Thread by @kromark

🧵/ link in the last thread. I spoke with yet another soldier from 64th Motor Rifle Brigade. Petr Danilov is suspected by Ukraine of committing atrocities in Bucha. He claims he was not there and describes the scale of catastrophe the Russian army experienced near Kyiv.

Here’s the guy. He sent me his military ID and other docs proving he was dismissed from the army back in 2018 and never signed the contract again (he was fired for abuse of power and even prosecuted and got probation).

Here are his dismissal documents dated 2018 and his ID with matching entries about dismissal.

SBU and GUR (UA military intel) utilizing old personnel lists in nothing new, so let’s jump to the interesting part: his description of what happened with 64th brigade near Kyiv, based on his talks with his former colleagues (historical illustrative photo dated 2012)

Danilov still is in permanent contact with the people from the 64th brigade and he agreed to tell me their [grim] thoughts about this war.

Earlier we published an article about the combat losses of the 64th brigade. Danilov confirms that those losses are huge. He also says that the 64th brigade was even more understaffed than I was told by my previous interlocutor.

https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1557380750579826692

"Go, scare the people, everyone will scatter, then you’ll come back”, commanders told them. In fact, everything turned out differently. Ukraine showed character, the Armed Forces of Ukraine resisted and these expectations failed", – says Danilov.

"They expected the Crimea-2014 scenario. No assault tasks, just a quick march to Kyiv. It was wrong. Ukraine resisted and showed the will to fight back".

"I know my brigade and the people out there, they had no desire to "liberate someone from the Nazis", they didn’t know anything at all about the fact that they would have to "liberate" someone”, – says Petr Danilov.

He also says the remaining soldiers of his brigade are scared of 2 things: US MRLS systems and drones. "When Shoigu says that we don’t move quickly because we want to minimize collateral damage, it’s bullshit. Soldiers are exhausted and have no will for another offensive".

At the same time, Danilov is skeptical about the Ukrainian counter-offensive too. "We are still far ahead in artillery and ammo, and we know all Ukrainian positions and possible vectors of their counter-attacks well".

There’s more inside, so don’t hesitate to click and Google translate from Russian. "This war should be ended as soon as possible", says the guy. You may like or not what he says, but one should be very brave in Russia to speak openly on the matter. svoboda.org/a/tupo-net-sil…