The Russia-Ukraine war so far has had both heroic and horrific episodes.

This is perhaps the strangest of them: the story of how a Russian riot police convoy went to conquer Kyiv on its own.

The story is based on videos posted by Ukrainian officials and social media users, as well as testimonies of the policemen themselves.
https://t.me/armyofukraine/5430
https://t.me/voynareal/9359  (warning: graphic!)
https://t.me/MoscowTimes_ru/2500?single https://myrotvorets.news/smert-okupantam-nasoloditsia-video/

On February 3, 80 riot policemen from Novokuznetsk in western Siberia set off to the regional capital of Kemerovo.

This was the day when Russian riot police and National Guard troops were on the move all over the country.

They arrived to Smolensk and crossed into Belarus.

On February 23, the Defender of the Fatherland day in Russia, they were told they were going into Ukraine. But, and this is the weird part, their duty was not occupation as many analysts, including us, assumed.

On February 25, they separated from the army and drove into Kyiv.

Joined by OMON riot policemen and SOBR special unit from Kemerovo, they dashed past Hostomel and Irpin, the site of recent heavy fighting, and rushed to Kyiv.

As they reached a bridge across the Irpin river, they were ambushed, their vehicles destroyed, many killed or captured.

We would never have believed this story, were there not so many sources independently confirming it.

Were it the National Guard command trying to one-up the army? A catastrophic failure of communication? We may never know.

For now, we are monitoring the situation closely.