Ukrainian prisoner of war Tymofiy Shadura, smoking a cigarette just before being shot by Russian forces, March, 2023

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EA on WION News and Talk TV: Ukraine War — Reality v. Propaganda and the Narrative of “Stalemate”

Wednesday’s Coverage: Another Russian Warship is Destroyed

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1856 GMT:

A 66-year-old woman has been killed and a 63-year-old woman wounded in Russian attacks on Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region in southern Ukraine.

UPDATE 1850 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has expressed gratitude to the US for the latest allocation of $250 million in military aid (see 0821 GMT).

UPDATE 1247 GMT:

Two Russian men, Artyom Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba, have been given long prison sentences for reading poems that criticized Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kamardin was condemned to 7 years and Yegor Shtovba to 5 1/2 years for “inciting hatred” and “calling for activities threatening state security”.

Following his arrest, Kamardin, 33, said officers raped him and forced him to film an apology video as they threatened his girlfriend Alexandra Popova.

His “crime” was reciting his poem “Kill Me, Militiaman!” in a Moscow square where dissidents have gathering since the Soviet era. He shouted slogans against the imperial “New Russia” project which has “annexed” the south of Ukraine.

Shtovba, 23, asked the judge: “What have I done that’s illegal? Read poetry?”

UPDATE 0940 GMT:

An Associated Press investigation concludes that Russian officials covered up hundreds of deaths caused by Moscow’s demolition of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine in June.

See also Ukraine War, Day 481: Russia Blew Up Nova Kakhovka Dam and Then Blocked Humanitarian Aid — Reports

Russian forces blew up the barrier, submerging the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and flooding the region, to prevent Ukrainian troops from crossing the Dnipro River.

The Associated Press found that, to minimize the declared death toll of 59 in Russian-occupied areas east of the Dnipro, authorities took control of the issuance of death certificates and immediately removed bodies not claimed by families. They prevented local health workers and volunteers from handling the dead, and threatened them when they defied orders.

The flooding covered about 408 square km (160 square miles) of Russian-held territory. In the town of Oleshky alone, with an estimated population of 16,000, there were hundreds of deaths.

Health workers, a volunteers, and two Ukrainian informants confirmed that mass graves were dug, and unidentified bodies were taken away and never seen again. Residents on a Telegram chat group posted about bodies lying on the street, bodies collected by police, and the many people missing.

UPDATE 0850 GMT:

Russian State TV has aired a propaganda video from Mariinka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

After two years of assaults which have levelled the town and emptied it of the population of about 10,000, Moscow’s troops have occupied most of the center — only the second town or city seized by the Russians since July 2022.

The rare victory may explain why a soldier in the video compares the occupation to victory in Berlin in 1945.

UPDATE 0821 GMT:

The US Pentagon has announced a $250 million package of military aid for Ukraine.

The package, the 54th during Rusisa’s invasion, includes ammunition for the NASAMS air defense system; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; components for missile defense systems; ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System; 155mm and 105mm munitions; and anti-tank missiles.

With Republicans in Congress blockading further US economic, financial, and military assistance, the Pentagon said last week taht it will spend the last $1.07 billion of authorized military aid for Ukraine by December 30.

UPDATE 0730 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 7 of 8 Iran-made Shahed attack drones launched by Russia overnight.

UPDATE 0722 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has hailed the forthcoming establishment of joint production facilities in the country for munitions, armor, missiles, and drones.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy said:

For the next year, we have set ourselves crystal clear goals in terms of artillery, drones, missiles, and armored vehicles. One of our major political results this year is an agreement with our partners, particularly the United States, on co-production of weapons. Establishment of new production facilities. Localization in Ukraine. Expansion of the repair base.

Zelenskiy said he met with executives of more than 100 Ukraine defense enterprises on Wednesday.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russian forces have carried out another execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Ukrainian drone footage, published on Wednesday, showed the execution of three POWs near Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine. One Russian soldier shoots an already-dead Ukrainian again at close range.

The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said the executions occurred on an unspecified date in December.

Ukraine liberated the nearby village of Robotyne this autumn.

Periodic Execution and Torture of POWs

Russian troops have periodically been caught executing POWs. At the start of December, video showed the killing of two Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. One of the two had his hands behind his head.

See also Ukraine War, Day 648: Russia “Executes Surrendering Soldiers”

In March 2023, Ukrainian soldier Tymofiy Shadura became an iconic figure in Russia’s invasion when he was filmed smoking a cigarette just before being shot by Russian forces. As they fired, he shouted, “Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)”.

In April, video showed the beheaded corpses of two Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground next to a destroyed military vehicle. An off-screen witness said, “They killed them. Someone came up to them. They came up to them and cut their heads off.”

And in summer 2022, a Russian fighter was filmed using a knife to cut off the head of a captured Ukrainian.

Russian forces have also systematically tortured POWs, according to Ukrainian officials and international human rights organizations.

They are suspected of blowing up a prison in Olenivka in eastern Ukraine in late July 2022, murdering at least 53 POWs.

POWs as Human Shields

Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Wednesday that Russia’s use of Ukrainian POWs as human shields has been confirmed.

Lubinets said of a video of a Russian soldier using the POWs, “We managed to establish that the video is definitely not edited and it is real. We understand where it was recorded and by whom….We even have an idea as to which of the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces committed this crime.”

The video, posted on December 14, showed the POWs being forced to walk at gunpoint toward Ukrainian lines. Journalists from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said they managed to pinpoint the time and place of the incident but did not share it at the request of the Ukrainian military.

Lubinets has said that the practice may be systematic, with reports that Russian troops forced POWs to walk into minefields.