Ad: “Selling war trophy from Ukraine, with traces of soldier’s blood”
It´s getting more common to stumbles across ads on the web advertising the sale of war trophies from the current Ukrainian war. Is this just hot talk or are people really turning war booty from fallen soldiers into cash?
An ad of a Russian howitzer, with over 200 bids, is probably one of the most interesting items on the online marketplace Wiolity these days, a kind of eBay for crazy Ukrainians.
Buyers would need to pick up the item themselves, the add reads. The maximum bid goes well up into the millions of euros. That’s a hefty sum, considering that this is probably a dilapidated Russian iron cabinet being either offered for show or to simply mock the occupiers.
However, the seller does not make it easy for potential buyers to simply click on. After all, “the universal car can be used both for work and outside the city at sea for hunting.” Anyone who doesn’t buy is a fool.
The picture and description of the vehicle indicates something odd is going on. What is presented in the picture above (shot shortly after the invasion, image research suggests) is probably not the vehicle that was on offer for sale (if there was a bidding at all). This is the result of research with open data. Time-wise, the picture does not fit the context, and the description does not fit the circumstances.
True, such a beefy vehicle was left behind by the Russian positions in the context of a battle, along with equipment. But the Ukrainian troops would hardly just offer the vehicle to any of the highest bidders. So probably a false trail, a deception or a propaganda action? Everything is possible. As Aeschylus said so well: The first victim of war is the truth. Nevertheless, the interest in selling war trophies seems to be considerable. Research by this blog shows that the resale and presentation of war trophies as well as stolen or dangerous goods, despite all false traces, has become a valid problem.
There is a lively trade on the Internet — examples are of Ukrainians trying to sell booty of Russian soldiers to collectors abroad.
Soldiers who are actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine — or those who somehow made it out alive — are trying to sell weapons and booty over the Internet? Doesn’t sound so far-fetched. Somehow logical as there is always some black sheep among the crowds who want to enrich themselves in times of conflict and crisis.
However, if you click through the social networks that the Kremlin has not has already blocked for its people — some, such as Facebook, are already accessible only via a VPN, but VK online Marketplace or Telegram remain open — it’s looking rather meager.
On the one hand, this could be due to the fact that until recently there was no Ukrainian war in Russia officially. On the other hand, many soldiers are still stuck in Ukraine, so would need to make it home first (if they make it alive), to sell their wares. It is also questionable whether there is a large private collector’s market in Russia, which crave war trophies from Ukraine. So, for the time being, it appears there is a lack of interest.
However, the phenomenon is particularly strong on the Ukrainian side, and perhaps also driven by international interest and solidarity with Ukraine. It does not take much imagination to imagine that, in addition to weapons and clothing, a number of captured valuables, often from Russian soldiers, are on offer. Among them, there is everything from valuable watches from Russian pilots to Russian newspapers found on soldiers.
This blogpost follows some of these leads in detail with open data (OSINT). The research revealed also that a morally reprehensible business is being conducted here, some of which can be made quite transparent. But not only the trade of trophies is in the center of the debate. War trophies are also hyped by both sides in the course of propaganda campaigns.
eBay
As a portal for traffickers, eBay has been a good choice for years, it seems. For years now, the American multinational e-commerce platform has reportedly been fighting against the trade of illicit or morally questionable items. In 2020, eBay had to block 257,000 listings for violating its policy on trading banned wildlife — nearly 12 years after the platform banned users from trading elephant ivory.
Nowadays, if you enter the keywords “Ukraine Russian Trophy” into eBay’s search mask, you will immediately be served almost 150 items (allegedly) from the current Ukrainian war.
Who has questions, should contact the seller directly, so the ad. But for some articles there is a well-founded description. Some sellers make an effort to describe the circumstances in detail.
