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Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
The briefcase that could have changed history: Inside the July plot to kill Hitler
On July 20, 81 years ago, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg came within seconds of altering the course of history. He walked into the Wolfsschanze—or Wolf's Lair—Adolf Hitler's heavily guarded headquarters in northern Poland. From this remote location, Hitler directed Nazi Germany's brutal Eastern Front campaign. Von Stauffenberg, who had lost his right arm and one eye during the war, carried a briefcase in his left hand. He entered a high-level strategy meeting with Hitler and his closest aides, placed the briefcase under the table near the Führer, and then stepped outside, ostensibly to take a phone call. Moments later, a massive explosion ripped through the room. The briefcase contained a bomb. It was the centrepiece of what would later be known as the July Plot, an audacious attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and broker peace with the Western Allies (the US, UK, and France) in the aftermath. The plot nearly worked. The blast killed four people and injured many others. But Hitler survived, barely just. One of his aides, Heinz Brandt, had unknowingly shifted the briefcase a few feet away from Hitler shortly before the detonation, inadvertently saving his life. Von Stauffenberg returned to Berlin and tried to initiate a military coup, but the plan collapsed. He was quickly arrested and executed, along with hundreds of others, including high-ranking officers in the German Army. Deeply shaken by the betrayal, Hitler abolished the traditional army salute, replacing it with the Nazi one. It is said he never trusted his inner circle again and became increasingly paranoid in the final months of his life, culminating in his suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945. Had the plot succeeded, Operation Valkyrie, as it was codenamed, could have changed the trajectory of the Second World War. The Holocaust might have ended earlier. The bombings of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki might never have happened. Eastern Europe may have been spared decades of Soviet domination. Von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators were driven by outrage over Nazi atrocities, including the extermination of Jews, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and the overall moral collapse of the regime. Their aim was to eliminate Hitler, end the war, and restore humanity to Germany's soul. The July Plot has inspired many books and even a Hollywood film. Valkyrie (2008), starring Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg, dramatizes the events leading up to the assassination attempt. For a fast-paced, thriller-style account of the plot, Nigel Jones' Countdown to Valkyrie is an excellent choice. Just over 300 pages, it moves briskly from von Stauffenberg's early support of Hitler to his transformation into the 'Head, Heart and Hand of the Conspiracy.' The final chapter, detailing Hitler's brutal reprisals, is intense and emotional. For a more restrained, firsthand perspective, there is Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Philip Freiherr von Boeselager. Also published under the title Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler, it offers a unique insider's view, though the tone is factual rather than dramatic. Boeselager focuses mostly on his and his brother's role in the plot and their miraculous escape. He also notes von Stauffenberg's doubts about whether killing Hitler was still necessary, given the regime's impending collapse. At about 200 pages, the book is short but compelling for its authenticity. Assassination attempts on Hitler were not rare, and Killing Hitler: The Plots, the Assassins and the Dictator Who Cheated Death by Roger Moorhouse tells the full story. The book opens with Maurice Bavaud, a university student who tried three times to kill Hitler before being executed. It then recounts Georg Elser's 1939 bombing in a Munich beer hall that nearly succeeded. Elser's plot killed three and injured many, but Hitler had left the venue early. He blamed British intelligence, although Elser acted alone. The near-miss only reinforced Hitler's belief in his own invincibility and divine protection. The July Plot features in just one of eight chapters, but Moorhouse's account is deeply impactful. It illustrates how even Hitler's own followers, alarmed by military defeats and the advance of Soviet forces, eventually turned against him. Moorhouse's book ends with perhaps the most ironic assassination attempt of all: one allegedly planned by Albert Speer, Hitler's close associate and later author of Inside the Third Reich. Speer, disillusioned by the Führer, later wrote: 'I, who had once wanted nothing more than to be Hitler's master builder… was thinking how to obtain poison gas to destroy the man.' While Speer's plan never materialised, Killing Hitler remains one of the most comprehensive studies of Hitler's would-be assassins—and the myth of his survival. For readers who prefer something shorter, Richard Dargie's The Plots to Kill Hitler: The Men and Women Who Tried to Change History is a neatly packaged, 200-page summary of over two dozen attempts on Hitler's life, including the July Plot. For a more dramatic and selective take, Herbert Molloy Mason's To Kill Hitler: Plots on the Führer's Life delivers a gripping narrative. Though it lacks the depth of Moorhouse's work, Mason's book builds up to the July Plot with graphic, intense detail. At 270 pages, it's a fast and riveting read, but not for the faint of heart, especially when describing Hitler's savage retribution. Just like after Elser's failed attempt in 1939, Hitler saw his survival of the July Plot as confirmation of his destiny. 'It is a sign of Providence that I must, and therefore shall, continue my work,' he declared. Little did he know, he had less than a year to live. But even in the final months, Hitler clung to the illusion of control. Ultimately, he would die by his own hand, according to most historical accounts. Hitler had a way of escaping death. But history might have taken a dramatically different path had a briefcase been left just a little closer to him on July 20, 1944.
