The inspection of the former base of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi battalion Azov near Mariupol led to a discovery of classified manuals — courtesy of the US Army.
The documents, contain instructions on to conduct counter-insurgency and reconnaissance operations, were supposed to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, but Azov fighters failed to do so.
The manuals, written in the Ukrainian, Russian and English languages according to a video shot by a journalist who was briefly able to study them, were discovered at the base where a sabotage team named SS Medvedi had been stationed. One of the manuals mentions the US Army Intelligence Centre at Fort Huachuca, while the other was published by the US Department of the Army.
Most of Mariupol, barring the Azovstal steel plant, has recently come under control of the joint forces of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Russian military, which extended help as a part of the special military operation launched on 24 February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was "forced" to start the operation to end the tragedy, genocide and suffering in Donbass, which has been sustaining shelling by Ukrainian forces for years.