A headpiece of a perished Russian soldier, now offered as a war trophy for a measly $320.00, the eBay account promises “fast delivery times”. A bargain. In a few weeks the offered items should be shipped and already at the customer. Target group are citizens from the west, thus from the United States or Great Britain. But also to Germany sellers can dispatch items.
The fact that this example is about the head protection of a killed person who had family and relatives who have lost a fellow human being (and may not have anything to do with Putin’s war) is ignored.
For example, it does not bother vendor Atttract_Attention, who has already sold 50 other similar items, to provide the item (see picture) with the following description: “Trophy may contain small blood particles”. Of course, that may just be for show. But it may trigger a certain morbid thrill on the buying side.
Are the items real? For some items, it’s hard to tell. However, verification research of a few examples show: some offers definitely make a serious impression, so they could come from the Ukraine war. Descriptions, for example, match the course of the war. Uniforms and patches match images from the war.
Morbidly, some items are labeled as “used”. When soldiers are killed in the context of these items, it is nothing less than an outright understatement. It begs the question: Is this even legal? Legally, the sale arguably falls into a gray area. Morally, of course, the transaction is highly reprehensible. Nevertheless, these offers could have a value elsewhere. For the research of fallen and captured Russian soldiers the pictures and data might be helpful again.
A well-coordinated network of sellers
What stands out is that some of the articles are probably offered by the same backers of profiles. This is indicated, for example, by the background in some pictures of the items — and other details such as striking blue gloves of the photographer, and the water bottle of the brand KARPATSKA DZHERELNA originating from Ukraine).
They also appear in offers of eBay profiles StandWithUA and Goodmood-ua2020 and others. Data on the already sold items of the accounts also suggests that this is a potentially profitable business. Also, what can be seen from this is that there is some considerable demand (Goodmood-ua2020 has already sold over 2000 items, many but not all of them directly from this war). On the other hand, it is obvious that the people behind the profiles want to make the sale a real big business. Sure. Some of the researched eBay profiles offering Ukraine war trophies promise that the proceeds will benefit troops. However, this cannot be verified.
No doubt, many offers reveal the plain cruel reality of the Ukrainian war. For example, a jacket of a “liquidated soldier” of a Russian special unit is offered for 150USD. The man had been killed by Ukrainian troops in the Donbass in September.
Value of these ads for the sake of documentation and research quickly becomes apparent. In some cases, the items potentially become important witnesses. A war trophy from the account mpc2500 offers a pin of a soldier from a special forces unit that is said to have been in action in the town of Butscha.
In other cases personal information on Russian soldiers can be found — information that can help later trace the steps of people potentially involved in crimes. The provider of a set of “personal documents of a Russian military policeman” allows to verify the case of Tkachev Vitaly Aleksandrovich (Ткачев Виталий Александрович). Aleksandrovich’s data can be matched with Russian databases.
Articles are also distributed in connection with the dreaded Wagner Group. Whether these originate from killed soldiers could not be verified. But there is more work to be done and these ads are a fine datasource for further online investigations.
Selling of weapons
Perhaps they are not directly considered war trophies. However, small arms and assault rifles are as well traded right now in and around Ukraine as trophies of war. In a war, not only does the truth die, but also does the hesitation among citizens to arm themselves.
At least, that’s what it seems like when you take a look at social media (which i give you that, might not be the most reliable source) and online trading platforms. When it comes to weapons, Telegram is certainly one of the most influential portals next to the Darkweb. Not every offer is serious, of course. Nevertheless, Telegram has established itself as an integral part of the legal and especially illegal arms trafficking scene.
There is also demand from citizens in Ukraine. Especially now you need to be able to defend yourself, comments one user. Many who still live and work in the war zone and suffer under Putin’s unjust siege want to protect themselves. There were times when the government handed out weapons to the civilian population. But those times are over (or have never really begun, however you see it).
Anonymously and accessible, arms dealers distribute their goods on Ukrainian channels to Ukrainian buyers. The portal hoXXXX (not titled here to avoid advertising for the operator) offers Ukrainians everything from a used Ak-74 to larger and even heavier submachine guns, some also by German makers, as research shows.