Reuters
a day ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Ukraine's top commander says troops standing firm outside key city
July 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Friday his forces were standing firm in defending a key city on the eastern front of the three-year war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukraine's forces in their defence of Pokrovsk, a logistics hub in eastern Donetsk region that has weathered months of Russian attempts to capture it in their troops' slow advance westward. Syrskyi said he had presented a report to the president describing the challenges facing Ukrainian troops along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front. "Most attention was focused on the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka sectors, where our soldiers are courageously containing intense pressure and destroying the Russian aggressor," Syrskyi wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "The enemy is continuing to deploy its tactic of small infantry groups, but has proved powerless on its attempts to seize Pokrovsk. Today, they tried to break through with sabotage groups but were exposed and destroyed by Ukrainian defenders." Zelenskiy, in his account of the commander's report, singled out for praise those defending Pokrovsk, particularly from sabotage groups "trying to advance and enter Ukrainian cities and villages. No such Russian group will have a chance of survival." Syrskyi issued his report at the end of a week of upheaval in the government, now focused on boosting domestic arms production. Zelenskiy appointed a new Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, and put her predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, at the head of the Defence Ministry. The outgoing Defence Minister, Rustem Umerov, was named chairman of the National Security and Defence Council and told to "intensify" peace talks with Russia. Russia's military has been advancing through Donetsk region, with the Russian Defence Ministry announcing almost daily the capture of villages on the approaches to Pokrovsk. The capture of one such village, Popiv Yar, was announced on Thursday. Ukraine has reported some successes in pushing back Russian troops from the area in recent months. Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub used to supply other frontline towns. Most of Pokrovsk's pre-war population of 60,000 has been evacuated. Ukraine's only mine that produces coking coal - used in its once vast steel industry -- lies idle outside the city. In Kyiv, Ukrainian air defence units repelled Russian drones on Friday evening. Fragments from one intercepted drone fell on a dwelling in an eastern suburb, but no injuries were reported.
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Russia tightens its stranglehold on Ukraine battlefield as Trump gifts Putin 50-day window
US President Donald Trump's 50-day pause ahead of possible secondary sanctions on Russia gifts the Kremlin a window to exploit the incremental gains of recent weeks, which analysts say increasingly put key Ukrainian strongholds in the east in peril. Russia is thought to be days or weeks away from surging into a heightened summer offensive, perhaps using the 160,000 troops Ukrainian officials have said are amassing near their front lines. But in the past two weeks, Russia has also made small but vital advances, placing its forces in a better position to cut off Ukrainian troops in three key towns – Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Kupiansk – on the eastern front line. The Kremlin appeared unperturbed by the new Trump deadline, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying on Tuesday: 'Fifty days – it used to be 24 hours; it used to be 100 days; we've been through all of this.' Analysts said the new time frame boded well for Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals. Keir Giles from Chatham House wrote Tuesday that it also provided space for Moscow on the diplomatic stage. 'The deadline of 50 days gives Russia plenty of time to concoct its own alternative plan, and once again outmanoeuvre Washington through a diplomatic ploy which Trump may well accept willingly… Trump's latest extension of his notional deadlines for Putin extends Ukraine's suffering for the same arbitrary period.' John Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre think tank, said the summer offensive had likely been underway for several months already, and that 'the Russians are undoubtedly intensifying their efforts, both on the ground and in the air.' He said the recent aerial onslaught against Ukraine's cities was perhaps a reflection of Moscow's slow progress on the front lines, and aimed 'to demoralize the population and zap its will to fight.' 