Ukraine
The fighter, featured in a 12-second graphic clip circulated on Telegram, was originally mistakenly named Tymofiy Shadura
Ukrainian security services have concluded that the prisoner of war killed by Russian soldiers in a clip that quickly spread across Ukraine and much of the world is Oleksandr Igorevich Matsievskyi, ending disputes over his identity.
In the 12-second graphic clip, first circulated on Telegram last Monday, a detained combatant can be seen standing in a shallow ditch and smoking a cigarette. The soldier in uniform with a Ukrainian flag insignia on his arm says “Honour to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot by a group of Russian soldiers with automatic weapons.
Commemorating the hero of the Ukrainian POWs…when officials determine who he is
The video, allegedly posted by Russian soldiers to Telegram, has prompted a war crimes investigation and a search inside Ukraine for the identity of a man hailed as a national hero and symbol of the resistance.
The Ukrainian military initially named the soldier Tuesday as Tymofiy Shadura of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade, but warned that definitive confirmation could not be made until the body was recovered from territory currently controlled by Russia.
According to the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade, he disappeared on February 3 near Bakhmut after seven months of bitter trench warfare that had left thousands dead.
However, some Ukrainian media and bloggers instead claimed that the man killed was Oleksandr Igorevich Matsievskyi, 42, who was also deployed to Bakhmut in November.
“We have received the result of a photo forensic examination, which confirms that the soldier in the video is Oleksandr Matsievskyi,” the Security Service of Ukraine wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “This is the result of a series of investigative measures, which included communication with relatives and loved ones of the deceased, as well as the processing of photo and video materials. This man is a real hero who, even in the face of death, showed the whole world what Ukrainian character and untameability are.”
Later on Sunday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: wrote on Twitter that he awarded Matsievskyi the title of Hero of Ukraine.
“A soldier and a man who will be remembered forever. For his courage, for his trust – in Ukraine – and for his ‘Honour to Ukraine!’” Zelenskyy said.
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