The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has admitted Kyiv is behind the assassinations of prominent Russian propagandists.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov, said: “We’ve already successfully targeted quite a few people,” The Times reports.
“There have been well-publicized cases everyone knows about, thanks to the media coverage.”
Although Budanov did not specify exactly which individuals have been targeted, since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion last year, several prominent pro-Kremlin figures have been killed or wounded on Russian territory.
Earlier this month, an explosion in the Nizhny Novgorod region injured Zakhar Prilepin, a pro-Kremlin writer and one of Russia’s best-known novelists.
In April, an explosion at a cafe in Russia's second-largest city of Saint Petersburg killed prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and injured 25 others.
And in August of last year, a car carrying Daria Dugina, the daughter of Putin’s ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, was blown up in the suburbs of Moscow. She died in the attack.
In another interview on Tuesday, Budanov said: “Outright scum will eventually be punished in any country in the world. Only elimination can be a well-deserved punishment for such actions.
“I do not consider anything else. It is my personal opinion, I stick to it, and I will implement it.”
Ukraine has previously sought to distance itself from such attacks – after the death of Tatarsky, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak, suggested the attack was an act of domestic terrorism carried out by Russians opposed to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He added it was “only a matter of time” and like the “breakthrough of a ripe abscess.”
“It begins in RF... Spiders are eating each other in a jar.”
It begins in RF... Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time, as breakthrough of ripe abscess. Irreversible processes and Troubles 2.0. await RF. While we will watch.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) April 2, 2023
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
Comments (8)
Russian rapist/baby killer invaders or their enablers. The more vodka drenched russians you snuff the better for civilization. Thanks, God be with you all, Ukraine heros.
I understand the reasoning but the slippery slope is not killing others who are not the target even if they support the war. But I'm going to end it there because anything more would be an argument that really won't change anything except tempers Slava Ukraine.
Hard one the enemy strikes in the Ukraine. So I get it but covert operations should stay that way just my opinion.
Well Done!!
Some people believe that saying nothing is a better policy, however letting these mouthpieces know that they will answer for their lies will be more effective.
Ukraine should publish a list of propagandists that will be targeted. Making them fear for their personal safety as well as their families may give them an understanding of the terror that they support.
Slava Ukraini!!
Best to just do it, not talk about it to the media. Ukraine doesn't need to be spooking The West right now. Everyone knows this stuff is going down, but taking credit for it publicly is not the way to go. Best to let the world assume that partisans are responsible.
PS - There's a bridge over the Kerch Strait that still needs attention. Just sayin'
25 bystanders injured in a drone strike? This doesn't sound like justice to me.
@Harley, Wasn't a drone, it was a Bomb, handed to him, exploded as he opened it. The injured were there to meet the deceased.
@Harley, Russia has been targeting civilian centers since the start of the war. "From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 9 April 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 22,734 civilian casualties in the country: 8,490 killed and 14,244 injured.10/04/2023"
@Rob, This would be excusable if Ukraine was invading Russia and civilians were killed as a result but these are what should be assassinations, not terror attacks.
Ukraine can ignore the Geneva Conventions if it wants but being like the U.S and Russia is not the way to go.
@Mephisto,
Tell it to the children in Ukraine who are being raped and murdered by Russian soldiers who are being cheered on by Russian media and citizens back home.
The majority of Russian citizens aren't railing against what's going on in Ukraine, they are, for the most part, cheering it on.
@Some Guy, your comment is a perfect example of how terror only sparks more terror and extremism. The tragic crimes against Ukrainian people shouldn't excuse terror attacks against Russian civilians. Not just from an ethical point of view but especially because it makes for a great narrative against Ukraine and mobilizes Russian people to support the war: "See what Ukrainian fascists do to our innocent, peace-loving people? Join the 'special military operation' to stop those terrorists!" - and the cycle repeats...
@3outof10, The cafe bombing, innocent civilian's? Paid liars and misinformation spreaders, constantly luring people to Putin's propaganda train. Ignoring the propagandist himself advocating for not Ukraine's submission or defeat, but genocide and looting of it's people and literally wiping it off the face of the planet, behind excuses of Nazification and super-gay bio-engineered super Ukrainians, presidents a class-A taker [Insert photoshop] etc and any other information they can flip?
You know... Same stuff that started the war in the first place, misinformation and lies about Ukraine, for years building up to this. It almost worked, almost.
So what, Ukraine ignores it and lets the terrorist state perpetuate misinformation that harms not only Ukraine, but a vast majority of the world that does not conform to the witless-midgets imperialistic ambitions?
The cycle has been repeating for over a decade because no ones put a foot down and said 'enough is enough'.
Has this done anything? Alongside sanctions and everything else, yes, certainly as an increasing number of groups inside Russia form with intention to 'take their country back from Putin who's destroying it economically, socially, defensively, and driving a rift between neighbouring nations'.
No excuses need made in war time, it's just another tool in the war-box... To which Russia has already been using openly for years, maybe it's time Russia had a taste of it's own medicine.
@Mephisto,
@Mephisto, why should only Ukraine know pain?
@Tim Patry, you think the 200k dead Russians and their families don't feel pain? People didn't just decide to be born in a propaganda-infested, authoritarian state. Or would you also criticize North Korean farmers for cheering on their supreme leader?
Shhhh not now
A Head of Military Intelligence showing None!