Crimes against humanity tend to proliferate more efficiently in darkness than in sunlight. As Western media and Western governments turn a mostly blind eye to events in Ukraine Russian atrocities mount with little note.

Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian hospitals have become so common place that they barely make the news even for a day in the West. But that’s just the dark surface of the cold water. Below the surface out of sight many things are happening that the world little notes.

The widespread kidnapping of untold thousands Ukrainian children is an issue that generated a little public condemnation in the West, but no material action that would stop such heinous acts.

Summary execution of Ukrainian soldiers attempting to surrender by Russian forces has become commonplace. Another war crime in the avalanche of war crimes Russia commits every day in Ukraine.

For the US chemical warfare is apparently cause for going to war in Iraq but not even cause for mention when is used as a weapon of war in Ukraine. Use of Chloropicrin a chemical banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and listed as a choking agent by the The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is a mainstay of Russian assault forces as they attempt to dislodge Ukrainian forces from entrenched positions. Early on the Biden Administration called use of chemical weapons on the battlefield a “red-line” which if crossed would produce serious consequences. Russia never hesitated and there have been no consequences.

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June, 2023 by Russian forces was at the time viewed as both a war crime and an ecological disaster, but the attacks on Ukraines waterways continue. Credible reports are emerging of the deliberate poisoning of the Desna River in what appears to have been dumping “vast quantities of ammonia, magnesium and other poisonous nitrates” into the river on the Russian side of the border. The effects were devastating for the River’s ecosystem. Ecological inspectors in the area fear that all life in the river may have been eradicated.

Rape, torture, summary execution of POW’s and civilians alike, unmarked mass graves in cities across Ukraine, city after city reduced lifeless rubble. These are the hallmarks of Putin’s total war on the Ukrainian people.

This is a war that must be stopped and Putin must not be rewarded for having waged it. As long as Putin and his Russian forces remain in control of the Ukrainian territories they have illegally sized their use of these tactics will continue. The war crimes being committed by Russia will not stopped until they are stopped.

By failing to act decisively to stop the ongoing war crime catastrophe being perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine western leaders accept not only the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people but the ongoing threat to anyone and everyone Putin deems a resistor.

Joe Biden has shown no stomach for direct confrontation with Putin. Donald Trump openly says he will not confront Putin and will work with his “good friend” to find a solution. That solution was spelled out by Donald Trump Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Hill editorial titled, Negotiate with Moscow to end the Ukraine war and prevent nuclear devastation. The op-ed accepts as an article of faith that Putin can be talked into stopping is Ukrainian campaign and that once an agreement is reached he will not find a reason to violate it at the first opportunity he is given. For the record both the Russians and the Ukrainians disagree, they say it will not be that easy.

Kamala Harris has made the strongest statements so far saying, “I have been proud to stand with Ukraine. I will continue to stand with Ukraine. And I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war.” That Ukraine should or will prevail may seem like an unremarkable statement, but Harris is the only Presidential aspirant willing to actually say it.

What would a Ukrainian victory look like, an end to Putin’ rein of Terror in Ukraine and ultimately, freedom and justice for the Ukrainian people.