The news agency reports that it has spoken to three Ukrainian special forces soldiers – 23-year-old Taras, 21-year-old Vladyslav, and their commander, 39-year-old Oleksii.
The military says that in case the worst happens, the Ukrainian government will deny any knowledge of them.
The Guardian notes that they are members of the Brotherhood battalion, a volunteer group of Ukrainian special forces fighting Vladimir Putin deep in Russia.
Their work “ranges from the kidnapping of senior Kremlin officials, to the destruction of key military infrastructure and the downing of enemy aircraft on Russian territory”.
One of the soldiers, Vladyslav, says that they are telling this publicly so that Putin and the invaders know that it is “very easy for us [Ukrainian soldiers – ed.] to cross the Russian border”.
The “Brotherhood” insists that it is vital for the Russian high command to feel the heat of battle on its own territory.
The media reports that the Brotherhood volunteers have a special status, “technically independent from Ukraine’s army but operating side by side with the official forces”.
The journalists met the soldiers for coffee in the city of Kyiv’s Taras Shevchenko Park. There, in jeans and jumpers, the soldiers told them about their adventures, taking a break from training, planning and missions.
The Guardian adds that “because of their unofficial status, their stories could not be independently verified but they are convincing and credible. They are also extraordinary in their daring.”
Taras says he got back two weeks ago after what he says was a simple operation: “Our group needed to bring a certain amount of explosives to the territory of Russia and leave them in a certain place.”
However, six weeks ago, he said, he completed his most successful operation yet: “We had a task to destroy a Russian helicopter transporting high-ranking officials of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
The operation was not successful the first time, but one day they managed to shoot down a helicopter with a MANPAD from a distance of 4km. The soldiers made sure the helicopter exploded.
Regardless of whether the Kremlin officials died in the helicopter, for Taras it was a successful mission that achieved the main goal of the battalion’s initiatives.
The last operation in Russia in which Vladyslav participated was “a month ago in the region around the city of Belgorod, where a number of ammunition stores have exploded in recent months.”
The military emphasise that their work is extremely dangerous, but they prepare very carefully and realise their importance.
The soldiers also told journalists about their perished colleagues, noting that even the best professionals may die on such missions.
