Really. The Kyiv Independent says this? I guess its possible, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Russian soldiers would want to move their families from a non-warzone into a warzone - with the potential that it might become even more unstable should the war accelerate, all for....land? When Russia has more unused land than half of the world combined? Why would they do this?
At least U.K. is directly sanctioning Russian who are committing war crimes. The world should follow suit. UK aims sanctions at Russians accused of abducting Ukrainian children Maria Lvova-Belova accused by Ukraine of organising capture of vulnerable children in Luhansk and Donetsk https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ducting-ukrainian-children-maria-lvova-belova
Money -- the Russians are given payments to move. The Russians who take the offer don't think they will be staying there for the long term, they probably understand the uncertainty. However, coupled with the Ukraine houses with running water, heat & AC, electricity, TVs, etc. are generally much nicer than what they had back in some rural areas of Russia --- why not relocate for a bit. If things go bad, they are probably assuming they can always go back "home".
The "Russification" continues. Coupled with new rules in the occupied Ukraine regions against speaking the Ukraine language (Russian only allowed), issuing Russian passports, and other measures to enforce the domination of the occupied regions. Authorities in occupied part of Ukraine say everyone born there is now Russian, a new step to erase Ukrainian identity https://www.businessinsider.com/born-occupied-ukraine-russian-citizens-2022-6
They are temporary human shields also but there will be absolutely no recognition of the sham referendum no matter how they bump the numbers.
Straight-out criminal activity.... Putin and his leadership should be held accountable. ‘This is criminal activity’: Russia is selling stolen Ukrainian grain in Syrian ports as Putin holds world hostage over food https://fortune.com/2022/06/17/russia-selling-stolen-ukrainian-grain-syria/ More ships flying the Russian flag have reportedly been spotted unloading Ukrainian grain abroad, as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues using the threat of a global hunger crisis to coerce Western countries into lifting their sanctions on Russia. Two Russian bulk carriers, merchant ships designed to carry unpackaged bulk cargo such as grain, were spotted unloading grain at Syrian ports by U.S. satellite company Maxar Technologies, Reuters reported. The same ships had been seen days earlier loading grain at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, Maxar said, where Russian troops have for weeks been reportedly loading stolen Ukrainian grain, according to satellite images taken by Maxar in May. Syria has been a close ally to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began at the end of February, accepting Russian ships in their ports even as Ukrainian officials warned they were carrying stolen grain and urged countries not to buy from Russia. But the war and an agricultural shortfall has brought several Middle Eastern and African countries to the brink of a catastrophic hunger crisis, including Syria, where around 60% of the population suffers from food insecurity, according to the UN. At the beginning of the war, Putin sought to use Europe’s dependence on Russian energy exports as a bargaining chip, attempting to have European countries pay for Russian gas in rubles to prop up the failing currency. The European Union didn’t abide, and decided to cut off 90% of Russian oil imports and two-thirds of gas imports by the end of the year instead. Now, Putin appears to be moving on to using a looming global hunger crisis, and the worldwide strife created by missing Russian and Ukrainian food exports, to his advantage. Weeks of stolen grain reports The Maxar images corroborate reports from May provided by the intelligence arm of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense that Russian ships were ferrying stolen Ukrainian grain to Syria. Both the UN and U.S. intelligence have warned that there is credible evidence that Russian troops have been stealing Ukrainian harvests. Last month, Russian trucks were also seen looting Ukrainian grain silos and transporting the stolen goods to Russian-controlled ports in Crimea, CNN reported. Russian troops have stolen around 600,000 tons of Ukrainian grain during the war, according to UAC, a Ukrainian agricultural producers union. Of this, around 100,000 tons of wheat worth more than $40 million have been shipped to Syria over the past three months, the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon told Reuters earlier this month. “This is criminal activity,” the embassy said. Russian officials have repeatedly denied the claims that its troops are stealing Ukrainian grain, with Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko saying in an interview this week that Russia “does not ship grains from Ukraine.” But in spite of Russia’s protests, Ukrainian officials have insisted that stolen grain from Ukraine is circulating in many Middle Eastern and African countries. One Ukrainian diplomatic envoy to Turkey told reporters this month that Turkish buyers were receiving large volumes of stolen grain shipments. Putin’s strategy Combined, Ukraine and Russia accounted for nearly one-third of global wheat supply, while Russia was a major exporter of fertilizer, and Ukraine of corn and sunflower oil. The reduced food exports from the two countries is aggravating a global hunger crisis, and Putin has made clear to the West that he intends to withhold supplies until sanctions are lifted. The UN has expressed openness to negotiating with Russia, although the U.S. has so far remained staunchly opposed to lifting sanctions, even cautioning nations against buying Russia’s stolen grain supplies. But several African nations—where years of drought and bad agricultural conditions have dramatically reduced domestic output—have become reliant on food imports, with some leaders joining Putin in calling for a lifting of Western sanctions. The war in Ukraine has accelerated what the UN has called an “alarming rise” of hunger in the world’s most vulnerable regions, particularly around the Horn of Africa, where countries are especially reliant on Ukrainian and Russian food imports. In Sudan, where over half the country’s wheat imports originate in the Black Sea regions, the UN warned Thursday, one-third of the country’s population was facing “acute food insecurity.”
Just Russians acting like barbarians... a string of continual war crimes and kidnappings for money. All of this can be squarely laid at the feet of Putin. Russian Soldiers Ask Ukrainian Hostages $1,700 Each For Their Release: Mayor Orlov https://www.ibtimes.com/russian-sol...s-1700-each-their-release-mayor-orlov-3552899 Up to three kidnappings are reported every day in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, its mayor Dmytro Orlov says Victims are required to pay around $1,695 each to be released Hundreds of Enerhodar's residents are being held captive, including workers of a nuclear power plant Russian forces are kidnapping people in occupied areas of Ukraine and ransoming them off as part of a "business on blood," Ukrainian officials alleged. Between two to three kidnappings are reported every day in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, its mayor Dmytro Orlov said in a statement. The standard fee for the release of a prisoner under any pretext is 50,000 Ukrainian hryvnias ($1,695), which can only be paid by the prisoners themselves or their relatives, according to the official. Hundreds of Enerhodar's residents are currently being held captive, including women, Orlov said. Workers of the local Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, made up a "significant" portion of the prisoners, he noted. "People are electrocuted, beaten and held for weeks, and sometimes months," said Orlov, adding that the situation in Enerhodar "has only worsened" over the past two weeks. Russian troops force prisoners to confess to engaging in "illegal activities," specifically in the defense of Enerhodar or concealment of weapons, the mayor alleged. Additionally, they allegedly force prisoners to disclose the names of other "accomplices." "[The Russians] don't really care what position the prisoner takes, who he works for or whether he even took part in Enerhodar's self-defense. It's just an excuse. If someone falls under their millstones, it is extremely rare to be released without moral, physical or material losses," Orlov said. Russia has previously been accused of kidnapping politicians and journalists during its invasion of Ukraine in an effort to threaten locals in occupied territories into cooperating. Abductees are allegedly tortured and executed. Russian forces have also abducted at least 200,000 children since the conflict began on Feb. 24, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. More than 234,000 children were transferred to Russia by early June, said Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's permanent representative to the United Nations. Ukraine is now trying to bring back the children who were forcibly taken to Russia, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. Hostage-taking during armed conflicts constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The kidnapping of minors is a violation of the U.N.'s Genocide Convention and Convention on the Right of the Child.