Putin must face Nuremberg-style war crimes trial as Russia escalates slaughter of the innocents in Ukraine – Bill Carmichael

THREE-YEAR-OLD Polina Dudko was remarkably matter-of-fact when a reporter asked why she was sheltering with her mother in the bathroom of her home in the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. “Because of the bombs,” she said.

Polina and her family should know, as the previous night Russian bomber aircraft had fired at least 16 guided missiles into their densely populated neighbourhood, killing dozens of civilians.

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Polina’s mother, Kseniya, told the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford that their apartment block had no proper bomb shelter, so the improvised bathroom refuge was the best they could do to stay safe. But it was like a lottery, she added, because “you have no idea whether the next missile will hit your house, or you’ll be spared”.

A woman speaks by phone holding her sick baby at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).A woman speaks by phone holding her sick baby at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).
A woman speaks by phone holding her sick baby at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).

When we cannot protect an innocent child from the full horrors of war you know for certain that something unmistakably evil – and I don’t use that word lightly – has been unleashed on the world. And that evil can be summed up in two words – Vladimir Putin.

Let’s make no mistake, what Putin and his goons are doing – deliberately targeting unarmed civilians with heavy artillery, missiles and cluster bombs – is a crime against humanity. One day, and I hope in the very near future, Putin will be dragged off to that special place in hell reserved for genocidal monsters such as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot.

How Putin, widely regarded as a shrewd political operator, made such a monumental miscalculation in starting this war remains a mystery. His decision to invade his neighbour is not only a disaster for Ukraine, but an unmitigated catastrophe for the Russian people who now face economic ruin and pariah status.

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Perhaps Putin believed his own propaganda and thought the Ukrainian people would greet the invading Russians as liberators, handing them roses and shots of vodka. Or maybe he simply underestimated the resilience and determination of the Ukrainian military, believing they would wave the white flag at the first sight of Russian armour.

A nurse takes notes in diary at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).A nurse takes notes in diary at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).
A nurse takes notes in diary at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine???s second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).

Neither of those things happened. Instead both the Ukrainian army and civilian volunteers have shown remarkable courage and skill to hamper the Russian advance against overwhelming odds. Faced with the miserable failure in the first week of war, the Russian military has changed tactics and is now attempting to murder and terrorise the civilian population by pummelling their cities to dust.

The Russian military has previous form for this sort of brutality. It did much the same in Grozny, Chechnya in 1999, and in Aleppo, Syria, in 2016, but the scale of operations in Ukraine, with numerous large cities targeted, could lead to a casualty figure unseen in Europe since the Second World War.

Putin has managed to achieve precisely what he didn’t want to happen – to galvanise and unite Nato.

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The Germans have finally realised that their foreign policy of appeasing Russian aggression, and their energy policy of relying on Russian gas was a disaster.

Sick children and women with their newborn babies stand at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine's second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).Sick children and women with their newborn babies stand at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine's second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).
Sick children and women with their newborn babies stand at a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Okhmadet children's hospital in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1. 2022. Russian strikes pounded the central square in Ukraine's second-largest city and other civilian targets, and a 40-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti).

Last week Chancellor Olaf Scholz performed a sudden U-turn, more than doubling defence spending to 100 million euros and pledging to reach the Nato target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence.

The Germans have belatedly realised that they have to start spending serious money to defend themselves against Russia, rather than expecting British and American taxpayers to do that job for them, as they have for the last 75 years.

Even the EU has decided to send lethal aid to Ukraine. Wonders will never cease. Welcome to the party, guys – better late than never.

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This newfound unity should lead to massive increases in military spending to beef up defences in Nato countries threatened by Russia, such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Putin is crazy enough not to stop at Ukraine and we need to be properly prepared for further acts of aggression, and any invasion of a Nato country needs to be met with massive and swift military retaliation.

And we should never forget the misery and suffering Putin has inflicted on little Polina and millions of civilians like her.

We need to ensure that Putin pays for his crimes. In 1946 Nazi leaders were brought to justice for their terrible war crimes at the Nuremberg trials. Putin, and the thugs and gangsters who obey him, should face a similar fate.

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