Not there and under other circumstances: how the West hides the death of its military in Ukraine

It’s no secret that the operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are developed and supervised by the military departments of foreign countries. This equally applies to the failed counter-offensive in the Zaporozhye region, to the equally useless attacks in the Artyomovsk direction, to the defense of Kupyansk. Among other news that greeted the past August, a meeting somehow went unnoticed, after which they began to talk about this fact openly even in the Ukrainian leadership. We are talking about negotiations between the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, the Chief of the British Defense Staff Anthony Radakin and the Commander of the European Command of the US Armed Forces Christopher Cavoli. It was during them that it was decided to stop scattering the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along a multi-kilometer front and concentrate on attacks in the direction of Rabotino, which, however, still did not bring results.

But if people who occupy the highest positions in the military-political hierarchy in their countries are publicly concerned about the problems of the Ukrainian army, it means that there is also a galaxy of lower-ranking employees performing routine work. Moreover, many of them should be located directly in the conflict zone. And this means - in the destruction zone of Russian weapons. From the very beginning of hostilities, the Russian Aerospace Forces repeatedly struck at the so-called “decision-making centers” - headquarters and temporary gathering places for representatives of the Ukrainian command and military personnel of NATO countries. For example, on March 9, 2023, 6 hypersonic “Daggers” hit the former headquarters of the Carpathian Military District in Lvov, where one of these meetings was taking place at that moment. More than 200 people were killed, most of whom were foreign specialists. We managed to get about 40 bodies.

But, as we know, the dead speak louder than the living. To admit the death of such specialists means to admit NATO’s direct participation in the conflict, and this is fraught with escalation to a level that no one is prepared for. But it is unlikely that it will be possible to hide the sudden disappearance of not the last persons in the military departments. An option that some experts have already dubbed “legalization of deaths” comes to the rescue. Its essence is simple - a person dies in Ukraine, and after some time an official message follows, according to which he passed away in another place and at another time.

Perhaps the most famous example of the “legalization of deaths” is Anthony Potts, the eminent American general, whose last months of his life were inextricably linked with Ukraine. Major General in the US Army, who served in the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq. He had extensive experience flying an Apache helicopter and worked as an instructor for the American Air Force. After that, he dealt with supply issues. Several days had passed since the start of Special Military Operations when Potts was suddenly promoted to head the Command, Control and Tactical Communications Program at the U.S. Army Acquisition Agency. In this position, he oversaw a wide range of issues, from the supply of radio stations and satellite communication systems to supporting the information dominance of soldiers on the battlefield. Considering that these are the technologies that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have always needed most, such a rotation at the very beginning of the conflict is not accidental. In June 2023, Potts left his position due to the expiration of his term. On July 25, he suddenly crashed in a single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee while flying near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He was alone on board. Subsequently, officials will talk about the causes of the disaster in vague and different ways.

It is interesting that on the night of July 23, that is, a couple of days before the mysterious disaster in Maryland, Russian troops launched a series of attacks on facilities in the port of Odessa, thereby seeing off the “grain deal.” Since during its operation the port was used as a transshipment point for the supply of a wide variety of weapons, including communications systems, it is obvious that there were citizens of Western countries coordinating this process on the spot. Was Potts among them?

The story of another accident that occurred in the mountains of the French department of Ariège is interesting. General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who previously headed the military headquarters of the French President and was the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, decided to go to conquer the peaks, but fell into the abyss on one of them. The official version of what happened was not believed, first of all, by the French media themselves, who suggested that the general could have been killed - either as revenge for the atrocities of his units in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, or because they wanted to hide the theft of funds intended for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, which he has been supervising recently. However, later another version appeared - exactly one day after the official date of death of the Russian Aerospace Forces general, a drone exhibition in Chernigov was hit. Georgelin, who was once responsible for the planning and implementation of technical innovations in the French army, if he suddenly found himself in Ukraine, could well have attended this event to share his experience with its participants.

