A military training group of former special forces soldiers is “adding serious value” to Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia, a western security source has told The National.
But the Mozart Group's members and especially its American leader are understood to be on an assassination list drawn up by the notorious Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries.
It can also be disclosed that the former professional soldiers who form the “Ukraine Foreign Legion” are being used in key infantry engagements striking Russian frontline targets identified by drones.
While Ukraine’s own special forces have proven themselves to be highly effective, particularly on targets deep behind enemy lines, the country’s military has been significantly enhanced by western volunteers.
Since March an important unit in training soldiers in advanced fighting skills has been operating in Ukraine.
The Mozart Group, formed by a former US special operations officer Andy Milburn, is teaching local soldiers specialised skills from sniping to battlefield first aid.
The organisation consists of about 30 volunteer trainers, nearly all ex-special forces from either America or Britain.
A key requirement for joining the group, which closely scrutinises applicants’ backgrounds, is to agree not to enter combat otherwise they will be expelled.
But they have been so effective in training Ukrainians that operatives from the Wagner Group, which is linked to President Vladimir Putin, are understood to be actively targeting them
“The Mozart lot are adding serious value to what’s going on over here,” said the western security source who is operating in Ukraine. “They are doing a lot of good stuff which means unfortunately Wagner are after that whole organisation, but especially Andy himself.”
The Mozart Group, which was named as an ironic counterpoint to the Wagner Group in reference to German-speaking composers, is largely funded by wealthy Ukrainian expatriates.
The overseas group that does fight on the front line, the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, has become an effective fighting unit after a difficult start when it attracted up to 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries but many with little combat experience.
The source said that group now has a core of British, American and large numbers from neutral Switzerland, who operate with aggressive 20-man fighting patrols.
The unit is used as the “reaction force to the drone confirmations” acting on information gathered from the hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles hovering over the front line. The unit is then sent in to neutralise the Russian positions with all the firepower in its armoury.
“It is incredibly close quarter fighting,” the security source said. “It’s pretty hardcore to be fair when you're punching through places that are pretty awful. It is literally the action films are made of.”
Two soldiers from The Parachute Regiment have been killed fighting for the unit, which like Ukrainian soldiers has to rely on medical evacuation by road rather than helicopters, which are vulnerable to ground fire and in short supply.
“There are a lot of blokes walking around Kyiv who have suffered gunshot wounds and a lot of them want to get back on the front line and finish the job,” the source added.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
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Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
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More on animal trafficking
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
