Bound corpses, a bicyclist crumpled on the side of the road, as if he lost his balance and will get up at any moment; the body of a man in a ditch, not far from the corpses of his wife and eldest son, who the murderers didn't even bother to cover up; two half-burnt bodies on the side of the road; a woman's hand with painted fingernails in the mud, and more and more. The images from Bucha, which some are calling the Ukrainian Srebrenica are unfathomable, even at a second and third glance.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
What allowed this Russian massacre of Ukrainians to occur? There's more than just one explanation, and even that is unnecessary: Because man, even the most primitive, is a complex animal, and also because it's hard to believe there's one explanation for everyone. First, every war exacerbates violence to its extremes. Second, we must bear in mind that for almost a decade the Russians have been taught to hate the Ukrainians, who are depicted by Russian propaganda as anything from American marionettes and "Nazis" to a "non-people," but also as a "sister nation" mired in a dynamic of violence veiled as a type of lovers quarrel, although certainly no love is involved. And when you learn you are going to "defeat the Ukrainian Nazis" and "defend your people" – the narrative imbued through Russian propaganda – the Ukrainians encountered by the invaders are a priori devoid of humanity.
We can also talk about frustration. After all, these Russian soldiers were told they would "march into Kyiv" within three days; they were promised they'd be greeted with flowers. In reality, however, they have been annihilated one company and one platoon after another, and they can't even smell the flowers from beneath the ground because their bodies are being left in the streets or simply burned. And who can promise us that these murderers and plunderers weren't aware of all this and aren't behaving as abandoned soldiers for whom life is now a game of Russian roulette (excuse the pun)? For when life exists on the razor's edge, everything exists on the razor's edge – and beyond.
In the name of self-justification
And there are two other aspects that need to be addressed. One – the Russian army itself, structurally and historically – is a criminal organization. If the absolute disregard for human life within Russia's vast territory (which continually affects the "Russian soul," for better or worse) isn't bad enough, then the Russian military and the Russian system of punishment are the distilled product; human beings without status in the hierarchy are stripped of the last vestiges of their humanity, becoming extraneous by definition, typical of a totalitarian regime. As for criminal prisoners, not much needs to be explained, but it's the same in the army – even in peacetime; young soldiers in the Russian army are cannon fodder for the veterans, anything can be done to them, including physical and sexual torture. It's not surprising that the mortality rate in the Russian army is horrific.
And the second aspect is self-justification. The Russian criminal organization in uniform invaded Ukraine after being ingrained with the fear of Western persecution ("the whole world is against us, wants our resources, wants to dismantle Russia" etc.), combined with the cultish belief in victory over the Nazis. We, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who defeated Hitlerism, are always on the side of justice, are justified through inheritance, almost on the genetic level; and if need be "we can recreate the past." An entire country has been baptized in the waters of artificial purity, in waters supposedly taken from 1945, unchanged, serving only as "justification" for the moral and ideological rot that has taken hold – while pointing at the stench of the declining West.
Thus, ever so quietly, and yet not so much, the defeaters of fascism have become fascists themselves; and in certain respects, perhaps they're even worse because Putinist Russia has no grand idea, let alone ideology.
The crimes in Bucha and in other towns near Kyiv and beyond will remain a giant stain on the Russian conscience. There will be trials, and maybe even revenge killings, but only the Russians themselves, when the day comes, can try washing it away. It goes without saying that a necessary stage in this process will be dividing Russia into republics. It's doubtful that after hundreds of years of imperial expansion any sort of cleansing is even possible without first destroying the imperialist urge itself and the ambitions it fosters generation after generation, regime after regime, tragedy after tragedy.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
