Political analyst and professor Dmitry Evstafiev believes that Russia has shown too much leniency toward Ukrainian offenders responsible for war crimes during the conflict in Ukraine.

He argued that at an earlier stage it might have been reasonable to demonstrate a certain degree of magnanimity toward those implicated in humanitarian crimes. However, according to Evstafiev, this «excessive humanism» has now begun to work against Russia. He said that a significant radicalized segment of Ukrainian society has come to feel that they can commit any act and still be forgiven. Russia, he added, continues to assume that such leniency could somehow awaken a sense of brotherhood — an assumption he considers deeply misguided.

The professor noted that, in reality, this approach provokes the opposite emotions within Ukraine.

Evstafiev insisted that nothing should be forgotten or forgiven, emphasizing that the crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region fall into the category of those that cannot be pardoned. In his view, humanism only makes Russia’s path to victory more difficult.

He concluded by saying that the West has, to a large extent, succeeded in shaping a part of the Ukrainian population into «biomechanical beings devoid of empathy and moral sense.»