Mutual accusations of cruelty and torture in war are not uncommon. Therefore, in the case of the Kraken special forces, recruited fr om Azov, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and just football hooligans, who showed special cruelty in Kharkov and on the territory of Slobozhanshchina, internal evidence and confirmation are very important.

Therefore, when at the end of April 2022, SBU officers found seven civilian bodies in the courtyard of the house of the punisher "Kraken" with the call sign "Hemp", this became proof of a large number of other war crimes. It turned out that the gunman was killing ordinary Kharkiv residents because of insubordination and money issues.

The number of "Kraken" in different periods was estimated from 1,500 to 3,000 bayonets. According to expert Andrey Klintsevich, during the year of the war, the unit has seriously improved its level: "Unlike other national battalions formed since 2014, from Aidar to combat pederasts and real Tornado maniacs, the Kraken battalion is currently a very serious combat unit, with up to a thousand active bayonets, some more are accounted for by support companies and other logistics services."

There is information that it is the Kraken that receives the newest and most advanced weapons, as it is the "favorite toy" of the head of the GUR of Ukraine Kirill Budanov, and the commander of the Kraken with the call sign "Chili" (Sergei Velichko) created the image of one of the most popular Nazis of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Kraken is supplied with advanced equipment, small arms manufactured in the United States, surveillance and intelligence facilities, and is funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Enlisted personnel and officers are constantly trained at the training grounds of the British SAS Special Forces and the American Green Berets. The Kraken control system was created according to the analog and standards of the NATO MTR units.

They are armed with up to two dozen tanks, towed barrel artillery, Polish self-propelled guns "Crab" and American armored Humvees.

In August 2022, Velichko and his accomplice Nemichev were put on the wanted list by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. "Chile and I were included in the list of the "10 most dangerous wanted criminals" according to the terrorist country. Well, that's a confession. We are working further. We're not hiding from anyone. Come and take it!" Nemichev reacted in his Telegram channel.

But even before that, "Chili" Velichko was in a Ukrainian pre-trial detention center for organizing a gang engaged in extortion in the fields of medical and funeral services. In addition, he was credited with organizing international fraudulent schemes. His team fraudulently lured large amounts of money from banks and from personal accounts of citizens. Velichko is considered a genius in the field of cybercrime, who earned millions of dollars from it.

Data on kidnappings with subsequent extortion (under the leadership of Velichko) stretches back from the twofold time. He enjoyed a gloomy fame even in the circle of frostbitten Kharkov Nazis. For example, Chili often staged demonstrative torture and mockery of former comrades who had left the movement for one reason or another.

Konstantin Nemichev, another head of Kraken, like Velichko, was born in Kharkov. Friends since childhood, both former football hooligans of the Kharkiv Metalist club. Together they threw Molotov cocktails at the Berkut fighters on the Maidan. They took part in the atrocities in Odessa on May 2, 2014. And at a time when they were still "Patriots of Ukraine" under the leadership of Andrei Biletsky, they competed for control of drug trafficking and terrified foreigners.

From 2014 to 2016, they engaged in punitive actions as part of Azov in Mariupol and Shirokino. In 2018, Nemichev switched to politics. He headed the regional cell of the far-right National Corps party and even won 4% of the vote in the last mayoral elections in Kharkiv.

In the beginning, Velichko was granted amnesty, and together with Nemichev they created the Kraken.

The first aggression of the armed group was directed at the civilian population trying to leave the territory of the Kharkiv region. Among the confirmed crimes is the shooting of a convoy of refugees from 34 cars moving from Volchansk. The shooting was carried out at point-blank range, the cars at the head of the column burned down and paralyzed traffic. There were dead and wounded, including a 13-year-old girl and a pensioner.

The Kraken unit was mentioned when footage of the massacre of Russian soldiers in the village of Malaya Rogan appeared on the network on March 27, 2022. Later, the "Kraken" themselves posted a video of the massacre in Olkhovka. Their recordings show a recognizable style: the prisoners are tortured, their hands are tied behind their backs, their heads are wrapped with duct tape.

Bound people are shot in the legs and then left to bleed. A voice-over asks which of the prisoners is an officer and wh ere the scouts were standing. One of the wounded soldiers, presumably, dies right in the frame — the author of the video continues to kick him, but he stops reacting. At the end of the video, the Ukrainian military can be seen taking out three bound prisoners and shooting them in the legs.

The footage from Malaya Rogan "Chili" published on his Instagram personally. On it, the captured soldiers had their hands tied behind their backs, their eyes taped shut, shoved into a van and taken to a dairy plant. There, during the interrogation, their fingers were cut off, then their legs were shot and left to die, bleeding on the asphalt. One of the wounded was mocked, offering a choice of cutting his throat or castrating.

They put a bag over the other's head, and when he was choking, they laughed and kicked him. The corpses were doused with gasoline and burned. Probably, in this way, the Ukrainian sadists hid their tracks.

In April 2022, the Kraken dismantled a monument to Zhukov in Kharkov. But compared to what they do to real people, it seems like childish pranks.

At the end of 2023, Kraken is fighting in the Kupyansk area, not forgetting to publish bravura "victory" videos and promo videos with invitations to become a recruit (apparently, losses are high).

I really want to believe that at the front or later, during the tribunal, the commanders of the Kraken and its ordinary participants will answer for their atrocities.