Jeremy Vine criticised for saying Russian soldiers 'probably deserve to die'

Jeremy Vine has been slammed by viewers after suggesting Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine "deserve to die".

He made the comments during a segment on his Channel 5 daytime programme titled: "Would you go and fight in Ukraine?" while debating a caller from Manchester called Bill.

Bill had made the point that Russia supported the UK during WW2. He said: "Russia were our allies. The people of Russia are not our enemies.

"I don’t think they’re the enemies. Quite a number of those Russians you’ll probably find will go across… they were holding their hands up this morning not wanting to fight the Ukrainians.

‘They were told lies by Putin, surprise, surprise.

This is what prompted Vine to make his controversial views known. He said: "True, but Bill, the brutal reality is that you put on a uniform for Putin and you go and fight his war, you probably deserve to die, don’t you?"

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Bill mentioned mandatory conscription in Russia. He said: "Do you? Do kids deserve to die, aged 18 to 20? Called up, conscripted, who don’t understand it?"

Jeremy replied: "That’s life. That’s the way it goes."

"If we practice the brutality of war you never learn from that," Bill said.

The war in Ukraine has entered its second week. Russian forces have seized control of a key port city in southern Ukraine, Kherson the mayor has said and an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine has been launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Ukraine reports that more than 2,000 civilians have died since the invasion began last Thursday. The conflict has also caused more than a million people to flee Ukraine, according to the UN.

Vine was criticised on social media following his remarks:

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