Ukraine: Soldier ‘executed by Russians’ after saying ‘Glory to Ukraine’ is identified

Ukraine says it has identified a soldier filmed being shot dead in a viral video that sparked outrage and urged officials to demand an investigation, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promising to find the “killers.”

The footage – which has been widely circulated on social media – shows what appears to be a detained Ukrainian fighter smoking in a shallow trench. Moments after saying “Glory to Ukraine,” he is shot and sinks to the ground.

The sentence of the allegedly detained Ukrainian soldier was trending on social media on Monday. Kiev officials blamed Russian troops and called for justice.

“According to preliminary information, the deceased is a soldier of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Tymofiy Mykolayovych Shadura,” the brigade’s Facebook post read. According to reports, he was the father of five children.

“The command of the 30th separate mechanized brigade and the brothers of the hero send their sincere condolences to his relatives and friends. Revenge for our hero will be inevitable. Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!’ it said.

Shadura had been missing since Feb. 3 during fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, it said. “Final confirmation of his identity can be made after the body is returned,” it added.

The 41-year-old is said to be from the village of Mala Derevychka, in the Zhytomyr region.

Kiev said the remains of the slain soldier were in territory currently controlled by Russian forces. Bakhmut is located in eastern Ukraine

AFP could not independently verify where or when the footage was filmed or whether – as suggested by Ukrainian officials and social media users – a Ukrainian POW could be seen.

Speaking to the nation on Monday, Zelensky said the video shows Russian troops “brutally killing” a Ukrainian soldier.

“We’ll find the killers,” he vowed.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba previously called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the images.

Journalist Vasily Krutchak wrote on Facebook that the man’s sister strongly believes that her brother was the man who was machine-shot during the genocidal execution.

“I just talked to Olga, Timofey’s sister, on the phone,” he said.

“She said she was 90 percent sure the man who was shot is her brother.”

The sister later told the BBC she was 100 percent sure.

‘This is my brother. It’s his eyes, his voice and the way he smoked a cigarette,” she said, according to producer Sofia Kochmar-Tymoshenko.

“My brother would certainly be able to cope with the Russians like this,” she told the British broadcaster. “He never in his life hid the truth and certainly wouldn’t do so in front of the enemy.”

She then posted on social media: “Six family members are certain they are their brother and son.”

Final identity cannot be established until Russia allows the bullet-riddled corpse to be repatriated – if that ever happens.

The expression ‘Glory to Ukraine’ and the answer ‘Heroyam Slava’, or ‘Glory to the heroes’, has been a hallmark of post-Soviet Ukraine, but it has taken on special significance as a general greeting in Ukrainian since its inception. public life. from the war.

MailOnline was unable to directly verify the video’s authenticity, date, or location. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a question about this when contacted by Reuters news agency.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces called the shooting of an unarmed prisoner “a cynical and brutal disregard for the norms of international humanitarian law and the customs of war.” This is what worthless assassins do, not warriors.

“The Russian occupiers have once again shown that their main goal in Ukraine is the brutal extermination of Ukrainians.”

A lawyer injured in the battle last year said he was raising money for a reward for anyone who identified those responsible. He personally pledged $1,000.

Ukrainian authorities have not said where or when the shooting took place.

Within hours, #GloryToUkraine became one of the most trending hashtags on Twitter.

Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s public prosecutor, said Ukraine’s security service had registered the shooting as a criminal case under a section of the penal code that covers violations of war laws and customs.

In the gruesome footage, the lone man can be seen on video smoking and saying “Glory to Uklaraine” before being shot dead. He was declared a martyr in his homeland.

A voice can be heard off camera saying, “You’re ab***.” Die, b***’ – and then he’ll be riddled with bullets. His body drops to the ground in an instant.

Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, insisted: “There will be retribution for every war crime. No one can hide. We’ll find everyone.’

Moscow and Kiev have repeatedly accused each other of killing prisoners in the year since Russia invaded Ukraine.

There is also video footage of Russia’s Wagner Private Military Company brutally killing deserters, and reports of them executing their own troops.

Ukrainian and Western authorities say there is evidence of thousands of war crimes committed in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces committed atrocities or attacked civilians.

A senior US official said last November that actions by Russian soldiers could implicate even top officials in war crimes.

U.S. Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack told reporters there was strong evidence that Russia’s abuses in Ukraine were not random.

There is mounting evidence that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has been accompanied by systematic war crimes in every region where Russian troops have been deployed,” she said.

Evidence from liberated areas points to “deliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate” attacks on the civilian population, mistreatment of civilians and detained prisoners of war, forcible removal or filtering of Ukrainian civilians – including children – to Russia, and execution-like killings and sexual violence. she told reporters.

“When we see such systematic actions, including the creation of a huge filtering network, it is very difficult to imagine how these crimes can be committed without accountability all the way up the chain of command,” she said.