Ukrainian journalist returned bearing signs of torture

This week, Russians returned missing Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity.

The body was shocking, having the eyes and brain removed, showing that yet again, Russia appears to be very far from really wanting peace.

The Strike

Last week, while Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky were meeting to discuss a peace deal, Russia decided to get a little frisky.

Putin launched yet another massive strike on Kyiv, which killed a handful of people and injured dozens more.

The strike had Trump frustrated, wondering if Putin really wanted peace or if he was just playing games.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the quiet part out loud, stating, "While claiming to seek peace, Russia launched a deadly airstrike on Kyiv. This isn't a pursuit of peace, it's a mockery of it."

Russian Demands

On the tail end of that attack, when it looked like Trump had talked Zelensky into ceding some ground to work out a peace deal, Russia announced its conditions for peace.

In addition to Crimea, Russia wanted possession of the entirety of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stated that Russia wanted Ukraine to be demilitarized and guarantees that Ukraine would not be given entry to NATO.

He stated, "All of Kyiv's commitments must be legally guaranteed, have enforcement mechanisms, and be permanent.”

Journalist Returned

Those demands are ludicrous, and I don’t see any way a peace deal will be made if Russia does not bend, but it may not come to that after what appears to be yet another war crime has been exposed.

Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, was among the more than 750 bodies that were returned to Ukraine by Russia in February. When the body was examined, there was little doubt that the journalist had been severely tortured while in captivity, with her eyes and the brain missing from the body.

Yurii Bielousov, head of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office war crimes department, stated, "The condition of the body and its mummification have made it impossible to establish the cause of death through the forensic examination.”

Torture is always unacceptable, but the fact it was also a woman really has people outraged. How can they possibly want peace when they are doing this to war prisoners? It is barbaric, and the timing of this just makes me think that Putin is daring the United States to walk away so he can continue his assault on Ukraine, draining our resources in the process. Something tells me that Putin may soon regret getting his wish.