This would be an incredibly difficult case to prove in an international court of law, but there could be evidence mounting that Russian thug/tyrant/despot Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes in his so-far-unsuccessful effort to subjugate Ukraine under the alleged might of his armed forces.
Russian troops are withdrawing from previously held territory in Ukraine and are leaving behind mass graves with the corpses of hundreds of civilians killed shot to death with single bullets in the back of their heads. They appear to have been executed by the Russian invaders.
Then comes the question:Â Were they acting on orders from the Kremlin?
Accordingly, I suppose one could ask whether there could be rogue commanders in the field acting on their own. Whatever the case, it all — or most of it, at least — falls on the lap of the former KGB spy master who now runs Russia as its commander in chief.
The despicable level of violence is being revealed now as Russian forces pull back from Kyiv and other key Ukrainian cities. Whether they merely are repositioning themselves for a new round of attacks remains to be determined. Whatever the intent, it is clear the Ukrainians are waging one hell of a fight against a force believed at the beginning of this conflict to be so powerful that it would steamroll its way into Kyiv.
They ain’t steamrolling anything.
The Russians, though, appear to have engaged in egregious crimes against humanity. Someone at the top of the Russian chain of command needs to be held accountable.
Let’s see. I believe that would be Vladimir Putin.