LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #577, Friday, (03/22/2024)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity.”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAR 22, 2024

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Ukrainian women tell of beatings and threats under Russian occupation after escaping to Kyiv

LLAW’s CONCERNS & COMMENTS, Friday, (03/22/2024)

Oh, the depravity of men caught up in their self-importance and the temporary power they have been given during war. This story is typical, rather than unusual, and this woman and her daughter, and the others, fortunately were eventually able to escape into Kyiv, and obviously felt obligated to tell their story as a way to avoid retaliation and worse.

Very likely, in this war, and those that came before throughout human history, other innocent women and even children have suffered such physical and mental abuse, pain, and indignation at the hands of military men who overstepped their bounds. Rape, unthinkable torture, even death in the ravages of war are common to all wars where soldiers have access to the public — especially to those of the feminine way. ~llaw

Ukrainian women tell of beatings and threats under Russian occupation

By Anna Voitenko

March 21, 20241:28 PM PDTUpdated a day ago

KYIV, March 21 (Reuters) – Alla Antonova says she suffered beatings, had a plastic bag thrust over her head and endured many other threats from Russian soldiers in occupied Ukraine who wanted to know where her son-in-law was serving in the Ukrainian army.

Her mother Natalia Kucherova, 73, was made to sit in an adjacent room of their apartment, but says she was generally left alone – the soldiers were only interested in her daughter.

Reuters could not independently verify their accounts. Moscow has denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities or deliberately attacked civilians during their invasion, which it calls a “special military operation”.

Now in Kyiv, escaping from the ordeal meant fleeing their home in the port of Berdiansk, in the occupied part of the southern Zaporizhzhia region and taking a circuitous five-day journey.

With the help of Ukrainian volunteer workers, the family and their dog travelled into southern Russia and then overland back over the border into Ukrainian-held territory in early February.

Speaking to Reuters in a rented apartment in the Ukrainian capital, Antonova, 53, said the Russian soldiers visited their Berdiansk home three times in the last few months of 2023 and as recently as January this year.

“They took me into the bedroom and mama into the kitchen,” Antonova said.

“Three of them. Interrogating me is the way I would put it. And they beat me. I had bruises on my legs, on my back.”

Antonova showed Reuters several photographs of severe bruises on her arm and legs.

Another soldier, she said, pulled the plastic bag over her head and pressed down to stop her breathing.

“I started to lose consciousness. They removed the bag and I felt ill,” Antonova said. “I told them: ‘Just kill me. It’s the truth, I know nothing’.”

Russia’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the women’s account.

Ukrainian women tell of beatings and threats under Russian occupation after escaping to Kyiv

Alla Antonova and her daughter Anastasia sit in a rental-apartment in Kyiv after Antonova escaped from her home in Russian-occupied Berdiansk amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, March 20, 2024. REUTERS/Anna Voitenko

report on conditions in occupied areas released this week by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine described a “climate of fear” in occupied areas more than two years after the Russian invasion. It reports the widespread use of such tactics that Antonova and her family describe.

Speaking at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday after the report’s publication, Russian senior diplomat Igor Sergeev accused U.N. human rights bodies of double standards and of turning a blind eye to violations committed by Kyiv.

BEATEN SENSELESS

Antonova said the soldiers beat her senseless during one of the “visits”, in January this year.

She showed Reuters a video she was made to record, sent to her own 29-year-old daughter, Anastasia, in which she says “good, polite people, soldiers” had come and asked the daughter to cooperate if she wanted to see her mother again.

“My daughter understood straight away and deleted it. And they just said ‘just think about it – we’ll come to see you’.”

Kucherova made it plain what she thought of the soldiers.

“‘What is it you want?’ I said, ‘Are you going to throw my daughter in a cellar and rape her?'” she told Reuters of the experience, prompting a soldier to ask where she had heard such things.

“I told him the whole town is talking about it. The whole town, about how you are abusing people there.”

Kucherova, who had lived all her life in Berdiansk, was tearful about leaving, but in the end needed little convincing.

“They said ‘we are here for a long time to come, in Berdiansk’. And that means ‘we will be paying you frequent visits’,” she said. “So, that’s what happened. We quickly got our things together and left. We were told to go quickly.”

The escalating violence made the women fearful for their lives so the three generations of women readied themselves for a long journey – and no notion of leaving behind Sonia, the family dog.

“We couldn’t bear the thought leaving her tied up with no water, nothing,” Kucherova said. “We all went together. No one was abandoned.”

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Writing by Ronald Popeski; Editing by Lucy Marks


ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

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Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS (03/22/2024):

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Webcast: The Future of Fire Policy – YouTube

YouTube

At this webcast, we dive into all things “fire” – looking at how past fire policy and management has informed the current state of fire on the …

‘Countdown’ and ‘Nuclear War’ Review: Apocalypse Deferred – WSJ

The Wall Street Journal

Five minutes after the blast, “most of everything south to Alexandria, west to Falls Church, north to Chevy Chase, east to Capitol Heights, and all …

The rising threat of nuclear war – Delaware Public Media

Delaware Public Media

All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM … The rising threat of nuclear war … The Iran deal restricted the country’s nuclear program in exchange for …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Ukraine says power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant fixed after blackout risk – Reuters

Reuters

The International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier the nuclear power plant had lost connection to its main off-site power line, but that a backup …

New nuclear reactor types will not solve waste and safety issues – German agency

Clean Energy Wire

Clean Energy Wire / Reuters. Novel nuclear power plant designs do not resolve the technology’s fundamental challenge of hazardous nuclear waste, a …

Creepy drone footage from Fukushima shows how a nuclear reactor looks after meltdown

Business Insider

A drone and robot are aiding in the inspection of the devastation inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reactor, …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Russian Strike Severs Power Line To Ukraine Nuclear Plant – Barron’s

Barron’s

… emergency situation”, said Ukraine’s atomic energy operator Energoatom. In the event that the final power line is cut, it said the plant will be …

Russian strike severs power line to Ukraine nuclear plant – The Economic Times

The Economic Times

Since the beginning of the war, the Zaporizhzhia power plant has suffered multiple blackouts, falling back on emergency diesel generators and safety …

Officials report emergency power cuts in eight Ukrainian oblasts after devastating Russian attack

Yahoo

… energy infrastructure on March 22. Read also: Critical power line feeding Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant restored, Energoatom reports. The city …

Nuclear War

NEWS

Ukraine war briefing: ‘massive missile attack‘ hits Dnipro hydroelectric dam and affects nuclear plant

The Guardian

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was on the verge of blackout after a “massive missile attack on Ukraine” on Friday morning …

‘Countdown’ and ‘Nuclear War‘ Review: Apocalypse Deferred – WSJ

The Wall Street Journal

… Nuclear Security Administration monitor the state of the most dangerous weapons in the world. In “Nuclear War: A Scenario,” Annie Jacobsen, the …

Massive Russian attack targets Ukraine energy infrastructure – POLITICO.eu

POLITICO.eu

The Zaporizhzhia facility, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, has been occupied by Russia since 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said …

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

How North Korea Is Building a Nuclear Attack Arsenal – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg.com

To back up his threats, Kim has been ramping up strike capabilities with a blistering pace of tests for his newest ballistic missiles — making …

One step away from World War III | Column – Daily Sabah

Daily Sabah

Having brought up the threat of nuclear war periodically during the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Russian leader mentioned World War III due to French …

Ukrainian women tell of beatings and threats under Russian occupation – Reuters

Reuters

Alla Antonova says she suffered beatings, had a plastic bag thrust over her head and endured many other threats … nuclear reactors from Bulgaria in …

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