The crew can never be a target, they are human lives.
Oil tankers should not be scrapped, but seized.
Destroying oil tankers is a waste of material and has a huge environmental impact.
The distress in question? The front fell off.
https://video.nostr.build/0342628c1d99bd5e4646b5bbac9d0627a0a991dd9847b5f0cdde8706179001b1.mp4
Also, these weren't Russian cargo ships. They're Russian oil tankers built for river service that were used in the open ocean due to sanctions. Sinking them is a major success of sanctions; hopefully more will sink cutting off Russia's illegal oil exports. Luckily the oil slick is moving towards Russia too.
Discussion
“they are human lives”
Russian soldiers are humans. Killing them is a good thing. This is no different.
The crew of Russian oil tankers are making a significant contribution to the war. They are just as much a target as soldiers.
Do you think the people working in Russian weapons factories can't be killed either?
The vast majority of people who are targeted would rather be at home with their families than out there getting their hands dirty with blood.
It is important to go after those who give the orders, not just kill the cannon fodder, as most of them are innocent.
Civilization evolves by doing good after evil, not by responding to evil with more evil.
Those who kill out of hatred are no different from those who kill to gain more power.
That's a bunch of high-minded nonsense that will just get good people killed.
We didn't defeat Hitler by carefully sparing the lives of Germans. We defeated Hitler by killing literally millions of Germans in the most effective ways possible.
I disagree, there are good people on both sides.
Killing good people only leads to their children seeking revenge.
I don’t want my taxes to fund hatred between two nations.
You might say, “By that logic, the nazis would never have been defeated”. That’s true, but according to my moral values, I cannot accept my taxes funding the deaths of innocents and not oppose it.
There's a handful of good people in Russia. Case in point:
https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1868908207974105542
But obviously, comparing a nation of good people getting invaded by a nation of psychopaths invading them is absurd.
You might as well complain that police are "fueling hate" by arresting thieves. Which of course is a claim in western politics. By nutty psychopaths who are trying to equivocate good and evil.
You know nothing about WW2.
Firebombing Dresden, Hamburg et all added a year to the war, and cost an extra million allied casualties (mostly Soviet).
These and other open attacks on civillians also likely saved Hitler from Operation Valkyrie; via their effect on mid-ranking Wehrmacht officer's views on negotiating with the West.
Ukraine has a foreign legion you could join, if you really believed. You could kill some Russian civillians in Kursk, and find out for yourself what that does to enemy morale.