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March 4, 2024 - Jim Fetzer
50:39
Frontline Diary of an American Officer - Scott Bennett | RT Documentary
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Time Text
I'm Scott Bennett.
I'm a former United States Army Psychological Warfare Officer who served in the State Department Counterterrorism Office under Ambassador Del Daly.
So I wanted to come here to Russia in the Donbass area and gather the facts to take back to the American people. - For ya.
For ya, for ya!
Wait!
Come on, come on, my friend!
Wait, wait!
Hurry up!
Can you see me?
- What's going on, Mr. Bitsa?
- Come on, Mr. Bitsa.
- Boom, boom, boom! - Hit the storm. - Well, Donbass is the Donbass is the front lines.
This is where the bombs and the bullets are raging.
This is where people are dying.
This is where the buildings are exploding.
So I wanted to see firsthand the scars of war, the wounds in the street, the rubble of the buildings being collapsed.
I wanted to see the soldiers that were fighting and hear from them why they were fighting, how this fighting started in their opinion, and ultimately where it was heading.
I'm probably the first American army officer who's been here since Ed Snowden. - - So I want to see with my own eyes what American taxpayer dollars have done.
I think this is a privilege and a duty to come, and the most important thing that we can do is show that America has Americans that do not have conflict, resentment, hostility, or prejudice towards Russia.
So it's sad that America has turned into war, but I think that's why American military officers can come and be Show that America is not about war.
And this is an opportunity to see firsthand what's happened and what the truth is.
Fire!
- Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Stop! - Contact from the left!
Russian special forces training These guys are ready for action.
Very, very impressive.
Highly proficient in their weapons and their magazine changes.
Of course, the Kalashnikov is the best rifle on the planet, and that becomes very, very apparent.
And the simplicity of their changes and their maneuverability and their use of this weapon system.
So the Kalashnikov is not only the most rugged rifle, but it is the most simple for high combat, high stress situations.
What's impressive is the maneuverability of the soldiers.
These guys are remarkably tight.
remarkably professional.
OK.
Tell them it's been a long time since I had a Kalashnikov.
I don't know it.
Good.
Good weapon.
Best weapons. - Shots!
Step!
Contact on the left!
Contact on the right!
Red!
Step!
- Здравствуйте! - Шаг! - Шаг! - Контакт слева!
Contact on the right!
Step!
Well done, thank you.
Well trained.
Well done, thank you. thank you.
Well trained.
Well trained men.
Well trained.
Tell him he's well, a good trainer.
His men will live.
Yeah, it takes me back to infantry training.
Drill, drill, drill, drill, drill.
These sort of operations are things, it's like ballet.
Hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of drilling.
So it comes muscle memory.
And it comes back to you pretty quick.
You're holding the weapon, the proper posture, magazine flipping.
It's a great weapon though.
The Kalashnikov is without a doubt one of the most lethal weapon systems.
Simplicity, the 7.62 round.
That's something that the M4, the M16, none of these weapons systems have ever...
I'm sorry.
Good Russian weapons, good field commanders, good strategy.
Men like this, you will win.
and Russia will have victory. - I enjoyed being with the tank crews and the Russian military officials that were showing us the use of these vehicles.
It was nice to go out in the mud and get dirty and enjoy the rain.
Here's some syrup.
I came as a Serbian volunteer.
I came to fight for justice in 2015.
I am proud that I came here.
My mother, father, brother, relatives are all proud that I came here to protect Mother Russia.
As Serbs say, we have two mothers, one mother.
The Serbian gentleman I spoke with extensively in Spanish, we had that in common, so we had a conversation in Spanish.
He had a patch pro-Putin on his shirt.
He was very positive towards President Putin, as all the soldiers were.
But they were, again, volunteers fighting for love of country, fighting against fascism.
Deliziosa di russo tradizione borscht.
Yes, borscht.
Muy bonito.
Thank you very much.
Muy bonito.
Give me a plate.
Here, let me help you.
Uno tradizione di borscht.
Here you go.
Thank you.
More, more, more.
Muy bonito, Germenito.
Our Russian sister.
