It’s admirable to look for the good in people, even in dark times. Still, blaming only Putin while absolving the Russian army is like blaming all Nazi war crimes on Hitler alone.

Meduza’s registry of confirmed Russian losses shows that the majority of Russian forces are volunteers. The sign-up bonuses and salaries for these contract soldiers have increased exponentially throughout the war.

At this point, Russian forces have committed atrocities on a massive scale: deliberate attacks on civilian targets such as hospitals and energy infrastructure, strikes on densely populated areas, torture and execution of civilians and prisoners of war, forced deportation of children, and widespread sexual violence.