The Cost of Atrocity
Strategic Implications of Russian Battlefield Misconduct in Ukraine
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12159336 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Neil C Renic (0000-0002-7778-1293, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 6-16 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethics & International Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0892-6794 • E-ISSN: 1747-7093 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0892679424000054 |
| OpenAlex | W4403008816 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Since commencing its illegal invasion in 2022, the Russian military and authorities have committed numerous war crimes against the people of Ukraine. These include the mutilation and execution of combatants; the torture, kidnapping, forced expulsion, rape, and massacre of civilians; and indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas. In this essay, I evaluate the strategic implications of this misconduct, focusing exclusively on Western responses. I argue that war crimes can and often do negatively impact the strategic goals of the perpetrator, but whether and how this occurs is rarely governed exclusively by the offending action. Western perceptions of battlefield atrocity, shaped as they are by identity, race, and politics, may radically shift from one context to another. In the case of the Russia-Ukraine war, the status of both the participants and the conflict itself has helped inculcate a particular sensitivity among Western actors to the battlefield criminality of Russia. Drawing on evidence from the 2022 Bucha massacre and the ongoing bombing of Ukrainian civilians, I argue that Russian misconduct has consolidated Western support for the Ukrainian military effort, politically, diplomatically, and materially
Ancient history · Battlefield · Business · Computer security · Criminology · International trade · Law and economics · Misconduct · Political science · Sociology · Computer Science · Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |