Russians claim Ukranian forces are dropping booby-trapped chocolate bars on Russian trenches.
"Found these in the Zaporizhzhya direction. The enemy is throwing chocolates with an explosive mechanism. Do not open them under any circumstances. Our guy was lucky that it did not detonate, otherwise he could have ended up crippled. I know guys whose fingers were torn off like that."
Far more likely this is being prepared by Russians as they retreat in Kursk and blamed on Ukraine just in case any Russian civilians get hit. We know for a fact that Russia booby traps civilian areas which is a war crime. There have been zero cases of Ukraine doing this. So if a booby trap exists it should be assumed Russian.
That does seem like something that would violate some rules-of-war convention.
Booby-trapping something that might be mistaken by civilians as a legitimate humanitarian aid drop risks non-combatant casualties and makes it harder for actual aid operations to operate.
Yup. I read the convention on mines recently in the wake of the pagers thing. Even if chocolate isn't humanitarian aid, portable booby trapped non-military items are forbidden if they self-trigger. (The pagers actually seem fine by the copy I read, because being remote-controlled makes them "other devices")
I've asked about 10 times, but no one can seem to provide a single reputable journalistic source. Is that really such a tall order? Follow facts, not feelings...
That's true! If it happened. Does anyone have any source at all for this from any reputable news organization?
Explosives don't seem smart. Why didn't they poison the chocolate instead? The enemy opens the chocolate, sees nothing wrong with it, shares it with their mates, and then now you've got five casualties who are none the wiser. Is that against the rules of war or something?
I've asked about 10 times, but no one can seem to provide a single reputable journalistic source. Is that really such a tall order? Follow facts, not feelings...
We're... supposed to believe Russia!? According to them, they still haven't violently invaded Ukraine, kidnapped children, or committed war crimes!
(To be clear, any war crimes need to be stopped, investigated, and prosecuted.)
EDIT: Wait, there's not even an article to look into sources? Just text and an image!? If this isn't my specific app not cross-linking properly, this post has to violate community rules, right? Or at least it should...
I've asked about 10 times, but no one can seem to provide a single reputable journalistic source. Is that really such a tall order? Follow facts, not feelings...
"Pro-Russian" sources? I think you misunderstand. I'm curious why there are no sources. Like, at all. Not just from you, but any that actually exist! I can't find anything. Here's a search that should be broad enough:
Adding "explosive" to the query doesn't yield any better results. We don't have to link propaganda, but if Russia is claiming this, there would be English-language articles about the claim, yes? Again, if anyone has any source, please post it... But no, "do your own research" isn't sufficient for a claim with literally nothing to back it up.