The Western operatives in Mariupol

Part I - March 11 to April 25, 2022

Part II - April 26 to June 11, 2022

Part III

• June 14, 2022

Russian daily newspaper Izvestia publishes a copy of an alleged memorandum from the Ukrainian defense ministry, which enforced on February 24, at the beginning of the Russian special military operation, a decree of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In collaboration with the State security agency (SBU, subordinated to the president), the employees of the defense ministry were ordered to destroy the personal files of anyone within the Center for the Public Health, Anti-Plague Institute, Zhytomyr, regional administration or Laboratory Centers, who had worked with US companies Metabiota or Battelle

> These information can be correlated with the report that the Russian defense ministry has published on May 11 (cf. supra), about the collection of cholera pathogen in Mariupol biolaboratories.

• June 19, 2022

According to an anonymous security source, via TASS news agency, the commanders of Azov (at least Denys Propkopenko and Sviatoslav Palamar) have been transferred to Lefortovo prison, Moscow

• June 25, 2022

Under the title Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say, the New York Times writes

[…] American and other allied special operations forces have trained with their Ukrainian counterparts for years […] A secretive operation involving U.S. Special Operations forces hints at the scale of the effort to assist Ukraine’s still outgunned military […] some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials. At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine. The United States withdrew its own 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but commandos from these allies either remained or have gone in and out of the country since then, training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid, three U.S. officials said […] The commandos are not on the front lines with Ukrainian troops and instead advise from headquarters in other parts of the country or remotely by encrypted communications, according to American and other Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters […] The C.I.A. officers operating in Ukraine have focused on directing the intelligence that the U.S. government has been providing the Ukrainian government. Most of their work has been in Kyiv, according to current and former officials […] The former Trump administration official said Special Operations Command had small groups of American operators working in the field with Ukrainian officials before the war. The American teams were sometimes called Jedburgh, a reference to a World War II effort to train partisans behind enemy lines, the official said […] Those efforts, the official said, ended before the Russian invasion but would have been helpful if they had continued during the war […]

> The New York Times confirms an open secret. Western operatives from several countries are working in Ukraine since 2014, as advisers, instructors and intelligence officers. The withdrawing of 150 US service members was announced at the beginning of the Russian special military operation. Some Westerners have remained, others have come back. Their exposure has always been a main issue and as far as possible, they are staying in headquarters. Mariupol was a major command post. The pending question is how many have not left the city before its encirclement on March 11.

• June 26, 2022

On June 8, the allied forces have found in Azovstal that a blast furnace had been used during the siege as a crematorium, human remnants inside and clothes outside. During thorough investigation in the basement of the steel mill, the remnants of a dozen incinerated corpses have been so far uncovered and nearby, the scraps of a US passport card, maybe related to a woman : [….] Louise [….]ford, born on April 7, [….]

> As a reminder, when the garrison surrendered, about 200 other corpses were lying in refrigerators. These were dead Ukrainian fighters, that Azov did not try to burn.

• July 5, 2022

Not directly related to Western operatives, rather about the guys they have worked with : TASS news agency reports that among the Ukrainian service members who have surrendered from Azovstal, some will soon be tried in Donetsk People’s Republic for their crimes, such as sniping of civilians, assassination of prisoners… etc

They are alive members of a recce and sabotage group which was called SS Bears, I guess a sub-unit within Azov regiment. Their motto was Meine Ehre heißt Treue [loyalty is my honor], the Schutzstaffel historical one

• July 14, 2022

A volley of Russian cruise missiles strikes Vinnitsa, Western Ukraine. As usual, the Ukrainian authorities denounce a terrorist war crime against civilians. More pragmatic, the US embassy urges its citizens to leave the country. As usual in the coming days, provincial media and indiscretions on social networks will start disclosing the identities of the civilian victims, some members of the air forces command

The interesting point is that according to the Russian defense ministry, these members of the air forces command were meeting foreign partners, Western officials or business representatives. On July 17, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sack the head of the State security (SBU).