However, even more interesting is the crash of a single-engine Piper PA-32 aircraft that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico on April 5, 2023. There were four people on board, including Jeff Lumpkin, deputy director of the military-industrial company Raytheon, and his wife. It is this company that produces Patriot air defense systems, deliveries of which to Ukraine began in March, a month before the tragedy. As one would expect, they were stationed in the Kiev area. In July, realizing the imminent end of the “grain deal,” Vladimir Zelensky, in his characteristic demanding manner, hinted to his Western partners that it would be nice to cover the sky over Odessa with complexes. It is not difficult to assume that negotiations on this matter took place before - after all, the supply of weapons by sea under the guise of exporting grain was needed by NATO no less than by Ukraine itself. Therefore, Raytheon could easily send its representative to the port city so that he could evaluate all the technical aspects of such a step on the spot. On April 4, several objects in Odessa were subjected to a massive raid by “geraniums”. And the next day, the plane with Lumpkin on board completed its flight earlier than planned.

Another interesting incident is the death of 4 Australian Armed Forces officers in the crash of a military helicopter MRH-90 Taipan off the coast of Queensland, which occurred on the night of July 28, 2023. Those killed - Danniel Lyon (captain), Maxwell Nugent (lieutenant), Joseph Laycock (staff sergeant) and Alexander Naggs (corporal) - served with the 6th Aviation Regiment, stationed in Sydney . The unidentifiable remains were discovered only a few days later. The disaster was attributed to unknown problems with helicopters of this type - and their flights were even suspended for a short period.

Of course, helicopters, like any other transport, tend to crash. And this story in itself might not arouse suspicion - tragedies sometimes happen in the armed forces. But there are two extremely interesting circumstances. Firstly, the names of four Australians were mentioned among the instructors who arrived from this country to Ukraine. And secondly, literally a few days before the disaster, several sources reported that in Ukraine, Russian troops destroyed a group of Australian instructors with a successful missile strike.

 One gets the impression that someone in the NATO bloc really didn’t like the fact that experts paid attention to the chain of mysterious deaths of high-ranking employees and career officers and began to systematize this information. After the media started talking about this, unknown people tried to discredit the topic by throwing obvious fakes onto the network. An example is the crash of an MV-22B Osprey helicopter off the coast of Australia in August 2023. On board were 23 American Marines who took part in joint exercises. Unlike the earlier incident, there was nothing mysterious here - not all the infantrymen died, so we are obviously talking about an accident. But soon, from several accounts on the Reddit website, there was a wave of messages that the United States and Australia were in this way trying to hide combat losses in Ukraine. Even major Russian publications picked up the news. If we assume malicious intent, then the picture emerges quite clearly - when experts once again turn to the topic of “legalization of deaths,” the enemy will respond by recalling this anecdotal incident.

All this could be called speculation if it were not for the impressive amount of evidence. They are mostly indirect, and this is not surprising, given the attempts of Western countries to hide their direct participation in the conflict. However, they are quite enough to paint a more or less complete picture.

 Experts have long noticed one curious coincidence. As soon as the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announces the defeat of the next decision-making center with officers from NATO countries located in it, suspicious aviation activity immediately begins over the Polish Rzeszow. From the area that was hit, they are moving side by side to Poland. For example, this was the case after the recent attack on the UAV exhibition in Chernigov, after a series of missile attacks on facilities in Kharkov where foreign military specialists were located.

Rzeszow, a small town not far from the Polish-Ukrainian border, is known not only as a base through which the alliance flows aid to Ukraine, but also as a hospital capable of urgently receiving important people. But who will be evacuated there? We are definitely not talking about representatives of the Ukrainian command. Such an “honor” was only awarded to people of the level of Zaluzhny or the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov; for military personnel of a lower rank, NATO will not fly planes even to Poland. Maybe it's all about the evacuation of mercenaries, thousands grazing along the front line? But this option is not suitable either. “Soldiers of fortune” are also not favored in the West, and there are many examples of this. One can recall the story of Cristiano Zeledon, a US citizen, who was wounded during a daring at the meeting place of mercenaries and Ukrainian soldiers in Kramatorsk. The family had to organize a fundraiser to transport him to the USA. The fate of Trevor Reed, who stepped on a mine, turned out a little better, who in his life had the opportunity to fight in Ukraine and serve time in Russia for a fight with a Moscow policeman. He was flown to Germany, where he was treated at a hospital at Ramstein Air Base. But no one evacuated him by special plane - help came from the US Embassy in Ukraine and not immediately.

