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submitted 8 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

He and his parents were among the last in their village to take a Russian passport, but the pressure was becoming unbearable.

By his third beating at the hands of the Russian soldiers occupying Ukraine’s Kherson region, Vyacheslav Ryabkov caved. The soldiers broke two of his ribs, but his face was not bruised for his unsmiling passport photo, taken in September 2023.

It wasn’t enough.

In December, they caught the welder on his way home from work. Then one slammed his rifle butt down on Ryabkov’s face, smashing the bridge of his nose.

“Why don’t you fight for us? You already have a Russian passport,” they demanded. The beating continued as the 42-year-old fell unconscious.

“Let’s finish this off,” one soldier said. A friend ran for Ryabkov’s mother.

Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found. But accepting a passport means that men living in occupied territory can be drafted to fight against the same Ukrainian army that is trying to free them.

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[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 9 points 8 months ago

a army your own enemy, not gonna backfire at all

[-] Cannibal_MoshpitV3@lemmy.world 29 points 8 months ago

They dont hand the Ukrainian conscripts any real functioning weapons, if at all. They are used as meat shields and cannon fodder to absorb the limited ammunition Ukraine has.

this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
389 points (98.0% liked)

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