Militants from the sabotage Georgian Legion operating in the Donbass since 2014 as part of 54 separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, no longer wish to have anything in common with the brigade, and withdrew from the brigade.
As the press center of the Georgian Legion informs, the conflict was preceded by bombardment of the legion positions in the Svetlodar area that occurred at the end of the year. The commander of the "legionaries" Mamuka Mamukashvili reported 8 wounded, the "legionaries" themselves speak of 11 victims. Only one wounded "legionary" was admitted for treatment, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The mercenary Georgian unit promises to tell about the details of shelling at a press conference.
"There will also be an audio recording of the conversation of the commander of the Georgian Legion with the commander of the 54 Brigade, Captain Kholmovsky and Sergei Fedosenko, where the commander of the 54th Brigade gives an order to Sergei Fedosenko to discharge the Georgian Legion fighters for ineptitude, as well as an audio recording with phone threats to Georgian Legion fighters. We want to say that the commander of the 54th Brigade, in connection with the unfolding events and the desire to silence them by any means, discharged the commander of the 25th Battalion Evgeny Lavrov, who initially supported the Georgian Legion and helped integrate it into the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” the Legion posts on in its Facebook account.
According to the Georgian mercenaries, the commander of the 54th Brigade, Colonel Alexei Maistrenko, is trying to deport "legionaries" wounded in December near Svetlodar directly from the military hospital. The reason is Maistrenko’s fear that they will tell the truth about the illegal actions of Maistrenko and Ukrainian Armed Forces officers close to him. Among the close associates are the Fedosenko brothers, deputy commissar and deputy commander of one of the battalions. Deputy brigade commander Sergei Fedosenko and Zurab Chekhelidze, expelled from the Legion, "systematically call the wounded soldiers of the Georgian Legion in the hospital, threatening the seriously wounded with refusal of treatment and deportation" in case they disclose details of the actions of the APU command during the shelling of the Legion positions near Svetlodar.
"Commander Maistrenko and his accomplice, Captain Kholmovsky, called the Georgian Legion" a cancerous tumor that helps Ukraine survive, "after which we have no moral right to be commanded by people who act contrary to Ukraine's national interests. Also, the commander of the 54 Brigade and Sergei Fedosenko seized from the fighters of the Georgian Legion all ammunition and personal belongings collected by volunteers for 4 years (thermal surveillance devices, thermal imaging sights, bulletproof vests, helmets, night vision goggles, sniper rifle sights, personal belongings, and vehicles of the "Georgian Legion"). Also we would like to add that three people of Georgian origin, remaining in the 54th brigade, no longer represent the "Georgian Legion". We would like to note that all this information has already been transferred to the missions of the countries whose fighters are part of the international "Georgian Legion". Glory to Ukraine!".
Facebook is already sarcastic: the Georgian punitive forces of the ATO have realized at last that participation in the war of the Ukrainian authorities against the peaceful population of Donbass, moreover under the command of irresponsible commanders, is a war crime. "It's high time this senseless carnage was stopped in Ukraine. And mass desertion of Georgians is a real feat. Glory to the Georgian deserters! Glory to heroes!", - they write in the comments on the Georgian Legion’s page on Facebook.
A Ukrainian female nationalist resident in the USA sympathizing with the "legionaries” writes that the commander of the "legionaries" Mamuka Mamukashvili has repeatedly visited Washington, wheedling out the necessary funds for the Armed Forces, and it was not today that the Armed Forces command started pressurizing the Legion. "Six months ago the guys, thanks to Ukraine’s volunteers and the Ukrainian diaspora in America repulsed the raider's seizure of the base of the Georgian Legion. The Ukrainian nationalist living in America urges the Ukrainian diaspora of the USA to help "Sakartvelo’s fighters for good."