This company in particular that sells these weapons is officially based in Tallinn. An inconspicuous house tucked away in a side street. Here it is hard to guess what is going on — live firearms (usually far too expensive than the typical retail price in other Western countries, if they are allowed) are being peddled to concerned Ukrainian citizens. It is not difficult to see that the war is being used as an advertising space. The web domain was registered in Kyiv by the company Internet Invest. More remains hidden. The owners understandably want to protect themselves.
How much success the arms dealer really has in Ukraine cannot be determined. Judging by the numbers of likes, not a huge deal. There are others. Although Ukraine has rules, they are not regulated by law as in other countries. Ukraine is the only country in Europe where firearms are so not regulated by law. Everything related to firearms is stipulated by the Ministry of Interior Regulation №622.
While citizens are allowed to own non-fully automatic rifles and shotguns as long as they are properly stored when not in use, all this may have come to an end after Russian President Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian parliament passed a law allowing citizens to carry firearms in public in the wake of the imposition of a state of emergency.
Elsewhere, protective clothing is sold expensively on Facebook Marketplace. A bulletproof vest is offered for a measly 1600 USD from the city of Brovary. An almost impertinent price. A similar vest costs no more than a few hundred bugs in America. In Germany, where wearing one is allowed, one can buy a model for a few hundred Euros, not more. However, due to the invasion war, local demand in Ukraine for bulletproof vests has skyrocketed. Even among children, it seems. The largest Ukrainian producer of these vests, Lviv Defense Cluster, diversified its offer and now produces models for kids.
In addition, the supply of the items is shrinking. Russian drones and missile attacks have cut off important supply routes. The fact that some people are now shamelessly exploiting this situation for their own benefit can be seen on Facebook Marketplace (see picture) and other e-commerce portals.
Not all war trophy ads are real, and not all have to be ones of high value
The Russian online trading site Avito, raised the alarm in April. War trophies were offered on the portal, but were allegedly fake. It goes without saying that not everything is genuine. But by the same token, what is authentic does not always seem to be of great material value. For example, a piece of a rocket — evidence of atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces — can quickly mutate into a kind of war trophy, too. At least that’s the story in the New York Times, published in July.
Just an ugly piece of steel? Not at all. Part of a missile is promptly declared a war trophy, and part of a collection of an activist who stole the find from the disaster site.
Sometimes in his collection there were also ammunition cans, parts of used bazookas and a pair of black Russian boots from the Ukrainian town of Butcha ; memento, certainly reminiscent of cruel war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in the small town.
As war trophies are also considered the found objects, which are not hawked, but used for propaganda purposes of the respective side. Often the aim is to strengthen morale in the own ranks or to mock the enemy. In the sense of: “Look, we have your equipment. We even make cash with it”.
When the Ukrainian government recently celebrated its Independence Day at the end of August, the spectacle resembled that of the Soviet government, shortly after World War II. At that time, Russia celebrated victory against Nazi Germany. Now in Kiev, visitors who dared to come out were presented with bombed-out vehicles, guns, tanks, and other paraphernalia captured by Ukrainian troops.
Russia, for its part, is displaying captured-from-war goods, such as allegedly launched Ukrainian missiles. A Tochka U missile was performed at a Kremlin Russian arms fair, an annual arms spectacle attended by military delegations from 72 countries, according to Russian information.
It was supposed to be a Ukrainian model, the organizer said. A Ukrainian flag was neatly painted on it. It can be verified that it is really the Tochka model. But that’s about it.
Since this type of missile is also listed in Russia’s arsenal, and has been actively used against civilians in Ukraine, this display of false facts raises questions.
Indeed, a close analysis of the images from the Russian show reveals a description of the alleged crash site of the missile that is supposed to be at issue here. A comparison with pictures from the war zone shows that it is not the same missile. And: It is about an incident that is highly controversial because Russia, not Ukraine would have committed the crime, so Ukrainian sources.
