mick ryan is retired nato general in the australian army, he is also author of the book war transformed, the future of 21st century great power competition and conflict. um, major general, thank you for being with us. um, i want to talk about this attack in kramatorsk by the russian military. all armies have situations where in wartime, civilians are killed the americans had it in iraq. australians had it in afghanistan but what we are looking at here in ukraine is entirely different to that, right? yes, john. it is a very different scenario. there is only two ways this could have happened. one, that the russians were surveilling the station and they would have seen it was civilians. or two, they weren t but they should have expected there were civilians there. so, this is a significant breach of the laws of armed conflict. there is no reasonable prospect of not being guilty of some kind
happened. this is one of the next level of russian crimes. i cannot even describe in words what we feel here. russians are hitting where it hurts the most. hitting train stations, where the people are trying to evacuate. the northeast city of kharkiv maybe the next focus of russian forces. ukraine intelligence chief says russians are regrouping for an advance on that city. i spoke earlier with a retired major general in the australian army. asking him to weigh in on the attack at the train station. which left dozens dead. there s only two ways this could have been happened. one the russians were surveying the station and would have seen it was civilians. or two they weren t. and should have expected they were civilians. so this is a significant breech of the laws of armed conflict. there s no reasonable prospect
been able to observe. i know you have been traveling around the country. uh, what have you seen since this russian invasion started a few weeks ago? well really, since the opening hours of the russian invasion here in ukraine, we have seen the russian armed forces resort to attacks using unlawful weapons, cluster munitions, indiscriminate attacks, dropping bomb after bomb on residential neighborhoods. killing dozens of civilians in multiple different cities. the tactics used in mariupol to lay siege to that city. trapping hundreds of thousands of residents without water, electricity, or or heat. in freezing-cold conditions where food is running scarce. and very few people are allowed to leave is another example of brutal tactics which violate the laws of armed conflict. and this has been the real
weeks ago? really since the opening hours of the russian invasion here in ukraine, we ve seen the russian armed forces resort to attacks using unlawful weapons like cluster munitions. indiscriminate attacks, dropping bomb after bomb on residential neighborhoods, kills dozens of civilians in cities. the tactics used in mariupol to lay siege to that city, trapping hundreds of thousands of residents without water, electricity, or heat in freezing cold conditions where food is running scarce and very few people are allowed to leave is another example of brutal tactics which violate the laws of armed conflict. and this has been the real marker and the real the real demonstration of what russian
so-called revolution in moscow itself. and that s why he is trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in ukraine. and that s why it is so vital that he fails. congressman heims, you agree? well, it is hard to know exactly why putin is ratcheting up the violence, you know, committing additional war crimes. you know, moving populations out of their own country is a clear violation of the laws of armed conflict. you know, but it is true and i think the prime minister gets it right that, at the core of putin s fear is the notion that right on his doorstep, there might be a country in which democracy and freedom obtained. where journalists can do tough reporting without being at risk of being thrown off the top of a building the way they are in russia. um, so yeah. you know, a fear of democracy has is why he got into this