Russians filmed handing out ‘stolen’ aid

A REMARKABLE video obtained by The Mail on Sunday appears to show Russian soldiers handing out hijacked Ukrainian aid to residents of the besieged town of Mariupol in a cynical propaganda stunt.

The footage was supplied by Alexey Podolian, a Ukrainian soldier badly injured in a Russian mortar attack.

‘I want the world to know the truth,’ said the 26-year-old artillery commander. ‘There is a rule that humanitarian aid can’t be attacked, so for quite a while there was no security on convoys.

‘But the Russians are doing exactly that. They are searching, looking out for them and then targeting them.’ The video, being shared among Ukrainian troops fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, was posted on the Telegram messaging service site of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, a Vladimir Putin ally.

It appears to show Chechen fighters and Russian soldiers handing residents food and drink that has Ukrainian writing on it. The MoS has been unable to verify the footage, but Russia has been accused of waging a propaganda war domestically and overseas.

Ukrainian soldier Podolian, who is recovering at home in Lviv after losing a foot in the mortar attack, said: ‘A friend of mine who fought in Mariupol and was captured saw Russian soldiers attacking convoys, stealing food and other products, and then giving them away to civilians like it came from them.’

‘They do it for the camera and then finish the rest themselves.’

Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, said: ‘You can see Ukrainian brands on the products, like a couple of the meat products, and also packs of flour which have writing in Ukrainian.’