Russian Army wives tricked into exposing identities of pilots behind civilian attacks

Ukraine hacktivists tricked a group of Russian military wives into posing for a photo shoot that outed the identities of their husbands — who were purportedly responsible for bombing a Mariupol theater-turned-shelter last March, killing hundreds of civilians.

The virtual false-flag operation exposed twelve elite Kremlin combat pilots to potential war crime charges in connection with both the brutal theatre massacre and hundreds of other air strikes on Ukrainian homes and businesses, The Kyiv Post reported.

It was spearheaded by Cyber Resistance, a Ukrainian hacker group that engages in guerrilla warfare, and InformNapalm, a Ukraine volunteer journalism outfit that investigates Russian war efforts, according to the latter group.

Cyber Resistance was able to hack into the email of Colonel Sergey Atroshchenko, commander of the 960th Assault Aviation Regiment, stationed in the occupied Crimea, according to InformNapalm.

Posing as a Russian officer in the regiment, the hackers contacted Antroshchenko’s wife and convinced her to organize a photo shoot with the wives and girlfriends of the other pilots, supposedly to boost morale, the organization said.

Lilia Antroshchenko took the bait, and used her status as a colonel’s wife to convince 11 other Air Force WAGs to pose in their significant other’s military uniforms at the airfield — exposing both their identities and providing a closer look at the war planes by the squad. She reportedly uploaded the footage to the hackers on March 16.

The group also doxed Atroshchenko, publishing his personal and financial records, as well as posting two shots of Lilia in lingerie that she had sent him. InformNapalm noted it has shown some restraint, by publicizing only “decent pictures where she wears some clothes, to give an example” of the sexy snaps she had sent her husband.

Activists sent the new evidence to the International Criminal Court, as it pursues war crime charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The data dump came after US officials on Monday said they support a special tribunal to prosecute top Kremlin officials in connection with the brutal unprovoked invasion, now in its 14th month.