'Putin has sounded for a few months now quite confident about the progress of this campaign, recognizing that the Ukrainians are short of manpower, (and) short of certain weapons systems,' Lough said, adding that Moscow was hoping to spread the Ukrainian defence too thin. 'We're going to see a continuation of that over the next at least 50 days.' The incremental advances Moscow has made around these three towns have come at a significant cost. But mapping of the front line by DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring service, and reports from the region show Russian progress in a bid to flank all three. In the past 72 hours, Russian forces have edged closer to Rodynske, a key settlement to the northeast of Pokrovsk, a main Ukrainian military hub besieged by Moscow for months. This advance is matched to Pokrovsk's west, where Russian troops are now moving to encircle the village of Udachne, enabling them to challenge supply routes into Pokrovsk with greater efficiency. A Ukrainian commander, who goes by the call sign Musician and leads a drone company in the 38th marine brigade, has served near Pokrovsk since October. He told CNN the Russian offensive had been underway for some time. 'It has probably not reached its peak yet,' he said, 'but they have been advancing for some time and are doing so quite successfully.' Musician said the defense of Rodynske was key. 'The enemy understands this and is counting on it. If they advance from Rodynske, the situation will be critical. There are one or two roads there that they can take control of, and logistics will be cut off. It's a logical move on the part of the enemy.' He said reinforcements were urgently needed there, or they would risk a repeat of the encircling and retreat seen in early 2024 around the town of Avdiivka – to Pokrovsk's east. Ukrainian troops held on in Avdiivka for months, until they lacked the numbers and resources to maintain their grip on the town, in a defeat that came to symbolise both Kyiv's tenacity and Moscow's relentless tolerance for high casualties to take territory. Ukrainian military blogger Bohdan Miroshnikov wrote that if Rodynske is 'captured, this will complete the encirclement of our entire left flank' around Pokrovsk, adding similarly pessimistic assessments of the right flank and south. 'If things continue like this, there will be few options left… either our garrison will be forced to retreat under threat of encirclement, or there will be fierce fighting in a semi-encirclement with unclear prospects.' The Russian military Telegram channel 'Voennaya Khronika,' which translates to 'military chronicle,' said the ambition was for Pokrovsk to fall like Avdiivka and Bakhmut before it, with 'successive flank isolation, pressure on supply lines and frontal stagnation after strategic exhaustion.' DeepState's mapping also shows advances towards Kostyantynivka – another key hub in the east – which Russia has swiftly approached in the past two weeks from the southeast and southwest, and which is now relentlessly hit by attack drones. Ukrainian blogger and serviceman Stanislav Buniatov, who goes by the call sign Osman, wrote that the advances bring Moscow's forces further into the Dnipropetrovsk region, an area not originally part of Putin's territorial goals. The daily clashes leave '70-90% of the enemy's personnel and equipment destroyed, but the enemy is advancing, and everyone understands why,' Osman wrote. Misleading reports from Ukrainian commanders to their superiors were hampering their defense, DeepState posted on Wednesday. 'A big part of the enemy's success is the lies in reports from the field about the real state of affairs, which makes it hard to assess risks and respond to changes in the situation from above… this is a huge problem that has catastrophic consequences. Lies will destroy us all.' The post highlighted the area to the south of Pokrovsk as particularly vulnerable to this internal, Ukrainian failing. Russian advances are slighter to the north of Kupiansk but present another challenge to Kyiv's often over-stretched forces. Moscow's advance since June 23 from Holubivka has left it now in control of a key access road to the north of Kupiansk, by the settlement of Radkivka. Kupiansk is one of the main towns to the east of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, and control over it helps secure the city of an estimated million people.
