Early stories from the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompt that President Vladimir Putin’s navy had deployed, of all folks, actor Steven Seagal alongside its troops. And whereas the outlandish data launched on the time turned out to be false, a Russian outlet did publish a video Tuesday that confirmed the previous motion star standing among the many wreckage of japanese Ukraine’s Olenivka jail, the place a latest assault left dozens of Ukrainian POWs useless.
Russia and Ukraine are every casting blame for the jail’s destruction, in the meantime, with Moscow alleging that Ukrainian forces used U.S.-made ordnance—a Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS—to carry the constructing down, in line with the Washington Publish.
In a video posted to Russian information web site TVZVEZDA, Seagal, who’s recognized as a particular consultant of the Ministry of Overseas Affairs of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Relations between Russia and the U.S., seems to function a spokesperson towards Ukraine’s use of HIMARS.
“It positively seems like a rocket,” Seagal is reported to have mentioned. “If you happen to have a look at the burning and different particulars, after all it’s not a bomb. To not point out the truth that Russia actually has quite a lot of artifacts from HIMARS. That is the place HIMARS hit, 50 folks have been killed, one other 70 have been injured.”
In line with the Russian web site, Seagal added a conspiracy angle by suggesting that HIMARS was utilized by Ukrainian troops as a result of the nation’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wished to silence a “Nazi” being held on the jail.
“The attention-grabbing factor is that one of many killed Nazis is a Nazi who simply began speaking quite a bit about Zelensky,” Seagal added, “and that Zelensky is answerable for the orders about torture and different atrocities that violate not solely the Geneva Conflict Conference, however are additionally crimes towards humanity.”
The Publish, nevertheless, indicated that the photographs from the assault on Olenivka jail usually are not according to HIMARS.
“The specialists couldn’t definitively say what brought about the injury, however they pointed to a scarcity of shrapnel marks and craters and solely minimal injury to inner partitions within the out there visuals of the aftermath,” the Publish reported. “As a substitute, there have been seen indicators of an intense fireplace, which is at odds with injury brought on by the most typical HIMARS warhead.”
TVZVEZDA reported that Seagal was amongst a variety of representatives to go to the jail.
“Media representatives from France, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Nicaragua, North Korea acquired acquainted with the proof that the strike was carried out by Ukrainian militants and from HIMARS, and likewise noticed with their very own eyes all of the destruction on the web site of this barbaric shelling,” the information web site reported.
Open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander weighed in on the veracity of the Seagal footage and indicated its authenticity.
Imagery of the jail from BBC seems to match components of Seagal’s environment as he gave his assertion. The identical imagery was additionally matched with a scene wherein the motion star is positioned on a bench with blast artifacts, footage taken two weeks after the world was initially photographed, Alexander prompt on Twitter.
“[That’s] not how I’d count on this ‘smoking gun’ proof to be dealt with if Russia, 1. believed it was precise proof and a couple of. had any intention of letting UN investigators to the positioning,” Alexander advised Army Instances.
Odessa Journal additionally verified the go to.
Seagal is thought for his pro-Russian stature. Particularly, he confirmed sturdy help for Putin’s plan relating to the annexation of Crimea. In 2016, the actor was given Russian citizenship.
Commentary Publish is the Army Instances one-stop store for all issues off-duty. Tales could mirror creator observations.
Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Army Instances. She beforehand served because the Digital Editor of Army Instances and the Army Instances Editor. Different work will be discovered at Nationwide Protection Journal, Process & Function, and Protection News.
