After nine months of war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has finally found targets commensurate with the Russian greatness he claims: power stations and water pipes. Since its army has chained humiliating retreats in territories proclaimed Russian for eternity in September, waves of missiles have fallen in retaliation on Ukrainian infrastructure. Civilian objectives that can neither defend nor retaliate, that is what the master of the Kremlin is now aiming for. He judged on December 2 these strikes ” required “ considering the attacks “provocateurs” led by a country that resists.
The bombings claimed by Moscow are more than ever trampling on the basic rules of international humanitarian law established by the additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions aimed at protecting civilians in time of war. It’s about the distinction between the latter and the military, and the principles of precaution and proportionality that the Kremlin obviously sees as evidence of the West’s alleged weakness.
The sum of Russian war crimes accumulated during this aggression carried out with methods from another century could fuel a form of indifference, even trivialization, among kyiv’s allies. We must resist them, insisting on the contrary on their henceforth systemic character, and tirelessly recalling their effects on the daily life of Ukrainian men and women.
Certainly, the armed forces of kyiv could also be accused of violations of the laws of war. However, a gulf separates the scale of the abuses for which each of the two camps is responsible. To deny it or to relativize it amounts to freeing oneself from the facts.
Warning
Vladimir Putin’s regime does not hide its objective: to break from behind a country that has the front to stand up to it. Perhaps he even wishes to provoke mass emigration which would destabilize kyiv’s European allies. These calculations are risky. Far from cracking up in this new ordeal, the Ukrainian people are holding on, and Westerners can only agree on the massive aid needed to repair the damage caused by these attacks.
While the rigors of winter are just beginning to be felt, depriving Ukrainians of water, light and heating is not just a matter of revenge. This strategic choice is also a reminder of Vladimir Putin’s fundamental objective in the conflict that he himself unleashed: the destruction of the Ukrainian state. Nobody can doubt it, missile after missile. In this, these systematic bombardments constitute a warning for all those who hope that the wear and tear of the war will end up reopening the way of diplomacy and negotiations in good faith between the two belligerents.
These war crimes should also bring decency to those who claim to support the Ukrainian people while turning their backs on them. In France, the deputies of La France insoumise and the National Rally, who abstained massively in the National Assembly on November 30, during the vote on a resolution of support for Ukraine, appear in the first row. It is the same in the world for the countries which are resigned by their silence so that the unacceptable ends up becoming a norm.