Muy bonito cucinare.
Very tasty.
- Yes, yes, yes. - Yes, yes, yes. - My beautiful, Hermanito.
Our sister, Rus' brother. - Yes, he is. - My beautiful kitchen. - Very delicious. - Thank you. - Good luck.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
We are in Donbass.
This is a traditional burr of russians. - Good morning. - Good morning.
Please.
Give me more, brother.
- - - - - - Thank you. - - Very well-constructed base camp.
And we had a massive pot of borscht soup that we shared.
And I think that's extraordinarily important to keep the motivation of the troops high, is to maintain a connection to some of the people Civilized and fraternal living, and they were jocular, they were happy, they were motivated.
There was joyful enthusiasm in the hearts of the Russian soldiers, where I think the Ukrainian soldiers are full of dread, fear, and the eventuality of defeat and perhaps absolute destruction.
Look, Germanito, please.
BND, flag, Russian and Putin.
The Russian army, the Russian army, the Russian army, the Russian army.
And Putin.
Yes, Putin.
No, I'm a man.
Well, when we were out in the field, You live here?
Russia?
Well, when we were out in the field, I enjoyed meeting the young Japanese gentleman who had joined the troops and was fighting on the front lines.
He was fighting as an independent volunteer because he was an anti-globalist.
He did not want to see the George Soros globalist tyranny spread, and Russia was the only country that was fighting back against that.
I stay here about one month.
One month?
Yes.
From Japan?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
And have you seen any action?
Have you been fighting the enemy?
Uh, no.
I, yeah, I just training and yes, other working in the here.
I don't go fight yet.
Not yet?
Yes.
Not yet.
But you want to?
Oh yes.
Yes, okay.
So are you officer or enlisted?
Last rank is sergeant.
Sergeant, okay.
I was a lieutenant in the U.S.
Army.
Yeah, it's good to see so many people from around the world coming to fight for Russia against Nazis, against globalists, against George Soros and all of this wickedness.
Yes.
And I think Russia will win very, very soon.
Yes.
I believe Russia will win this war.
Yeah, yes.
Here we see-- and you can hear explosions in the background.
Hi, Mars, or some Ukrainian US weapon that the Ukrainians have got, 155 artillery that the U.S.
loves to send.
Look at all these bullet holes and shrapnel.
Well, they've reinforced the building with sandbags, which is to shield it from artillery rounds, shrapnel, explosions, bullets, grenades, sandbags.
So it has turned a civilian city in a currency exchange into a war zone, where they are afraid of bombings and artillery rounds.
And judging by last night's music in the sky, it's still going on.
So, it just occurred to me what Americans would do if their banks had sandbags surrounding them.
What would Americans do if their children were afraid to walk to school lest a HIMAR missile fall in the middle of their playground and kill them?
What would Americans do if they had a similar situation going on in Oklahoma that's happening in Donetsk?
So the target, the military target that was so important for the Ukrainians to strike was a city library.
A city library containing books, knowledge, wisdom.
Of course those are toxic to the Ukrainian Nazi thugs led by Zelensky.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
During the shelling, the door was blocked here.
They couldn't open it during the shelling.
There was a shelling.
If you're talking about it.
This is the location of the civilian population.
We go to work here.
I'm going from home.
I don't know if I'll make it to work.
Will I make it back home now?
Well, I am very sorry.
I'm on work.
I'm going back home now.
Well, I am very sorry.
Good day.
I don't really know how the people here have handled it for 10 years.
10 years?
And some people are telling me that most of these 100 days haven't been so intense, you know?
It's like, I don't really know how they've handled it, you know?
What I've seen here is almost sometimes beyond belief.
Yes.
For me.
And how the people are still functioning is also... You know what's beyond belief?
Because we in Australia and Canada and the United States have never experienced what they're experiencing here.
Absolutely.
Never before have we had this in the West.
We've lived a life of luxury and fatness for 50 years.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Where we are sitting this moment is the front line.
Yes.
I mean, it's within artillery range.
Yes.
The whole Donetsk is the front line.
Yes.
It's a frontline city.
