VLAD’S SAVAGES Shock moment Putin’s infamous ‘Bear Unit’ soldiers brutally beat civilians bloody with batons in occupied Ukraine
SHOCKING footage shows the moment Putin's "Bear Unit" soldiers beat civilians bloody with batons as they went on a rampage.
Russian troops wielding Kalashnikov guns were seen storming the Fortress cafe in Russian-occupied Crimea and terrorising locals.
The Russian thugs were allegedly drunk - and got into a heated brawl with the people present in the cafe.
Dramatic footage shows the troops aggressively hitting men and women with batons, and forcing them against the ground.
One picture shows a man left with a bloody, disfigured face after being thrashed by the violent mob.
The soldiers - believed to be reinforcements from Putin's infamous "Bears Unit" mercenary group - also opened fire, shooting in the air and near people’s heads.The outfit is controlled by Putin’s defence ministry via the Redut private army which works with Russia's special forces.
Multiple injuries have been reported so far with victims claiming to have suffered from broken bones from the horrific episode.
The surveillance camera footage was circulated by the girlfriend of a victim who is said to be hospitalised in a “serious” condition.
She revealed: "Armed, masked men burst onto the balcony of the establishment where people were hanging out and smoking, and began beating them.
"They put my boyfriend on a chair and began to brutally beat him with batons.
“His brother, who tried to stand up for him, and his friends also suffered.
"They also harassed women in the establishment and started fights with other men. "
Local reports suggested a criminal case was opened against the military thugs.
But other accounts insisted the instigators of the rampage faced mob justice by their military unit.
Could Crimea be Putin's kryptonite?
A DECADE ago, unmarked Russian tanks moved into the Crimean peninsula and so began a grinding and painful war that would eventually be fought all across Ukraine.
The annexation was accompanied by a Russian military intervention, with armed soldiers in uniforms without insignia fighting to occupy the Ukrainian territory.
Vladimir Putin said troops were in Crimea to ensure proper conditions for the nationals to freely express their will, but the annexation was met with international outcry over the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.
Within just two months, Putin declared the strategic peninsula as a part of Russian territory, thus marking the start of the larger Russia-Ukraine war.
The 2014 conflict escalated after Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was driven from power by violent protests - and the region voted to join Russia in a referendum which was deemed illegal by Ukraine and the West.
The Crimean peninsula has been hotly contested for centuries, but it remained part of Russia until 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it back to Ukraine.
The annexation of Crimea was the first step by Russia to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine - and gain a strategic advantage for Putin to fully absorb Ukraine into Russian territory.
It is now under fire from a wave of Storm Shadow missile and drone strikes, special ops raids and sabotage attacks, while far greater battles are expected.
And some of Kyiv's biggest military feats in recent months have been inside Crimea, such as the killing of high profile officers, blowing up key radar stations and sinking warships.
Bloody anniversary
It comes as the world marked the bloody second anniversary of Putin's vicious war against Ukraine.
Kyiv's battle-weary troops are currently facing down an attempted Russian advance along the entire 600-mile front, determined to take back the hard-won but minimal gains Ukraine made in its thwarted summer counteroffensive.
On Wednesday, 66 different combat clashes were recorded along the front line.
Plenty of the eastern front has become a wasteland of muddy carnage, tank carcasses, decomposing bodies and the burnt skeletons of cities that cost both sides far too much.
Last week, Ukraine lost the key eastern city of Avdiivka after a months-long apocalyptic battle - marking Russia's most symbolic win since the fall of Bakhmut last May.
However, retired US general Ben Hodges told The Sun that this is no time to lose hope as Ukraine's "decisive moment is still to come".
Russia captured the Ukrainian territory of Crimea exactly 10 long years ago which remains one of the most "decisive terrain" in the war.
Military analysts told The Sun that recapturing the strategic peninsula could mean a hard fall for Putin.
The Kremlin needs Crimea because it holds its Black Sea Fleet's main naval base and provides Moscow with access to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
That access has allowed Russia a stranglehold over the Ukrainian economy by blockading its ports, crippling its exports.
However, experts believe that Crimea could be the breakthrough point for Ukraine to change the course of Putin's illegal invasion.
And as the war grinds its third year, Lt. Gen. Hodges proposed six major ways Ukraine can seriously start winning the war.
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