https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79vqpnqgy7o

When, later in the year, a sports agent offered him a trip to Russia to take part in races, Kibet seized the opportunity. ...

"He was very excited when he told me he was going to race in Russia," Kibet's brother said. "Even I was happy for him. We had high expectations."

His cousin, Ms Chesoi, who escorted him to the bus park on the first leg of the journey at the end of July, said he carried just "a small-sized suitcase".

Kibet told his family he would only be gone for two weeks.

On the video filmed in Ukraine, Kibet says that he went to Russia as a visitor and not for a "military job".

Then, after a fortnight, his host asked him if he would like to stay longer.

"I said: 'Yes, but the problem is that my visa is expired'. He said: 'No, I can do something for you.'" And then he promised Kibet a job.

"In the evening, he came with some papers written in Russian. He told me: 'This is the job I want you to do.' ...

"I didn't know it was a military job."

Kibet says he then signed the papers and the man took his phone and passport.

"And that is how everything went wrong... that signing ruined my life." ...

Kibet insists he never engaged in combat and then on the way to what would have been his first mission, he ditched his equipment and escaped, wandering for two days through a forest near Vovchansk in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region.

He then approached some Ukrainian soldiers.

"I went there with my hands up," he says repeating the gesture for the camera.

"I said: 'I am a Kenyan, please don't shoot me.'

"Everyone pointed their guns at me, but I told them to calm down. The commander came, they tied me. I told them: 'No, I am unarmed, I don't want anything. I'm here to save my life."

Despite Kibet's family being in shock over the video, there is some relief that he is in the hands of the Ukrainians.

Citizens of Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka , among others, are currently held in Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camps, Petro Yatsenko, Ukraine's spokesperson on the treatment of prisoners of war, told the BBC.

Sometimes I hear that Ukraine should have accepted the Russian ultimatum back in December 2022. How do you think?

This post is in no way, shape or form, a message meant to minimise the suffering of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Nor is this a post minimising the actions of Russian people, even "ordinary" Russian people, from parts they have played in the war, and their responsibility to remove themselves from playing any part in supporting it. Ukraine is still undergoing a horrific invasion from Putin's forces that is as brutal as ever. They still need your support. This is absolutely not a post aimed at undermining Ukrainian support (the complete opposite in fact).

Ukraine is non-negotiable.

---

A dispute once arose between the wind and the sun, which was the stronger of the two, and they agreed to put the point upon this issue, that whichever soonest made a traveler take off his cloak should be accounted the more powerful.

The Wind began, and blew with all his might and made a blast, cold and as fierce as a Thracian storm; but the stronger he blew the closer the traveler wrapped his cloak around him, and the tighter he grasped it with his hands.

Then broke out the Sun. With his welcome beams he dispersed the vapor and the cold; the traveler felt the genial warmth, and as the Sun shone brighter and brighter, he sat down, overcome with the heat, and cast his cloak on the ground.

Thus the Sun was declared the conqueror, and it has ever been deemed that persuasion is better than force; and that the sunshine of a kind and gentle manner will sooner lay open a poor man's heart than all the threatening and force of blustering authority.¹

-

Hate doesn't work.

The whole point of fascism is that a people are divided so that they are easier to control - that is the meaning of "divide et impera" - Divide and "conquer", better translated as "Divide and Rule".

It needs an enemy in order to live. If that "enemy" isn't acting, and doesn't feel like, an "enemy", then the veil is lifted and the ruse left exposed for the manipulated ones to see.

Trump wants you to hate MAGA. Putin wants you to hate Russians. They want you mad, angry, verbally and physically attacking them, so they can say "A ha! Look at THEM attacking us like the animals THEY are! THEY are the problem for YOU, and together WE can stop them".

Putin and Trump don't want you to not hate on their supporters... They're counting on it.

If we weren't so motivated ourselves to punch down on, ragebait, or insult, every individual Maga supporter or every single Russian, the fascist elite would do it instead. They'll do it with bots, they'll do it with shills - they'll use all means at their disposal to illuminate the reality they want their followers and you to see. They will pretend to be you, in order to convince their followers that we are as angry, hateful, and against them, as we are made out to be. They will pretend to be you, in order to convince "our side" that this is how we are supposed to act and be, this is how we are supposed to feel.

If our opposite number are "sheep" then by doing the "masters" bidding we are little more than "sheepdogs" corralling the sheep into an enclosure for the owners consumption.

The two biggest weapons of the fascist they will use against you are ignorance and apathy. We are not immune just because we are against them. They will use everything in their power to create a reality to demotivate you or make you miss the target. They will do anything to make you mad so that you can be controlled. Don't let them, be cool and keep smart, know who you're dealing with and don't let them change you - that's what they're trying to do.

