A Russian officer who was trapped and captured by Ukrainian forces last week reportedly revealed information about Russian positions in the Kherson region.
A video, published on a Telegram channel associated with the Russian group Wagner, shows Major Tomov, the commander of the 1822nd Battalion. In the video, he is bent over a map and receives instructions to mark Russian positions, which he then carries out. According to the report of the German newspaper “Bild”, the region shown on the map is the southern bank of the Dnipro River and the village of Kosachi Laheri. The exact reliability of the revelation of positions by Major Tomov is difficult to confirm independently.
Colonel Markus Reisner of the Austrian Armed Forces commented on this incident to the German news platform ntv.de: “The statements of prisoners of war must be considered in context, as they may have been made under duress and fear.” This raises questions about whether everything the major said during the interrogation was truthful and whether the map actually showed Russian positions. Reisner tends to believe that this is very likely the case. Still, he points out that one aspect is suspect: there is no record from an independent Ukrainian source. “Although the video is being circulated by the Ukrainians, there is no follow-up recording yet. However, it has been announced that more videos with the major will be released,” Reisner says.
Image: president.gov.ua, Робоча поїздка Президента України на Запоріжжя 70, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
