Age of cruelty

The rise of darkness indeed splits the world ... It divides us into those who believe in humanity and those who feel entitled to do whatever they want

- Olexander Scherba

Gruesome: The devastation on the streets of Ukraine does not tell the complete story of the evil Russia is inflicting on the smaller country, which includes the castration, rape, starvation and execution of Ukrainians.

(Photo: Raw Pixel)

We live in a time of global darkness rising. Once again, like in earlier eras, imperialism kicks in the door to your home, invades your reality and says: what was yours before is mine now — your land, your freedom, your life...

On top of everything, it is also an era of mind-boggling cruelty. Sometimes, it is the cruelty of a person pressing a button and sending off another batch of deadly drones, distantly destroying hundreds of peaceful homes and thousands of peaceful lives.

“Death of one person is a tragedy; death of thousands is just statistics” — these words of Josef Stalin, a bloody dictator from the past (who is enjoying a comeback as well) could be a fitting motto of today.

But there is also a different, especially terrifying feature to our era: deliberate, sadistic, eye-to-eye kind of cruelty.

The proud one. Like the documented and internationally verified case of Russian occupiers invading a private home near Kyiv, killing the owner and gang-raping his wife for days — while their four-year-old child was weeping, locked in the next room.

Like the gruesome Russian video of a young Ukrainian prisoner being castrated that went viral in 2023.

Like proud social media postings of Russian soldiers executing Ukrainian prisoners on camera.

Like Ukrainian prisoners being deliberately starved in Russian detention camps.

These cases are endless. They are meticulously documented and filed for the purpose of future tribunals.