The saddest thing is that it is American weapons being used that are causing Americans to have to wear body armor when they visit cities like Donetsk.
The name of the Lord is
the Lord. The name of the Lord is the Lord.
and we will pray for you.
God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.
If we don't want to pray for God, we will pray for God, then the war will never end.
And I always say to my brethren, first of all, we need to be able to fight for our soul.
When we are able to fight ourselves, when we are afraid, when we are afraid, when we learn to love, because love is science.
Yes, love is God, but love is science and work.
So we are in a time that could be the last days, and we are in a time, We must be salt and light, voices of love for people to see and find Christ.
So, it's hard, but good spiritual men like you provide the light for people to follow.
About the relations between Russia and Ukraine.
You can't look at it globally, between two countries.
My father was Russian.
My mother was Ukrainian.
And in me... Well, I could never tell.
For me, Ukrainian and Russian were one and the same.
I could never be able to break it.
For me it was still the same.
Ukrainian and Russian was one of the only ones.
But in the last time I could not hear Ukrainian language, Ukrainian speech.
And for me it was a true tragedy.
We know evil has been done in the American name.
And we are praying against it.
That's why I came.
And Americans love the Russians and the Ukrainians.
We know evil has been done in the American name, and we are praying against it.
That's why I came.
And many, many other Americans are defenders of Russia and Ukraine.
Thank you.
Hello.
Good afternoon.
- American... - American officer. - I'm sorry for your wounds.
I'm sorry that you're here.
I've come to take the truth back to America and help end this war.
I wanted to bring you some gifts.
These are for you.
No fat.
Healthy.
May I ask how you were wounded?
- What did you do?
- Well, a kamikaze.
- Kamikaze.
- Kamikaze, yes. - Yes.
I just saw one person, and he just hit one person and hit him. - Very big damage to our organization.
They are cassette weapons.
They're hurting people a lot.
We don't have a lot of dead, but there are a lot of crippled people.
And they're good, professional fighters.
They're experienced.
They know how to fight.
who can fight, they just have to fight against us.
This is the American army.
I know for sure that it's an American weapon.
It's convenient because it can be prepared for shooting from a tank, from a mortar, from any other heavy artillery weapon.
And the Ukrainian army, in principle, is only saved by this from us.
I wanted to meet the wounded Russian soldiers to look into their eyes and see the patriotism and the heroism that they were embodied by.
I wanted to also talk with them about how they were hurt, what weapons had injured them.
Were they mines?
Were they missiles?
Were they HIMARS?
Were they cluster bombs?
Did they come from the United States?
Did they come from Britain?
Did they come from Germany?
France?
How were they injured?
in what conditions.
Yeah.
Amen.
So these are all being manufactured in the United States and then sent to Ukraine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This fragment of the rocket was also shot by our PVA.
Made in USA.
Made in USA.
Cardboard ULINE.
ULINE.com.
Oh, it's even got a phone number.
I should give them a call.
and tell them, "Hey, I've got your property." It's a criminal enterprise because the politicians that take taxpayer dollars to buy these weapons are getting money in their own pockets from the defense contractor agencies.
So all the companies that make these weapon systems give money to the American politicians for passing Passing financial packages.
So Lindsey Graham and all of these Republicans and Democrats who vote to send weapons to Ukraine, they're getting money off the top.
They'll get a million dollars in brown bag of cash.
So right behind me you have the building that was struck on November 6th by HIMAR bombs, HIMAR missiles fired by the Ukrainian military that killed civilians.
So we are going into the building that has been shredded by HIMAR missile systems.
So you see the impact on the wall.
It shredded and all the shrapnel went up.
Oh, does that say Mines?
That says Mines?
Oh.
So that sign says Mines, as if mines to blow us up.
So, we'll be a little cautious.
In many ways, I feel like that classic scene from the World War II tape where the American Army takes the German townsfolk into the concentration camp to show them what the Nazis were doing in their extermination camps.
All of this propaganda that Russia invaded with ambitions against Germany and the EU and the West, it's all bullshit.
