FRONTLINE - Putin's Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes

October 26, 2022 12:49 AM

FRONTLINE - Putin's Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes

CW: War crimes documented via incredibly detailed FRONTLINE footage of interviews of survivors, captured Russian footage, Ukrainian footage and detailed analysis by Ukrainian war crimes investigators. It is harrowing to view but well worth watching.

FRONTLINE and The Associated Press go inside Russia’s war on Ukraine, tracing a pattern of atrocities committed by Russian troops with a focus on the Kyiv suburbs, such as Bucha, where some of the most shocking carnage was found.

From award-winning director Tom Jennings, producer Annie Wong, AP global investigative reporter Erika Kinetz and her AP colleagues, the joint documentary draws on exclusive original footage, as well as interviews with Ukrainian citizens and prosecutors, top government officials and international war crimes experts.

FRONTLINE and the AP uncover exclusive and harrowing evidence that links possible war crimes in Bucha through the chain of command to one of Russia’s top generals — evidence that prosecutors hope might help build a case against Russian President Vladimir Putin in court. But the joint investigation also explores the challenges of trying to hold Putin and other Russian leaders to account.

posted mostly for our nonUSAian members

For those who can't watch details can be read here:

'They took my big love': Ukraine woman searches for answers

posted by y2karl (15 comments total)

posted mostly for our nonUSAian members

Link doesn't work in Australia. The free VPN I use has a data cap, but I was able to disconnect the VPN after the video begins. Geoblocking is bullshit.
posted by adept256 at 4:11 AM on October 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Putin needs to die.
posted by adept256 at 5:28 AM on October 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

And now Russia is planning to use a dirty bomb. And, we know that because Russia has accused Ukraine (at the UN, of all places) of planning to use a dirty bomb. And harboring satanic cults.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:20 AM on October 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

I watched about 30 minutes and had to give myself a break. Grueling. It is hard for me to face that my fellow humans can behave in such terrible, cruel ways. Putin's mania for power is one thing, but one-to-one, face-to-face, it's incomprehensible to me.
posted by tizzie at 10:10 AM on October 26, 2022

It is hard for me to face that my fellow humans can behave in such terrible, cruel ways.

Some of this seems to have been baked into the Russian armies for decades if not centuries:

Wretched Misconduct of the Red Army - The lawless Red Army looted, killed, and raped its way through Germany, fueled by revenge and alcohol.

‘The Russian soldiers raped every German female from eight to 80’

Russia’s 18th-century war

Tradition of mass killings of civilians by Russian troops through history

Circassian genocide

Not that they invented genocidal.war against civilian populations -- Genghis Khan and the Golden Horde comes to mind, for one, Recep Tayyip Erdogan complains about Biden's recognition of the Armenian genocide while conducting a similar campaign against the Kurds to this day. And between between the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, guess which side he backs? And need I mention Rwanda or Bosnia? But the Russians do seem tops in body counts over the ages.
posted by y2karl at 11:55 AM on October 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

I generally find Frontline to do excellent work, and I want to see this, but yeah, I also dread the emotional hit. its not like watching a horror movie, ITS REAL. it can be hard to carry such knowledge in our heads and hearts. I'll give it a try though. I do think its important for everyone outside of the region to understand what is happening.
posted by supermedusa at 12:04 PM on October 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am in awe of the fortitude and dedication of people who compile this evidence. They're heroes. I don't know if I could do it.

> It is hard for me to face that my fellow humans can behave in such terrible, cruel ways.
Yes, that's always a brutal perspective change. It makes me value the people who choose to do and be good even more.
posted by Ahniya at 12:18 PM on October 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

And now Russia is planning to use a dirty bomb. And, we know that because Russia has accused Ukraine (at the UN, of all places) of planning to use a dirty bomb. And harboring satanic cults.

