In Hostomel and Bucha, Russians acted like rats: DIU warrior with the call sign "Shaman" recalls battles with the enemy and tells about Russian crimes

Among those who met Russian troops in Kyiv region in late February were soldiers from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Among them was a group of scouts who distinguished themselves in Afghanistan in 2021, led by a soldier with the codename "Shaman".

The warrior recalls that in Hostomel and Bucha, at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the Russians behaved "like rats". Shaman's memoirs were published by The Globe & Mail in an article about Ukraine's military intelligence.

The representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, nicknamed "Shaman," who was born in the Ukrainian Donbas, is only 30 years old. In the summer, he participated in a mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. The warrior describes those he worked with as "people who knew no fear and were ready to go anywhere."

In February 2022, all of these soldiers met the invaders in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Donbas.

Shaman was among them. The day before the full-scale Russian invasion began, he gathered a group of 12 scouts and created a unit that would later become known as the Shamanbat. They were distinguished by their patches with a stylized white skull on a black background.

This newly formed group was sent by the DIU leadership to defend the Gostomel airfield, the capture of which was particularly important for the Russians, as it would allow them to move tanks and other armored vehicles to the suburbs of the capital for a further attack on Kyiv.

At dawn on February 24, the Shaman fighters received confirmation that the double agent's information about the occupiers' plans for Gostomel was reliable. And when the DIU's special forces saw the enemy, they opened fire.

Several weeks of fierce fighting followed, and eventually the Kyiv region was de-occupied. That was the first time the world's crimes of the invaders on the territory of Ukraine were revealed: the pages of the world's media published gruesome photos from the de-occupied areas in the north of Kyiv region and described the bodies of Ukrainians tortured to death in the settlements, burned cars in which civilians tried to leave the war zone, mass graves with people of different ages and genders.

"The reaction of the Russians in Gostomel and Bucha was dictated by their fear. It was the reaction of a cornered rat that had no control or power. It was just chaos, and they were causing maximum damage, just killing everyone around them," says Shaman.

Earlier, the DIU announced the defeat of the latest Su-57 in Russia . Satellite images show that the Su-57 was hit at the Akhtubinsk airfield in Astrakhan region on June 7-8. On the 7th, satellite images show that the fighter jet was still intact, but the next day, craters from the explosion and characteristic fire spots appeared near it, caused by the fire damage.

Subsequently, Russia de facto confirmed the destruction of the aircraft, throwing a tantrum over the "first combat loss of a Su-57 in history."

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