Putin depends upon Russians to support his seat of power. Trump depends upon Maga to support his. Russians and Maga are the first victims of fascist malinfluence. If the Maga crowd started turning on Trump, or Russians started turning on Putin, then the horrors these men inflicted would be over very soon.

Most Russians don't want anything to do with this war - it is a vocal minority that actually support it and the rest "go along with it" because what else is there to do in their current situation? What would you do? By punching down on them, by making them feel like shit, by turning them away, we are driving them into the arms of other Russians who are also hated by us but who willingly accept them - those that support Putin's horrific and bloody wars.

If we left the door open for them to come through then we lay the foundation needed to start corroding at Putins base of power. By allowing Putin's first victims to realise who their true enemy is, Putin's attention and capabilities - his forces, his influence operators, his energy - will have to focus internally on Russia.

If there's one thing Putin hates more than the idea of losing Ukraine - it's the idea of losing Russia itself. ²

^-

At the end of the day, our feelings are human. What's being done to our friends and are families is worse than a horror story. The scale of it when grasped to it's full comprehension sullies people. When this war is over, there's going to be a lot of people who will need your help and support to cope from this. Many won't heal from the internal wounds of it.

The request to stop dehumanising Russians isn't one I make lightly - especially to our Ukrainian friends who must endure so much at the hands of "ordinary" Russians. Frankly, and I am not unaware of this point: Who the fuck am I to tell a Ukrainian mother or father who has lost their child in this war to "stop hating on Russians"? I have no place. When they call Russians orcs and monsters - I don't fucking blame them. What is a child killer if not a monster?

I was talked out of joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legion once - I didn't have military experience and was told I would be more of a liability by putting myself and others at risk if I did. So I joined NAFO instead and have engaged modestly in this weird online world where the battlefronts use memes and influence as weapons for hearts and minds.

My point is that I wasn't planning on joining the Foreign Legion because I wanted to kill Russians, the point was to help Ukrainians. If all the Russians went home tomorrow - then that would be it. There wouldn't be as many Russians dying but then the war would be over (with a lasting peace) and more Ukrainian lives would be saved.

I will never ask a Ukrainian or a Georgian, to stop feeling how a Russian has made them feel. For the rest of us though, we have no excuse but to recognise that we're in a numbers game.

Even if you can't stomach anything even remotely from that place - ask yourself: Is it more important to hate Russians or save Ukrainians?

Compassion for the enemy is not the same as excusing their actions, forgetting that it happened, or pretending like there isn't a war going on.

Given that Putin and the oligarchs started this war - that they maintain this war - that their power is bolstered by us throwing vitriol at their base - and that their ability to continue and wage this war is negated if we can erode that base of support by reaching out to ordinary Russian people and giving them a way and means to get their own country back...

... Is it better that we keep doing what we've been doing and making Russian people, Tankies, and Useful idiots feel bad? Or should we give them a way out to become a part of the solution and not the problem?

The two biggest weapons of the Kremlin's disinformation operations are Ignorance and Apathy. The cure is Knowledge and Compassion. Armed with those two, you are unstoppable. It is an uphill and long struggle to be clear, but it's the only one that works.

A Russian who does not support the war is a Russian who is not helping to make that war happen. A Russian who is fighting against the war itself is our friend.

-

1. Source: https://aesopsfables.org/F6_The-Wind-and-the-Sun.html
2. Thanks Pringles...

The Ukrainian Air Force struck the PJSC “Energia” plant in Yelets (Lipetsk Oblast) with Storm Shadow missiles, recording at least two hits on two buildings. The facility, which has been targeted multiple times (at least four previous attacks), produces chemical power sources used in Russian weapons systems, including the UMPB D-30SN, Iskander-K (9M727), Iskander-M (9M723), Zircon (3M22), RM-48U, Pantsir (95Ya6), and Kinzhal (Kh-47M2).

From the france riots.

More than a third of the regions have joined the forced recruitment drive.

Human rights activists have begun receiving complaints from 34 regions over the past two months, where people are being forcibly coerced into signing contracts.

People are being apprehended on the streets, often while intoxicated, but sober individuals are also at risk. In other cases, they are taken directly from their homes or workplaces.

The apprehended men are taken to military recruitment offices, selection centers, or military units, or to other cities under the pretext of a "work assignment."

"They are grabbed on the street, beaten, forced to sign documents, and then sent to the combat zone. They pressure conscripts: they invent disciplinary violations and threaten them with prison, promise a three-month service, and also beat them," describes the organization "Appeal to Conscience."

The Penza and Omsk regions, as well as Udmurtia, remain the most dangerous regions in terms of the number of complaints about abductions.