• July 16, 2022

Russian journalist Marina Kim interviews 59-year-old British mercenary John Harding, detained in Donetsk since he has surrendered in Azovstal on May 19 (cf. supra). He has not yet been tried, is fearing death penalty, pleads for his life with Boris Johnson

• July 29, 2022

The previous attempt occurred on May 18, with Tochka missiles, while the surrender was ongoing in Azovstal (cf. supra). In the night, the Ukrainian forces have once more attacked the camp in Yelenovka , Donetsk People’s Republic, where POWs from Mariupol are detained. According to republican military spokesman Eduard Basurin, the artillery systems were US made HIMARS and some rockets have reached their target. 53 prisoners have been killed, 71 have been injured

> NATO is likely commanding the Ukrainian batteries of US multiple launch rocket systems (MRLS). The prominent Azov members and I guess, Western operatives, are detained in Russia. However, this attack seeks the elimination of witnesses. What could be another reason for targeting former Ukrainian service members with highly precise ammunition ? The action is obviously a war crime.

• August 8, 2022

Head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin confirms that among the Ukrainian service members who have been taken prisoners in Mariupol, the war criminals will be tried in the city. On August 6, the former Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol has published on his Telegram channel a picture which is alleging that a cage is being built in the philharmonic

• August 15, 2022

Five more foreign mercenaries appear for their trial before the court in Donetsk People’s Republic

From left to right, they are John Harding (UK, cf. supra, July 16), Vekoslav Prebeg (Croatia), Matthias Gustavsson (Sweden), Dylan Healy (UK) and Andrew Hill (UK, cf. supra, June 4).

• August 20, 2022

As a reminder, British journalist Graham Phillips has already interviewed British mercenary Aiden Aslin on April 18 (cf. supra), was therefore called a war criminal in the British parliament. On July 26, the government has added Phillips on a sanctions list, frozen his bank accounts. YouTube has also censored the video of the interview.

The authorities in Donetsk has later allowed Aslin to publish videos on his YouTube channel, where he has sometimes denounced the Ukrainian war crimes he had witnessed.

On June 9, the court in Donetsk has sentenced to death mercenaries Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Brahim Saadoun (cf. supra), but the defendants have appealed. On July 29, with US made rockets, the Ukrainian artillery shelled the pretrial center in Yelenovka (cf. supra), killed 53 inmates. At the same time, the rumor was spreading that the death sentences had been enforced to the three mercenaries.

Aiden Aslin is alive and has recorded on August 8 a video, which was released on his Youtube account on August 16

> I guess that in his first videos, Aslin was attempting to trigger an action of the British government, which could have exchanged and freed him. He has received a reply on July 29, with the shelling in Yelenovka.

Today, YouTube has censored Aslin’s channel, likely at the instigation of the British government.

• September 21, 2022

While History is speeding up through the announcements of the near return of Donbass and southern Ukraine to Russian federation, where 300,000 reservists are mobilized, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have brokered a large prisoners swap, which is implemented today, between Russia and Ukraine

According to updated information the day after, 215 Ukrainians and foreign mercenaries have been freed through various paths. A first batch of 58 men came back to Russia, including Ukrainian political prisoner Viktor Medvedchuk (cf. supra, April 18), 30 will follow. Opponent to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian fascist deep State, Medvedchuk has been arrested on April 12.

Since the beginning on February 24 of the Russian special military operation for liberation of Donbass, denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, Ukrainian propaganda channels have proudly shared despicable videos which were displaying torture and assassination of Russian POWs. As expected, the survivors were poorly fed, humiliated and beaten. Seven of them are now hospitalized. To survive the battle as a prisoner is not a right, war is not a game that a player could leave when fed up, no mercy is not a crime. But even the mere mistreatment of POWs, whose surrender has been previously approved, is a war crime.

Among the freed Ukrainians, dozens are members of Azov regiment, have been captured between March 11 and May 20, date of the Russian victory in Mariupol and the last surrenders from Azovstal steel mill. According to unconfirmed reports about the deal, the prominent characters of the Nazi formation should stay in Turkey. Here are from left to right, captain Sviatoslav Palamar (2nd), lieutenant colonel Denys Prokopenko (4th) and major Serhiy Volyna (6th, 36th marine brigade, not Azov)

Funny how Ukraine and its Western sponsors have attempted on July 29 to wipe out some of these inconvenient witnesses, through the shelling of Yelenovka pretrial center. 53 inmates have been killed and I am wondering how all that stuff will go.

Via Saudi Arabia, several foreign mercenaries are also freed. Here are from left to right, British nationals John Harding, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin

The two latter have been sentenced to death in Donetsk People’s Republic, but anyway, the region will soon return to Russia, where capital punishment is no more enforced.

My expertise is that dozens Western operatives, especially French ones, were also captured in Mariupol, were later freed through such deals, but secret ones.

Music