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.
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 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:
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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As an American, I am outraged by the gutting of USAID, as I know that #USAIDsaves. So I aggregated 50 USAID programs/deliveries/consultations from the Kherson Admin during the #HumanSafari to show the true impact.
#USAIDsaves
Between June and the slashing of USAID's staff this year, during one of the darkest times in Kherson's history, USAID's vital support allowed residents to repair damaged homes, restore the power grid, restore drinking water access and irrigation systems for farmers.
#USAIDsaves
USAID's programs like Strengthening Public Trust, Energy Security, and Safe & Warm provided vital support with generators, stoves, wood briquettes, and restored heating systems damaged by Russian attacks on infrastructure.
Published yesterday, this edition has a video & photo of the week, a compilation of geolocated footage from the area, a collection of stories regarding evacuations, and data from the National Police.
#HumanSafari
Overview and link to full report at end⏬
Video of the Week
The 208th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade "Kherson" shot a Russian missile out of the sky in a video shared on Christmas Morning by the Ukrainian Air Force.
In Tomaryne, Beryslav Raion, Kherson Police rescued & evacuated 73-year-old Nadiya, who was enduring the winter elements alone, living without heat, electricity, and water due to Russian shelling on her village this last week.
1/In my latest for @tochnyi, I provide crucial updates on data, contextualize that data within recent events, and delve into the history of the units & individuals who perpetrate these drone attacks against civilians.
Data: @AndrewPerpetua
🧵tochnyi.info/2024/09/preyin…
2/Data Updates:
266 total casualties since June 21. No change to mortality. Some in age (increase b/w 40-60).
1st week of Sept. was quiet, but saw deadly strikes, which killed an Oncologist & injured his wife. Infrastructure objects & vehicles were popular targets in that week.
3/Why the Sudden Drop Off?
Soulless Aviation (aka Moses) went to Kursk to aid in preparations for what is the now-floundering Russian Counteroffensive in Kursk. Left on August 28th maybe. Posted arrival in Kursk on Sept. 8th.
Source: t.me/gefestwar/3191
1/ Two weeks ago, Russians began targeting the funeral parlor outside Antonivka's cemetery. "Signal," a source on the ground, said that it could be targeting those picking up headstones, or rather it presents an easy stationary training target for a drone pilot's grenade drop.
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2/ This location is the funeral parlor for the larger cemetery in Antonivka. Many deceased military members are buried there, in addition to civilians that have recently died. While posting these strikes, Russian also posted the following video.
Source: t.me/osvedomitell_a…
3/The caption translated:
"...now you can't just get there unless you're in a procession. Well, we see the result of the work of the RF Armed Forces and it will be the same with everyone who came to our land. What to do with these "defenders" later? The answer is obvious."
Using @AndrewPerpetua's data, I compiled statistics on drone attacks against civilians in three neighborhoods of Kherson: Antonivka, Kindiyka, and the Dniprovskyi district in the east of the city. I wrote an article for my free Substack about it. Some thoughts and data below.
🧵
2/Starting in late-May, we began mapping reports in the suburbs of Kherson of drones harassing and attacking civilians. One such incident from May 26th was shared by milblogger Kot Dobrokhod. A middle-aged man is stalked by a quadcopter drone.
Source: t.me/KOT_DOBROHOD/1…
3/It wasn't until late-June & July that the attacks began to arise in the daily reports from sources like the Kherson Police & Kherson Oblast Prosecutor's Office. From our data, Antonivka & Kindiyka saw no drone-related casualties in the last week of June. July was different.