A Somali man captured fighting for Moscow on the front lines in Ukraine has claimed he only ever wanted to be a guard inside Russia and didn’t even realize when he had been taken across the border.
In an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post, Bashiir* said all he had wanted was to earn enough money to send back home to his family and provide them with a better life.
“[In Somalia] I was working in a small [shop], a helper boy earning $100 a month.
“I have a small daughter. She has to study; she has to be in a good situation but $100 is not enough.”
Bashiir said he travelled to Russia in August of last year looking for work and saw posters advertising the Russian armed forces.
He claims he was told he would be trained and work only inside Russia itself and believed he would be stationed as a guard at a military facility.
“So, you can say that I thought I would be working as a guard,” he said. “Letting people go inside this door or not going inside.
“No shooting, no killing, no other things.”
But Ukrainian authorities told Kyiv Post that Bashiir’s story is uncannily similar to that of almost all POWs they encounter.
Petro Yatsenko, representative of the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, told Kyiv Post: “The behavior is very similar among all captured military personnel of the aggressor country.
“In particular, they all claim that they did not kill anyone. They were rear-guard, or drivers, or cooks, or just brought ammunition, or there was no ammunition at all – they will all say that they did not take part in the fighting.”
Previous Kyiv Post interviews with POWs elicited similar responses – one Russian said that even though he was listed on military records as being an “assistant grenade launcher,” all he ever did was “give out food and ammunition.”
But not all Russian POWs are so coy about their motivations. When asked why he’d come to Ukraine, another told Kyiv Post last year: “I joined a private military company and came here to kill.”
Watch the interview with Bashiir above to find out more.
The interview was conducted at a Ukrainian facility. There were Ukrainian officials present in the room with the captive and the reporter. The captive was not forced to answer any questions and could leave the interview at any time.
*The prisoner identified himself by name, but Kyiv Post has used a pseudonym to keep his identity confidential, in accordance with the international conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.
Comments (6)
Okay so I feel no sympathy for any foreign soldier / nation supporting putin's criminal regime. For being his supportive pawns in this thug regimes murderous illegal invasion of Ukraine they deserve the worst of fates.
To those who regret their choice to support putin only because it's now become physically hard for them; please just die quicker. Your lives are pointless anyway. You add nothing to the greater good of humanity. You leave behind for your relatives only shame.
To those who for unfathomable depths of STUPIDY, did not know there were supporting an undeniably evil Russian thug. Well.... you can't go back without suffering a lifetime of shame; what with your family and former friends all now knowing you were a murderer of innocent Ukrainians (including those soldier defending their nation)
So why don't you ask your deity for forgiveness, have a shot of courage, and then pay penance. Use whatever tool of death russia had assigned you to instead take out the most high ranking / expensive russian target you can when opportunity presents.
When in your own mind you have done considerably more net good for Ukraine than harm for putin, only then will you find some level of inner peace.
Somalia, Ethiopia, etc, etc, who gives a shit? They are all shitholes run by cock suckers.
Lying sack of garbage, he is an unemployed pirate, so he has to make money the way they all do, murder.
EXECUTED HIM as an ENEMY
I swear he is not a somali i watch this vidoe many times but why he said that he is a somali we know our people well but he can cheat others,
Can a russian man tell that he is an arab it is not,
So this man his accent he is from ethiopia surly but their is a secret why he chose to said somali because he know there is awar in somalia and many ethiopians claim they r somali when they come europe to not deport but somali knows the other somali
It's really unfortunate, the press and the goverment of ukraine 🇺🇦 didn't do their research of this war prisoner his origin country or birth country he is 100% Ethiopia. If you need proof call the Somalia embassy to verify please stop to shame the Somali people
Thank you