Russia came in to defend the people of Donetsk who were being genocided, such as a woman, young, pretty woman, who was captured, raped, tortured, branded, her gut cut in a swastika shape.
Well, interestingly enough, interestingly enough, that was one of the most valuable things enough, that was one of the most valuable things that I wanted to do, was question, shall we say, these Ukrainian Because I wanted to get inside their minds.
I wanted to disentangle the strings that tied them up in knots, that enabled and animated their actions.
What was their decision-making processes?
What were their biases, their prejudices?
What was their psychological profile?
I wanted to study them in very deep, detailed ways.
I am an American.
I know.
I see.
Army officer.
And I've come to Ukraine to try and understand and take the understanding back to Americans about what has been happening here.
So I'm very glad that you would sit down and talk with me and I'm very glad that you speak English.
Because my Russian isn't that good.
I'm a sergeant of the Regiment Azov.
I'm a commander of a crew, of a motor crew, of a motor battery of Regiment Azov.
My name is Kenadi, my surname is Kharchenko, and my call sign was Terheyen.
And what I found with the first prisoner, he was a very bright historian, economic minded individual, was essentially no one in Ukraine really wanted to fight.
They were pushed into it, they were grabbed off the street, they were captured by Zelensky, they were threatened, and they were, so he didn't want to die, so he followed orders, but he'll have to pay the price for crimes that may have been done in those orders.
So he was He was also a little naive because he said he had been told that the Zelensky government had said, you know, America supports us, America loves us, America... And I told him, no, that's wrong.
The people of the United States of America have overthrown their Congress and got rid of the Democrats and the RINOs who were pushing for this war.
The American people do not support Zelensky.
The American people do not want to continue financing and providing weapons to Ukraine.
And what does that say?
This is kept out of the Ukrainian mines.
So what we've seen is a pseudo-pagan brainwashing of the Ukrainians that often is reinforced with tattoos of Teutonic, Viking, Swastika, Bandera, hero ideologies.
And then that is amplified by drug inducement.
Spoiler!
Fire, fire, fire!
Fire, fire, fire! Fire, fire, fire! Come on, come on! Come on! Come on, come on! come on! Come on! Come on, come on!
No, no, no, no.
For ya.
Fire!
Oh, my God. my God.
No, go!
Let's go, let's go!
Well, the Russian weapons, I think, are the best weapons on Earth.
I think they're wonderful weapons.
My father always described the AK-47 as the best rifle ever made.
They preferred those in Vietnam.
I'm partial to that, too.
I've had an AK-47 personally, and I think it's a wonderful weapon that endures everything.
very powerful and essentially cannot be exhausted, cannot be broken.
Go, go, go, go, go, score!
Go, go, go!
Let's go! *gunshot* *gunshot* *gunshot* One more time, pull it over.
Control.
Finish.
Well done, okay.
- I was a special operations soldier myself in the army, and I see in their eyes the same discipline, professionalism, stoicism, and I think they're also professionalism, stoicism, and I think they're also loved by the people in the civilian cities of Russia.
The mothers and fathers, the neighbors, the general family of the Russian people love their soldiers in uniform.
We'll get a picture of us.
Yes.
It's not quite as good without any bullets.
Very good.
It's not quite as good without any bulls**t.
Very good.
Can you take a picture?
Yes. - Wait, wait, wait.
Okay.
I got you.
Okay.
You fly?
Wait, wait, wait.
Come on.
Come on, come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Oh, yeah.
Uh-huh.
Thank you.
OK.
Oh, OK.
I got you.
OK.
You fly?
Yeah, I fly.
It's amazingly quiet.
There's no sound whatsoever.
It's just a wind's whisper.
You can't hear anything.
And with an expert pilot like these guys, just being able to control it, it's amazing what they can do.
And it's so small, it can't be shot out of the ground.
No one can shoot at it.
So, I don't know any countermeasures other than maybe EMP or electronic or something like that.
It's a great technology.
Well done.
This is a drone made in Ukraine.
All components are made in China.
The only problem we see so far is in the communication system.
Starlink.
Your... Starlink.
Starlink, yes.
Your compatriot Elon Musk.
