by Chris Black
Over the past 36 hours, there have been persistent rumors that US Lt. Gen. Roger Cloutier is trapped with +/-4,000 Azov Battalion fighters in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Further rumors are that Cloutier and other NATO officers are in fact hostages of Azov Battalion.
It is known that:
- French Pres. Macron has contacted Pres. Putin to create a humanitarian corridor out of Azovstal.
- The Armed Forces of Ukraine have sent at least 7 helicopters at various times to evacuate a small number of people, losing at least 4.
- Gen. Cloutier trained AFU men, including the Azov Battalion. See picture.
13 hours ago (midnight Turkey/Ukraine time) Gen. Cloutier answered a message on his LinkedIn account, refuting the rumors that he was in Mariupol, but not giving his location. His LinkedIn profile says that he is in Turkey at a conference.
That is all the information we currently know. The US Department of Defense has ignored requests for comment, which according to some observers is in itself unusual.
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