I thought that, by “the Ukrainians,” the author meant that the torture was just one reason why the nation–i. e., Ukraine–refuses to surrender to Russia. And I thought that by the use of the phrase “just one,” the author meant that there might well be other reasons why Ukraine, the nation, refuses to surrender.
Years ago–I think it was back in the 1990s–I read an article in Esquire magazine about the troubles in Liberia. The author wrote that someone in that country had painted something like “Where are the Americans?” on a wall. I don’t think that the person who painted that graffito merely meant that he or she would like some number of individual Americans to show up. I think that person meant that he or she wanted the United States–i. e., as a nation–to intervene.
I wonder if these are propaganda pieces as well:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/21/middleeast/syria-torture-russian-mercenaries-cmd-intl/index.html
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya4/summary.htm