Russian troops are using recruited citizens of African countries as human shields while moving through the so-called “kill zone” on the front line.
This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence.
Ukrainian military intelligence officers intercepted a conversation between Russian servicemen in which one of the occupiers instructs a subordinate to send an African man ahead of the group.
“Follow the path, follow the path the whole time: walk calmly, listen to the air — send the ‘chocolate one’ out in front of you. Let him walk about twenty metres ahead,” the intercepted conversation says.
The HUR notes that this case demonstrates the Russian command’s attitude towards foreigners recruited into the occupying army, who are being used as expendable material.
- The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on violations in Ukraine has found compelling evidence of the recruitment, through deception and coercion, of citizens of 29 countries into the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces.