The situation in Ukraine is dire, and news out of the region has revealed that the Kremlin isn’t on the up-and-up with even their own troops.
As Russian soldiers poured into Ukraine, many around the world believed that it would take but a few dozen hours for the sovereign nation to fall completely. The Russian army was surely mighty, right? We’d been telling ourselves that for decades now, with very few in the international diplomatic scene willing to peeve Vladimir Putin.
But, as it turns out, a vast number of these troops were tricked into coming to Ukraine – including some of the military officers.
National Guard Lt. Col. Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich, who was captured along with two other soldiers, said he had been told they were being sent to help Ukraine because it was “dominated by a fascist regime” and that “nationalists and Nazis had seized power.”
“Obviously, this information was unilateral information,” Mikhailovich told reporters in a video that emerged Monday.
And then, grimly:
“You are in a tense situation, going against your own commander. But this is genocide,” he said. “Russia cannot win here anyway. Even if we go until the very end. We can invade the territory but we cannot invade the people.”
The stark and unmistakable sentiment flies in heavy contrast to the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attempted to convince the world that he was rooting out nazism within the Ukrainian government.
