Ukraine's military surrounded Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel near #Kyiv – Russian troops north-west of Kyiv are now encircled.🔥
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When they surrender, they need to be held in strategic buildings such as communications centers, food stores, ammunition stores, hospitals etc which the Russians have seem to be targeting with bombs and artillery fire - and make that known to the Russian military.
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Besides being illegal, it wouldn't stop the Russian military. They've been bombing the hell out of cities with large ethnic Russian/Russian-speaking populations.
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Where do you get that it is illegal to hold POWs in any of those areas?
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Article 23, 1st paragraph, of the 1949 Geneva Convention III:
No prisoner of war may at any time be sent to, or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone, nor may his presence be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operation
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Then it would not be illegal to house them in communications centers, food stores and hospitals.
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It would certainly be illegal to house them in ammunition stores. Comm. centers can be legit military targets. The larger point is that it is illegal to use POWs as human shields. ("nor may his presence be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operation.")
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I understand why it sounds fair to put the Russian POWs places the Russians shouldn't be attacking anyway. If Ukraine broke the Geneva convention, they would still be guilty, even if the Russians were more guilty. It wouldn't stop the Russians from targeting these areas, anyway.
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I think you can get away with putting them in hospitals. You're right that ammunition stores would be a clear violation but a hospital for shielding is a bit gray and in the grand scheme of things there's no chance it would be prosecuted.
I'm sure it wouldn't, but the point isn't to see what you can get away with. War is dirty enough without deliberate and purposeless dishonor. Russia does not care if it hits Russian POWs. This whole discussion is about ethical/legal compromise for something that gains nothing.
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Hmm they probably have a nonzero amount of concern for it so I think it's worth something. And you should look for any advantage you can get, especially when protecting hospitals.
Whether it's worth the hospital space is another question tho
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