‘He was shot by his own’

A Russian soldier was killed by friendly fire. Pro-Kremlin media covered up his identity and blamed Ukrainian forces for his death.

In the early days of the February invasion, pro-Kremlin Russian news outlets shared a story about a Russian soldier who had sacrificed himself to save a young woman in Kharkiv. The woman, the reports alleged, took cover along with her mother and the “unknown soldier” after being fired upon by Ukrainian troops. However, both the woman, 29-year-old Karolina Perlifon, and another Russian soldier who survived the attack said it was Russian troops who opened fire on the civilians and their comrades-in-arms. Though pro-Kremlin propagandists never revealed the name of the soldier who was killed, journalists from the independent Russian media project Verstka managed to uncover his story. With permission, Meduza published the investigation in Russian, with minor edits. The following translation has been further edited and abridged for length and clarity.

‘Don’t shoot! This is your own side!’

Writing on Instagram on February 25, 29-year-old Kharkiv resident Karolina Perlifon recounted how she had come under fire the day before. On February 24, she and her mother left their suburban home to take out money and stock up on groceries. When they returned, it turned out that Russian troops had blocked the road leading back to their home.

“They started firing at our car,” Perlifon wrote. “We turned into a dead end and jumped out.” Two Russian soldiers ran over and told them to take cover behind some concrete blocks nearby. The four of them holed up there for 15–20 minutes, but then the concrete blocks came under fire, as well.

“They injured my mom’s arm, I heard her cry out in pain,” Karolina recalled. “And at that moment the soldier throws me on the ground and shouts ‘Don’t shoot! This is your own side!’ many times. Heavy gunfire begins. A dead soldier falls on top of me. The second one is also shot. And my mom is silent. I get up and realize that she’s dead. She was hit in the head. I’m left alone.”

According to Karolina, she emerged from the hiding place about an hour and a half later, once the shooting had died down. She helped the second, injured soldier get to her car, drove him to a safe place, and called an ambulance. Her mother’s body was left lying on the side of the road on the outskirts of Kharkiv, next to the body of the soldier who saved her daughter.

‘He almost became a victim of fake news’

The next day, on February 25, Karolina returned to the scene. “The Ukrainian army was already there, they were investigating the area. We came for the body: mom’s body was there, [and] the body of that Russian soldier,” she told Verstka. Karolina didn’t know the soldier’s name. He had told her his name, but she was under too much stress to remember it.

Karolina recorded a video of the deceased and posted it on Instagram. After that, Russian media outlets and bloggers began writing about what the Russian soldier had done, citing her post. But they presented a very different interpretation of Karolina’s story.

The website Ridus.ru said that the soldier was killed “protecting two Ukrainian women from the AFU” (the Armed Forces of Ukraine). In turn, the outlet Ura.ru wrote that the deceased “almost became the victim of fake news.” Pro-Kremlin media outlets claimed that Karolina had “led readers astray” by saying that she had come under Russian gunfire, arguing that since a Russian soldier had saved her, it couldn’t have been friendly fire. This version of the story was also touted by the pro-Kremlin news website Life.ru and the pro-war Telegram channel “Operation Z.”

A week later, Tsargrad TV published its own report about the “feat of the unknown soldier.” The article alleged that the soldier “shielded two Ukrainian women” who came under “a massive AFU artillery strike.” Tsargrad also claimed that Karolina had allegedly mistaken Ukrainian troops for Russian forces, because “for many years, nationalists have been indoctrinating the Ukrainian people with anti-Russian propaganda.”

All of the pro-Kremlin publications offered detailed explanations as to why Karolina Perlifon might have confused Ukrainian forces with Russian soldiers. But none of the reports named the soldier who had saved her or said what happened to his body.

After these articles came out, Karolina was inundated with angry comments. “A Russian soldier gave his life for you, shame on you for making accusations! Our Russians never shoot their own!” one person wrote. “Karolina, on [your] Stories you once again write that Russians killed [your mother]. But Russian soldiers also shielded you! You wrote this yourself. There are screenshots,” another person protested.

A week and a half later, the Ukrainian Security Service (the SBU) published a video of the surviving Russian soldier being questioned. In his testimony, the soldier, Valery Vasilyev, corroborated Karolina’s assertion that it was Russian troops who had fired on civilians.

According to Vasilyev, on February 24, he and his fellow soldiers were on the Kharkiv ring road when a deputy commander for political affairs (zampolit for short, in Russian) ordered them to block the road. “But the civilians staged, like…a rebellion,” he recalled in the interrogation video. “They told us that they needed to go that way, to go home, to go to work…we need to get through. The zampolit got fed up with this and he said to fire…on the civilians. When…we fired, the cars turned around and drove away.”

The interrogation video also revealed the name of the soldier who had shielded Karolina: Lieutenant Ivan Levankov. Vasilyev explained that when the gunfire started, he and Levankov decided to help the two women get out of their car and take cover.

