Terrorist who performed on scene holding "skull of Azovstal defender" was shot in head in invaders' rear
Igor "Bereg" Mangushev, a Russian mercenary and the commander of a unit of the so-called People's Militia of the "LPR" [the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic – ed.], has died in a medical facility from a head wound he sustained under unspecified circumstances in the Russian occupiers' rear in Kadiivka in Luhansk Oblast.
Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet RIA Novosti, citing the terrorist's friend, Akim Apachev
Quote from Apachev: "He [Mangushev] died. Yesterday I visited Igor together with his wife Tatiana in the hospital. Doctors said that Bereg was in an atonic coma. This is the last stage of a coma, as they explained to me. The bullet itself was stuck in the centre of the brain, and it has travelled a long way through. There was a large swelling of the brain because of that. Bereg would have really liked to survive, but he had no chance."
Details: Apachev also added that on 7 February, the case was transferred to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and allegedly "everything is clear from the case file," and it is clear who committed it.
Previously: Russian Telegram channels reported that at 00:30 on 4 February, Mangushev was taken to neurosurgery in Stakhanov [the old name of Russian-occupied Kadiivka, used by the Russian invaders – ed.] with a "blind gunshot wound to the head".
Telegram channels noted that the nature of the wound indicates that the shot had been inflicted with a short-barrelled weapon in the occipital-parietal area, but the circumstances of what happened were unknown.
On 5 February, a video was posted online in which a girl who identified herself as Tatiana Azarevich, i.e., Mangushev's wife, said that the terrorist's injury might be an assassination attempt or even execution.
Azarevich read from her phone that Mangushev was injured on the night of 3-4 February "in the rear, in Stakhanov," i.e., on the territory temporarily occupied by Russian troops.
The occupier's wife said the wound was inflicted with a pistol at close range, and the bullet, presumably a 9mm round, got stuck in his brain.
Quote from Azarevich: "Almost 24 hours have passed, but no investigative actions have been undertaken. Moreover, no criminal case has been opened, although, judging by the nature of the wound, there was an attempted murder and even an execution."
Details: She also appealed to the Russian Defence Ministry, the Investigative Committee and the FSB to take control of the case.
Who is Mangushev?
Mangushev gained infamy after a video appeared online in August 2022. In this video, Mangushev performed on the scene holding allegedly the skull of a Ukrainian soldier who died during the defence of Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
At the time, Mangushev stated that the Russians were allegedly fighting not the people, but the "idea of Ukraine as an anti-Russian state". He argued that "there can be no reconciliation, Ukraine must be de-Ukrainised, and the Russian lands of Novorossiya [in 2014, Russian-backed separatists intended to create Novorossiya, which would have consisted of southern and eastern Ukrainian territories – ed.] must be returned."
The terrorist also said that he "doesn't give a s**t how many [Ukrainian soldiers – ed.] must be killed" and that "all carriers of the Ukrainian idea should be destroyed".
In her video, Mangushev's wife said that Bereg was an active serviceman of the Russian Federation, serving as a captain of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Army Corps of the 8th Army of the Russian Armed Forces.
According to one version, Mangushev may have invented the Z symbol, which the Russians started using on their equipment after the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Reference: Akim Apachev, a Russian propagandist and so-called "journalist" for Russia Today news agency, previously filmed a music video with singer Daria Frey in Mariupol on the ruins of the Azovstal steel plant.
The occupiers' accomplices took the motif of the Ukrainian song Plyve Kacha, which became a symbol of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, as the base, but they changed the lyrics to be in support of the Russian occupiers.
At the same time, they sang in Ukrainian, saying that the language was "their trophy".
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
