Russia’s crimes will catch up with it eventually

Editorial: One day, and perhaps sooner than many assume, Russia will have to give up its neo-Tsarist ambitions and rejoin the community of civilised nations

President Putin’s tactics will fail, provided the people of Ukraine know they have the West on their side (AP)

As the harrowing accounts of torture reported by The Independent’s Bel Trew highlight, Russia is conducting a war of terror against Ukrainian civilians.

The more it fails on the battlefield and is forced to retreat, the more it turns its attention to destroying civilian infrastructure, taking hostages, abducting people, and continuing to rape and murder anyone unfortunate enough to have been captured by Russia’s ill-disciplined forces. In fact, the indiscipline seems to have been at least officially inspired, if not ordered; such is the way that civilians and prisoners of war are routinely maltreated and abused.

Unable to advance against Ukraine’s increasingly formidable Western-equipped defences, the Russians resort to destroying electricity plants, disrupting the supply of energy to homes. The rocket and drone attacks have been indiscriminate. Farms, apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, nurseries and historic and cultural landmarks have been targeted, because another of Russia’s war aims is erase Ukraine’s distinctive national identity and traditions.