A RUSSIAN commander captured by Ukrainian forces has given a powerful statement condemning his country’s military aggression and pleaded with Ukraine to show “mercy” to his countrymen.
The captive, a Lieutenant Colonel in Russia‘s National Guard, claimed he and his fellow soldiers had been lied to about Ukraine, and said he was ready to “go to jail” for his part in the invasion.
Captured Russian soldier Lieutenant Colonel Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich[/caption]
He claimed Russian soldiers had been lied to about Ukraine being neo-Nazi[/caption]
He also said the war was ‘unwinnable’ for Russia[/caption]
Lieutenant Colonel Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich was speaking at a media conference alongside two fellow captured Russian soldiers last Thursday but which was shared widely on Monday.
He is believed to be the most senior Russian soldier to speak out against the invasion so far.
Mikhailovich told reporters he was in the Russian National Guard’s special response unit team, and that Putin’s original announcement to invade Ukraine had come suddenly and taken his unit by surprise.
He insisted he was speaking freely, and that he hadn’t been pressured or intimidated into his statement by his Ukrainian captors.
Becoming emotional, he apologised directly to Ukraine, but admitted: “I cannot find the words to say sorry to the Ukrainian people,” and said he would “understand” if Russia was never forgiven.
He urged Ukraine to let Russian soldiers live and said: “Many of them are just embarrassed. They do not want war.”
Mikhailovich instead called for the soldiers to be sent home to Russia alive to tell their fellow Russians “what happened here”.
He added: “I just sincerely hope for your mercy towards those people who come to you with their hands up, or those who are wounded. We should not sow death. It’s better to sow life.”
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Mikhailovich, who denied he was being pressured by his captors into speaking, addressed his fellow Russian soldiers directly.
“Guys, be brave,” he said. “It’s easier for me, I’m in this situation already.
You are in a tense situation, going against your own commander. But this is genocide.”
He went on: “Russia cannot win here anyway. Even if we go until the very end. We can invade the territory, but we cannot invade the people.”
The commander said that “a Russian would be ashamed to confess that he is Russian” following the invasion.
Describing the start of the invasion on February 22, he said he and his comrades were told Ukraine was “dominated by a fascist regime”, that “nationalists and Nazis had seized power,” and that they were there to help the people of Ukraine get rid of them.
“Obviously, this information was unilateral information,” he said.
“Of course, we have internet, sometimes we get something from other sources. We had some doubts. We did not know the situation for sure.”
It comes as…
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He said he had further doubts on learning that his favourite boxers, Ukrainians Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, were both planning to fight against the invasion.
“I feel shame that we came to this country,” he said.
The colonel went on: “I don’t know why we were doing it. We knew very little. We brought sorrow to this land.”
He added that he and his fellow captives were prepared to “go to jail or whatever we deserve,” for their actions in Ukraine.
In a stunning condemnation of Putin‘s regime, Mikhailovich said he felt “sorry” for people back home in Russia who are “misinformed” about the war.
“Some do not even have internet,” he said. “They have no alternative (to state media). They are constantly brainwashed.”
He went on: “Maybe I really deserved to learn this lesson, so I could finally see and try to tell it to those who are in Russia. They do not realise what is happening here.”
And he admitted that he would “do the same” as the Ukrainians in resisting an invasion if the equivalent had happened in Russia.
We can invade the territory, but we cannot invade the people
Lieutenant Colonel Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich
It comes as the civilian death toll in Ukraine continues to rise, despite the Russian insistence that its forces are only attacking military targets.
A mother and her two children were among the dead yesterday as merciless Russian troops fired on families fleeing the carnage in Ukraine.
At least eight people were killed when missiles rained down on hundreds of terrified locals as they ran across a bridge to escape the bombardment of Irpin near Kyiv.
Speaking after the attack in a video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to punish “every bastard” who committed atrocities during the war.
Describing the family killed in Irpin, he said: “They were just trying to get out of town. To escape. The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine?
“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war.”
Addressing the Russian forces behind the attack, Zelenskyy said: “There will be no quiet place on this earth for you. Except for the grave.”
Shocking footage of the strike which killed the family thought to be a girl aged eight and her brother with their mum was recorded by reporters.
It is believed a family friend was also killed in the strike.
Four civilians including a family of three were killed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin[/caption]
The four were trying to flee when they were killed in Russian shelling[/caption]
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to punish ‘every bastard’ after the attack[/caption]
Vladimir Putin has introduced strict new censorship laws in Russia[/caption]
Around a dozen soldiers were helping people carry bags across a bridge over the River Irpin when they were forced to scatter by incoming missiles.
A soldier was telling one journalist how heartbroken families had been trying to bring their dead children out of the town when the missile slammed into the road just yards away.
Medics dashed across the road to tend to the family but the mother and her two children were killed instantly.
Only the father and the family dog – barking in terror in a small carrier – survived.
Harrowing photos taken during the aftermath show bodies draped under sheets with their precious suitcases alongside them.
And other pictures show four bodies sprawled on the roadside as two soldiers tend to them.
This comes amid ever tighter censorship in Russia in a bid to control the narrative about the war.
Last week, Putin’s regime blocked Russian citizens’ access to Facebook and major foreign news networks such as the BBC on Friday, in a further clampdown on freedom of speech.
The Russian parliament, the Duma, has also pushed through a law threatening anyone spreading “fake news” about the Ukrainian war with up to 15 years in prison.
Announcing the law, the chair of the Duma’s legislative body Vyacheslav Volodin said: “Literally by tomorrow, this law will force punishment – and very tough punishment – on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces.”
Despite strict censorship and the threat of prison, tens of thousands of brave Russians have protested the war at home.
Thousands of Russians have been arrested already after taking to the streets to condemn Putin’s invasion.
Category: News, World News, Ukraine war
