Sergei Korotkikh and the Massacres at Bucha and Mariupol

File under No Nazis in Ukraine, Nazis in Russia, false flag

August 24, 2025

(rough, incomplete)

A Wayward Neo-Nazi Finds his Home

Sergei/Serhiy Korotkikh/Korotkykh (Сергій Коротких) aka Boatsman/Boatswain («Боцман») is a Belorussian neo-Nazi who operated in Russia, where, around 2002, as a Declassified UK investigation finds, "he founded a Russian neo-Nazi group – the National Socialist Society. It spread fear in Moscow by targeting darker-skinned guest workers from the Caucasus and central Asia. The group was banned and its members convicted of dozens of racist murders."

Continuing: "Korotkikh is alleged to have killed two migrants in 2007, beheading one of the victims – Shamil Odamanov – on camera beneath a swastika flag. He denies the allegations, which featured in the multi-award winning documentary Credit for Murder by Israeli director Vlady Antonevicz." [1] I have a screen-grab with no gore, but a swastika flag, proper Nazi-era style, stretched between two trees in the woods where they have the bound men kneeling. He can deny that was him under the mask, but he can hardly deny founding the xenophobic neo-Nazi group that took credit.

That documentary came out in 2015, but somehow, Korotkikh was never formally charged in Russia until 2021, reports Declassified UK. He had already fled or left Russia, moving to Ukraine around the time of the Maidan "revolution" in 2014, maybe understanding it was a good place for Nazis to be. As it so happens, he was warmly accepted by Ukraine's new government, granted citizenship in a public ceremony by president Poroshenko (pic), and given a position in the new Azov Battalion. [2] As explained below, he would command Azov's reconnaissance unit, operating from Mariupol, Ukraine's occupied capitol for the occupied parts of Donetsk oblast. 

Keep in mind that, as Declassified UK put it, Azov was "a neo-Nazi militia founded by Ukrainian far-right activist Andriy Biletsky to fight against pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas. Biletsky reportedly once said he wanted to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].” [3]

For a guy who supposedly never committed those murders in Russia, Korotkikh has a way of knowing all about high-profile murders now in Ukraine. In 2021 he was talking about the mysterious death of Belarusian Vitaliy Shyshov in Ukraine." [4] Already in 2019 he was saying "the Poroshenko regime is hiding details of the investigation into high-profile murders." [5] 

After the Russian invasion of 2022, Korotkikh and his specialized skills were set to work defending the fatherland. He was pictured with a large cache of weapons to on February 26 (pic). [6] He also published a video where he vowed to play football with the severed heads of "Chechen" fighters. [7] Surely just a figure of speech? On March 22 he gave an interview about the far right in Ukraine and the Donbas conflict, 2014 vs. now, complaining about "certain restrictions on the use of combat skills" compared to the old days (we'll come back to that). [8] 

Korotkikh and the Bucha Massacre

A new unit he formed - "the Boatsman boys" - would be deployed in various places, including Bucha, the site of the supposed massacre by Russian forces. Perhaps Korotkikh's most famous moment came on April 2, a few days after the Russian withdrawal, when he posted a video from his boys in Bucha that included an apparent order to execute captured men. As The Gray Zone summarized, "A clip of the reported “clean-up operation” published by Sergey Korotkikh, a notorious neo-Nazi Azov member, shows one member of his unit asking another if he can shoot “guys without blue armbands,” referring to those without the marking worn by Ukrainian military forces. The militant stridently responds, “f*** yeah!”" [9]

Only burned out Russian tanks on Vokzalnaya street are actually shown, but the discussion comes through on the commander's radio as he films them. I note that he speaks so casually he could be ignoring the question and just commenting on the two tanks left in a sort of mating position. But I don't suppose that would hold any weight in, for example, a future war crimes trial.

There were claims Korotkikh was the man filming the scene, but he clarified that his men fighting in Bucha had sent him the video [10] while he was on a mission near the Belarus border (we'll come back to near-border stuff below). Many reported that the video was deleted, but it was there on Telegram when I checked (although it doesn't come up now). The text description included (translated) "BOATSMAN BOYS work in Bucha. Actually, there is nothing to do there." There may have been suspected collaborators to execute, as the audio suggests, but if so it's lumped in with everything else and rounded down to "nothing." [11]

Vox Ukraine published a supposed debunk of running claims, pointing to some video postings with extra sounds added. In the original, it says, "there are no loud shots-like sounds at the end of the recording ... At the end of the recording, you can clearly hear “please" but further words cannot be deciphered." [12] The version I heard then didn't feature anything like gunshots, and the voices weren't clear at all. So they're probably right that some versions were faked up. But the sources I cite here mention none of these added sounds, though others apparently did. Everyone agrees there's an audible "please" in the background, with indistinct voices most likely (from context) pleading for their lives, and no one denies there is an apparent request and approval for the execution of captured, presumably civilian men, who were probably shot, even if we don't hear that. A few exaggerations do not alter these facts. And keep in mind, that's just from this one short video, aside from whatever else happened off-camera. 

