The Execution of Militia Man and His Pregnant Wife. Fake video from "Luhansk Public Republic"

The News Front site published a fake video and entitled “The Execution of a Militia Man and His Pregnant Wife, Presumably by the Donbas Battalion.”

The News Front site alleges that the video of the execution by hanging was found on the phone of one of the “chastisers of the Ukrainian battalion, who was terminated by the Popular Militia of the Luhansk Public Republic.”

The video of the alleged execution is a fake. One can notice the bad acting, but the main indicator is the unnatural movements of the bodies when lifted.

When being pulled up, the man moves forward. With this, it becomes clear that the body is not hanged by the neck. The body hanged by the neck would move differently, the trunk would be relaxed. They are apparently wearing mountain climbing equipment to support them.

The bodies are poised a little bit forward. A body hanged by the neck should look like the following:

The fact that the man in a military uniform in front of them holds their legs in order not to let them turn their backs to the camera also proves that the bodies have another support. Thats why this video fake.

Children's stories about war

In the future, there are will be the children of war.

Children in the city, village  play war with sticks among the real war damage. To them, the so-called ‘bad guys’ are the pro-Russian separatists.

The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line have been harmed through lack of proper shelter, nutrition, medicine or schooling.

Seven-year-old Seryozha, drawing with coloured pencils and crayons flags on his battle tank to put the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian.

The five-year-olds Nikita, when the bombing starts, parents point to the bathroom. He already knows that the family hides there during the frequent shelling. "In the future, these will be the children of war."

"Everyone talks about the same thing, about when the war will end," says Katya, who lives in a two-room apartment with her mother and her eight-year-old son, Gleb. The distribution centre where she worked has closed down, and instead she spends half the day hauling water to the apartment. In the afternoons and evenings, she sits and talks with neighbours.

"Kids draw tanks and planes when earlier they drew flowers and trees… My kid wakes up every day and asks, 'Did they bomb us?' He's scared," she says, telling me how last month they came under heavy shelling at the children's hospital where they were getting a doctor's note for Gleb's summer camp to say he was in good health.

Tolik, who is 11, said he got too close to the real fighting: “The bullets tore through the cloth on my shoulder here and flew past… I was born lucky.”

Tatyana (29 years old) has taken shelter in a basement with her daughter Marina.

The mother said: “She is three years old, she knows what a tank is, that’s not normal! Children have psychological problems already at this age. What next? They say children of the 90s are unbearable. What will happen to these children? They will grow up among the ruins. There are no kindergarten or schools, nothing!”

"Earlier, we didn't have to scrimp on the kids' food; we bought veal, chicken, milk and sweets," Tatyana says. "Now we go home and they say, 'Momma, give me sweets', and you can't explain to a child that there's no money."

Story from Lugansk (+21)

Natalya a 38-year-old woman from Lugansk told me her story.

She had been captured in late August 2014 by security forces of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) and accused of cooperating with the Ukrainian army. She described being held for 43 days in the basement of the former Ukrainian security services building in Lugansk. The rape and sexual abuse started on the first night, she said. During an interrogation, she was severely beaten on her head, stomach, and legs. Her male interrogators threatened to pour acid on her genitalia and kicked her stomach, saying she did not deserve to have children. Natalya said eventually a guard injected her with a substance that caused her to black out. 

When she regained consciousness, she realized that the clothes she was wearing had been ripped in several places. She said she also suffered from vaginal bleeding. On another occasion during her first week in detention, Natalya said she was taken by a male guard into an empty room, where she was forced to perform oral sex on him and was threatened with rape by up to 12 men if she did not comply. 

Natalya also spoke about her cellmate, Svetlana, who she said was repeatedly gang raped by guards until she was so traumatized that they lost interest in her. Natalya said Svetlana was taken out of the prison, supposedly to a medical facility. But she couldn’t help but wonder if the guards murdered Svetlana instead to protect themselves. Natalya also said some women prisoners were offered “protection” from being raped by prison guards. The protection was provided in exchange for sex with higher-ranking LNR officials.

Girls Power!! On the right side of humanity!

Women-warriors is a big topic in the narrative of post-soviet countries. There are many stories about women patriots, warriors and martyrs in the history. Today we evidence the same patern in the Ukrainian conflict.

After the death of her husband Tatyana is trying to rise money for the Ukraine army. Irina, the other heroe of the story, has joined the army and participated in the millitary action, because "every decent person should defend his/her country from Russian imperialism".

Women as heroes. The story of a female pilot Savichenko, who is supposingly being captured and being accused for war crimes in Russia, is being used by both sides of the conflict.

 Women in the World Today are very important players in the conflicts. Women role in the Ukrainian conflict proves this statement, though in this story I have used only a few examples. All of them show either - women can be used as a tool of propaganda, women can be the actors in the conflict, and, the worst, women are almost always the victims.

Effects of war on children

Millions of children and young people worldwide are affected by armed conflict. They are confronted with physical harm, violence, danger, exploitation, fear and loss. Many children are forced to flee. Some witness the death of loved ones. Some are forced to pull the trigger themselves. Communities are ripped apart and can no longer provide a secure environment for children. 

Adults are busy surviving, parents have little time for their children. Schools and playgrounds are damaged or taken over by armed groups.

During conflict, children and young people’s rights are violated on a massive scale; their rights to be protected from violence, abuse and neglect, to live in dignity and be supported to develop to their full potential.

 

Loss of trust 

As a consequence of conflict, children and young people can lose their confidence, their trust in others and their trust in the future. They often become anxious, depressed and withdrawn, or rebellious and aggressive.

Protective environment 

Growing up in a protective environment is essential for children and young people to develop to their full potential. War Child’s programmes support children and young people to regain their confidence and build positive relationships with their peers, families and wider communities. They can play and have fun together, learn and develop. With a positive outlook, children and young people can shape their own futures and contribute to a peaceful future for their communities.

Because no child should be part of war. Ever.

 

Fake video about Azov crucifying a POW

A disturbing (and disputed) video has been broadcast by the Russian news agency LifeNews which reportedly shows Ukrainian volunteers from the Azov Battalion (which now calls itself Azov Regiment) taping a POW to a cross, driving nails through his hands, and then setting him on fire.  The video starts with a group of men, some of whom are armed, surrounding a man who is on the ground. One of the armed men makes a prepared speech in what sounds like Ukrainian. The speech is stilted and monotone, like it was memorized, or even read from cue cards which may be out of frame -- a familiar trope of contemporary execution videos. The man, who is apparently gagged, and may possibly be drugged or injured, is pushed to the ground and his arms are (likely duct) taped to a cross. Once he is taped to the cross, the sound of hammering, and muffled screaming, can be heard as the man moves his legs as if in pain. It is not possible to see anyone actually hammering the nails, but afterwards the video, which is filmed in low light and is very grainy, shows what look like nails sticking out of the man's hands. After this, the cross is raised. The man is clearly standing on a platform (which is not uncommon in crucifixions) but his arms appear to be nailed. At one point, a small fire is lit at the man's feet. Another man jabs him, hard, in the stomach, with what appears to be a torch. After this the man is lit on fire, as his persecutors squirt what is possibly lighter fluid onto the fire, which then climbs up the cross.The video, analyzed below:

Why is the video fake?

When he gets hit with a stick in his stomach it doesn't even look like it's painful. For a man being killed they poke him really nice and kind.

Just before the fire gets too bad, they cut the video.

Yeah right.

Nowhere can the man really be seen getting hurt. His arms are taped, so he can quite comfortably hang by his arms on the cross. It's bad quality video, so details can never be seen clearly. Thus the nails can very easily be faked.

It's as fake as can be.