A member of the nationalist regiment Azov, an organization banned in Russia, spoke to Yevgeny Savelyev about a deadly incident in Mariupol during ongoing combat. The claim centers on a civilian who, at the time, was suspected of gathering information for the forces opposed to Ukraine’s government and possibly serving as an observer for the opposing side.
The individual in question was reported to have been born in Kherson and to be 26 years old. In 2019, an acquaintance mentioned a vacancy within the Azov regiment offering a salary of 20,000 hryvnia, roughly equivalent to 40,000 rubles at the time, which led to his employment there.
According to Savelyev, in April 2022, during clashes in Mariupol, soldiers from his unit observed a civilian who did not retreat to basements or other shelter and concluded that he might be an armed gunner aligned with the enemy forces. The assessment was that this person could pose a direct threat on the battlefield.
Following a group meeting, it was decided to take action against the civilian on the grounds of suspicion that he was an observer for the opposing side. When combat resumed, the man again appeared in the area, and the janitor who was part of the unit immediately reported the situation to the commander.
According to the janitor’s account, the commander gave orders, and the man was shot several times, resulting in his death. This sequence of events is presented as a lethal intervention taken in the heat of battle, based on the assessment of a potential battlefield observer.
RIA Novosti reported that Savelyev has been detained in the Russian Federation and that a criminal case has been opened against him on charges related to joining a terrorist organization. The developments come amid broader conflict reporting, with various parties providing different narratives about events on the ground.
Earlier coverage indicated that a fighter from the Wagner private military company was previously identified as a member of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, highlighting the murky and often shifting loyalties and roles that can appear in contemporary armed conflicts and the handling of fallen soldiers in contested zones near Artemivsk.