He supplies this business to them.
So, what's the problem?
The difficulty is that she is flying on the plane, it is difficult to get it, this signal Starling.
Well, the drone is not much more than anything.
The danger is 82-3, camera night's view, it is mostly flying in the night.
because it's a very loud engine.
Listen to the sound.
It's a very loud engine.
You hear it?
When it works, it's very loud.
And it's easy to find it.
It's flying night.
Is Elon Musk providing Starlink for these drones to be used against you?
Of course, of course.
Yes, yes, yes.
So, Elon Musk is providing Starlink, the technology to use these drones against Russian soldiers and kill Russian soldiers.
That's terrible.
They are the destroyer of the death of Donbass.
And these drones are bombing also civilians, civilian targets, schools.
Of course, of course.
Yeah, that's news to me because Elon Musk has been telling everybody in America he's not providing Starlink to Ukrainian army.
Elon Musk is providing Starlink capabilities to these drones.
I'm thinking, well, he's told us in America, oh, I'm not providing Starlink.
That's a lie!
And I get animated and f***ed off because they're desecrating my name and my country's name.
You're lying to the American people, telling them Starlink's not being used to provide drones?
These drones are killing people!
And then I see the HIMARS hitting schools and kindergartens, and you're telling us, oh HIMARS are going to be used only for military targets.
That's a lie.
Where are you from and why did you come to Russia?
I'm from South Korea.
South Korea?
In Seoul.
In Seoul?
Yes.
Okay.
How have your Russian patriots, compatriots, you know, soldiers in arms, how have they treated you and trained you?
Actually, I guess the problem is only language.
Yes.
Good thing that now I'm What other nationalities and people have you seen here?
There's another base.
He's from Germany.
Germany.
Yes.
Also Italian.
Italian.
Colombian.
Colombian.
Spanish.
Spanish.
And South Korean.
And South Korean.
Also Japanese.
Japanese.
Yes.
What other nationalities and people have you seen here?
There's another base.
He's from Germany.
Germany.
Yes.
Also Italian. Italian. Colombian. Colombian. Spanish. Spanish. And South Korean. And South Korean. Also Japanese. Japanese, yes.
No Scotsman or Irishman?
I've never seen.
Oh man, that's a shame.
Well, that's good to see.
So there's a lot of different people that are coming to help Russia.
How long do you think it's going to take before Russia completely defeats Ukraine?
I believe it will finish within next year.
All of these troops that I spent time with were common in their volunteering and their volunteering for the purposes of fighting fascism.
Because they'll realize this is an existential spiritual war between the side of light and law and naturalness and God and the side of darkness, demonism and every form of perversion and corruption.
And I think you'd see a lot of Americans come to the side of Russia as well.
And settling in for the night.
So.
Spartan.
Military.
Reminds me of the old days in the American army.
All right.
Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
I shall give thee a tongue thine enemies cannot gain, say, nor resist.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He leadeth me besides the still waters.
He setteth a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy should follow me all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
For Russia!
For Donbass!
For friendship between America and Russia.
God bless the Russian people. - This is my position
of a man. - This is a man.
This is a training with the training of assault actions.
That is, I have to constantly hold the machine gun down, look at the sight, aim at the target.
Due to this exercise, the skill is developed, in order to immediately quickly navigate the space.
Legs, biceps, back and eyes are also trained.
A very useful exercise.
Immediately several, you can say, five in one.
Now there's a shooting, but they'll be back soon.
On the stairs it's safest to use... ...cassette shells.
Even if they fly, you can... ...hop, and close.
Then you hear the sound.
I always do that.
Hop, hop, hop, ready.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, I see.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - Okay. - Just a second. yeah. - Okay. - Just a second.
- - - - - - - Or mice.
Oh, okay.
- Mmm, sallo, give sallo. - Okay.
- S'utra. - Sallo, Nalishman, sallo. - Yeah. - So, for the day was more fun. - It's very good to have catch. - Yeah. - So, this sallo for the day was more fun. - It's very good to have catch. - Yeah. - So, this sallo is for the
Thank you. - Very good pork fat. - Mm-hmm. - Very good pork fat.
