From Russia’s point of view the targetting killing of many military leaders of a force that had undoubtedly been committing crimes against humanity in the Kursk region, was a huge victory. Apparently 60 military personnel died at an award ceremony for the military, so in some sense almost everyone there was directly connected, supporting and celebrating the crimes against humanity in Kursk.
However, many, especially a few children, were undoubtedly civilians.
In WWII, the allies bombed civilian populations, in a manner that is totally utterly beyond anything even the lying western media has claimed the Russians have done. So, killing civilians has been claimed to be OK, by at least those who killed the civilians in WWII.
The test that seems to be applied is this. Was the intention to kill civilians (as the israelis have done in the genocide of the people of Jesus the Palestinian), or was the death of civilians “unintended” and “proportionate” to the intended outcome.
There is no doubt, that killing HQ staff is legitimate in war. It is also true, that if the military embed themselves within civilians and then fight, then it is permissible to hit those military, so long as the death of civilians is avoided at all costs (unlike Israel who deliberately target civilians … and then claim their must have been a few freedom fighters in the group resisting their genocide).
It is also very notable, that the Russians have always attempted to avoid civilians causalities (unlike the Ukrainians who deliberately target civilians as they did from 2014 onward in Donbass).
If I were running an investigation into the Ukraine war afterwards, I would ask for proof that the Sumy operation was done in a way to minimise civilian causalities … but realistically, I’d be inundated with Ukrainian atrocities that were far more deserving of investigation and almost certainly were war crimes.
I suppose the rather pathetic answer is this: any killing of a civilian in a war situation is a potential crime, but if it can and is justified as a minimised, proportionate incidental death, then it is not a crime.
Proportionate … is that the military importance is high enough to warrant putting a civilian life at risk.
One measure would be the number and importance of the military personnel, and the number and “civilian-ish” of the civilians. So, for example, a cook at a military complex, may claim to be civilian, but they are almost the same as a military cook. However, I struggle when it comes to family of the military. And, what about a soldier “on leave?” What about those “civilians” supplying Taurus missiles? I would be hard pressed to condemn an attack on the factory supplying missiles fired at Russian civilians, who had nothing to do with the war.
I expect Israel kills about 100 civilians to every combatant – and those combatants are acting under international law to prevent the illegal invasion and occupation of their land. So, Israel starts as the war criminal, committing genocide and illegal occupation. And so killing civilians is just par for the course for that evil regime. There is no doubt what it is doing is the most heinous crimes against humanity.
But, what if in a legitimate war (not one of ethnic cleansing), half the casualties were civilian? What if 10% were? What if the aim were “shock and awe” … so deliberate killing of civilians? But they did actually kill far more military?
I thought, if I thought about it, I would figure out criteria that says “In some circumstances killing is OK”. And, someone does actually have to do that. But, I have no idea how to decide when taking a life is acceptable. And indeed, in the censorship of the UK National Socialist government, I would be stupid to suggest killing is ever justified … even if I thought so. So I can’t and won’t say it is .
The simple fact, is that if war is too hard to prosecute, the result can be a much longer war which kills more. And, what is the real difference between someone press ganged into war and a civilian? So, there is no “good” choice.
NB. DUE TO CENSORSHIP IN THE UK I MAY NOT BEEN ABLE TO SAY ALL I WOULD LIKE TO SAY. FUCK THE NATIONAL SOCIALISTS NOW IN POWER!
