Inside the ruthless Russian Spetsnaz unit deployed to execute Zelensky

VLADIMIR Putin has unleashed his ruthless Spetsnaz squad, which trains with live bullets and kills dogs with shovels, into Ukraine to execute Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the invasion continues to falter.

The 15,000-strong elite unit must face grueling training and potentially deadly initiations to qualify before operating behind enemy lines and launching spearhead attacks.

12

12

12

12

Whether it’s learning how to kill with a spade or wrestling mad dogs to death, the training process to become a Spetsnaz soldier is notoriously a cruel ordeal.

The no-nonsense training program has been used in all Spetsnaz units of the Interior Ministry troops since 1993.

Competitors must survive three stages, all aimed at pushing the competitors to the limit.

First there’s a physical fitness test, then a weapons and ammo test before the dreaded “12 Minutes of Hell” combat sessions take place beat each other in the face in uncompromising competitions.

The medieval-style training program also sees recruits being handed only a shovel before being locked in a room with a rabid dog they are tasked with killing.

They also learn a martial art called sambo – a vicious form of all-out street fighting where recruits are trained to use everything from broken bottles to street signs.

Soldiers in training are also given real knives to practice martial arts maneuvers, and during weapons tests, troops must demonstrate their skills with an RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher, AK74s, sniper rifles, and pistols.

They’re even forced to complete horrific assault courses that involve a five-mile run through rough terrain while being bombarded with smoke grenades and live ammunition.

The name Spetsnaz comes from a combination of the Russian Expression spetsialnoye nazhacheniye, meaning “special purpose”.

Since the force’s inception in the 1950s, it has referred to all of the specialized units of the Russian military – with the original and most elite line-ups falling under the GRU – Russia’s military intelligence agency.

The Spetsnaz were key to Russia’s Cold War efforts, but the organization did not die with the Soviet state, and they enjoyed a resurgence under President Putin.

It is now known that the bloodthirsty troops were sent there Ukraine to hunt President Zelenskyy – who defiantly remains in the capital Kyiv.

Zelenskyy claims that Putin’s special forces are also pursuing his family – who are hiding elsewhere in Ukraine, while Russian troops continue to bombard major cities with relentless shelling.

In a video statement, he said: “According to our information, the enemy has marked me as target number one, my family as target number two.

12

12

12

12

“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv.”

But a month later Putin’s In this bloody invasion, Russia lost three of its elite GRU Spetsnaz fighters – including one who used Stalin’s real last name as his pseudonym.

The special forces of foreign military intelligence were “liquidated” by the Azov regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine.

The names of those killed were Captain Konstantin Druzhkov, 33, Islam Abduragimov, 19, and Shamil Aselderov, whose age is unclear.

Documents linked to the men were found in a captured Tigr armored vehicle.

Druzhkov was married to a Donbass resident and served at the Military Intelligence Headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District.

According to the Ukrainian side, he had been involved in fighting in Donbas in 2014 and had used the pseudonym Konstantin Dzhugashvili on a social media account to disguise his real identity.

Dzhugashvili was the real surname of the Soviet Union’s brutal wartime leader, Joseph Stalin.

A GRU hit squad was behind the 2018 poisoning of his former spy Sergei Skripal – who defected to Britain – with Novichok in Salisbury.

During the Cold War, a GRU agent in London under diplomatic guise, Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, precipitated the overthrow of a Tory government after seducing Christine Keeler, mistress of British War Secretary John Profumo.

12

12

12

12

Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund

IMAGES of women and children fleeing the horrors of Ukraine’s devastated cities have moved Sun readers to tears.

Many of you want to help the five million people caught in the chaos – and now you can by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine fund.

Give as little as £3 or as much as you can afford and every penny will be donated to the local Red Cross to help women, children, the elderly, sick and wounded.

donate here to help The Sun’s fund

Or SMS to 70141 from British mobile phones

£3 — SMS SUN£3
£5 — SMS SUN£5
£10 — SMS SUN£10

SMS cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) + 1 standard message (we get 100%). The full terms and conditions can be found at redcross.org.uk/mobile

The Ukraine Crisis Appeal will support people in areas currently affected by the crisis and those who may be affected by the crisis in the future.

In the unlikely event that the British Red Cross raises more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any excess funds will be used to support it prepare for and respond to other humanitarian emergencies around the world.

For more information visit https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund