The rules don't apply to russia.
The russians rape. The russians torture. The russians mutilate. The russians mass-murder.
The russians shoot small children at close range in the head.
The russians castrate prisoners of war.
The russians execute their own fighters with rifles or by crushing their skull with a sledgehammer.
The russians use chemical weapons.
The russians use cluster bombs.
The russians use white phosphorus.
The russians cause ecological disaster.
The russians threaten nuclear war.
The russians steal children.
The russians blow up schools.
The russians blow up hospitals.
The russians blow up power plants.
And so on, and so on.
And yet so many westerns will clutch their pearls when we give the Ukrainians the means to defend themselves.