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Russia tightens its stranglehold on Ukraine battlefield as Trump gifts Putin 50-day window
US President Donald Trump's 50-day pause ahead of possible secondary sanctions on Russia gifts the Kremlin a window to exploit the incremental gains of recent weeks, which analysts say increasingly put key Ukrainian strongholds in the east in peril. Russia is thought to be days or weeks away from surging into a heightened summer offensive, perhaps using the 160,000 troops Ukrainian officials have said are amassing near their front lines. But in the past two weeks, Russia has also made small but vital advances, placing its forces in a better position to cut off Ukrainian troops in three key towns – Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Kupiansk – on the eastern front line. The Kremlin appeared unperturbed by the new Trump deadline, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying on Tuesday: 'Fifty days – it used to be 24 hours; it used to be 100 days; we've been through all of this.' Analysts said the new time frame boded well for Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals. Keir Giles from Chatham House wrote Tuesday that it also provided space for Moscow on the diplomatic stage. 'The deadline of 50 days gives Russia plenty of time to concoct its own alternative plan, and once again outmanoeuvre Washington through a diplomatic ploy which Trump may well accept willingly… Trump's latest extension of his notional deadlines for Putin extends Ukraine's suffering for the same arbitrary period.' John Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre think tank, said the summer offensive had likely been underway for several months already, and that 'the Russians are undoubtedly intensifying their efforts, both on the ground and in the air.' He said the recent aerial onslaught against Ukraine's cities was perhaps a reflection of Moscow's slow progress on the front lines, and aimed 'to demoralize the population and zap its will to fight.' 'Putin has sounded for a few months now quite confident about the progress of this campaign, recognizing that the Ukrainians are short of manpower, (and) short of certain weapons systems,' Lough said, adding that Moscow was hoping to spread the Ukrainian defence too thin. 'We're going to see a continuation of that over the next at least 50 days.' The incremental advances Moscow has made around these three towns have come at a significant cost. But mapping of the front line by DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring service, and reports from the region show Russian progress in a bid to flank all three. In the past 72 hours, Russian forces have edged closer to Rodynske, a key settlement to the northeast of Pokrovsk, a main Ukrainian military hub besieged by Moscow for months. This advance is matched to Pokrovsk's west, where Russian troops are now moving to encircle the village of Udachne, enabling them to challenge supply routes into Pokrovsk with greater efficiency. A Ukrainian commander, who goes by the call sign Musician and leads a drone company in the 38th marine brigade, has served near Pokrovsk since October. He told CNN the Russian offensive had been underway for some time. 'It has probably not reached its peak yet,' he said, 'but they have been advancing for some time and are doing so quite successfully.' Musician said the defense of Rodynske was key. 'The enemy understands this and is counting on it. If they advance from Rodynske, the situation will be critical. There are one or two roads there that they can take control of, and logistics will be cut off. It's a logical move on the part of the enemy.' He said reinforcements were urgently needed there, or they would risk a repeat of the encircling and retreat seen in early 2024 around the town of Avdiivka – to Pokrovsk's east. Ukrainian troops held on in Avdiivka for months, until they lacked the numbers and resources to maintain their grip on the town, in a defeat that came to symbolise both Kyiv's tenacity and Moscow's relentless tolerance for high casualties to take territory. Ukrainian military blogger Bohdan Miroshnikov wrote that if Rodynske is 'captured, this will complete the encirclement of our entire left flank' around Pokrovsk, adding similarly pessimistic assessments of the right flank and south. 'If things continue like this, there will be few options left… either our garrison will be forced to retreat under threat of encirclement, or there will be fierce fighting in a semi-encirclement with unclear prospects.' The Russian military Telegram channel 'Voennaya Khronika,' which translates to 'military chronicle,' said the ambition was for Pokrovsk to fall like Avdiivka and Bakhmut before it, with 'successive flank isolation, pressure on supply lines and frontal stagnation after strategic exhaustion.' DeepState's mapping also shows advances towards Kostyantynivka – another key hub in the east – which Russia has swiftly approached in the past two weeks from the southeast and southwest, and which is now relentlessly hit by attack drones. Ukrainian blogger and serviceman Stanislav Buniatov, who goes by the call sign Osman, wrote that the advances bring Moscow's forces further into the Dnipropetrovsk region, an area not originally part of Putin's territorial goals. The daily clashes leave '70-90% of the enemy's personnel and equipment destroyed, but the enemy is advancing, and everyone understands why,' Osman wrote. Misleading reports from Ukrainian commanders to their superiors were hampering their defense, DeepState posted on Wednesday. 