He and his parents were among the last in their village to take a Russian passport, but the pressure was becoming unbearable.
By his third beating at the hands of the Russian soldiers occupying Ukraine’s Kherson region, Vyacheslav Ryabkov caved. The soldiers broke two of his ribs, but his face was not bruised for his unsmiling passport photo, taken in September 2023.
It wasn’t enough.
In December, they caught the welder on his way home from work. Then one slammed his rifle butt down on Ryabkov’s face, smashing the bridge of his nose.
“Why don’t you fight for us? You already have a Russian passport,” they demanded. The beating continued as the 42-year-old fell unconscious.
“Let’s finish this off,” one soldier said. A friend ran for Ryabkov’s mother.
Russia has successfully imposed its passports on nearly the entire population of occupied Ukraine by making it impossible to survive without them, coercing hundreds of thousands of people into citizenship ahead of elections Vladimir Putin has made certain he will win, an Associated Press investigation has found. But accepting a passport means that men living in occupied territory can be drafted to fight against the same Ukrainian army that is trying to free them.
Well, considering the article is about Russians forcing Ukrainians to fight, that’s what rational people would think you meant by “Ukraine is doing the exact same thing.”
No. Ukraine is not doing “the exact same thing.” Both Ukraine and Russia are forcing their own respective countrymen to fight. Only Russia is forcing Ukrainians to fight for Russia.
If you had a point, then that would be Ukraine forcing Russians to fight for Ukraine, which isn’t true.
But I’ve already given you more than you deserve. You are clearly a sad Russian troll who is just doing his best not to get fired.
Good luck coming up with a response to this, I can’t wait to see how jumbled and illogical it is.
But it is? They are literally forcing people no matter their ethnicity or conscientous objections to fight?
You talking Russian citizens in Ukraine, or ethnically Russian Ukrainian citizens?
What a rude edit, there really is no point extending good faith in this community it gets thrown right back in your face.
I mean, what you’re doing is definitely worse than being rude. This goes beyond basic ignorance. You’re being a bad person. You’re demonstrating to all that your parents did a terrible job raising you. Be better or live with the shame forever
Russians with ukrainian passports, like I said 5 comments ago.
Hey I’m just curious. Wasn’t sure if “has a passport” was the same thing as being a citizen, which I assume would make you eligible for the draft.
Sorry people here are really hostile. Yeah you must be a citizen of a nation if you want a passport from them.
And is Ukraine forcing unwilling Russians to become Ukrainian citizens?
Its forcing pro-fed russians to fight
No