Aussie fighter’s insane find on Russian phone
A Queenslander fighting alongside the Ukrainians was left shocked by what he found on a Russian soldier’s phone.
Do you ever feel like you are being watched?
An Australian fighting alongside the Ukrainians suspected Russia would be following his every step, but even he was in for a shock when he picked up a soldier’s phone.
The Queenslander, who news.com.au is choosing not to name, is currently fighting inside the Kursk Oblast, Russia — a region in the nation’s west that Ukraine launched an incursion into in August — in a division tasked with reconnaissance and intelligence.
He was fighting in a forest in the region when one of his division heard a rustling sound in the leaves and opened fire.
In the aftermath of the skirmish, one of the Aussie’s peers found the body of a Russian soldier and the camera on his phone was still rolling.
The footage, which has now been shared with news.com.au, is filmed from the perspective of the Russian soldier who is camped silently among the foliage.
You can see that he is armed with a rifle but, bizarrely, he instead opts to open his phone and film an armed Ukrainian fighter who is slowly walking through the woods.
The Ukrainian can then be seen crouching down. He pivots quickly and starts firing shots as yelling can be heard. The Russian presumably ducks for cover as the phone is dropped into the leaves.
Refusing to share too many details on the incident for the security of his division, the Queenslander told news.com.au that the incident took place at the end of November.
“I won’t give location, but the cameraman wasn’t our guy,” he said. “He was an enemy that didn’t get away.”
He also shared never-seen-before footage of his division detonating a mine inside a trench in Kursk last week.
He said it shows his brigade exploding a TM-62 mine at the trench entrance before he and his peers move in and open fire on Russians camped out there.
“I am Point man. (This) means I’m first in. When I run up to a trench, I’m the first,” he said. “The second man has the mine while I clear first stage of the trench.
“While I keep fire cover, the second man preps mine and deploys it. We roll back and the mine explodes. The second man then goes first until we arrive at the trench.
“You can see the second man (me) then go into first man (point man) and go first to start clearing the trench.”
‘We have killed North Koreans’
The Aussie also claims his brigade has killed North Koreans and even shared pictures of bodies with news.com.au that are too graphic to publish. Russia disputes that those killed in Kursk were North Korean — saying Russia has 9.5 million ethnic Asian inhabitants.
“What I can confirm is my brigade has killed North Koreans,” the Aussie fighter said. “We shared this picture (of a body) saying he was North Korean. But the enemy has refuted this. “My opinion is, yes of course he is North Korean. Look at his battle fatigues. This is a logical conclusion.”
This comes as a landmark defence pact between North Korea and Russia, signed by its leaders in June, has gone into effect after the two sides exchanged ratification documents.
The formalisation of the treaty comes as the United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is keen to acquire advanced technology from Moscow and battle experience for his troops in return.
‘Within a year’: Aussie’s chilling warning
The Aussie also spoke of how worried his peers are about what will happen to Ukraine in the coming months.
Incoming US president Donald Trump has vowed to end the war swiftly, which many — including the fighters in Kusk — believe means giving away swathes of Ukrainian regions to Vladimir Putin.
The Aussie said any decision to withhold or drastically reduce aid from Ukraine could be catastrophic.
“If Trump makes an irrational decision to abandon Ukraine — this would get rid of the only safety net Ukraine has,” he said.
“If Trump decides to stop aid, congress agrees with it, and aid halts, Ukraine has to change its tactics. It is possible to hold the Russian advance from advancing with minimal resources, (Ukraine) just have to be smarter.
“However, adapting to such a scenario would take time, time Ukraine wouldn’t have. Russia most likely will make it to Kyiv within a year, give or take.
“I assume that if this occurs, there will be more of a spotlight on this war, and other countries may step up to the task of giving Ukraine the resources it needs.”
The Queenslander had previously told news.com.au that Russia had made swift and concerning gains in Ukraine throughout November.
The situation on the ground is dire, he warned, with international troops being killed and maimed every day.
“One of my friends, an American, went on his first mission with a newly formed 2nd battalion with the legion,” he said.
“He was shot immediately and is in hospital. Two friends from the national guard were also casualties with one dying from his injuries.”
He said things were “about to get really bad” as Russians wiped out entire battalions of the international legion he was fighting alongside and made major gains.
He said Russians had steamrolled a staggering 50km of territory late last month and showed no signs of slowing down.
“Russians have recently broken through Ukrainian lines in Donetsk,” he said. “I believe that Russia will make further advancements fast.”