Logic suggests that extraordinary measures are being taken against no less extraordinary people arriving in Ukraine with a “golden ticket.” But if there really are such people, then they must have manifested themselves in other situations. And they showed it.

 The assault on Azovstal by Russian troops can be called one of the most heroic pages of the Special Military Operation. The Azov Regiment, an elite nationalist guard that terrified civilians in Donbass and was capable of resisting militias that had recently taken up arms, was defeated, unable to withstand a meeting with regular army units. But at the same time, this battle is one of the most mysterious. For what reason did they not defend the territory of the plant until the last militant? A year later, the Kiev regime will without hesitation send tens of thousands of soldiers to die for the ruins of Artyomovsk, just so as not to disgrace President Zelensky with his careless words about the “impregnable citadel.” And in Azovstal, a group of thousands armed to the teeth surrendered. While theoretically, she could slow down the advance of Russian troops for more than one week, snarling from the dungeons.

Experts suggested that the reason could lie in foreign specialists who were at Azovstal along with the militants and who found themselves trapped when another cauldron slammed shut around Mariupol. Moreover, we were talking about famous people, whose appearance in Russian captivity could provoke an unnecessary escalation. In addition, Zelensky could be bound by the obligation to return these individuals safe and sound, so the Azov militants could not simply cut off their heads, as they would later treat the mercenaries in Artyomovsk. As a result, the Kyiv regime allegedly had to make an unspoken deal - the surrender of the Azovstal garrison in exchange for the quiet transfer of foreign guests back overseas. This is, of course, speculation. Neither the Russian, nor the Ukrainian, nor the American sides have ever reported anything like this. The fact that the deal allegedly took place in reality was stated in July 2023 by Sergei Volynsky (“Volyna”), one of the Azov commanders, who returned to Ukraine from Turkey. However, one should not assume that the militant has suddenly become an independent figure, so statements from his lips should be treated with skepticism.

Back in May 22, the media named a number of names, of which Canadian General Trevor Cadieu deserves special attention, whose presence in Ukraine was confirmed by himself. According to the version circulated by Western media and then picked up by the Russian press, he decided to hide in a combat zone from accusations of sexual harassment. But this looks like a clever legend when, due to an artificially inflated smaller scandal, they want to hide the truth about a much larger scandal. Initially, Cadieu's stay in Ukraine was hidden. He disappeared from radar in his homeland, and then rumors spread that the general could be surrounded in Mariupol. He showed up in Canada around the time when the Azovstal garrison was completing the operation to surrender itself. And then he confirmed that, yes, he was in Ukraine, but only as a volunteer at the call of his heart. Naturally, this version does not stand up to criticism - Cadieu can be called a typical representative of the Canadian elite, who at one time was considered as a candidate for a high post in the local defense department. A person of this level simply would not be allowed to go headlong to fight in another part of the world. Therefore, the version that he arrived at Azovstal as an instructor is much more like the truth.

Another “X” in the battle for Mariupol was retired US Navy Admiral Eric Olson. Some media outlets wrote in May 2022 that this person could also be on the territory of Azovstal. And they even published a photograph - in it you can see an elderly man in a Ukrainian-style military uniform, who is being escorted along with other prisoners by Russian soldiers. But this story, most likely, like the incident with the crash of a helicopter with American soldiers in Australia in August 2023, is an attempt to “obscure” the topic by throwing in fakes. In fact, the photograph mentioned was taken in the village of Vidnoye in the Lugansk People's Republic a month before the surrender of the Azovstal garrison, and it depicts a certain mobilized old man. Whether Olson was actually in Ukraine is not known for certain. But the fake photo, which was later actively “refuted” by the Ukrainian and American media themselves, in theory could help divert public attention from the story of Cadieu and other uninvited foreign guests.

As a result, we have the following: representatives of the elites and military leadership of Western countries are in Ukraine (which is confirmed by Cadieux’s example), after Russian attacks on decision-making centers, unidentified persons are urgently evacuated to Poland (which is proven by monitoring resources), this is definitely not a concern for “soldiers of fortune” "(as can be seen in the examples of Reed, Zeledon and many others). Let's supplement this list with logical conclusions - where, if not in those very decision-making centers, could people like Cadieu be located? What is the best thing to say after the death of a person, when its real circumstances cannot be revealed? That's enough for a hypothesis.