Gasping for air from a trench in eastern Ukraine, an infantryman was ready for the worst when a suffocating white smoke spread into his position.

A Russian drone had just dropped a gas grenade into the trench, an internationally banned practice in warfare used to suffocate Ukrainian soldiers hiding inside. Forced out in the open, the Ukrainians immediately became vulnerable targets for Russian drones and artillery.

. . .

Russia has increasingly deployed chemical agents in its grand offensive to occupy the last cities in the Donbas region under Ukrainian control. The suffocation tactic is to take out entrenched personnel and dampen the morale of Ukrainian soldiers who – severely outmanned and outgunned – have been withdrawing village by village in the east for nearly a year.

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  • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    This attitude is how we got into the genocide being committed by Israel. The solution to violence is not more violence.

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Russia IS committing genocide with the intent to wipe out the very concept of Ukraine. The solution to being genocided is to fight back with every tooth and every nail.

        • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Yes, but nothing in the rules of war or international law say you can’t attack the enemy nation’s territory. The people loaning Ukraine weapons are the ones saying that. The same ones that held up many supplies at a critical time during the Spring 2024 offensive.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              3 months ago

              It is not allowed by the US. It is not disallowed by international war crime agreements, but that doesn’t make it allowed if something else is preventing it.

                • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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                  3 months ago

                  The US (and some others, but the US is the largest obviously) is telling Ukraine they can’t use foreign weapons to attack into Russian territory. They are not allowed to use the weapons in the way they see as most useful. Especially with Russia using chemical weapons, they should be given the go-ahead to do what they see fitting with them.

        • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Man, someone needs to get a hold of Putin and inform him there’s international laws he’s breaking.

            • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              My intent isn’t malicious. I just want to stress the point that this isn’t a game - a game with referees. There are real lives being lost by playing nice. The west needs to up their support while allowing Ukraine to use the same tactics, short of rape and torture, as Russia.

    • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Russia: Genociding wildly

      You: “We shouldn’t get involved, that would just increase the violence.”

      The only language people like Putin and Hitler understand is violence, they do what they do because they think nobody will dare stop them.

      • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        You missed the point. The point the other guy made is that for the past 50+ countries have turned a blind eye to Isreal not playing by the rules and that has let Israel become more and more ruthless to a point where they’re the ones effectively committing genocide. Maybe Ukraine won’t turn out like Israel but is it really the door we want to open?

        Just because Russia is getting increasing more violent and inhumane doesn’t mean Ukraine should follow the same path. Nobody is saying Ukraine shouldn’t defend itself (or fight on Russian soil), we’re just saying we shouldn’t turn a blind eye if Ukraine starts shelling humanitarian corridors, chopping off legs of prisoners, gas striking the front etc.

        • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Do you know why there are no nazis committing holocausts across Europe right now?

          Because we killed them all.

          • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Hate to break it to you, but they just moved to the USA and started calling themselves Republicans.

            • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
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              3 months ago

              They were always here, they were southerners, Hitler wrote about how Jim crow was an example Germany needed to follow.

              Black GIs came home to be tortured and killed.

              Because after the Civil War we DIDN’T clean out the leadership and they simply slimed back into power later.

          • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            Go learn history. This “we must show them” mentality is how after WW1 Nazis got into a position of power. And no, we didn’t kill all of them. Some were sent to the Hague, most were picked up by the US (unsurprisingly US now has a fascism problem) and the rest (the wider population) got collectively guilted out of nazism. Oh and we made sure Nazi and Fascist are so bad words that actual Nazis and Fascists use them in a derogatory way to not associate themselves with that word.

            The idea that we should ruthlessly kill Russians because Putin is a horrible person is Lemmygrad level of idiotic.

          • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            Actually it’s because you killed thousands of innocent Japanese, using a weapon that could wipe all life on Earth. (So they moved other there of course, they sounds like a fascist dream)

            • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Everybody always gets hung up on the nukes but I never see anyone complaining about the firebombing which killed many times more people (or the Japanese and their many attempts at biological warfare).

              War is inherently bad, and using powerful weapons to end it sooner is the pragmatic and often moral choice. Would you have preferred that the allies invaded Japan, causing millions more to die? Or perhaps simply blocade Japan, causing millions more to die? It’s easy to be moralistic when you don’t have to make decisions that have millions of lives hanging on them.

              • bufalo1973@lemmy.ml
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                3 months ago

                The need for bombing with nukes is a made up history. Japan was surrendering with just one condition that wasn’t a big deal and could be discussed in the peace treaty. But the bombs, specially the Nagasaki one, was not meant for the Japanese to surrender but as a show off to the USSR.

                Because, believe it or not, [part of] the US saw the USSR as an enemy even during the war.

                • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  There would never have been any peace treaty, the allies had already agreed that axis surrender must be unconditional.

                  Japan having one condition would not have matteted, because the allies were not interested in a conditional surrender.

              • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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                3 months ago

                Yeah, for sure let’s continue to 1up and glorify violence. While you do that, let me reiterate the point you seem to be arguing against:

                More violence is not the solution to violence.

                You can go on now.

                • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  If you ignore the many examples throughout history of more violence being the solution to violence, perhaps you may have a point.

                  I can go on now?

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          3 months ago

          Sure. That’s not what they were saying though. They were saying supplying arms to Israel is bad because they’re using it to commit a genocide, so we shouldn’t provide the means for Ukraine to defend themselves because it must be equally bad. Fuck that. If Ukraine doesn’t win Russia is going to do horrible things. They must be stopped. We should be providing the means for Ukraine to do this and allowing them to use them how they see it needed.

          • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            At no point did I say Ukraine shouldn’t get what it needs to end the war. What I said is that we shouldn’t let Ukraine get away with the same things Russia is doing. If for example Ukraine would gas the Russian front line we shouldn’t be “well Russia did it first”. Chemical warfare is not acceptable. Turning a blind eye towards atrocities is how we got Isreal.

            The other guy is pretty much saying it would be okay if Ukraine dirty bombed Moscow because he is literally implying we should kill all Russians.

    • 1D10@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Some times and with some people, yes violence is the answer.

      Can you explain any other solution that leaves Ukraine with its territory and its compleat self rule?