There are reports on mass executions in Mariupol published by the Tribunal. These atrocities entail the killing of civilians for getting too close to Azov’s position and even the murder of civilians for drinking alcohol outside pass curfew. The Russian government recently reported that thousands of dead civilians were discovered after the Russians took Mariupol from the Ukrainians. According to RIA:
“In Mariupol, after the departure of the Ukrainian military from the city, several thousand dead civilians were found, RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the Investigative Committee. … ‘Unable to leave the city and moving in search of food, civilians became a living target for Ukrainian punishers who killed them with various types of weapons’. Investigators proposed to create a DNA database of the dead Mariupol residents because of the difficulties in establishing their identities. A criminal case was opened against the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian troops Valery Zaluzhny and other military leaders on the fact of war crimes in the city.”
The Russian government has concluded that there were thousands of civilians killed in Mariupol before the Russians took the city. We also have reports of executions done by Azov. In these stories, Azov fighters are given call names like “Islam” and “Witcher.” In one such story, Azov took position near a shopping center and upon seeing two men and a woman walking near the shopping center, the order was given to open fire on them. After killing them, the Azov fighters then boobytrapped the bodies with bombs with the intent of killing Russian soldiers if they came to expect the corpses:
After 9 pm, The Witcher, Islam, and Zheka saw two men and a woman walking along the shopping center building. “Islam” reported the situation to “Mongoose” and received an order: under the pretext of violating curfew, to shoot him. All three “Azov” opened fire on civilians.
The next morning, the “Azov” tasked to process the corpses. “Electron”, “Islam” and “Zheka” went to the bodies of the victims to mine them. It was assumed that the military personnel of the RF Armed Forces or civilians would be blown up when they were detected.
According to the same report, the Azov fighters saw a civilian walking with a package and suspected that he stole it. After killing this civilian, they noticed two people walking in the parking lot of the shopping center and killed both of them:
In the afternoon, Krivoi noticed a civilian walking along the shopping center. In the hands of a civilian, there was a package that Krivoi considered a sign of robbery: reporting on the situation to Mongoose, he said that “some man came out of Port City with a looted bag in it.”
“Mongoose” ordered to immediately shoot the “marauder”, and “Curve” together with the “Witcher” opened fire on the man. In the evening, at about 8 o’clock, the “Azov” went to mine the corpse, which lay near the “Port City” building from the side of the street. While the “Witcher” was monitoring the situation around, “Crooked” pulled the pin out of the F-1 grenade, secured the trigger guard with an elastic band and placed it under the victim’s body.
The casualties among the civilians that night did not end there. After the incident, the “Azov” returned to their original position at the corner of the house 65 on the street. Soon they noticed two civilians in the parking lot of the Port City shopping center, who were calmly moving towards the street. Having reported the situation to “Mongoose”, “Crooked” again received an order to shoot civilians.
With the help of a night vision device, Krivoi pinpointed the location of the civilians. “A tree, to the left of 10 meters,” he gave such a landmark to The Witcher. “Azov” took aim and fired. This time, the commander’s order was not fully carried out: one civilian was shot dead, while another managed to escape towards Shevchenko Boulevard.
The dead man remained lying next to the pedestrian crossing from the shopping center to house 65 on the street. “Crooked” reported to “Mongoose” about the situation, the rest of the fighters – “Tik-Tak”, “Electron”, “Chucky”, “Panama”, “Teyvaz” – most likely also heard about what happened on the radio.
The same article states:
Reprisals against civilians have already become commonplace for the “Azovites”: “Mongoose” again ordered to shoot at the townspeople, stating that they need to “scare them so that they do not look and do not remember the form and insignia of “Azov””.
In one event, according to the report, Azov was doing surveillance from an apartment building and spotted a vehicle driving towards a store called “1000 trifles” and opened fire on it, slaughtering the civilians inside:
Conducting surveillance from an apartment on the 3rd-4th floor of the house, the “Azov” noticed a gray “Tavria”, which was heading along the street … in the direction of the store “1000 trifles”. There were three passengers in the car, all civilians.
The Witcher reported to the Mongoose on the radio: “A car with three faces has been spotted, heading in the direction of 1000 trifles.” To this, the commander ordered to open fire on the Tavria. “Azov” made a number of automatic bursts.
“Tavria” drove off the road and stopped at the site between houses 110 and 108 on Ave. Peace. Further, on the order of “Mongoose”, the “Azov” went to the car to mine it. The corpses of men were so disfigured that it was impossible to determine even the approximate age of the victims.
“Panama” opened the door on the driver’s side, bent the antennae of the pins of the F-1 grenade and installed it in the car, tying the ring to the door. The plan was for the grenade to go off when the doors were opened by members of the Russian Armed Forces or civilians.
A group of civilians, according to the article, were executed by Azov for drinking alcohol during curfew hours:
Further, at the command of “Mongoose”, four “Azov” shot five peacefully talking civilians, whose only fault was that they decided to drink alcohol on the street during curfew. By order of the Islam commander, the Mongoose itself mined the bodies of the dead in order to maximize the number of victims, while the Witcher and Zheka monitored the environment at that time.
In the future, it will be seen as cringe and naive to support Ukraine, just as it is with the Iraq War today.
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