Another fake by the Kremlin media: Ukrainian soldiers being trained in Germany are not interested in training and glorify their atrocities, and the German authorities are not reacting to this. However, this is a complete lie, and the alleged statement by the German general is a fabrication.
Photo: Lt Gen. Andreas Marlow, @Agenzia Nova
The Vesti program on Russia 24 TV channel aired a story titled “Irritation over Ukrainian corruption is growing in the West,” which, in particular, reads as follows:
“German journalists claim that the German authorities are hushing up war crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Local bloggers, referring to the words of Bundeswehr General Andreas Marlow, say that videos of torture and execution of prisoners of war are openly shown to German instructors by terrorists from Ukraine who are trained at bases in Germany, and boast of the atrocities. Marlow tries to reach out to the German courts, asking them to check Ukrainians for crimes. There is no response. At the same time, dozens of German officers, just like Marlow, are ordered to keep silent despite what they have seen. Otherwise, they will be dismissed.”
“German instructors who have worked with Ukrainians agree that they are not interested in the training program. They are much more interested in ways to intimidate the enemy, including those that can be qualified as war crimes. They praise the punitive operations carried out by the SS during World War II, and demonstrate swastikas,” Marlow said, according to Russian media.
In addition to Vesti, the German general’s statement was reported by Tsargrad TV, EurAsia Daily, Sputnik radio, and a number of Telegram channels. EurAsia Daily refers to the German-language Telegram channel Übersicht Ukraine, which was apparently the first to publish a message with the headline “German General Confirms Ukraine’s War Crimes.”
The channel does not name its sources, but the channel’s description states:
“This channel offers translated content from Russian websites for the German-speaking region. We do not advocate war or violence.”
Regarding the “general’s statement,” the channel again did not indicate the source of the information, although in other messages it refers exclusively to Russian websites.
A lie and nothing more
Lieutenant General Andreas Marlow is the head of a multinational special training center that trains Ukrainian soldiers.
In fact, back in February, General Marlow gave an interview to the German TV channel n-tv, where he spoke about the Ukrainian servicemen:
“What impresses me deeply is the seriousness and motivation of the people who come to us. They are curious and would prefer not to stop learning and training as much as possible. <…>
The bulk of the units that come to us are soldiers who have already been in combat, but there are also a relatively large number of soldiers who have been in service for only a few weeks and have had a short training and then immediately started specialized training. <…>
It becomes heavy at heart when you know what the future holds for them.”
An anonymous source of the Telegram channel Übersicht Ukraine attributed to the general characterization of the Ukrainian military that was directly opposite to the one he expressed in the interview. It is clear that other German publications do not contain this derogatory characterization, nor do they report that the general has appealed to the prosecutor’s office.
