This shows a Russian war reporter of the war

Sladkov reported to his followers on February 24 that Russia unexpectedly invaded neighboring Ukraine. “People in the trenches have been fighting here for eight years. And eventually help comes,” he says. He is referring to the Donetsk region, where since 2014, with Russian support, there has been fighting for secession from Ukraine.

A day later, he drives through Makijivka, a town near Donetsk. Dressed in army clothes, he gives the Russian responsibility for the war. “Sergei Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister, ed) has said that Ukraine should be denazified. At the very least, they will be put aside,” he says.

“Why are the Nazis fighting so hard?” Sladkov says of Ukrainian soldiers. “Because they have no other way out, this is an SS battalion. They understand they don’t have a good future if they are captured.”

The claim about Nazis in the government of Ukraine, doggedly spread from Russia, is false. we wrote about this earlier this article† The Ukrainian Azov Battalion is active in and around Mariupol; this former civilian militia, now part of the National Guard, does have members with far-right views and Nazi symbols.

“Second, there is the difficult question of financing,” Sladkov says. “These battalions are financed by the West. Nobody in Kiev wants this to become public, because then they have to go to The Hague.” With ‘The Hague’ Sladkov refers to the international criminal court, where persons suspected of war crimes are tried.

No shortages and quite cozy

Sladkov then travels south with Russian soldiers. Videos could be located near Mariupol, Kasyanivka, Mykolaivka and Novotroits’ke.

No video shows shot down Russian tanks, killed or wounded Russian soldiers or reports of fuel shortages. The image Sladkov shows is one of a battle that is even quite sociable at times.

On March 10 and March 11, he publishes videos shot under a highway near Novotroits’ke, in southern Ukraine. He tells that they are there as protection against mortars and says which cities the Russian army has conquered and ‘cleaned’. “I’m drinking tea and we have a nice team,” said a soldier in an interview. “I want to say hello to my mother, grandmother and grandfather and to my friend Anja, I will be home soon”.

On March 14, Sladkov is back in the city of Donetsk and is one of the first journalists to arrive at the site where, according to Russian media, a Ukrainian missile has landed and civilians are killed. In Sladkov’s vlog, the victims are still on the street. “We’ve seen death,” he says with a shocked face into the camera.

Decisiveness of the Kremlin

On March 17, a day after the devastating Russian attack on a theater in Mariupol, there is a long message in the Telegram channel. “I am surprised by the decisiveness of the Kremlin. They did not use half measures, but did everything as they should,” he writes, without mentioning the bombing, which may have killed hundreds of civilians.

A rare different look at the war can be read in one Telegram message. “I’m surprised we didn’t worry at all about the future in the liberated areas. Who’s going to lead there? Who’s going to keep order? Who’s feeding the people?” Sladkov wondered. The subject is not discussed further in his videos.

Currently, Sladkov appears to be on reportage again. In a video published on March 22, he passes the checkpoint at Novotroits’ke on the highway from Mariupol to Donetsk. The most recent vlogs are laughing again. “We will be victorious,” he wrote in a message.

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