There are far too many first hand eyewitness reports to ignore them: the situation for the Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine is absolutely horrific. Many are young, only 18 or 19 years old, which definitely debunks Putin's claim that he is not using conscripts for his murderous "special operation". These soldiers are stranded in enemy territory with insufficient equipment, no access to medical evacuation, not enough ammunition, even without food. Reports from Ukrainean combatants tell stories of soldiers without body armor who lack even the most basic combat training, who stand around in the open even when fired upon and offer no meaningful resistance when Ukraine pushes back on the invasion. Defections are rampant, morale is nonexistent, and the Russian troops are freezing and starving.
They are treated worse than animals, because animals are usually regarded as a resource and not something expendable and unimportant. Putin is the animal here, treating his soldiers like dirt. President Zelenskyy said it in his recent interview with Russian journalists: this is how Putin treats his own people. Imagine, then, how little he cares about Ukraineans, and how he is likely to treat them if he gets his way and is allowed to keep any of the territory he has grabbed and is now barely holding on to.
We should have learned the lesson from Neville Chamberlain's leniency with Hitler: when a dictator invades a friendly neighboring country under the pretense of trying to "liberate" a minority of supposedly mistreated people of "his" nationality, we must not give him anything, because he will never stop.