'A big part of the enemy's success is the lies in reports from the field about the real state of affairs, which makes it hard to assess risks and respond to changes in the situation from above… this is a huge problem that has catastrophic consequences. Lies will destroy us all.' The post highlighted the area to the south of Pokrovsk as particularly vulnerable to this internal, Ukrainian failing. Russian advances are slighter to the north of Kupiansk but present another challenge to Kyiv's often over-stretched forces. Moscow's advance since June 23 from Holubivka has left it now in control of a key access road to the north of Kupiansk, by the settlement of Radkivka. Kupiansk is one of the main towns to the east of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, and control over it helps secure the city of an estimated million people. Svitlana Vlasova reported from Kyiv and Nick Paton Walsh and Lauren Kent from London.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- The Guardian
Ukrainian held by Russia describes torture, sinister threats and Kafkaesque court process
The first moments in Russian captivity for Maksym Butkevych saw humiliations that would pale in comparison with what would soon follow. Taken prisoner in the early months of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Butkevych and his fellow soldiers – who had been lured into a trap on the eastern frontline – at first were punched and robbed. 'There were a few kicks and punches,' recalls Butkevych, who had been a human rights defender and journalist before Russia's invasion compelled him to volunteer as a soldier. 'They took watches and other stuff. When a soldier picked up my earphones and asked whose they were, he said: 'Will you give them to me as a present?' Even though I was kneeling with the barrel of a gun against my head, I told him no.' However, the treatment would become much darker amid a pattern of harsh beatings, torture, the threat of execution and sexual violence aimed at a coerced 'confession' for an imaginary crime. Butkevych's testimony adds granular detail to a body of evidence – including in reporting by the Viktoriia Project – of Russia's mistreatment of captured Ukrainians, including show trials, field executions and torture. What happened to Butkevych took place despite a high-profile international campaign to seek his proper treatment and safe release when it was clear he had been captured and was being smeared in the Russian media and threatened with a show trial. Hands and legs tied, the next stage in Butkevych's journey was to an unfinished building outside Luhansk where he and the other soldiers would be confronted by the cruelty that would become commonplace in their captivity. 'There was an officer who behaved in a far more nasty way, trying to provoke us. He wanted to show off he was smarter than the average soldier. 'He asked who was married and we're kneeling in front of him. He asked where the soldiers' wives were. One answered 'in Poland' and another said 'in Germany'. He started to talk about what their wives were doing sexually in sick detail. I thought: 'This officer has severe problems.'' The following morning Butkevych and his fellow soldiers were shown to a visiting group of commanders and propagandists and were told they would be filmed to show that they had been captured and were being treated well. 'They seemed intrigued by me as the only officer,' Butkevych remembers. Warned by the Russian soldiers there would be 'consequences' if they checked online and found he had lied about his background, he volunteered that he was a journalist and human rights activist. A conversation followed in which the Russian soldiers insisted that the invasion should be characterised as a 'war' and Butkevych countered he was only interested in the human cost of what Russia was doing. 'They were surprised I was holding my ground, although I wasn't arguing.' More sinister is what came next: the first explicit threat that they could kill their prisoners. 'They said: 'You probably think you are a PoW. You're not until you're registered. For now you're missing on the battlefield. If you don't behave, we can walk to the back yard to see where we executed prisoners who misbehaved'.' The first serious beating occurred a few hours later. 'The propagandists left and a few hours later the Russian troops returned with a special forces soldier. They told me I should say that I wanted the special forces guy to hunt and kill my fellow soldiers in Ukraine. I said: 'Nothing personal, but I can't say that.' 'Then we were told that we were going to learn Ukrainian history.' As the 'nasty' officer recited what appeared to be an address by Putin, the soldiers were told to repeat the words. 