The situation on the ground is dire, he warned, with international troops being killed and maimed every day.
“One of my friends, an American, went on his first mission with a newly formed 2nd battalion with the legion,” he said.
“He was shot immediately and is in hospital. Two friends from the national guard were also casualties with one dying from his injuries.”
Her mum can be heard telling staff not to intervene.
The Queenslander now serves directly in Ukraine’s Armed Forces as part of an elite unit in Kursk.
“We go behind enemy lines and test their fighting ability and weaknesses,” he said. “We gather intel and info on where the best places to send battalion units.
“We are the first ones to push the frontline further, but not in a noisy way. Very quiet. It is dangerous because we head out in no more than an eight-man team.”
The situation for civilians in Ukraine meanwhile is harrowing.
The Australian fighter said Russian drone attacks on civilians, widely reported on last week by global media, were “common knowledge” for fighters in the region who were desperately trying to shoot them out of the sky.
“You couldn’t imagine things here. The enemy is ruthless and their soldiers have done such bad things to the civilians,” he warned.
“If Ukraine doesn’t continue getting help from other countries, or it stops, Ukraine won’t exist … not as we know it.”
Zelensky ‘prepared to end war’
There could however be some hope of the war ending soon.
Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed he’s prepared to sign a peace deal even if Russia doesn’t immediately return the land it occupies.
The valiant Ukrainian President says that his country must join the NATO defence alliance if it were to cede land in a peace agreement, The Sun reports.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he told Sky News.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the (occupied) territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
Mr Zelensky said it was key that NATO should “immediately” cover all of the land Kyiv controls, so Vladimir Putin does not use the peace to prepare for another invasion.
His Russian counterpart has previously ruled out his country agreeing to let Ukraine join NATO.
Mr Putin wants Ukraine to be neutral and even said in June that Ukraine needed to drop its NATO bid for peace talks to begin.
Mr Zelensky said in the new interview that Ukraine would later try and return any Ukrainian land Russia continues to hold in a “diplomatic way”.
It was not clear what exactly that meant or how Ukraine would get Russia to return the land.
Mr Putin is expected to demand all the land he currently holds, including the regions of Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and parts of Kharkiv.
Mr Zelensky also said he wanted to work with President-elect Donald Trump directly as the Republican has pledged to achieve peace quickly into his term.
“I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him,” Mr Zelensky said.
“And that’s why we need not to (allow) anybody around to destroy our communication.”
Mr Trump has not made clear how he plans to achieve peace, but analysts believe it will likely mean Ukraine cedes territory to Russia.
The bombshell from Mr Zelenksy marks the first time he has said Ukraine could cede land to Russia, with the Ukrainian previously adamant he would even recapture Crimea.
But, with the election of Mr Trump and Russia seizing two football fields-worth of land a minute in the east, Ukraine is under pressure.
Earlier this year, Mr Zelensky presented a peace plan to the Ukrainian parliament and Western allies.
He released a five-step “victory plan” that included Ukraine joining NATO and increased military support from the alliance.
Mr Zelensky also discussed the plan with Mr Trump and spoke with the President-elect via phone after his landslide win.
Elon Musk – a surprise guest in the three-way discussion – also reportedly chimed in saying he would continue to supply Starlink satellites to Ukraine.
“Nothing of what Zelensky and his aides heard from Trump and his team in private has been alarming or made us feel that Ukraine is going to be the one who pays the price,” a well-placed source said.
Mr Zelensky’s new comments also come just days after Mr Putin threatened to turn Kyiv to “dust” with his new Oreshnik hypersonic missiles.
Mr Putin vowed to launch more after America permitted Kyiv to fire long-range US ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadow weapons at targets inside Russia.
Ukraine launched its first ATACMS missiles into Russia on November 11 and Storm Shadow rockets just two days later.
Following Mr Trump’s election, reports emerged that he would freeze the conflict in place and establish a demilitarised zone down the locked front line, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Kyiv would not join NATO for 20 years, but the US would continue to arm Ukraine to the teeth to prevent Putin from invading again.
Who would police the demilitarised zone remains unclear, according to the sources, but it wouldn’t involve American troops or an international body.
Russia is making gains taking Ukrainian land in the east at a rate of two football fields a minute.
But, the meat grinder is costing Putin thousands of troops with the dictator sending 2000 to their deaths on one day alone.
That figure from earlier this week marks Russia’s deadliest day of the war so far, beating the previous record set only days before.
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