Making Peace with the Russians

Why would Ukraine not be interested in some sort of peace deal with Russia? Quite simply because they don't have any reason to think that the Russians would stick to the terms of such a deal and lots of reason to think that they'd violate it.

For example, the Russians signed on to the Geneva Conventions which explicitly prohibit the torture and other maltreatment of prisoners of war. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian soldiers who've found themselves in Russian custody have been subjected to horrific tortures and starvation.

Jillian Kay Melchior has a column in the Wall Street Journal in which she gives us an idea why Ukraine would be reluctant to settle for a peace deal to end the current conflict.

Melchior tells us that 2,500 Ukrainians have been released in prisoner exchanges since February 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion began and cites the testimony of one of them, a man named Serhii Rotchuk.

She writes:

Mr. Rotchuk says he was beaten, was subjected to electrical shocks, and had needles jammed under his fingernails. He says he witnessed a lot of “blunt trauma of the legs, blunt trauma on the ribs, chest, and sometimes on the head.”

He describes his captors as “professionals” who can inflict painful wounds that don’t leave bruises. “Now I have a big problem with my knees, my joints,” as well as “permanent stress, I think.”

Mr. Rotchuk's experience was evidently not unique:

Samer Attar, a Chicago physician who has volunteered in Zaporizhzhia region, was present for one prisoner exchange during the summer of 2022. He recalls seeing “scores of young men,” all of them “emaciated” and “sickly looking.”

After their release, Ukrainian soldiers are handed off to professionals like Tetiana Sirenko, who is deputy director for psychological work at a clinic run by the Health Ministry.

She says nearly all the former prisoners she has treated endured electrical shocks, which can cause long-term cardiovascular damage. “A very common thing done to men is electrodes placed on their genitals and other parts of their body,” she says.

“Then there are also things like breaking fingers and bones, tearing out fingernails, and beatings on the heels.”

She has also treated cases involving “a lot of sexual violence—gang rapes, raping with objects.”

Russians sometimes brand their victims, and if they discover a patriotic tattoo, they may cut off “the skin and some of the flesh under it,” Ms. Sirenko says. A few of her patients were filmed as they were tortured, and the Russians sent the footage to their families.

Ms. Melchior concludes her column with this:

Given Russia’s lawless brutality, Ukrainians have no confidence it would abide by any negotiated peace, and they fear domination more than war.

Given what the Russians did to POWs in their custody it doesn't take much imagination to predict what they'd do to Ukrainian civilians, government leaders and military personnel if they were ever in a position to do so.

That's why those in the West calling for a peace deal are being ignored by the Ukrainian government. There's no point in making a deal with thugs like the Russians.