DW P.

 May 10, 2025

Producer and Film Director @ Ukraine Story | Documentary Filmmaker | Attorney | Journalist |

George Mason University – Antonin Scalia Law School Ukraine Story

My Father Stood in Red Square 50 Years Ago Today
We remember the greatest army of rapists in the history of the world.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the day my father stood in Red Square during their Victory Parade. It was May 9, 1975. Gerald Ford was president and Leonid Brezhnev topped the Soviet leadership architecture.

An outspoken anti-communist, Dad was invited as part of a political exchange program for American leaders. The Kremlin hoped to use the trip to their advantage.

But they didn’t understand my dad—or the fact that one reason our family is American today is because Russians hunted our great-grandfathers. He returned from Moscow to America and spent the rest of his life fighting the “Evil Empire,” including long after 1991.

I joined my dad in this crusade. Now my son joins me. I hope my grandchildren will one day do the same, for as long as the pernicious belief system behind Russian imperialism persists.

In one of my conversations with Dad after his “Victory Day” experience, he said (paraphrased): “Remember what May 9th really meant—Russians in Germany and beyond raped more than one million women. Then they enslaved the world. That is the meaning of May 9.”

The Russian military is an army of rapists. That’s not a slur. It’s not an opinion. It is a historical fact and a present reality. Russian soldiers are rapists. It is a culture. It is intentional. It is encouraged. It is fundamental to the Russian view of national superiority, conquest and revenge.

Russians use conquest to rape boys and girls as young as nine years old. They famously murder children who try to protect their mothers and sisters from rape. Russian rapes and murders are not one-offs, or aberrations. Rape is standard operating procedure after taking a foreign city. The stories are legion. Many are documented.

I was reminded of the permanent nature of Russian rape culture when I travelled to Bucha and Irpin to speak with survivors of Russian occupation.

One pastor from Irpin described for me the horrible reality of counseling young teenage Evangelical Christian girls raped on repeat, sometimes with their mothers beside them, sometimes with fathers and brothers forced to watch before their own execution.

What do you say to such Ukrainian women to prevent them from committing suicide?

What was said to the German women who were raped in 1945 – the ones who survived?

Behind Russian rape culture is the same philosophy driving the invasion of Ukraine – a form of nationalist superiority, contempt and revenge which demands the dehumanization of others. It is a dehumanization so primal and fundamental, that numerous reports have emerged of Russian wives and mothers actually encouraging the rape of Ukrainian girls.

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We are headed back to the front lines. Join us in spirit. We’ll send you a hat and pins. Ukraine Story’s executive producer and my son, Honor Phillips, is returning to the front line of Ukraine very shortly on a special mission with Igor Tracz, designed to to deliver vital supplies from gas masks, armor plates, medical supplies, gun cleaning kits and a lot of basic needs important to stay alive and thrive. AMERICANS ON THE GROUND We have discovered that it’s especially important to have Americans on the ground with the troops. It sends an important message to the soldiers that Americans will stand with Ukraine. Sacrifice for them. It also sends an important message to America when we bring eyewitness reporting to the USA press. President Trump said yesterday that Ukraine was on the verge of being crushed. He is wrong. Having American eye witnesses at the front is vital to addressing false narratives. HOW YOU CAN HELP. HOW WE CAN THANK YOU. These efforts are volunteer and self funded, but they only can happen with a little help from our friends. If past is prologue, your investment of support yields a big return. Thanks to our friends we are closer to our goal. The money we receive will enable us to cover necessary transportation expenses. Everyone who is willing to help with a tax deductible donation of $100 or more, will receive from us this nifty Ukraine hat, and a Slava Ukraini pin, along with a special video message of thanks to our supporters from the ground in Ukraine. Go to https://lnkd.in/grwvgdcT Password: Victory

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“We may have been fighting the wrong enemy (Germany) all along. But while we’re here (on the Soviet border), we should go after the bastards now, ’cause we’re gonna have to fight ’em eventually. “

General George S. Patton
May, 1945