Explaining complex things in simple words: Russian drone threat, POW treatment, “atrocities” in Kursk region

The Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security pursues efforts to provide a brief explanation to foreign audiences on the current topics of particular interest as regards Ukraine.  

RUSSIAN DRONE THREAT

On September 8, Russian attack drones violated the airspace of Romania and Latvia.

 Russian drones that terrorize peaceful cities in Ukraine are also a threat to all countries neighboring Ukraine.

 Russian drones repeatedly violated the airspace of Romania, Poland, Moldova, and Belarus. Now, for the first time, a Russia military UAV has entered the territory of Latvia.

 As long as the Russian Federation is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, the danger to citizens of other European countries will remain.

 We call on the West to jointly fight this threat, in particular, to use their air defense systems to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over the territory of Ukraine.

 Russia understands only force. The answer to its provocations should be the removal by allies of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons by Ukraine.

PRISONERS OF WAR TREATMENT

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that Ukraine has banned Russian prisoners of war from calling the Russian Federation.

 Ukraine's detention of Russian prisoners of war complies with the Geneva Conventions.

 Instead, the facts of the executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russians regularly become known.

 After exchanges, Ukrainian prisoners of war return home sick and exhausted and testify to inhuman conditions of detention and torture. These facts are well documented.

 The Ukrainian side is forced to respond to Russia's non-compliance with the principle of reciprocity in the treatment of prisoners of war.

 Banning calls to Russian prisoners of war does not contradict the Geneva Conventions because international humanitarian law only provides for the right to correspondence.

“ATROCITIES” IN KURSK REGION

Russian media spread fake stories about the alleged “atrocities” of Ukrainian soldiers against the civilian population of the Kursk oblast of the Russian Federation, controlled by Ukraine.

 In the territories of the Russian Federation under the control of Ukraine, the military commandant provides a normal regime. The civilian population receives humanitarian aid and all necessary services.

 Fakes about “atrocities” reproduced in the Russian media are fabrications of Russian propaganda that are not supported by proper evidence.

 Foreign journalists present on the territory of the Russian Federation controlled by Ukraine do not record any violations there. For this, Moscow is trying to intimidate and take revenge on independent media, initiating criminal cases, etc.

 By creating fakes about Kursk oblast, Russian propaganda traditionally “mirrors” reports about Russian war crimes in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

 It is the Russian army that commits real crimes in the Kursk oblast, bombing civilian infrastructure.