Originally published on May 28, 2022
I've been recently told that Ukraine's claims of genocide by the Russians are emotional and unfounded. I beg to differ.
Some mistakenly think that for mass murder to qualify as genocide a certain number of victims needs to be reached. No. Let's look at the official definition of genocide by the UN. It is two-fold. It has a mental element and a physical element.
Let's start with the physical: a. "Killing members of the group" - both civilian and military victims count, and there are plenty of both. Bucha, Irpen, Borodyanka, Mariupol. We still don't know how many dead are in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The list is long.
b. "Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group”
How the War in Ukraine Is Affecting the Mental Health of Survivors
c. "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part" - Mariupol is 95% destroyed, Kharkiv was indiscriminately shelled until the Russians were pushed back, missile strikes.
Ukraine: Russia using 'missile terrorism' in wide attacks
d. "Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group" - Zelenskyy: "Russian troops have destroyed or damaged nearly 400 healthcare institutions: hospitals, maternity wards, outpatient clinics." Remember the Mariupol maternity ward?
Birth Under Fire: Mariupol Midwife Recalls Daily Horrors Of Working Under Siege
e. "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" - 121 000 (one hundred twenty-one thousand) children taken to Russia as of April 13. Adoption rules were also significantly simplified in Russia recently.
June 19, 2022 update: more than 300,000 Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia.
July 21, 2022 update: nearly 2 million Ukrainians were forcibly deported to Russia.
Russia says more than 300,000 Ukrainian children "deported"
Hence, every single requirement on the list for the physical part of the UN definition of genocide is sadly satisfied. All victims, or virtually all, are Ukrainians, which satisfies the deliberate targeting of a group of "a national, ethnical, racial or religious" trait.