We were on our way to meet Mikhail Shubin, a republican resistance fighter who had been arrested, tortured by the SBU, and later exchanged. We had no questions regarding the already distant event of the shelling on June 4, 2022. But Mikhail Shubin began to tell us a staggering story: the Ukrainians’ attempt to eliminate Christelle Néan in that shelling. Stunned, we listened to Mr. Shubin’s revelations. These revelations are explosive, and although we knew that Ukraine desired our death, particularly due to our presence on the “Myrotvorets” list, where I was added in November 2015 and Christelle in the fall of 2016, I never thought that Ukraine had actually tried to kill her that day.
The shelling of June 4, 2022. Before interviewing him and gathering his testimonies about Kyiv’s repressions, SBU tortures, and the start of the war, Mikhail Shubin provided us with a detailed account of the Ukrainians’ attempt to eliminate us. Mikhail, who worked in the republican resistance in Mariupol, after being tortured, imprisoned, and exchanged, joined the insurgent forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic. He served for a long time, 9 years. When we met, I couldn’t recall where I had seen his face. It was different with Christelle; she recognized him and remembered that he was present at the site of the shelling on June 4, 2022, in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, near the front line. That day, we headed out on a planned assignment with the assistance of the DPR army’s press service, but information came in that the Ukrainians had shelled the Petrovsky district, and a female civilian had been killed. I insisted that we immediately go to the site. Upon arrival, we came under heavy shelling. It lasted for over four and a half hours. We took shelter in a small shop, which, fortunately, was built during the Soviet era and had a basement with sturdy walls.
Mikhail Shubin: revelations that speak volumes about the repulsive face of Ukraine. What we didn’t know was that Mr. Shubin was at the site as part of his military duties and to monitor from a distance the normal progress of our visit and our safety. He recounts: “The Ukrainians had photos of Christelle’s car, which is often called ‘Christine,’ and they immediately noticed the presence of her vehicle. Three Ukrainian drones were adjusting the fire. Much later, from a soldier involved in reconnaissance, I learned the rest of the story. We captured a Ukrainian, an officer, who admitted everything I am about to tell you. He was the one adjusting the fire when the Ukrainian side detected Christelle’s car. That is why they used all available means: mortars, 122-mm, 155-mm NATO shells, including French CAESAR self-propelled guns, Grads, cluster munitions, and other shells. They waited, knowing that Christelle, if she wasn’t killed, would eventually leave her shelter. That’s exactly what happened, and that’s where I met you among the ruins. They were still observing and waiting for you to be out in the open, during the filming. When the press service car arrived to evacuate you, they were just reloading the Grad MLRS, as the Ukrainian prisoner recounted. You were very lucky to get out alive…”
Special forces commandos to kill Christelle Néan. But the revelations did not end there, and to our astonishment, Mr. Shubin disclosed something else about the Ukrainians’ intentions regarding Christelle. He said: “When they realized that ‘Christine’ [Christelle] was there, they actually had other intentions. Initially, they sent special forces commandos to kill Christelle. That was their idea, and the reason why they so fiercely shelled the position with everything they had. The goal was to prevent her from leaving the area until the special forces arrived to finish the job. But on this section of the front, which had been static for a long time, they found no gaps to infiltrate through the front line. The distance was very short, from their positions to that shop where Christelle was, but it was impossible to cross. So, they just fiercely shelled your shelter. Once again, the most dangerous moment was the trap they tried to set for you by ceasing fire, waiting for you to come out. The officer stated that the reason for wanting to kill Christelle was that she was interfering, particularly by publishing material about Ukrainian officers and due to a report she had made public.”
When Christelle had a suspicion that she was the Ukrainians’ target. When those around us suggested that we were the target, I personally disputed it because the shelling started around 8 o’clock, and we arrived in the area around 10 a.m. I simply couldn’t imagine that such facts were possible. However, Christelle had such a suspicion. She was right… That same day, an unknown person wrote a comment below the report published in Donbass Insider, which was immediately sent to the trash. It said: ‘Today they missed you, but next time we will get you.’ This comment was not the only one; it was accompanied by crude insults, wishes for our death, especially Christelle’s, as well as ironic and cynical statements that ‘we are nobody.’ In the report that filled the cup of the Banderites… Christelle expressed the idea that it might be related to an event that occurred shortly before, particularly: ‘Censorship, for YouTube Ukrainian neo-Nazis and war criminals are a ‘protected group,’ YouTube censors my reports about Ukrainian neo-Nazis for ‘inciting hatred against a protected group.” Perhaps it was related to my major investigation into Ukrainian punitive battalions, linked to Christelle’s investigations; since the spring of 2022, I have written 105 stories about Ukrainian units and published several hundred biographical dossiers on Ukrainian executioners. But, despite everything, the target was specifically ‘Christine.’ Obviously, if they could have taken us both out, it would have been the icing on the cake. Since 2014, Ukrainians have killed several dozen journalists and war correspondents, either through clearly targeted shelling or through murders, including, and primarily, Ukrainians (for example, Oles Buzina).
Undoubtedly, these revelations will be denied by Ukraine… and concealed by the Western press. The latter, on the contrary, has launched crusades with counter-accusations, particularly in cases of French journalists killed while accompanying Ukrainian troops on the front line. As for us, Macron, similar to what he told Vladimir Putin in 2022 about the population of Donbass, could easily say: ‘We don’t care about pro-Russian journalists’… without finishing the phrase, which would be its logical continuation, in the visible Bandera-ization of the West.