Yeah.
Cool.
Well, they mainly throw cassettes here.
It's what the Americans and Europeans deliver.
Well, they bomb, and these birds also drop everything.
and the birds are also running out.
We will not give up the city, we will go on the road.
- Come on!
- Come on!
Faster!
Yes I do.
My name is Lida.
Lida.
Very nice to meet you.
I'm Scott.
- I'm very comfy.
- Do you understand?
Do you think you're English?
- Yes.
- Yes, I do.
Very nice to meet you.
My name is Lida.
- Lida.
I'm Scott.
You're a brave woman.
True Russian.
Well, Solodar was right on the front lines.
And you had mines going off that had been laid.
Well, Soledar was right on the front lines and you had mines going off that had been laid.
You had constant barrages of artillery fire.
You had the ruins of a town and burnt out vehicles.
We also found a lady that was living in Solidar, one of the last inhabitants who was refusing to leave her home.
Uh, and the Ukrainians had, you know, tried to kill her and target her, but the Russians came to the rescue of Solidar and she remained there.
So, she was a very interesting person that we had a conversation with, and she was standing strong, and I think is emblematic of what all Russian women are.
They are fearless, they are standing to preserve their home, and they are not bowing to the fanaticism of fascists.
The parrots froze last year, and so did the fish, and the hamsters.
Ah, kitty, kitty, kitty!
Ah, Avechka!
What a beautiful kitty!
Good Avechka we have!
She helps with the mice, but the mice get her.
Oh, I don't know.
You hold the mouse, and the mice run after you.
So tell your Englishmen that we want peace.
We don't need any weapons.
Let them stop all this.
Let there be peace.
Only peace.
How can we be friends if we're not?
Let's go and see what happens.
Let's go and see what happens.
We'll be together, so we'll be together.
Well, I think the woman in Solidar, who lives alone with her cats and her dogs and her memories and her home packed with cushions, with little mice that come through the broken windows, is both a story of sadness is both a story of sadness and a story of hope.
Someone's flying somewhere.
A bird is flying.
Is that an exit?
No.
Is it an entrance?
It's our artillery.
- I need that. - Ah, move it?
No.
If you have a possibility, you can work with the aircraft, not ours.
Come on.
It's always fun to be in full body, armor gear, hustling, running.
Takes me back to Benning.
But the devastation is horrendous.
Look at this.
I haven't seen anything like this before.
I am a legend.
We've got special forces covering our backs.
Move, move, move, move, move, move, move!
Come on!
Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!
We are with the wonderful staff and nurses and doctors of this medical facility taking care of the wounded soldiers.
And as an American veteran, I remember people we most love are the doctors and nurses because they are so invaluable.
This is a blind shrapnel wound.
Here are two entrances, there are two shrapnels.
The wound occurred today, tell me how?
Yes, that is, we moved from one shelf, well, from one strip to another, that is, two people went forward.
two people in the way, we were able to hold distance, and then, for me, it worked out the AGS.
Three grenades exploded.
One about three meters away, two meters away.
We were going to hit three grenades, one was about 3 meters or 2 meters.
They were going to hit one.
And one was almost by the leg.
I was just going to put the gun on the ground.
Then the mortar fired at me.
Two more mines fell next to me, and I was already in the trench.
Well, there are two entrances here.
One here.
Here's the shrapnel.
Bend your leg a little.
One here, and one here is a "Oscol" .
Do a leg, just a little bit.
So, then, we'll go to the hospital tomorrow.
Americans are not giving any more money or weapons to Zelensky.
Americans are against Ukraine.
We are on the side of Russia.
We are in our own revolution, but no more Zelensky, no more Ukraine.
Slava Russia, I can only apologize for the American weapon that wounded you.
I'm sorry, but it's corrupt governments and weapons makers that make money on war.
That's what this has been.
That's what this has been.
What country am I on?
What's happened to Western society?
We were supposed to be the liberators of the oppressed.
We're supposed to be the Captain America, right?
Going around with a shield and helping people.
And I discover when I've come here, we are a Frankenstein monster.
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