'If they misspoke or made a slip, I was beaten with a wooden stick. 'I started to faint and my hand was swollen. I said 'You're going to break my shoulder,' and the officer replied, 'No, I know what I'm doing.' At some point he paused reciting the word salad he was mumbling and I could see he was physically enjoying the process. 'Then others came and kicked and punched me and someone took out a phone and ordered us to say: 'Glory to Russia,' and we were asked again to speak about Russians hunting down our fellow troops. After that we were ordered onto a truck and then I finally fainted.' Finally arriving at a prison in Luhansk, the soldiers were given old mattresses and towels and told they were in a pre-trial detention centre. 'There was a single tap in the cell to drink and wash, with pretty bad water. Although we were fed three times a day the food was appalling. Really small portions. Very soon we started feeling hunger overtaking us.' It is a familiar experience for prisoners of Russia, and 8-10,000 Ukrainians are still believed to be held. Those returning in agreed swaps having noticeably lost weight. In Luhansk, the interrogations began in earnest. 'They interrogated each of us,' Butkevych said. 'In the first few weeks the focus was on military information but we wouldn't give them that. Then it became about trying to undermine morale.' He said the prisoners were taken to what they believed to be the ministry of state security for the [Russian-backed breakaway] Luhansk People's Republic, where some soldiers were tortured with electric shocks from wires running to the dynamo of a field telephone system. 'It's called tapik. They used it on other soldiers but just threatened me, putting [the dynamo] in front of me,' he said. Over time, Butkevych said he became aware that those questioning him were more interested in his human rights background and a three-year period in the UK. 'Then – I remember because it was my birthday – I was interrogated by two guys. I'd met them before,' he said. 'They were doing the good cop, bad cop thing.' He was pressured to give an interview to a 'responsible international media organisation' [what organisation was not made clear] to talk about Ukraine 'being a Nazi country' and questioned over Soros Foundation funding he had received for his NGO. Chillingly, the two also warned him they could convict him as a 'war criminal'. Butkevych said a more focused regime of torture and threats then started, beginning with periods of being placed in stress positions and beatings with a rubber baton. He was once again told he could be killed and threatened with oral and anal rape using an electric shock baton. His torturers offered him three choices: to sign a confession admitting to war crimes and be 'very quickly exchanged'; taken to the scene of his alleged 'crime' where he would be shot trying to escape; or put in a cell with inmates who would make his life a 'living hell'. He signed the confession. 'I didn't even know what I was confessing to for several days until I was taken to a psychiatric expert who asked if I understand what I was accused of,' he said, later learning he had confessed to targeting two civilian women in a village he had never visited. 'Then I was sentenced to 13 years in a strict regime penal colony,' he said. He described a Kafkaesque process filled with 'absurdities' from the crude fiction of the charges to the 'peculiarity' that all legal paperwork had to be signed, including by a lawyer who falsely attested he had been present during the interrogation. 'I realised what happened in my case was that Russian troops had shelled a village heavily. When they finally took it over they found civilians injured by their own fire and put blame on Ukrainian PoWs. 'It's a win-win for the Russians. They deflect responsibility and have Ukrainian 'war criminals' to parade.' At the penal colony in occupied Luhansk, he was forced to work or be beaten while a sham legal process ground on in the background. 'I was taken to Luhansk for the court of appeal and the court of cassation,' Butkevych said. 'That's when I discovered I apparently had a lawyer in Moscow. A real human rights lawyer! I said I was forced to confess under torture. The lawyer said he had evidence on the day of the alleged crime that I was in Kyiv. The court didn't care.' On 17 October last year – after more than two years in captivity – he was told at the morning roll call to collect his things. He did not know where has going and dared not to hope he would be released. Taken to a nearby airfield where other PoWs had been gathered, they were exchanged for Russian prisoners held by Ukraine. 'I don't think I appreciate before my captivity just how much the Russian penal system reflects the values and methods of the Russian world,' he said of his ordeal. 'It's not an exception. It reflects the fundamental view of humans as disposable material. If you 'behave', you might be treated OK, but you must obey. There is no agency. Even the guards said the same about their civilian lives. 'That's a pretty good idea of what Russia wants to bring to Ukraine.'