“Twenty minutes later, the lieutenant colonel noticed that the lieutenant [Levankov] and I were saving civilians,” Vasilyev said. “And he gave the order to fire on the lieutenant and I, and on them. At first the lieutenant [was hit] in the helmet, but it didn’t pierce through. Then [he was hit] in the carotid artery — they killed him. Then they shot at this daughter’s mother. She died together with the lieutenant.”

Vasilyev’s current whereabouts are unknown. His name wasn’t on the first list of Russian prisoners of war published by Anton Herashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Minister, on March 4. The website “Invaders,” which Ukraine’s National Security Council launched in May to provide information about Russian prisoners of war, is currently unavailable.

‘They found out that he was dead only through DNA analysis’

The name of the deceased soldier was first mentioned in Russia only three months later. On June 20, the Shumyachsky district newspaper Za Urozhay reported on social media about a funeral held for two soldiers in the Smolensk region. One of the soldiers was Levankov. The post didn’t mention the date of his death or the “feat” he had committed. It simply said that he died “while performing combat missions, fulfilling his military duty to the end.”

The newspaper didn’t publish any information about Levankov on its official website. But its VKontakte post included a short biography, which said that Levankov did well in school, attended the Military Academy of Air Defense in Smolensk, and, after graduation, served in military unit No.29760 in the town of Luga. He is survived by his mother, 44-year-old Irina Levankova, and his sister, 15-year-old Maria Levankova.

Levankov was born in Shumyachi — a small Russian town on the border with Belarus, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the regional center, Smolensk.

The local cemetery has about a dozen fresh graves, adorned with brand-new funeral wreaths. Next to one of the grave sites you can see wreaths from the Defense Ministry and the Shumyachsky district administration. Ivan Levankov was buried here on June 18. The memorial cross says the date of his death: February 24, 2022. This means that whoever made the funeral arrangements knew exactly when Levankov died. Whether they were informed about the circumstances surrounding his death is unknown.

Verstka tried to contact the deceased soldier’s family members. His mother, Irina, read the message sent to her on VKontakte, but did not reply. His sister, Maria, could not be reached.

Only one of Vasilyev’s relatives spoke to a Verstka reporter. He said that he didn’t attend the funeral and didn’t know any details.

In addition, one of Levankov’s friends said that for a while, he wasn’t believed to be dead. “I don’t know much, but I heard that he served in Ukraine and was considered missing in action,” he wrote in a message to Verstka. “I heard that they found out that he was dead only through DNA analysis.”

‘It’s easier to bury him and have no one know about it’

In Smolensk, soldiers’ funerals are usually attended by representatives of the regional government, and sometimes by federal and regional officials, and bishops from the Russian Orthodox Church. It’s customary for regional dioceses to mention these services on their websites or social media pages, and to list high-ranking guests.

Judging by these publications, 14 soldiers have been buried in the Smolensk region since the start of the “special military operation” — including Ivan Levankov. However, it appears as though Levankov — unlike some of the other local soldiers — was not given a public funeral. There are no official press reports or pictures from the service.

A month after the funeral, Verstka contacted Nikolay Kuznetsov, a deputy governor in the Smolensk region, and asked why that was. He replied that the regional authorities didn’t know anything about Levankov. “On the lists of the dead registered in the Smolensk region there is no mention [of that] surname,” Kuznetsov said.

Verstka’s correspondent then sent the deputy governor the Shumyachi newspaper’s social media post about Levankov’s death. The next day, the regional official sent Verstka a “clarification” stating that Levankov was buried with full military honors, “in the presence of officials, including a deputy governor.” In all likelihood, Kuznetsov explained, it was Deputy Governor Vita Khomutova who attended the ceremony.

In response to further questions, Kuznetsov replied that he couldn’t clarify anything else and had “only bits and pieces of information.” He advised Verstka’s correspondent to contact the military enlistment office.

Sergey Leonov, a State Duma lawmaker from the Smolensk region, was also unaware of Levankov’s funeral. “This is my district, I’m often there. In fact, people themselves write to me about any problem. If there were such an egregious situation there, I would already have so many complaints, calls, and messages! I would definitely know about it already,” the politician told Verstka’s correspondent. He showed no interest in Levankov’s story.

The Roslavl diocese, which oversees the Shumyachsky district, didn’t send a representative to the funeral either. A priest from the diocese told Verstka that a local village priest conducted Levankov’s funeral.

There are people who remember Ivan Levankov and know about what he did, but they are outside of Russia. “He died saving us,” Karolina Perlifon said about the Russian soldier. She believes that Levankov wasn’t given a high-profile funeral because Russian officials don’t want to advertise the circumstances under which he died.

“This soldier was with us and he was shot by his own people,” Karolina said. “Therefore, of course, it’s easier for them to bury him and have no one know about it and not even remember. And as for telling the truth? They’ll never speak it in their lives.”

Story by Liza Pavlyutski for Verstka

Abridged translation by Eilish Hart