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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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[-] fustigation769curtain@lemmy.world 35 points 8 months ago

Well, considering the article is about Russians forcing Ukrainians to fight, that's what rational people would think you meant by "Ukraine is doing the exact same thing."

No. Ukraine is not doing "the exact same thing." Both Ukraine and Russia are forcing their own respective countrymen to fight. Only Russia is forcing Ukrainians to fight for Russia.

If you had a point, then that would be Ukraine forcing Russians to fight for Ukraine, which isn't true.

But I've already given you more than you deserve. You are clearly a sad Russian troll who is just doing his best not to get fired.

Good luck coming up with a response to this, I can't wait to see how jumbled and illogical it is.

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

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