The American chain CNN published this Thursday a video obtained by the surveillance camera of a business on the outskirts of kyiv in which several Russian soldiers apparently shoot two civilians. ukrainians unarmed.
The chain ensures that the video to which he has had access is part of the investigation of the alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine currently processed by Ukrainian prosecutors.
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Both civilians died following the shooting that, according to the network, violates the conventions of war that prohibit attacking civilians.
One of them was the owner of a car dealership that was lootedwhose family did not provide his name, and the second was named Leonid Oleksiyovych Plyats, 68, and worked as a security guard for the business.
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The incident occurred on March 16 and is not part of the attacks by Russian troops that, on those dates, devastated the towns around the Ukrainian capital.
The footage shows five Russian soldiers trying to break into businesses in the area, shooting locks and breaking windows.
When the owner of the dealership approaches with his hands up, they detain him and appear to search him for weapons.. Then Plyats arrives and is also frisked. There appears to be some conversation before the soldiers turn around and the two civilians start walking back to their posts.
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Then, at least two of the soldiers appear behind the men and open fire. Both civilians fall to the ground.
The Russian soldiers, as shown in the video, walk away from the bodies of the men they just shot, leaving them lying on the ground.
Sources from the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office assured that the incident is being investigated as a war crime following seeing the video that CNN obtained.
In addition to the murder, the video shows, according to the chain, the unprofessional behavior of the group of five soldiers, identified as members of the invading force by their uniforms, following analyzing who controlled that area at the time of the event and the statements of witnesses.
Plyats’ daughter, Yulia, said she can’t bear to watch the video from the day her father died, but is saving it to one day show her children. “They are executioners,” she told CNN. “It’s horrible because my father was a civilian, he was 68 years old, a peaceful and unarmed man.”
Apparently, while the soldiers looted the shops, Plyats was still alive. The video shows him struggling to his feet, tying what looks like a tourniquet around his thigh, and limping back to his guard post. There, he gets a phone to call for help. He finally passed away.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office and various NGOs and international organizations are carrying out an extensive investigation to try to find out if war crimes and even acts of genocide have been committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
