Mostly agree about killing a stranger, but what about killing the family members of a general, or Putin? Also agree there's really no such thing as justice when life is taken, but what might a person be entitled to? And what these thoughts really boil down to is, the sickening dichotomy between Putin and all his stolen wealth sitting fat dumb and happy, compared to someone that's had their family murdered by him. It easier for him to bring loss to others when nobody's brought any in return. Someone needs to bring that pain to him.
It gets dicey in terms of something like a top general or putin. I can't justify it, but yeah, if I was in the shoes of a Ukrainian, I would feel perfectly justified killing their families. If I had to give explanation, you could make a solid argument the family members directly benefit from the harms caused.
Just to clarify, in this context, I am referring to justice as the mechanism or modifier that makes doing violence and harm to someone morally acceptable. The person on the receiving end needs to be solidly tied to the act. That's where I am making that distinction between it being wrong and just regular old murder to go kill a random from the other team. I don't think the families of rank and file soldiers benefit enough to tie them to the wrongs. I also don't think simply being from a country ties you to its actions, we benefit from terrible things America has done broadly speaking but I can't say we are responsible for it....we just get cheaper fruit or whatever, the real benefits wind up with very few. The families of those at the very top do benefit quite a bit from the terrible acts, so I think there is enough there to connect them with the wrong done...as such they are fair game for being part of whatever justice is dealt out.
It's morally wrong for some teenage Russian conscript to kill your family. You are justified in killing that dude. However, it would be equally wrong and essentially the same act to go kill a random Russian. They aren't tied to the harm done. It wouldn't be moral or justice to kill the family of that Russian conscript, same immoral act they committed, but I do understand.