|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2024 23:02:57 GMT
a hero among heroes
Oleksiy Yukov spent years trawling the sprawling Ukrainian countryside for the remains of fallen soldiers from World War I and II. In 2014, he began searching for the bodies of soldiers killed in a new conflict between Ukraine and Kremlin-backed separatists. Since February 2022, he has been busier than ever. This video contains scenes some may find disturbing.
www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-war-bodies-yukov/32227215.html
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.
To find out more, click here.
www.rferl.org/a/russia-rfe-undesirable-explainer/32868874.html
|
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2024 23:08:27 GMT
REVEAL
ACCOUNTABILITY
Escaping Putin’s War Machine
revealnews.org/podcast/escaping-putins-war-machine/
An underground network of Russian anti-war activists is helping soldiers abandon Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
April 6, 2024
Oleksii Yukov examines the body of a Russian soldier in the Sloviansk region of Ukraine in October 2023. Yukov leads a group of volunteers who gather the remains of Ukrainian and Russian fighters and says he’s collected over 1,000 bodies since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Credit: Bram Janssen/Associated Press
LISTEN podcast.revealnews.org/1014+Reveal+PC_full_web-nobreaks.mp3
As the war in Ukraine grinds into a third year, more Russian soldiers are attempting to escape frontline deployment, supported by an underground network of fellow Russians.
Associated Press investigative reporter Erika Kinetz follows the dramatic journey of one Russian military officer who deserted the army and fled Russia, guided by an anti-war group that has helped thousands of people evade military service or desert. The name of the group, Idite Lesom, is a play on words in Russian – a reference to the covert nature of its work but also a popular idiom that means “Get lost.”
With help from the group, the officer made the perilous journey to Kazakhstan, but only after he had a friend and fellow soldier shoot him in the leg.
“You can only leave wounded or dead,” he tells Kinetz. “No one wants to leave dead.”
His act of desperation reflects the horrific conditions troops face in Ukraine. But life in exile is not what this officer and other deserters had hoped for. Some have had criminal cases filed against them in Russia, where they face 10 years or more in prison. And many are also waiting for a welcome from European countries or the United States that has never arrived. Instead, they live in hiding, fearing deportation back to Russia and persecution of themselves and their families.
For Western nations grappling with Russia’s vast and growing diaspora, Russian military defectors present particular concern: Are they spies? War criminals? Or heroes?
Next, Reveal host Al Letson talks with Kinetz and fellow reporter Solomiia Hera about why these military defectors are not finding sanctuary in Western Europe or the U.S. and how demographics and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to accept enormous casualties in Ukraine could give Russia an edge in an emerging war of attrition.
In the final segment, we follow a Ukrainian man who knows all too well what a war of attrition really looks like. Oleksii Yukov is a martial arts instructor and leader of a team of volunteers who collect the remains of fallen soldiers, both Ukrainian and Russian. Yukov is on a spiritual quest to give these souls a final resting place.
“We are not fighting the dead,” Yukov says. “Our weapon is humanity and a shovel.”
Dig Deeper
Read: The true toll of the war in Ukraine is measured in bodies. This man brings them home, one at a time. (The Associated Press)
apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-yukov-attrition-body-collector-43bfc0848fdaa9b36d63abfa8c24f885
Read: Intercepted calls from the front lines in Ukraine show a growing number of Russian soldiers want out (The Associated Press)
apnews.com/article/ukraine-war-russian-soldiers-intercepted-audio-d2418788051731a32689feb821cd29ec
Read: Russian Casualties in Ukraine (Mediazona)
en.zona.media/article/2022/05/20/casualties_eng
Watch: Oleksii Yukov’s official YouTube channel (Placdarm Slavyansk)
www.youtube.com/channel/UC-p94_3SU_T8E4wUWqksuuQ?app=desktop
Credits
Reporters: Erika Kinetz and Solomiia Hera | Producers: Michael Montgomery, Stephen Smith and Masho Lomashvili | Editor: Brett Myers | Fact checker: Nikki Frick | Production managers: Steven Rascón and Zulema Cobb | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Original score and sound design: Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda | Interim executive producers: Taki Telonidis and Brett Myers | Host: Al Letson
Produced in collaboration with The Associated Press. Special thanks to editors Jeannie Ohm, Mary Rajkumar, Ron Nixon and Jaime Holguin and reporters Geir Moulson, Lori Hinnant, Vasilisa Stepanenko, Rebecca Santana, Volodymyr Yurchuk and Michael Biesecker. Thanks also to Anna Chukur, Serhii Tereshchenko, Ostep Stefak, Ruslan Gurzhiy, Hannah Levintova and Mediazona.
This episode was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.
|
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 7, 2024 23:18:15 GMT
|
|