The missile launch, according to Ukrainian evidence, in April on the main Kramatorsk train station that killed 52 people and injured a hundred, was perpetrated by Russia. Although the Kremlin claims that there is evidence on the missile itself that this missile came from the Ukrainian camp. The words “Because of the children” spray-painted in Ukrainian, were cited as alleged proof of this.
The Ukrainian reporting adds more resounding arguments. To be sure, Russian authorities, in line with their long-standing policies and traditions, have denied having carried out the attack and hold Ukraine solely responsible for it. However, a Telegram channel close to the Kremlin warned only shortly before the attack travelers should not board trains from Kramatorsk: “I advise citizens who are now evacuated from Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and nearby settlements not to leave the cities by train,” read the posting, which was still available even on the day of the attack, and shortly after the incident. Such a message from the Russians is not uncommon and has been carried out in other examples where Russia claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Then, a few minutes after the attack, another pro-Kremlin Telegram channel posted a video of the Kramatorsk train station with the subtitle: “The attack was directed at a gathering of fighters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” Shortly after this post, the Russian leadership must have changed its mind. The post also disappeared — AFTER it became clear that civilians were killed. More, with open data, is hard to pin down here. But the abundance of alleged coincidences from the Russian side seem overwhelming.
So the Russian Defense Ministry denied that Russia was involved at all in the above mentioned missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station. There were no Russian operations in the area at all, Russia claimed. So the debris from a Tochka U missile could only be a missile “used by Ukrainian forces.” A familiar explanation to shift blame away from, repeated in other parts air strike cases by Russia in the same way.
Not only Ukrainian weapons, operational vehicles and tanks exhibited by Russia as trophies. In the background, the photographer Vasily Ivanov for the Russian news agency REGNUM has put on the net exhibition pictures of paraphernalia.
Also a picture of a gear of the German Federal Armed Forces was spotted in the images shot at the fair. The machine was used by the German government for the “mechanical removal of land mines and other explosive devices” and then captured by Russia, it says. The Mine Wolf, made in Germany, has actually been used in war zones, such as Sudan (a Bundeswehr document on this subject has also appeared on the Internet). The only question is, how this specimen, together with the bomb detector (model Ferex 4.032, of the company Foerster from Reutlingen), in yellow, could get into the hands of the Russian troops as a war trophy.
Looting
The Ukrainian press is interested in Russian soldiers who allegedly stole stolen goods. It spurs resistance to the occupiers. In April, Ukrainian troops accidentally came across a personnel carrier left behind by Russian soldiers. True, the crew of the vehicle escaped. However, what the soldiers left behind surprised the 28th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Transcarpathian region. Stolen was money and laptops, allegedly looted from houses Ukrainian citizens. This and other similar cases cannot be verified but residents of a settlement not far from the war scene reported they have recognized the belongings.
The vehicle contained several laptops and Ukrainian banknotes. The laptops were recognised by the residents of the village located not far from the battlefield. According to them, the Russian soldiers took their household appliances, money, clothes and food and searched the houses left by the owners evacuated from the battlefield. They were looking for anything of value and alcohol, the Zaporizhzhya region defence forces claim. “They took blankets and mattresses, took canned food from cellars and removed curtains from windows,” they said. If any of the villagers tried to protest, they threatened them with a gun.”
In the photo: a laptop and a packet of Ukrainian banknotes from a Russian APC. In the background there is a ration of the Russian army.
Of course, items are not only stolen because they are considered war trophies or because others attribute such a special value to theirs. Aside from the greed, sometimes things are simply taken at war because they are useful to the soldiers at the times of need.
For two soldiers, as in the video below, it was a washing machine that did it for them. Not a war trophy per se, but still a dirty deal. For thieving soldiers caught on video by a Ukrainian drone, the trophy was probably clean laundry in a dirty war. BH
