OK, I have contacted my friend who is Russian & English teacher near Moscow. This is his reply to this controversy: ” The point he was making there was that Russian forces, if they even would be employed in Ukraine, would be there only for protection and not fighting, and he said very angrily “Let’s see if Ukrainian army will shoot at their own women and children, I’d like to see what commander would give such an order to shoot at their own people, because Russian forces will be behind them, not in front of them” (MEANING that the Ukrainian army will be fighting their own people and not the Russian army, that Russians don’t mean it as invasion but protection of their own Russian people in Ukraine, so they aren’t going to be fighting as such, only at the request of the locals and as help, not actual foreign occupation force, you see? That’s what “behind them” means here - not as hiding but rather as secondary to the local people who are displeased with the turn of events and are ready to fight the new government). It’s a very difficult and unlucky turn of words which when translated directly do sound bad but it’s perfectly clear that that’s not at all what he was talking about at all!!! Very frustrating...
Problem is, he said “will shoot at their own women and children”. If he was talking about local people fighting on the Russian side, it’s not “women and children” who generally do the fighting. He would have said “will shoot at their own brothers and cousins”, the MEN who would primarily be doing the resistance.
When he refers to “own women and children”, it’s really hard to see it as anything other than a reference to human shields. And since we’ve only seen Muslims being barbarous enough to make children volunteer for that kind of stuff, it carries the implication that children would involuntarily be used for human shields.
I’d like to see what commander would give such an order to shoot at their own peopleNot only is Putin talking about hiding his illegal invading military troops behind women and children... but he is also daring the Ukrainians to shoot them because he would like to see it!
This gets worse the more we understand it...
And really, who talks like this - "women and children and shooting" - in any context?
BTW - I haven't heard of any Russians being harmed so stop with the BS. If Putin continues to invade Ukraine it's because he wants the USSR back. Some of us are more than 3 years old - don't be so insulting.
Your source is highly questionable.