Putin "authorized" Russian soldiers to kill and rape in Ukraine – Ukrainian activist Marynovych.

Myroslav Marynovych, a Ukrainian human rights activist, author, and academic who survived 7 years in the Soviet Union’s notorious Perm 36 prison camp, who is now vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), shared his views with Espreso.West.

"Remember the particular formulation that Vladimir Putin used recently: 'Like it, don't like it - endure it, my darling'. There it is – legitimization. After this wording was voiced from above, could the soldiers who came to our villages behave differently? No! They began to rape Ukrainian women, as they are following the instructions received from their president.

“In this case, we can observe a special kind of psychology at play, which scientists will explore in the future. When a person is told that he has the right to destroy fascism or Bandera, then all moral barriers cease to exist for one of these 'rashists’. He then believes that he can do whatever he wants with this supposed fascist or Bandera. The limits are removed, the floodgates are open and he turns into a beast, because he considers himself 'authorized' ", Marynovych explains.

He maintains that a culture or even a cult of violence has long reigned in Russia. And that violence itself has always held this empire together. At the same time, Marynovych called on Ukrainians not to respond with hatred to the Russians’ actions.

"I understand how justified hatred is – the Russians provide a lot of reasons for it. How can one endure all these atrocities, look at it and not fall into hatred? It is understood.

“But hatred is very dangerous. Therefore, understanding Ukrainians and sympathizing with Ukrainians, I still want to urge our people to beware of hatred, because this is a very insidious thing. The most important thing here is not to become like your enemy,” Marynovych stressed.