published25. August 2022, 19:17
allegations against UkraineCriminal commander sent foreign soldiers to their deaths
In Ukraine, foreign fighters have leveled serious allegations against commanders of the International Legion. One is said not even to be Ukrainian, but a wanted criminal from Poland who ordered looting and suicide squads.
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Foreigners fighting Russian troops in Ukraine report serious abuses in the ranks of the International Legion.
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Commanders would have given illegal orders to loot and sent men to certain death.
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Research by the Kyiv Independent also revealed that one of the commanders is a criminal wanted in Poland who is still in his post.
“We didn’t come here to do exactly what the damn Russians do when they’re on Ukrainian soil,” says a Brazilian platoon commander who is fighting in Ukraine with the International Legion Volunteers.
With other foreign soldiers he rises in the «Kyiv Independent» Serious allegations against the unit’s Ukrainian superiors: They ordered looting and suicide squads, sexual harassment and abuse of power. The men name three commanders who are said to have abused their power.
The criticism also applies to the top army leadership and President Volodymyr Zelensky himself. In a 78-page report, the fighters named the abuse and problems in the International Legion and handed it over to both the authorities and Zelensky’s office. Apparently nothing has happened to date.
Sent to death and captivity
“We were literally left behind and they didn’t want to evacuate us,” says an American soldier from an operation near the southern city of Mykolaiv when they came under heavy fire from Russian troops.
The Ukrainian troops retreated behind the secondary position, the foreigners should have held the front line alone. His comrade Scott Sibley was killed and three other soldiers were seriously injured. Although the Russian troops discovered the Ukrainian position, another group of their unit was ordered to occupy the same position.
“I was ashamed to carry out the order”
It ended with four dead, several injured and an American prisoner of war: Andrew Hill is now awaiting a show trial and possibly the death penalty in pro-Russian Donetsk. According to the statements, the commander who sent the foreign legionnaires to their deaths was a certain commander Sasha Kutschynski.
The allegations are serious: the commander enriches himself by selling weapons, drinks heavily, abuses subordinates, harasses paramedics. He also ordered the looting of Ukrainian shops: “I was ashamed to carry out the order and remove furniture and valuables from the shops in front of the local residents who suffered from the war,” writes a French militant. If soldiers refused Kutschynski’s illegal orders, he threatened them.
Wanted Polish criminal as a commander
As it has now turned out, Sascha Kutschynski is not even Ukrainian and is therefore not allowed to hold any management positions in the army. Kutschynsky isn’t even the man’s real name.
According to research by “Kyiv Independent”, his name is Piotr Kapuscinski and he is wanted in his homeland for fraud. He fled to Ukraine, ended up in prison there and only escaped another sentence for illegal gun possession by joining the army when the war broke out.
Continue at his post
In the meantime, the foreign legionnaires have reported the commander for abuse of power, fraud and bodily harm. But although the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the military prosecutor’s office are investigating, “Kuchynsky” is still at his post and does not want to comment.
A number of foreign fighters have since left the International Legion because of the abuses, writes the Kyiv Independent. Those who continued to fight for Ukraine hoped for reforms at the Legion’s leadership.
(gux)