The Ukrainian Armed Forces have provisionally identified the unarmed soldier who was shot dead on video, the footage emerged online on 6 March. The executed service member is believed to be Tymofiy Shadura, a 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade soldier, the brigade revealed.
Journalist Yuri Butusov said that a different man was recorded. According to Butusov, it was Oleksandr Matsyevsky, a 163rd Nizhyn territorial defence battalion member.
At the same time, Shadura’s sister confirmed that the man executed in the video is her brother, journalist Vasyl Krutchak wrote on Facebook.
Just spoke to Tymofiy’s sister Olga on the phone. She told me she is 90% sure that the executed man is her brother,” he clarified.
Shadura was missing since 3 February 2023 following clashes near the city of Bakhmut, his body remains on the occupied territory. The Ukrainian forces underlined that the final confirmation will only be possible once the body is recovered and a forensic examination is performed.
The execution footage emerged on 6 March. The short clip shows a man in uniform, a man outside of the shot then says, “Record him”. After the prisoner says “Glory to Ukraine” he is immediately shot dead. In the end of the video, a voice is heard that says “Die, bitch”.
It is impossible to quickly identify the man in the video. Moreover, it is unclear who made the video, when, or where. Ukrainian outlets claimed that a Ukrainian prisoner of war was shot in the footage.
Senior Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak said after the video gained traction that “war crimes are cultivated in Russia and whitewashed by propaganda and ‘Nazi’ myths”. Moscow has not officially commented on the footage.
Meanwhile, a Russian military correspondent Daniil Bezsonov wrote online: “There are grounds to believe that our [Russian] soldier dressed in Ukrainian uniform was shot dead to cause an international scandal and accuse Russia of war crimes”.
