The activist claims that several of them have died at the front and cites Commander Kirill Veres as a source.
14ymedio, Madrid, 8 July 2024 — Several Cubans who were part of the Russian Army died on the Soledar-Siversk front, in Donetsk (eastern Ukraine), according to the secretary general of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, who cites as a source Commander Kirill Veres, head of the 54th brigade of the Ukrainian Army, who allegedly gave him the documentation for two of them. They were Leonel Fundichel y Duquesne, from Luyanó (Diez de Octubre, Havana), and Denis Frank Pacheco Rubio, from Raúl Sancho, Santa Clara (Villa Clara).
Gutiérrez Boronat, who was allegedly in Ukraine in 2023 – on a trip that was described by the Cuban regime on the Russian side – says that the information reached him through military leaders in Kiev.
“Several Cuban mercenaries were killed by Ukrainian troops defending their national territory in the face of the Russian imperialist invasion. The announcement was made by Commander Kirill Veres, one of the most popular and decorated Ukrainian commanders,” says Gutiérrez Boronat in a video. According to his version, the fight took place on June 20, in an ambush against the brigade led by Veres, and between 4 and 16 Cubans died.
“Multiple Cuban mercenaries were killed by Ukrainian troops defending their national territory in the face of the Russian imperialist invasion”
“These Cubans were part of Russian commando units or special forces known as ’storm groups’. The Russian regiment that attacked the 54th had 16 storm groups, with two Cubans in each,” says the activist, who adds that the soldiers are members of the regime’s elite troops.” If not, they could not participate, not having the necessary preparation, in these Russian elite units that were deployed in the occupied territory of Ukraine.”
Gutiérrez Boronat has disseminated images of the documents of the two Cubans mentioned and maintains that the bodies of both were found with their identification.
“Ukrainian intelligence has announced that they estimate that up to 40% of the Cuban troops deployed in Ukraine in the service of Russia are actually elite troops, who belong to the services of the Ministry of the Interior and who are, in this war in Ukraine or in Belarus, perfecting their capacity for war and helping the Russian offensive in key places against the patriots of Ukraine,” he insists.
The information has been released by several Miami media, which cite a long interview of Veres conducted by the newspaper Ukrainsta Pravda, including a video with the full version of the conversation. In the interview, however, Cuba is not mentioned nor is the documentation that Gutiérrez Boronat showed provided, from which it follows that it was sent privately.
In the interview, Veres talks about the importance of always being at the forefront of war and of renewing tactics. He affirms that the enemy (Russia) is very motivated and that he does not know how it trains, but that is its greatest strength. Meanwhile, he considers that the greatest value of his brigade is the technology and organization of the troops. Veres also talks about the mercenaries of the late Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner group, and that he captured one of them brought from Syria.
The commander maintains that Wagner’s members were earning 5,300 euros a month in Syria, 7,500 euros in Africa and up to 16,000 in Ukraine
The commander maintains that Wagner’s members were earning 5,300 euros a month in Syria, 7,500 euros in Africa and up to 16,000 in Ukraine.
Veres also affirms that his men do not usually flee, that there are numerous women in his brigade, who are, in his opinion, better fighters than men – they are 100% more responsible, he says – and also mobilized prisoners, whom he is not afraid of, he says “because they were not murderers.” He also confesses to being tired, after 10 years of war – he has been fighting since 2014 in the Dombás – but satisfied.
According to Telemundo 51, which echoed Gutiérrez Boronat’s announcement, Pacheco’s wife – one of the two Cuban soldiers killed and identified in the report – says that he had no military training and that he went to Russia voluntarily “to guarantee a better economic future for his family.” His daughter, who appears in the latest photos on the military’s social networks, is not yet a year old.
“I don’t know what I’ll tell her in the future when she asks me about her dad. It’s something I suffer every day. Although he did not make the right decision, we need to know what happened to him, how he died and under what circumstances,” said his wife from Santa Clara.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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