As I revealed on Saturday, the Ukrainian ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova, has warned that more than 400 people, including 147 children, are in a fenced camp near the city of Penza, according to information received from interested Russian citizens. He said Mariupol survivors “do not have the necessary clothes, shoes and even underwear” and do not have basic supplies, such as baby food or toiletries. “Our citizens are in an extremely difficult and oppressive situation,” he said. “They do not know their fate, in which area of the Russian Federation they will be taken.” The newspaper located the camp in Leonidovka, a village southeast of Penza, which was used as a munitions dump for Soviet chemical bombs after World War II. I used open source intelligence techniques, including studying satellite imagery, Russian media reports, and social media posts, using a Cyrillic keyboard to translate camp identification signs. The red roofs of two-story buildings, the white lines of a runway painted on a street, a bus stop and even a military statue have been combined in satellite imagery with local news and drone footage. The red-roofed buildings of the camp at Leonidovka, near Penza in Russia, are shown in the upper left-hand corner of this satellite image. To the southeast are the chemical works and the fenced area containing warehouses and depots where chemical weapons were stored and destroyed, including nerve agents (Photo: Bing Maps / Maxar) Photographs of the camp from 2020 show a huge mural next to one of the buildings depicting Vladimir Putin and the Russian words: “We have what we are proud of.” Camera video filmed by a Russian driver passing in 2021 shows two fenced entrances, including one that appears to have a sloping gate. The pictures taken inside the buildings show a dining room with more murals on the walls, kitchens, laundry facilities and a TV room. The photos can be compared to news images from the same site in 2020, when the camp was described as the former “secret camp of the chemical weapons destruction facility in Leonidovka”. In the same year, it was reported that the “once secret” location of the “chemical weapons disarmament plant” was to be used as a isolation center for Covid patients. A report said: “The area is under protection. The surrounding forest and the birds that sing create a state of shelter and peace “. The discovery of the camp comes after this newspaper revealed last month using the same techniques that Russia had set up a filtering camp for Ukrainians in the village of Bezimenne, 11 miles east of Mariupol. I analyzed dozens of Russian television news excerpts earlier this week that show people from Ukraine reaching Russian cities hundreds of miles from the border. This newspaper also reported the first eyewitness testimony from Mariupol survivors who were interrogated in filter camps before being captured at the Russian border by bus. “None of our acquaintances wanted or planned to go to Russia,” the witness said. The Leonidovka military base has a checkered history dating back to before World War II, when it became an ammunition dump for Soviet chemical weapons. In 1998, a report by Vladimir Pankratov, a Russian environmentalist, stated that World War II air bombs contained a volatile mixture of levisite, a poisonous gas that bubbles, and superel, a sulfur dioxide. meters from the base, which housed a declared stock of nerve agents. In 2008, Russia announced that it was opening a new facility in Leonidovka to destroy 6,800 metric tons of VX, sarin and nerve agents – about 17 percent of Russia’s declared chemical weapons stockpile. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) verified in 2017 that Russia had completed the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal. In 2016, it was reported in Russia that the nearby chemical plant would be “involved in turnover”. “It will be possible after a full turnover to eliminate the consequences of the destruction of poisonous substances.” Leonidovka is 600 miles from Mariupol. The Russians who claim to have visited the Leonidovka camp also revealed in social media messages their concerns about the Ukrainians there. I have seen and translated the messages from Russian, but I could not independently verify the accounts. “Well, this is the news,” one said on April 9. “Leonidovka brought a lot of women with small children from the basements of Mariupol.” They lived in “bad conditions,” he said. “They have a commander and they are literally behind bars. They have to go to town. They can be released or not. There are no documents. “ Another said: “Yes, the refugees are really from Mariupol. Yes, literally from the basement. “They do not know any of them in Leonidovka. Everyone with whom I personally, and with whom my colleagues have spoken, are ready to leave Russia. The only problem is the money and the logistics “. He described how people “had no choice but to go to Russia – they either did not know it or did not offer it”. The man described how they were transported to the city of Taganrog on the Russian side of the border from Ukraine and wanted to go to Rostov-on-Don. He said: “The area of the city is guarded, but the exit is free, says the boss. According to the boss, 80 people have already left, who were helped by relatives, friends and acquaintances with tickets and money “. In another post, he listed a list of clothing items needed, including women’s shoes and lingerie, and clothing for children ages one to five, along with baby food and toiletries. Another noted a “change of mood” among the people, adding that it belonged to the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Demography of the Penza region. Another said: “I would like to remind you that Leonidovka is a military city where the chemistry was destroyed – weapons, ecology, according to locals – is not good and the city is a beggar.” But the same woman added on April 11 that residents who uploaded the site profile had “yielded great results” and had seen the camp visited by civil servants. One man said that people raised almost 100,000 rubles to buy humanitarian parcels. “Anyone can leave,” said another. “People are thankful. “They are getting a little better after the experience of the monster that was thrown at them.”
