Kherson Weekly Special
In this edition, I unmask the suspected war criminal & Russian drone pilot, Ernest Spartakovich Strupinskiy, aka “SUETA,” formerly from the infamous KHABR Group and I begin the work of investigating the toll of his crimes with KHABR. #HumanSafari
Let’s dive into SUETA's personal background to get a fuller picture of who exactly this war criminal is, and then we will review his connection to the KHABR Group, accusations of fraud against him by his former comrades, and the brand new unit he is serving in now.
Name: Ernest Spartakovich Strupinskiy
DOB: 12 September 1998 (26 years old)
Hometown: Maikop, Adygea Republic, Russian Federation
One piece of evidence was a photo of both of his great-grandfathers shared to Telegram on 9 May in honor of “Victory Day.” His great-grandfather on the right-hand side shares the same surname, further confirming SUETA to be Strupinskiy.
The best piece of evidence shared by Strupinskiy was a photo published on 13 April, giving us his full name. He appears to be in his third year of studying State & Municipal Admin and achieved Honor Roll status despite serving in the Kherson Direction for the entire last year.
Other posts shared by Strupinskiy show that Ernest is a product of the Russian militarization of the youth. Strupinskiy admits to being involved with paramilitary youth organizations when he was as young as 12 years-old.
Subsequently in his teenage years, it appears he attended a Ru Military Academy based on his dress uniform. It’s a Soviet seaman’s summer uniform. He shared the photo on 10 May, indicating this was from his school’s “Victory Day” ceremony 9 years ago in 2016.
Another way we were able to confirm Strupinskiy’s identity was through his hobby of stand-up comedy. We consulted Strupinskiy’s Insta where he posted reels of his sets prior to the full-scale invasion, geotagged to Rock Bar in Krasnodar. His jokes mention his military service.
The KHABR Group’s channel first went online on 6 Sept 2024, but the group was established a full year ago in May 2024. Still, it wasn’t until 12 Sept that a post was made–a post in which SUETA introduced himself and his drone team’s war crimes to the world.
Conveniently, SUETA shared a compilation video of his service in the Russian military thus far on his Telegram on the day of writing this article. It presents the audience with a montage of an idealized time at the front. Let’s juxtapose this to reality…
10.04.2024
A murdered civilian’s body lies in the streets of Antonivka, captioned with vitriol. SUETA & KHABR’s crime was endorsed and an almost uncensored photo was shared by the infamous war crime blogger, Alexander Sheptura, AKA Osvedomitell Alex. #HumanSafari
10.09.2024
A dead or severely wounded civilian was used by the KHABR Group as bait to draw in first responders to enable drone strikes on an ambulance and medics. #HumanSafari
10.18.2024
A civilian vehicle is attacked at night via a skid-drop munition. #HumanSafari
10.22.2024
Civilians run for cover with their dogs as the KHABR Group’s Mavic drone is spotted approaching from above. The building in which some residents take cover is levelled by artillery spotted by the KHABR Group’s recon/skid-drop drone. #HumanSafari
10.24.2024
A civilian vehicle traveling at night falls victim to remote-mining laid by KHABR Group at a crucial chokepoint—a railway crossing. The damage slows the vehicle, allowing the drone to perform a skid-drop on the people exiting the vehicle. FPV drone destroys it later.
From a statistical point of view, if we look at the area in which KHABR operate (roughly Antonivka to Poniativka), we can estimate approximately the amount of civilian casualties that SUETA and the KHABR Group are responsible for directly and indirectly whilst he was a member.
The following villages listed with their civilian casualty totals below are included within the KHABR Group’s 10km radius depicted above and occurred within the time frame of 6 September 2024 to 4 January 2025 while SUETA was confirmed to be a member and at the frontline.
SUETA/KHABR Civilian Casualties
Antonivka:
-Misc. Shelling: 8 killed, 39 wounded
-Drones: 11 killed, 136 wounded
-UXO: 2 wounded
SUETA/KHABR Civilian Casualties
Dariivka:
-Misc. Shelling: 1 killed, 3 wounded
Inhulets:
-Misc. Shelling: 9 wounded
Inzhenerne:
-Misc. Shelling: 5 wounded
-Drones: 1 killed, 2 wounded
Mykilske:
-Misc. Shelling: 4 killed, 5 wounded
-Drones: 1 killed, 2 wounded
#HumanSafari
SUETA/KHABR Casualties
Naddniprianske:
-Drones: 1 wounded
Poniativka:
-Misc. Shelling: 1 killed, 6 wounded
-Drones: 3 wounded
Sadove:
-Misc. Shelling: 7 wounded
-Drones: 1 killed, 8 wounded
Zelenivka:
-Misc. Shelling: 2 killed, 17 wounded
-Drones: 3 wounded
#HumanSafari
SUETA/KHABR Civilian Casualty Totals b/w 6 Sept 2024 and 4 January 2025.
In order to really hone in on SUETA’s most likely victims, the villages of Sadove and Mykilske should be the target of further investigations. Andrew’s Ukraine Daily Update Map has geolocated the KHABR Group and SUETA AT THE FRONT to these two villages more than anywhere else.
Sadove & Mykilske Civilian Casualties while SUETA was a KHABR member:
-Misc. Shelling: 4 killed, 12 wounded
-Drones: 2 killed, 10 wounded
#HumanSafari
Some final thoughts in the screenshots and link to full article for the full deep dive into the drama and chaos Ernest causes and a look at his new home in the brand-new Russian EW C-UAS unit, The Integrated Electronic Anti-Drone Warfare Unit “KRAB.” open.substack.com/pub/brendankel…
My gratitude to @foosint and @ZoamSc2 for helping me out with some leads on the investigative side of things.
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