Telegram channel “Kremlin laundry” has published unique footage of the interrogation of soldiers of the 36 Independent Marine Guards Brigade of the AFU, who surrendered to the DPR forces in Mariupol. The captured fighters spoke about the brigade commanders fleeing at a critical moment, relations with radical groups, crimes against civilians and foreign mercenaries in the brigade.
Captured servicemen from the units of the 36th Independent Marine Guards Brigade of the AFU unanimously report blatant facts of betrayal by the brigade’s commanding staff. In particular, Colonel Baranyuk V.A. is reported to have fled at a critical moment for the units, a “red” moment.
“He gathered everyone together and said ostensibly about withdrawal: ‘It’s OK, we’re withdrawing, everything will be OK…!’. And at the very last moment he radioed: “Every man for himself…” – he got into his APC, the commander’s liaison officer, and drove off. At that moment we realized that we were left behind, as no other army in the world,” said senior sailor of 36 Independent Marine Guards Brigade Alexey Mar.
Another soldier recounted the exploits of company commander Leonid Anatolievich Onopko of the 501st battalion, who during the siege sat in his bunker, stocked with provisions, while the personnel starved. Surrounded by personal guards, Onopko rarely came out of his own hiding place, from where he gave commands, including to open fire in peaceful sectors of Mariupol.
“My company commander Onopko Leonid Anatolievich initially abandoned us, as we sailors did not even have food. We were given a can of corn, a kilo of groats of some kind, water. <…> And in his basement, where he was sitting, he did not even leave it, there was plenty of food: biscuits, sweets, even cheese lay in circles. But no one gave it out to anyone,” said Taras Brahada, a sailor of the 501st battalion of the 36 Independent Marine Guards Brigade.
The AFU soldiers reported that the brigade personnel had no knowledge of the green corridors for exiting the city. According to them, the commanders deliberately concealed the fact that the corridors had been provided, knowing the defeatist sentiments in the brigade.
“The commanders did not inform us about the green corridors provided to us by the Russian Federation and the DPR. We simply did not know about them. And when we surrendered – it turns out there were four of them. The DNR soldiers told us that,” said senior sailor Oleksiy Mar.
All the sailors were extremely negative towards radical nationalist groups such as Right Sector, Aidar and Azov. In particular, one of the servicemen spoke about the previous commander of the brigade, Viktor Sigoza, who had close ties with the neo-Nazi group SS Bears. In conjunction with them, Sigoza was engaged in terror against civilians in Donbas. A marine recounted that a 120-mm mortar was used for this purpose, as well as mines with a phosphorus element.
Another marine noted a common trait of all radical nationalist groups – an awareness of their dominant position in Ukrainian society.
“They intimidated the civilian population. They behaved in an extremely disrespectful, brazen and cynical manner. In a word, people were afraid of them,” said Ivan Zaslavskiy, a sailor of the 1st Brigade of the 36th Brigade Combat Team.
Another soldier also agreed that members of all nationalist groups in Ukraine have always felt their impunity and, he said, “even before, in peacetime, it was difficult to prove anything against them.”
The captured marines also described the brigade’s crimes against civilians in southeastern Ukraine. Often it was the high ranking officers of the brigade’s units who instigated violence against the population. In particular, one of the soldiers points to the fact of the killing of a civilian by the guard of the 501st Battalion’s company commander, call sign “Veter”, around March 15-20 in the village of Mirne, which the unit’s soldiers tried to cover up.
“Veter” [the company commander’s guard] brought a man’s corpse to the Kray positions. “Eagle” – the commander of the position, “Veter”, Dolmatov Vlad threw the man’s corpse into a well and committed arson of the corpse,” said Marine Brahada.
Separately, the POW described how he and some other soldiers, during curfew, identified two girls from a women’s colony in Mirny. The encounter resulted in a gang rape and the shooting of one of the girls in the head after one of the company commander’s guards, call sign “Ratsiya”.
There were also foreign mercenaries in the 36 Independent Marine Guards Brigade who, not having Ukrainian citizenship, had previously signed a contract with the AFU. One of the prisoners of war, in particular, described a British citizen named Johnny who had served in the 36th Brigade and whom he knew personally.
“Was from the airborne assault company of the first battalion. His name is Johnny. He is a Briton, a mercenary who fought in Syria and after Syria he signed a contract specifically with the 36th Brigade,” said Senior Sailor Mar.
The servicemen taken captive by the LPR are urging Ukrainian citizens as one to come to their senses and not to carry out the cynical and suicidal orders of the Kiev regime. Only being in captivity, where they are not beaten and fed, were the soldiers able to see the real picture of the ongoing liberation operation by the Russian and LNR army.
Speaking to Ukrainian President Zelensky, the captured servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ask as one question: why did he, who promised to bring peace to Donbas and Ukraine, lead the country into a “fratricidal” conflict through his actions and decisions?
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