Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ A Russian colonel who drunkenly sent dozens of mobilised soldiers into an assault in which all were killed was awarded a Hero of Russia medal. The widow of one of the dead soldiers wants Putin to prosecute him for "mass murder and genocide of the Russian people." ⬇️

2/ ASTRA reports the story of Mikhail Shchebetun, who volunteered to go to war in January 2024 but died only six weeks later somewhere near Avdiivka in Ukraine.

3/ His widow Alina says that she was "forced to come to terms with his decision since he was adamant and confident in [Putin's] good intentions in carrying out the Special Military Operation.

4/ "But then I couldn’t even imagine what kind of hell the decision he made would actually turn out to be for our family!"

After only about 10 days of training in the Kursk region, Shchebutun was sent to join the 25th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade near Avdiivka in Ukraine.

5/ According to his widow, "The last time my husband called me was on 14 February 2024 ... he told me in plain text that this was most likely our last conversation, since they had already been warned that as soon as they arrived at the scene [near Avdiivka], their phones would…

6/ …be taken away. The commander made it clear to them that they were being taken to their deaths."

Alina lost contact with her husband subsequently. After months of making enquiries, she learned that he had been killed in an assault on 9 March.

7/ She writes in a complaint addressed to Vladimir Putin that Colonel Alexey Ksenofontov, call sign 'Tiger,' "abused alcoholic beverages and being in a bad mood at that moment, sent a huge amount of mobilised and contract soldiers into an assault with a 100% lethal outcome, and…

8/ …then watched and enjoyed how the Ukrainian Armed Forces crushed our soldiers alive with tanks and threw Baba Yaga UAVs at them! And my husband was among these dead fighters!!!"

9/ Alina says that she learned that the Russian authorities had considered opening a criminal case against Col Ksenofontov.

10/ However, "for reasons completely incomprehensible and unknown to me, in the month of April, Ksenofontov A. was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, instead of his due criminal prosecution and imprisonment for mass murder and genocide of the Russian people."

11/ She questions the legitimacy of Ksenofontov's command and asks: "How long will Brigade Commander Alexey Ksenofontov continue to abuse soldiers, torture them, and deliberately send them to their deaths?

12/ "And do you think our army really deserves commanders like “Orel” [Andrey Ivanovich Syrotyuk], who, according to information regularly appearing on the Internet, allows himself to cancel [execute] our soldiers who refuse to carry out his and Tiger’s criminal orders,…

13/ …or a commander like the current Acting Commander of the military unit 29760 Averin D.S. who is not capable of making strong-willed decisions and taking responsibility ... ?"

14/ Despite her husband's death having been confirmed, she has still not received a death certificate or benefits. Many other relatives from the same brigade, and indeed from other units, are in the same situation.

15/ Coincidentally, the propagandist Vladimir Solovyov filmed a video report on Ksenofontov in April 2024 which was posted on the Russian social network VK. The comments under the story are filled with questions and complaints from relatives of dead and missing men.

16/ "Dear Alexey, congratulations on your award, we would be happy with you, if not for one thing, we, the relatives of the guys from your brigade, are looking for our loved ones who are listed as missing. And there are a lot of us," writes Kristina Nikulina.

17/ "Irina, we have been searching since November 13, 2023, 😭😭😭and he, the bitch, receives medals and titles earned with the blood of our sons, husbands. Well-fed and happy.😡😡😡😡😡", says Zinaida Kasharas.

18/ Elena Kosova comments sarcastically: "How beautiful everything is for you, our guys, husbands, brothers, sons are lying in the fields, and it is easier for you to write off that he is missing in action!!! And none of you respond to our pleas for help.

19/ "You throw guys three at a time to storm, hoping they will survive, but no, he is missing in action!!! WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!!!!!"

20/ Svetlana Bogdanova says: "These awards are bloody. The guys are thrown into assaults untrained, without artillery support. Neither 300s [wounded] nor 200 [dead] survive. Where are our children, comrade brigade commander?"

21/ Svetlana Korchagina demands: "Are you people or not! Why are you showing off? You went and stepped on the edge of war!!!! Why don't you go where our children are thrown into a meat grinder, 5 at a time, to storm with bare hands!

22/ "And after that you hang bloody medals on the commanders! And I and many others have been looking for months for our children, husbands, brothers! Where is your vaunted support for the families of the participants of your own [unit]!"

23/ "Natalya Vlasenkova asks where her brother is. "You, Ksenofontov, were his commander. The last time my brother got in touch was October 31, 2023. To date, we know nothing about his fate.

24/ "This means that you did not submit information to the military unit in time and, accordingly, we, the relatives, have been forced to look for our soldier ourselves for 4 months!! Take off the medal, you do not deserve it!!"

25/ A former member of the brigade says that he has been "through that hell myself and saw it all. All these commanders will always be hiding in dugouts, getting medals and appearing on TV while the boys are dying for them. About the BP [missing person status]...

26/ "I'm sorry to tell this to mothers and sisters. They don't evacuate the 300s [wounded] there. If the status is BP, then your relative is dead. That's how this brigade is organised, so they don't pay money to the relatives.

27/ "And in general, they don't like to bother with the dead, as well as with the wounded. It was a miracle that I even managed to get out of that forest on one leg." /end

Sources:
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🔹 t.me/astrapress/634…
vk.com/wall-204308805…