Azovstal Nightmare Continues as Russians Disarm Booby Traps
*Mines Found Hidden Under Bodies
*Ukrainian “Medic” Kidnaps Children and Kills Parents in Failed Escape
*POWs Urge AFU Comrades to Surrender
Russian troops are methodically demining and neutralizing booby-traps at the Azovstal steelworks in war-torn Mariupol. According to a May 31 briefing by Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov, the bodies of 152 dead Ukrainian fighters and servicemen were found inside of an isothermal van, which is a refrigerated van typically used to transport perishable goods. The van was in the underground facilities beneath the factory.
Konashenkov states in the video, which you can watch with an English voice-over here, that commanders of the besieged neo-Nazi Azov Battalion had appealed to Zelensky prior to their surrender to have the bodies returned so that they could be buried by their families. However, Kiev made no formal request for the bodies.
The van’s cooling system was broken and the bodies had been in there for some time, so we can only imagine what this grisly discovery must have been like. But it gets even worse. When Russian combat engineers were inspecting the van, they discovered four mines hidden under the bodies. According to the Russian MoD, there were enough explosives to destroy all of the corpses, and, according to interrogations of captured Azov fighters, Kiev gave the orders to hide the mines there.
Investigators concluded that the mines were placed there as a provocation, so that Russia would be accused of deliberately destroying the bodies and preventing their return to relatives, and so that the Kiev regime and Zelensky could “save face.”
The bodies will be returned to Ukraine soon, Konashenkov said.
The last of the Ukrainian servicemen and fighters holed up inside the Azovstal steelworks surrendered on May 21st, a little more than a week ago. They were searched and taken into custody by Russian troops, who gave them food, water, and medical attention.
Many of the fighters were asked to take off their shirts, revealing a variety of Nazi symbols tattooed all over their chests, arms and backs. Swastikas, “Black Sun” SS symbols, skulls and crossbones and fascist trident symbols. Although Ukraine this week rebranded their trident symbol purportedly to prevent further “exploitation” by “Russian propagandists,” the move isn’t fooling anyone with eyes to see.
Here are some of the tattoos shown in the video. You can decide for yourself if they are Nazi symbols or if this is just a crazy conspiracy theory cooked up by the Kremlin.
“My honor is called faithfulness,” the above tattoo reads in Ukrainian. The “14” and “88” are both white supremacist symbols according to the Anti-Defamation League. The 14 is shorthand for the “14 Words” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The 88 stands for “Heil Hitler” (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet).
Anyone who still thinks these are not white supremacist Nazis is hopelessly propagandized and would probably fit in very well in 1939 Germany. Meanwhile, those who adorned themselves with Nazi tattoos are likely to face trial in Russia or in the People’s Republic of Donetsk (DPR) where such symbols are illegal.
Not all of the fighters are dedicated Nazis, however. One young man, 23-year-old Vladislav Bogdanchuk, states in a video that he was ordered to serve in a tank even though he had no experience. He only got off a couple of shots before his tank was hit and his commander was killed. He hid for seven days in a field with a wound on his head. When he encountered Russian troops, they called to him to surrender. He was afraid, but he had little choice.
“I was fed, they gave me water, treated me kindly. No mean word was addressed to me,” Bogdanchuk says, “The Russians are very kind. I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life, that they treated me so kind.”
Some of the POWs say they were forced to fight by the Ukrainian regime. A man with a greying beard, whose name is not given, says he was conscripted, put on a train and sent to the Donbas region. He says that half of the soldiers in his rifle platoon abandoned their position. Two of his comrades refused to fight, he says, and adds that he never killed anyone and that after he surrendered, he was treated kindly by Russian troops.
“Our people sent us into battle like cannon fodder, even though they knew we couldn’t fight,” he says in the video, “and it turned out that [Russian] people are the kindest souls here, truly our people, they feed us. They said they would let us go home as soon as the war is over.”
But some fighters won’t be going home. Those believed to have committed war crimes will face trial, and if found guilty, they could face the death penalty. A Ukrainian medic named Yulia Paevskaya is likely to be among them.
According to Pravda, the woman kidnapped two children and shot their parents, then impersonated their mother in a bid to escape the besieged steelworks.
The above photos, published by Pravda, were taken from Yulya’s Facebook page. Her tattoo says “Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the heroes.”
Paevskaya, who tried to leave Azovstal in an ambulance, also claimed that she was injured. But the children refused to stay silent in spite of her alleged threats to kill them, and she was detained by DPR militia. Now the medic, whose call sign is “Taira,” faces trial in Donetsk.
Though Russia currently has no death penalty, Donetsk does and has already opened criminal proceedings against at least three foreign mercenaries. A prosecutor stated that they will not be subject to a prisoner exchange since they acted without compliance with international conventions.
“They did not act here as military personnel. They acted here as terrorists, as Nazis, so there is no question of any exchange,” said Elena Shishkina, the chairman of the Committee on Criminal and Administrative Legislation of the People’s Council of the DPR, in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS.
Those found guilty of war crimes are not likely to fare any better in Lugansk. The Ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, told RIA Novosti that all foreign mercenaries participating in hostilities should be punished.
“We have a fairly unambiguous position on this. The mercenaries who came to our territory came to kill and earn money. We are waging a war for freedom and the opportunity to survive and build our lives. We consider foreign mercenaries who have arrived on our territory to be criminals who must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Miroshnik said.
Russian media has reported that some Ukrainian fighters disguise themselves as civilians in order to escape trial for war crimes and that some foreign mercenaries serving alongside the AFU have faked injuries so they could get out of fighting.
