electric shock torture, they were beaten and raped. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, more than a thousand Russian soldiers have been identified who committed crimes in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kharkiv region.

“It was in this basement that the locals were kept. First, at the railway station, they were broken psychologically, and then, when it was necessary to extract evidence, they were brought here, ” – law enforcement officers showed one of the places of torture in Kazachya Lopan.

New mass graves were found in the liberated Izyum. In the coming days, the exhumation will begin there, said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Enin. On September 23, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced the completion of the exhumation at the site of the first burial in Izyum: 425 civilians, five children and 22 military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“90% of people died violent deaths. Most of them are women. Five children. In some graves, we found several bodies in one grave. According to the information we have, it was a family with signs of torture, with broken arms, some with torn off male genitalia, ” – Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, told the details.

The Russian military is turning settlements into ruins. Gennady Lysenko is 58 years old, Russian invaders lived in his house in the village of Kamenka. Of the 1200 inhabitants, 10 people remained in the village.

“I was the first to come to reconnaissance, to find out at least whether it is possible to go. Still, children, grandchildren, little ones, ” – says Gennady Lysenko.

In the Kharkiv region, they continue to search for the bodies of people under the rubble, which remained there as a result of shelling by the Russian army.

“The dogs gave us several clues as to where the bodies might be. We check them, and then the soldiers will go through the rubble and see if there are any remains,” – volunteer Karina Kolisnichenko said.

According to the National Police of Ukraine, Russian invaders killed almost 1,500 Ukrainians in the Kyiv region. The number of civilians killed in the Russian occupation in Mariupol is still unknown. According to the Ukrainian city authorities, based on the data of the Ilyichevsk morgue, the death toll may exceed 80 thousand. Rocket attacks on civilian targets in most Ukrainian cities are nothing but genocide of the Ukrainian people.

“The key difference between genocide and other crimes is that genocide is committed with special intent, the so-called genocidal intent. It consists in the desire to destroy partially or completely one of the four groups that are protected by the genocide convention. It is a racial group, a religious group, a national and an ethnic group. If we are talking about Ukrainians and those who have Ukrainian citizenship, this is a national group, as defined in the practice of international courts,” – explains lawyer, lecturer at the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” Dmytro Koval.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, nine Russian soldiers have already been convicted in Ukraine. During the six months of the war, public activists and investigative journalists in Ukraine identified about 30,000 Russian soldiers who are suspected of committing crimes. In addition to the Ukrainian public, partner countries are helping Kyiv in the investigation.

“The Commission of Inquiry in Ukraine presented its evidence to the UN Human Rights Council. We will do everything necessary to ensure accountability for these crimes,”- said Luc Pierre Devin, Deputy Director of the European External Action Service for Eastern Europe, during a hearing at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has increased its presence in Ukraine. The UN documented 5,996 deaths of Ukrainian civilians. Nearly 9,000 more people were injured, according to the organization. Among the dead – 382 children. These are only confirmed incidents, says the head of the Monitoring Mission Matilda Bogner, the real numbers are much higher.

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