The Vox Ukraine article further notes "the bodies of the dead civilians were already lying on the streets when the Ukrainian military entered the city." [13] This is true, in contrast to lazy claims that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the presumed executions, citing how these bodies were not mentioned or seen in earlier views or reports filed from totally different streets. I had a deep look into Bucha and found it a very mixed bag, with the balance of blame left mostly unclear. The evidence shows most of the bodies later seen in videos were killed by Russian forces, especially in their 2nd invasion on March 5. Most seem to have died by tank fire in murky "traffic incidents" as opposed to executions. Many other bodies were reported to contain a type of shrapnel common in Ukrainian shells, while some bodies lay next to the impacts of artillery from the Ukrainian-held southeast. Other seen cases were murkier, and perhaps hundreds of reported deaths and their circumstances are left completely unseen. 

A group of 8 men were clearly taken prisoner by Russian forces, as seen on surveillance video, and marched to the spot they would later be seen, apparently executed. These were called civilians, then admitted to be 7 illegal, ununiformed fighters with Ukraine's new "Territorial Defense Forces" (TDF) and the civilian man found sheltering them in his house. Apparently, the legality of this move is actually debatable, but I for one don't support it. Another group of executed men found in a basement at a former Russian base, including one with a white armband, may have been executed there after the "liberation" (fresh-seeming blood, debatable rigor mortis clues), or before that as alleged, with mixed clues as to their allegiance. 3 other men that appeared executed seem to be more TDF fighters killed by a Russian shell from the north long before one of the bodies was staged as if executed - clean white cloth was used to tie his hands after rolling the body from an earlier position, seemingly held during at least one heavy rain). [14] 

So it's hard to say how much of the "Bucha massacre" was committed by Korotkikh's men or other "liberators," but it seems likely at least a few suspected collaborators were executed, especially given this casually publicized ADMISSION TO SUCH ORDERS. 

Korotkikh and the Mariupol Market Massacre

I recognized the name Sergei Korotkikh, more or less, from an earlier massacre in Ukraine. His face rang the same bell, but I had the name wrong (or was it given differently?) as Korotkov. This leads into my addition to the file: he already seemed like a mega-creep likely involved in a January 24, 2015 false-flag rocket attack in Mariupol I studied in some detail at the time.[15] 

Some 30 locals were killed and 100 injured when about 100 Grad rockets pelted the Vostochniy district in the span of 30 seconds (as reported). These were generally thought to be fired by separatist forces moving in on Mariupol, presumably on accident as they aimed for a Ukrainian military checkpoint on the district's northern outskirts. Either way, the allegations seem to have stalled separatist progress until the Minsk II accords froze the conflict, ending such moves on the city until the Russians came in 2022, leading to epic destruction and mass casualties amid circumstances few understand. [16]

This "Mariupol market attack" is where I first learned reliable ballistic analysis under varying conditions, analyzing dozens of geolocated impacts and, copying some unverified dots from someone else's map, set all the red dots on the map attached below. To my credit as no propagandist, while I wanted to show how Kyiv's forces did this, I read the ballistic evidence much like the OSCE observers did - the rockets came mainly from the rebel-held east and northeast, but also from the contested SE and perhaps south, where Ukraine had just taken control. In nearly all such cases I've studied since then, the fire comes from Ukrainian areas plain as day. But this case was different. 

Out of some 100 rocket impacts ostensibly aimed at the checkpoint (see map w/notes below), none came close to hitting that target. The closest one missed by some 500m and the furthest by about 2km. To achieve this terrible effect, 3+ firing directions had to make the relevant mistakes (various combinations of overshooting and targeting far to the left) with no mistake on the perfect synchronization. This is beyond unlikely and so this was probably no accident. 

