In the issue of "Vesti" on the channel "Russia 24" there was a story under the heading "Irritation is growing in the West because of Ukrainian corruption", which, in particular, says :
“German journalists claim that the German authorities are hushing up the war crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Local bloggers, referring to the words of General of the Bundeswehr Andreas Marlow, say: militants from Ukraine, who are trained at bases in Germany, are openly shown to German instructors with torture and execution of prisoners of war, they boast of atrocities. Marlow is trying to get through to the German courts, asking to check the Ukrainians for crimes. No answer. At the same time, dozens of German officers, like Marlow, despite what they saw, are ordered to be silent. Otherwise, dismissal.
“The German instructors who have worked with the 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 that the SS troops carried out during the Second World War, demonstrate the swastika, ”said Marlow.”
Before Vesti, Tsargrad, EurAsia Daily , Sputnik radio (a station owned by Rossiya Segodnya and broadcasting on the frequency of the closed Ekho Moskvy) and others reported on the German general’s statement. EurAsia Daily refers to the German-language Telegram channel Übersicht Ukraine , apparently the first to publish a message under the heading "German General Confirms Ukraine's War Crimes":
“Bundeswehr General Andreas Marlow learned about war crimes committed by Ukrainian soldiers against Russian prisoners of war. The German prosecutor's office and the German Ministry of Defense did not respond to his complaints, which he filed in February 2023.
Lieutenant General Andreas Marlov heads the Multinational Special Training Center, under whose leadership Ukrainian soldiers are trained.
For several months, Marlov tried to launch a federal investigation into crimes committed by the Ukrainian military. In February 2023, he submitted a formal application to the federal prosecutor at the Federal Court Dusze Gmel and a copy to the German Ministry of Defense. So far, the authorities have not responded to his request.
He noted, in particular, that Ukrainian servicemen who were trained at bases in Wildflecken and Hummelburg repeatedly showed videos of torture and execution of Russian prisoners of war, confirming Ukraine's involvement in war crimes.
Although these videos were seen by dozens of German officers, they were ordered not to distribute what they saw. Most of them do not want to lose their official posts and therefore do not publicize the facts of crimes.
According to Marlov, the German instructors who have worked with the Ukrainians feel that they are not interested in the training program offered by the Bundeswehr. Rather, they are interested in ways to intimidate the enemy, including those that could be qualified as war crimes. Ukrainians especially often referred to the effectiveness of the punitive measures carried out by the SS troops in the occupied territories of the USSR.
In addition, the Ukrainians requested access to Bundeswehr documents on punitive actions, both modern and from the Second World War. According to them, British representatives had already shared similar information with them, and they expected the same from the Germans.
Marlow does not accept the policy of covering up war crimes and wants to make it public, although he knows what it might cost him. He is convinced that the processes of torture should be fully clarified, especially since, in his opinion, German instructors who worked with Ukrainians can act as witnesses.”
The channel does not name its sources, but the channel description states:
“This channel offers translated content from Russian sites for the German speaking region. We do not advocate war or violence."
The channel does not indicate the source of information, although there are links to Russian websites in other messages on it. But just in February, General Marlo gave an interview to the German television channel n-tv , where he spoke about the Ukrainian military:
“What impresses me deeply is the seriousness and motivation of the people who come to us. They are inquisitive and would rather not stop learning and exercising 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 the service for only a few weeks and have received brief training, and then immediately began specialized training. <…> It becomes heavy on the heart when you know what awaits them in the future.
An anonymous source of the Telegram channel Übersicht Ukraine attributed to the general a description of the Ukrainian military, directly opposite to that which he expressed in an interview. Of course, in other German publications there is neither this derogatory characterization, nor reports about the general's appeal to the prosecutor's office.