‘We’ll find the killers’

A new video appears to show Russian soldiers executing a Ukrainian POW after he says ‘Glory to Ukraine’

On March 6, a video surfaced online that appears to show the murder of a Ukrainian POW by Russian soldiers. At the start of the clip, a man is seen standing and smoking. Someone out of frame says, “Film it.” The man then says, “Glory to Ukraine,” after which the sound of gunfire is heard and the man falls to the ground. A voice then says, “Die, bitch.”

In response to the video, the Ukrainian Security Service’s Main Investigative Department has opened an investigation under the country’s law against “violating the laws and customs of war.”

Ukrainian journalist Sofia Kochmar-Tymoshenko reported that she managed to find the sister of the man seen in the video, but she hasn’t revealed the man’s identity.

Update: Representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have confirmed that the soldier in the video of the shooting, which appeared on social networks on March 6, is a fighter from the 163rd battalion of the 119th separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Chernihiv region, Oleksandr Matsiyevsky. The Ukrainian military reported Tuesday that the man killed in the video is believed to be a soldier from the 30th Prince Konstanty Ostrogski Mechanized Brigade named Timofey Shadura, who has been officially classified as missing since February 3.

Numerous Ukrainian officials have commented on the video. “War crimes are cultivated in Russia. And whitewashed by their propaganda and myths about ’Nazis.’ The murder of a person who was taken captive is one more example of that. And it’s also an example of their national wretchedness and weakness. Every one of these war crimes will be atoned for. Nobody will be able to hide,” said Volodymyr Zelensky's Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said he sent the video to Ukraine’s international partners and to other human rights commissioners in different countries as proof that Russia has committed another war crime. He noted that the killing of POWs is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the International Criminal Court to conduct its own investigation into the circumstances of the presumed murder. Davyd Arakhamia, the head of the ruling party’s faction in Ukraine’s parliament, said that he was initiating the process of conferring the title of Hero of Ukraine on the soldier in the video.

In his daily address to the Ukrainian people on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised that the soldier’s killers will be found.

Today, a video appeared that shows the occupiers brutally killing a soldier who bravely looked them in the eyes and said, ‘Glory to Ukraine.’ I want us all to respond to his words, together and in unity: ‘Glory to the hero! Glory to the heroes! Glory to Ukraine!’ And we’ll find the killers. I thank everybody who’s currently fighting for Ukraine! Thanks to each and every person who’s helping Ukraine. Eternal memory and respect to those who have given their lives for the freedom of our people! Eternal memory and respect to all of the Ukrainian heroes of different eras who dreamed and fought for freedom for Ukraine! Ukraine will win!

The Russian authorities have not commented on the video. Daniil Bezsonov, a spokesman for the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic,” wrote on Telegram that there’s “reason to believe” that Ukraine dressed a Russian POW in a Ukrainian uniform and executed him “for the sake of an international scandal and to accuse our side of war crimes.”