Russia is drawing up a kill list including gay and ethnic minority Ukrainians if it invades, the US has claimed. In a chilling warning, America’s ambassador to the UN has spoken of a “human rights catastrophe” as 200,000 Russian troops and 500 warplanes are massed on the border. The troops reportedly have orders from Vladimir Putin to invade. In the latest build-up for firepower, video shows convoys of Russian military hardware, including missiles and tanks, being moved to just two miles from the border. Terminator tanks, which are bristling with weapons and designed for fighting in cities, are seen in a video for the first time heading towards the border on a train.
Bathsheba Nell Crocker said the US has “credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation”. In a letter to the UN’s human rights chief she said “in the past Russian operations have included targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, unjust detentions, and the use of torture”.