But who would have the motive to do this on purpose? Separatists would have the locals' support in this ethnic Russian district, and would have no reason to terrorize them ahead of liberation, and no reason to do so from their own areas, in their own name, in front of the whole world. Ukraine's occupying forces, headed up by the anti-Russian neo-Nazis of the Azov Battalion, on the other hand ... they might see value in basically shooting some of their hostages, to do it from the enemy's area and in their name, to frame the liberators and complicate their advance, even threatening to shoot more hostages if they dare approach Mariupol again. That may be just what happened here. 

Experts on the scene suspected as much. A Voice of America report noted "in spite of the evidence, many [locals] continue to believe that the government was responsible, though they are too afraid to say so openly." [17] They understand the motive lies with Azov so clearly that we're forced to consider if they could be to blame after all. The fire came mainly from separatist areas, yes, but to achieve that, Kyiv's forces would only require 2-3 positions snuck in along a porous border and established behind enemy lines, as stealthy as needed until the moment of attack. Then they would be exposed for 30 seconds of coordinated firing before packing up quick and running back home before they could be caught. That's not really implausible at all, and I propose that's just what happened. 

Anyone paying enough attention might suspect this was no accident, but I noticed the smug certainty of one "Serhiy Korotkov" (as I took it down), who was then "The Azov Battalion's RECONNISSANCE UNIT COMMANDER," sent into Vostochniy on January 24 to document the damage. A short edit of his video report (now private - screen grab below) has the "Boatsman" explaining: "anybody can check for oneself that this is not an accidental hit. There is no Ukrainian military here, and never have been. In this area, as graffiti on some walls shows, some fans of the Russian World live. Those who want the Russian World - see, here you got it." Earlier in the video he reported from Kievskaya street; "what's noteworthy is that over here we have "Left Sector" (opponents of Kiev-allied fascist group Right Sector). The Communiaki (derogatory term for Communists) received what they wanted." He alternates between smiling with amusement, and trying somewhat not to. It's hard to remember he's blaming someone else for this development. 

It might matter that his job was head of reconnaissance, the group tasked not so much with investigating attack sites in the occupied capitol city as with things like ... SNEAKING BEHIND ENEMY LINES, which is where those rockets had just come from. His certainty it was a deliberate Russian-on-Russian attack, in itself, suggests that he might have overseen this deliberate attack on Russians. Shortly after the attack, the recon chief was gloating at the attack site and setting the blame. But where was he, or where were his men, shortly before and during the attack? 

A known Neo-Nazi organizer with a past of likely murder and even beheading - a potential genocidal terrorist in the wrong circumstances - was put in charge of this aspect of running Mariupol, Ukraine's eastern capitol city of hostages; he was likely allowed to commit a false-flag massacre of them in order to halt the separatist advance. It would then be little surprise if his men later sent to Bucha would execute some other locals seen as supporting "the Russian world" and to then blame the same "Russian world" for their slayings. And it would be no surprise if the claims were widely accepted by a sleepwalking global public.    

Sources:

[1] https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-russian-neo-nazi-leader-obtained-uk-missiles-in-ukraine/

[2, 3] ibid.

[4] https://twitter.com/HromadskeUA/status/1430232622773547016

[5] https://x.com/informator_news/status/1108415835528445953

[6] https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1497690688363900929

[7] https://twitter.com/Viaches50993743/status/1497453248021770242

[8] https://aspi.com.ua/news/kiiv/teroborona-kieva-mae-stati-pidrozdilom-zsu-komandir-batalonu-tro-korotkikh-foto-video#gsc.tab=0

[9] https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/03/testimony-mariupol-hospital-ukrainian-deceptions-media-malpractice/

[10] https://meduza.io/amp/feature/2022/04/06/kak-ubivali-lyudey-v-buche

[11] Original posting:  Apr 2 at 13:33 = 11:33 PM in Ukraine https://t.me/botsmanua/16178

an active copy: https://x.com/antiwar_soldier/status/1511163378110287874

https://x.com/RWApodcast/status/1510635133627514881

[12] https://voxukraine.org/en/false-video-of-serhiy-korotkykh-boatsman-proves-that-ukrainian-military-killed-civilians-in-bucha/

[13] Ibid.

[14] details mostly in various blog posts of mine under this label - sorry, got lazy here https://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/search/label/Bucha%20Massacre

[15] some related links: https://twitter.com/CL4Syr/status/1510931185337180163

https://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2022/03/who-is-really-flattening-mariupol.html

https://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Mariupol_market_shelling

[16] https://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2022/03/who-is-really-flattening-mariupol.html

[17] http://www.voanews.com/content/ukrainian-authorities-struggle-to-secure-a-divided-mariupol/2668416.html