FWIW, here is an expert perspective:

The Kremlin is unlikely to be preparing an imminent false-flag dirty bomb attack. Shoigu’s claims further a longstanding Russian information campaign. The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that Western states will help Ukraine conduct a false-flag WMD attack since the earliest stages of its invasion of Ukraine in February. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it had information the US was “preparing provocations to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological, or tactical nuclear weapons” in April. Putin claimed in his pre-invasion speech on February 24 that Ukraine was preparing for a nuclear attack against Russia, and Russian state disinformation outlets repeatedly claimed Western states were supporting Ukraine’s development of nuclear weapons and planning false-flag attacks. ...

Shoigu’s calls—and Russian state media’s amplification of false dirty bomb threats—are therefore likely intended to intimidate Western states into cutting or limiting support for Ukraine as Russia faces continued military setbacks and the likely loss of western Kherson by the end of the year. ISW has assessed since May that Putin seeks to force Ukraine to accept his terms and deter continued Western support for Ukraine through nuclear brinksmanship. The recipients of Shoigu’s calls are also notable. The Kremlin has repeatedly framed the United States and the United Kingdom as Ukraine’s primary backers and the enablers of what it claims are aggressive policies toward Russia, while France and Turkey have (to varying degrees) framed themselves as mediators in the conflict. Shoigu’s round of calls was likely further Russian saber-rattling to intimidate Ukraine’s Western supporters and possibly widen fissures within the NATO alliance, not condition setting for imminent nuclear use.

posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:23 PM on October 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

I wonder where Frontline was in 2003 when some huge, powerful country flattened another country, war crimes the order of the day.

I do wish that Frontline had cameras going inside Abu Ghraib.

I don't see Putin near as much a psycho as President Cheney.

I hate to see what is happening in Ukraine. It's horrifying. Ukraine's, they are my brothers, my sisters. As are the Russians. As are the Iraqi people. As is every other human being.

It's humanity, doing what it's always done. Just read the bible, 6000 years of blood-soaked history.
posted by dancestoblue at 7:48 PM on October 26, 2022 [3 favorites]

You can probably tell by the timestamps I only had one thought immediately after watching the film. There is one man who can stop this immediately, right now. It was supposed to be a couple days then a victory parade in Kyiv. It would look great on TV and make him more popular at home. That isn't even remotely possible now, it's just sunk cost after sunk cost. And the cost is lives and lives and lives. One man can stop this, and he refuses.

I made a note while I was watching, one of the investigators said (paraphrased)

We have collected three terabytes of CCTV data from Bucha

We saw a slender cut of the most relevant parts. The bound men filing towards their execution. Utterly chilling. But we have it.

This is a 21st century war. Smartphones and cctv are so ubiquitous, it is likely to be the most well documented war yet. The cowards can't rely on the fog of war to conceal their crimes. There is no fog of war - that's an outdated concept. I'm certain that there are top secret satellites we don't know of that see absolutely everything. When the time comes for accountability, there will be more evidence than was ever before possible.
posted by adept256 at 7:49 PM on October 26, 2022 [4 favorites]

I just hope some semblance of justice is possible. Preferably without the Ukrainian intelligence services going (understandably) into all-out Mossad mode after the war. But there usually is no docket for the leaders of a nuclear-armed nation.
posted by Harald74 at 11:11 PM on October 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Geoblocking is bullshit.

Hello old friend

720p:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:69c490c873111a7e39d6bb0a652ba5a4532fd65a

1080p:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:70a37e6a3ab0a3b33a47a34c996292e1eebe781f
posted by flabdablet at 4:58 AM on October 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't see Putin near as much a psycho as President Cheney.

Time again for another “the US is even worse!!!” hot take I see. You know Noam is never going to love you back right?
posted by aspersioncast at 10:47 AM on October 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

That comment was certainly a no brainer, that's for sure.
posted by y2karl at 3:24 PM on October 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Putin is a yob; Cheney is a wanker.

Both of them are equally ugly
The wanker hides it better

posted by flabdablet at 11:38 PM on October 29, 2022