This was an exercise in murder, slow methodical murder. You can almost hear the gunner saying something like "hey stop- back up-we missed one."Until this point my escorts were silent just letting me take it all in.
Further on there was this burnt-out hull of a tank with flowers on it. They said it was theirs and the crew had died here. If you look behind the tank in the photo this is the first home that was not destroyed by the punisher battalion that worked here. Prezrak (Ghost) destroyed the Ukrainian punishers doing this.
Imagine this happening in your own town and the people that stopped it are called terrorists by the government perpetrating it.
Who Are Prezrak and the Novo Rus Army?
Are Ghost (Prezrak) and the Kozaki (Cossacks) actually the Russian army attacking Ukraine? The OSCE has reported on a number of occasions that there was no sign of a Russian military presence in Donbass. Ukraine reports its losses are due to Russian military intervention. The western press reports likewise.
The same goes for Russian weapons. The press raves about modern Russian weapons in Donbass as does Washington DC. The OSCE says otherwise. What's the truth and how do we get to it objectively and with finality?
So far these seem to be the questions that have stumped large news stations and publications. As we were driving I decided on the most straightforward approach possible.
I took a straightforward bouncer at the bar approach to ID'ing Russians that were not there. For 3 days I did random and persistent identification checks at checkpoints, barracks, and on the street. I demanded to see soldiers passports. I even asked for and saw the Commander "Sergei77"'s passport. If you have seen any of the video's coming out of the region there are familiar commanders and soldiers in them that are celebrated as heroes. I checked some of them also.
Every passport I inspected was Ukrainian- End of Story.
Are there Russian volunteers here? Yes, of course; but they are not Russian military and not in massive numbers. The amount of ground we covered during these few days made it impossible to cover up if it were otherwise. The other side of it is that I regularly talk to street level soldiers about these things that are not shy about their hope Putin does come.
I have met and spoken with Chechens, Afghanis, and Russians. I also met Georgians, former Kiev residents, and Western Ukrainians. These encounters have been very sporadic, one person here, two there. Some had prior military experience but most are scared of the geo-political trend they see the USA setting up in the world.
My interview with the Spanish group that had the largest contingent of foreigners I have seen in one place at one time ( 10 people) summarizes all of their views well.
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